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B.G. Lindsay 91he would humor me. Kung Yee Liang, who followed me as a Breslow student,once told me that Norm had asked him to read my thesis and explain it to him.I tell this story not because I advise students to follow this kind of independentcourse. The fact that Norm barely understood what I was doing andwhere I was headed was something of a handicap to me. I spent years figuringout the relevant literature. The real problem is that a graduate studentjust does not know the background, has not seen the talks, and cannot knowwhether the statistical community will think the research is important. I wastaking serious risks, and consider myself fortunate that things worked out inthe end.After settling on a topic and doing the research, another big hurdle mustbe crossed. I must say that at the beginning I found it very difficult to writeup my statistical research, and so I am very sympathetic to my PhD studentswhen they struggle with the organization, the motivation, the background,and reporting the results. I keep telling them that they are simply telling astory, just like they do when they give an oral presentation. If you can givea good talk, you can write a good paper. At Penn State these days manyof the graduate students give multiple talks at meetings and in classes. I amsure this must help them immensely when it comes to writing and defendingtheir dissertations, and going on job interviews. I had no such opportunitiesat Washington, and I am sure it showed in my early writing.At any rate, Norm returned my thesis drafts with lots of red marks. In thebeginning I felt like I had failed, but then bit by bit my writing became clearerand more fitting to the statistical norm. I still had a problem with figuring outthe distinction between what was important and what was merely interesting.In the end, I wrote a very long thesis titled “Efficiency in the presence ofnuisance parameters.” It was a long ways from being publishable.I must say that in those days proper editing was very difficult. I wouldstart the process by turning my handwritten drafts over to a mathematicaltypist. In those days mathematical results were usually typed on an IBMSelectric typewriter. There were little interchangeable balls that had the varioussymbols and fonts. Typing in math meant stopping to change the ball,maybe more than once for each equation. This slow typing system very distinctlydiscouraged editing manuscripts. Mistakes could mean redoing entirepages, and revisions could mean retyping the whole manuscript. Changes inan introduction would alter everything thereafter.Thank goodness those days also disappeared with the advent of personalcomputing. Now one can spend time refining a manuscript without retypingit, and I am sure we have all benefited from the chance to polish our work.At last the finish line was reached, my thesis submitted and approvedin 1978.