A change in activity

I've started compiling my 6,000 word research proposal, not due until August. It is a change in activity - well, actually, that's not quite true...

• I'm still reading in parallel. One article a day is a goal that I do not want to give up on (this week I have read and taken notes from four articles from the latest CEJ, and have read three more with notes to follow).
  
• In starting the proposal, I realised how important my Zotero library really is. It has 252 items in it already, about half of which consist of materials already read and commented on. I also realised how incomplete my Zotero library is, with many of the entries in it yet to have the notes I have made added to them. Until this is done, my notes are the equivalent of a chaotic multiplicity similar to index cards (actually, my notes are organised across various Word files). So, much of my activity today involved properly populating my Zotero library. This will continue for a wee while yet!
• ...so, my research proposal as of the end of today (1st May) consists of a reasonable heading framework and some initial thoughts and references. I am surprised at how much I actually know, no doubt one of the benefits of actually getting down to some writing!
  

The problem with the Zotero library is that I started with Endnote... then, when my trial ran out (and well before my actual enrolment with Otago) I couldn't use it, so some notes backed up. I started on Zotero some time later, and never added those notes I had taken - I populated Zotero with notes only from subsequent reading. So, the job has needed doing for some time; preparing the research proposal has just made it more necessary. So, while I've got lead time, I will use it for this purpose.

In the small elements of the proposal I have already prepared, Zotero is already proving its worth.