One down, one to go...

Just submitted 4,031 words on an analysis of the fees and charges regime under Commonwealth freedom of information law, with a particular focus on the reasoning of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Peatling and DEWR [2007] as regards to the countervailing consideration of a commercial or other benefit that may be gained from the release of government documents into the public domain.  I'm, like, totally an expert now.  Or somefink. 

Still with me?  Of course you are.  It was two weeks late but I had it covered by an extension due to illness, still it was a prick of a thing to write.  Not least when I realised at 9am this morning that the word length was actually 500 less than I'd thought. 

The thing I tend to do for essays is overprepare (might be that part of me actually likes writing them), so the evolution usually goes something like this:

1. Research the absolute crap out of the topic online and at the extensive resources of the Australian National University Law Library.  This is usually the point when I realise that I happen to have chosen a topic that virtually nobody else in Australia has.  Happened last year when I had to come up with 3,500 words on how you might assess and improve the quality of administrative decisions, and kind of happened again here with the FOI topic which is why I had to delve into a little case law.  And I wouldn't normally do that unless I had to, but in all frankness I suspect there was a little bit of ego here due to a link I have to the decision itself.
2. Using whatever I've managed to pull together, spend at least 5 or 6 solid days writing up notes and following various rabbits down various holes that the research throws up.
3. Type up all the quotes and get the referencing niceties done and down at this point.
4. Structure the notes and quotes into the shape I want.  The first draft of this for the FOI essay clocked me in at 9,500 words.  Crazy. 
5. Look at the structure again, throw my hands up in the air dramatically several times and have another couple of cracks at it before realising yes, time is getting on and I really should be knuckling down.
6. Draft 2 - knocking it into shape, in this instance I managed to get it down to about 5,900 words.  At this point I note that there's undoubtedly some really interesting material there but hard decisions have to be made about tangents.
7. Draft 3 - glance at the assessment requirements this morning and see that I need to lose about another 900 words to get it to the limit, otherwise I'm facing mark penalties.  Time to have a long look at the legislative analysis (where I tend to be a little enthusiastic anyway) and do some pruning.
8. Stress over the way I've written the introduction and conclusion before just getting it sorted out, then spend about an hour dicking around with the formatting and getting it as purty as it's meant to be for the marker.

So that's that.  And now I've got three weeks and counting to write up another 4,000 words about a privacy law issue. 

And so what have I chosen to write about?  The privacy implications associated with the exchange of information between the Job Network and Centrelink, which, you guessed right, it appears that no academics have really considered in any great detail before.  If it's good enough... I should consider doing a little more work and adaption and then see if I can get it published in a social studies or policy journal somewhere...

In my favour, both K and The Boy are down in Melbourne this week leaving me free to work away without getting distracted by nappy changing, singtime and feeding shenanigans.  In fact it feels a little weird, it's been a while since I've had a break like this and will probably be a while before I get another one.  The plan is that once I knock off this essay then it's all about K as she completes three more subjects in her Masters between August and February to finalise it all, with me then looking to do one subject per semester in 2009 to finish mine. 

And then, finally, we'll have our weekends free to spend time together as an actual family, not to mention being able to spend time with friends.  So what's that, a year and a half or so away?  Ok.  A year and a half away.  Less if you think positive and count all the mid-semester breaks and whatnot.  And I wish I could say after that that I'll never study again, but there's already a part of me thinking about a grad dip in something like ethics or political science in another 10 or so years, just to keep my brain active and engaged in that sort of space.  But that's much longer term, just need to grind through the next 18 months first...