danieleWrites

You are seriously trying to sell academic dishonesty? I'm not surprised, really. Spammers are from the same cesspit of unethical waste as the Nigerian Prince who has millions of dollars for me, if I send him money to process it.

I put Office 365 University edition on my tablet (it's Windows 8 Pro, might as well be a laptop) for 80 bucks. I hate the subscription thing, but this is a 4 year subscription, and 3 years is my average time for swapping to a new computer or device. Just need to verify that you're a student or faculty with a working .edu address.

If your boss is a part of the field you're going to graduate school for, and knows about work in that field, include him. For example, you're an accountant and he runs an accounting firm, and you're heading off for an MBA or MA in accounting. The school is not looking for references about your personality, ability work with others, unrelated work, or your intelligence. They're looking for someone who has the credentials to tell them about you as a scholar/academic or your time working in the field you're pursuing. Professional references are good for people who have been out of school for a few years and only have bosses and colleagues for references about recent work. Yes, you can use your boss as a primary reference if you think he has anything relevant to say about your work in your field of study and your academics. Otherwise, you should have at least three academic references (that's the minimum most schools ask for), and add the boss as a fourth.

A non-habit forming sleep aid to start. Take half-dose if can. Second, do the insomnia dance. Turn going to sleep into a routine that does not vary. Don't do anything in bed except sleep and sex. No eating, no reading, no anything. If you're already doing that, good! No caffeine within 6 to 8 hours of sleep (everyone metabolizes it at a different rate, it's 12 hours for me). Decaf has caffeine in it. Try to avoid sugars. Don't nap. Make the right environment. For most, it means a cooler room, a window cracked for fresh air, covering up any sources of light (like the face of the alarm clock), and using white noise (a fan, a white noise generator found cheap at most big box stores). Some people prefer a warmer room. Go to bed at the same time every night. Focus on the white noise. The sleep aid should help you beat back your lesson plans so you can let your brain wander off into a doze. Once you've established the routine and you're sleeping, stop with the sleep aid. Essentially, you are training your body to recognize that it's time to sleep now, and it should go there. Your brain will follow.

I use Word and OneNote because I'm boring that way. My bibs are annotated. However, I will be looking into things like Refworks and Mendeley. I'm all for using the right tool for the job.

It's been a lot exciting. I'm discovering the joys of pedagogy, loving the support from the department, and getting to know my fellow TAs and cohort. Classes are interesting and I'm already submitting to present at a conference (how cool is that?). I have stars in my eyes about what I can do my dissertation over. I have a supportive, yet somewhat absent-minded adviser, the kind I work best with. I'm a more hands-off kind of advisee and I prefer to manage my candidacy rather than have someone else do it. I've moved from the plains to the alps (okay, hyperbole, but it works) and I'm getting more exercise just looking at the walk from one class to the next than I did last year). The classes I teach are small to start with, which is beyond awesome. The department has no dress code and a casual culture (jeans and t-shirts for this TA, baby!). The main theorist on staff is not only Marxian in bent, but a fellow geek of the sci-fi. I'm hoping that he'll be the mentor/diss committee/go-to-guy for me. I think he'll like me because I'm a do-it-yourselfer first, and a come whining to the PhD later kind of a girl. He publishes a lot. A serious lot. It's been a lot frustrating. I'm learning a new bureaucracy the hard way (I'm the guppy they caught in the red tape this time around). The same sorts of offices/staff/positions are here, but they have different names and offer services in a different way. I want to be able to direct my students (and myself) to the right person for specific problems, not stare at them blankly before suggesting they ask their adviser. Blackboard? It's like Michelle Kwan doing her routine while carrying an anvil. I don't understand why it gets so much play in the collegiate world. Then there's the attitude about books that I also don't like: undergraduate students plan to spend about $500 or more on books, so it doesn't matter what books are selected for a course (just use them). Yeah, that's a no for me. Books should be chosen with cost in mind, as well as usefulness and pedagogical relevance. I just got a 9 month old, hand-me-down tablet with Windows 8 pro on it. Got it Tuesday. It's the 2nd week of classes and I have to learn and adapt to an entirely new O/S interface. I want my start button! That, and if Office 365's subscription model takes off, I'm moving to Linux. I have to share my office (fun!) with a group of people that includes one jerk dedicated to his jerkdom (not fun). And lastly: the cost of vehicle repair sucks.

Undergraduate studies are about, um, being taught with some independent-ish scholarship at the end. This varies by student and by discipline, but for the most part, there are few research projects included as a part of the program. Undergraduates must make their own research opportunities and move toward scholarship on their own. Sometimes faculty will encourage them, sometimes not. Graduate studies are about independent scholarship, not being taught. In the MA/MS program, there is that transition from being taught to independent scholarship, but the thesis is supposed to not only be representative of a student's best work, it should be proof that the student is capable of independent scholarship. The PhD program has little being taught involved. Yes, there are classes, but the student is expected to contribute as much to his or her own learning as the teacher. In a PhD program, you shouldn't expect much help from teachers, you should expect to be sort of colleagues-in-training. Colleagues don't tell you what to do, they help you figure out your options. You keep returning to this characterization of yourself as a struggling student and the characterization of your adviser as an unhelpful person. I take your word for it that you struggled because you tried out scholarship that was beyond your capabilities and, reading between the lines, reasonably beyond the capabilities of the average MA student. I have a choice of ways to understand the phrase "struggling student"; its meaning depends on context. What were you struggling with? The material itself? The paradigm shift from undergraduate student to graduate student and all the new expectations and conventions that come with it? Yourself? Most of the time, "struggling student" is a student that has difficulties with the material. Sometimes, it's a student that hasn't adapted to the methods, expectations, and/or conventions of the learning situation. Sometimes, it's a student that has to struggle with his or her own self-doubts, lack of confidence, and so on; every student has these, but for some, they are an outsized impediment, rather than a more normal evaluation of ability. Sometimes, it's nothing more than maturity, a student struggles because he or she was not ready for the program. A lot of college freshmen drop out because they aren't ready for college. They need to do other things first. It's normal. Figure out what you struggled with the most. Currently, it sounds as if it was the material. As much as you love philosophy, if you struggle with the material, you might end up as one of those PhD candidates that never makes it past the coursework into comprehensives or the dissertation. You believe in yourself and you have a goal. You are willing to evaluate criticism. This is most of the battle. I suggest that you go to the university library and read theses written by graduated philosophy students. Read dissertations by philosophy students. The library should have these copies either in book form or electronically archived. Compare your scholarship to their scholarship. The dissertations will give you a strong idea as to what the philosophy department, and your adviser, considers to be appropriate scholarship from a PhD candidate, appropriate enough for them to certify that this person has earned a PhD. A dissertation is not just the student's best work, it's new knowledge added to the field. Can you do that? The thing about this issue that bothers me is that your thesis committee signed your thesis when they thought it wasn't good enough. Why was your thesis good enough to get you an MA if your committee thinks it wasn't that great?

I dressed the part the first day so students would have a visual cue, but after that? Nah. Everyone and every department has a different idea about how to dress. I wouldn't show up in speedos, but a decent pair of khaki shorts topped with a summer-weight button down? Why not? As long as you are still able to project confident authority and the department has no dress code. go for it, I say. Of course, my permission is worth less than the paper it's printed on.

No! You are not being pushy. This is of grave concern to you because you need the promised money for your expenditures. Do not rely on your adviser's promises because he has no control over your placement. Call your adviser and ask him for the name and contact details of the person in charge of the office that's in charge of matching you to your job. Contact that person directly. You should have a copy of your award letter, promising you that you would have a position that would earn you at least 5,200 and for what time frame the award covers, and who is responsible for promising you this award. Do not let them tell you it's policy or that this is just the way it's done and you have to wait. If they promised the position with a minimum amount of pay, it is the university's duty to provide that for you. Now, it's important to have that promise in writing. If the only promise is from a phone conversation with an adviser, who likely has no authority to promise that the position actually exists rather than say that you may apply for one, then the university has no obligation to provide a job.

A lot of schools sponsor some kind of in-house research colloquium or competition, others have conferences aimed at students and welcome undergrads. Do a research project and present it somewhere. I never asked my undergrad adviser about grad school because she wasn't particularly helpful. I did go to two of my professors that were familiar with my work and talk to them about my plans and ideas. They were full of advice. If you've got or have had a prof that's working in the stuff you're interested in, he/she's the one to go ask questions of. You can join your major's and/or interest's association, which offer student discounts and may offer methods for you to publish, present, or other types of research. Find one of you profs that's doing research and see if you can help with the project. You probably won't get any publication credit, but you can list it on your CV and have that prof write a letter of recommendation that mentions what you did.

People who are unequal on the career ladder have great marriages just as people who are equal on the career ladder have yucky ones. I understand the concern about you supporting him, because that's a burden for anyone to bear, financially supporting a spouse. It can be done and no one has to be a six-figure breadwinner to do it. Is it the money thing? Or the sense that Brian is dead weight in some way? Is it his inability to maintain a decent job? Or his inability to complete school? I think it kind of boils down to one question: do you want this guy as he is? Some people aren't interested in college degrees, they prefer the trades. Some people can't cut it in college. I'm pretty sure that I'm reading a lot into the original post here, but what does Brian want to do with his life? Is he still not sure? Did he to back to school because he caved to pressure, or because that's the path he's taking to realize his goals? Does he have a goal? All of the prime, ADHD coaching and meds in the world can't make up for lack up purpose. I've got ADHD and I wouldn't have failed out ages ago if this wasn't what I wanted for my life. Academics aren't the only way to go. I'm married to a soldier/carpenter. He's got college credit, but most of it is military oriented. He's not going to college and I'm getting a PhD. I know a literature professor who is married to a carpenter (her dream guy in the job she dreamed her dream guy would have) who can't stand poetry. You'd think they have nothing to talk about, but they get along fine. I hate to make assumptions about people because the assumptions always seem so wrong. Does Brian agree with your take on things? That now that you're both in college, that you're both finally on the right career path?

No one says you can't have more letters than the school asks for. If you feel the people who haven't had much to do with you academically have important things to say about your academics, there's no reason why you couldn't have a conversation about a letter. You can ask them if they'd be able to write one and what they might put in it.

What did the rest of your committee say about your thesis?

I read it the same way. I understood that the OP was doing the bulk of the writing and sending it to the co-author for revision and approval, but the only feedback he was getting was in the form of edits that made the paper worse, which is not was he was looking for. I understood that there was a break-down in communication when it came to the edits. Collaboration can be managed by setting boundaries. If he is the person doing the bulk of the writing, he is in a position to set specific boundaries that would benefit them both. I may not have done any epidemiology, but I have written collaborative papers in sociology which, like epi, is a statistical science. The up shot is that there is a convention for laying out a paper, but there can be disagreement on how ideas are organized, for example, if other research is mentioned, what order it should be mentioned in or how it relates to the tested hypothesis. I use the word ideas because I don't want to make any assumptions about his work. Like science, revision benefits from a logical process. Unlike science, the process doesn't have to be in any particular order, but it can be managed.

The SOP is a part of an application to be a graduate student. A beginning graduate student should have a base of knowledge, but they shouldn't be so knowledgeable the department has nothing to offer them. I think this is kind of the key. My SOP mentioned two authors, Zora Neale Hurston and Henry Miller. Actually, it mentioned Hurston's folk tales and Death of a Salesman. I mentioned them to support my explanation of my research interests, rather than an explanation of my background. I don't think it's too much to explain how you're interested in the influences of a specific author, and then how the issues the author was influenced by and influenced changed after the Victorian period. I think it's a good idea because it gives the committee a strong idea of what you're into researching and if they can help you do it. If there aren't any Victorianists on faculty, would you fit? Or if there are and they loathe your particular author, would you fit? I don't know if it's necessary to present your credentials on the 19th Century (I'm not on a committee and, even if I were, all committees work differently); I think it's more important to present your research interests and goals. I think your credentials will be established by the way you discuss your interests rather than an explanation or list of what you've studied. For example, I didn't mention the various works of Marx or of the Marxians in the field that I've read when I wrote about my interest in evaluating how social class assumptions and conflicts informs the underlying arguments works of literature make. A background in Marx is kind of necessary for that, but the fact that I can write about my interests, for lack of a better word, correctly means that I've got the background already. So, if you can talk about you'd like to research correctly (for lack of a better word), I don't think you need to explain that you have the background because it's self-evident. tl;dr: bring up the authors relevant to the research you're interested in doing and leave out the rest. The SOP is short and your 19th Century Cred will be evident in how you present your interests.

I don't have any substantial suggestions to add, TakeruK and Eigen have some great ideas. However, I teach composition classes and you may potentially be running into a problem that people who teach or tutor composition run into. Giving suggestions on a paper or grading a paper is a lot more subjective than people feel comfortable with. In a math problem, if the student's result is different than the answer key's, the student is clearly wrong in a decisively supportable way that can't be argued with. If you have one apple in a basket and add another apple to the basket, the basket will have two apples, and there's not argument. In a paper, that's not so, particularly when working with complex ideas the way scholars do. It's particularly difficult if the scholar is competent and the ideas are exciting and fresh. She may be focusing on the style not the ideas (which you would prefer) because basic editing---fixing grammar, spelling, and word choice---is comfortable whereas fixing issues in the ideas and logic is more difficult. Editing should be the final part of the revision process, not the only part a co-author focuses on. People who teach or tutor writing have bad days and do nothing but focus on editing because it's easy. I've had students come from the writing center with nothing but marks about grammar issues, but nothing about how the paper was missing a central idea or there was not logic in the thing at all. I tell my students to always be specific with what they want help with when taking their work to someone for a look over, even their teachers. Your co-author may be focusing on the editing because she doesn't know how to offer anything to the bigger issues of structure, logic, and development, particularly if she's not confident enough in her fluency. There's an idea that a "correct" English exists; this idea of "correct" brings in a false binary in logic, that it's all about correct and incorrect when it's actually about supporting and developing the central idea. For you, that would be supporting your conclusions about the hypothesis and your process for arriving at those conclusions. This is an argument, which is less objective than fixing a spelling mistake. If she can't "fix" or make suggestions for the argument, she can "fix" the language. Believe it or not, this is a very, very common problem in writing. And it's a manageable problem. You just have to know how to revise, and how to help, um, train someone else to revise. I would suggest that you take a top down approach. Write the paper and send it to her with very specific things for her to focus on. Start with the larger, global issues. Is the paper focused? Are the ideas developed logically? Are you missing any major things, like critical literature, methodology, and so on. Are you ordering your points in the strongest way (conclusion before methodology?)? Are the conclusions you've drawn about the study what she agrees with? Are you missing any? Have too many? Does she approve the structure of the paper? That kind of thing. If/when she sends back stuff with language edits in them ignore the edits. You can tell her that you're focusing on making sure the global issues work first and that you'll both focus on language at the end. In this way, you're training her (and yourself) to work together to produce a solid paper, and you're training both of you to think of the paper in holistic manner, rather than a series of grammatical corrections. If she insists, you can explain that you agree that language is very important, but the paper will go through revisions and re-writing sentences that may end up deleted or placed in different parts of the paper is a waste of time at this stage. Don't even look at her grammatical edits at this point, just work from your copy. Once you both agree on the global issues and structure, move to the medium level stuff, like evidence, where charts should be located, paragraph level logic. Be very specific about the feedback you're looking for. Let her know that you worked with her global suggestions from your original copy and her language edits aren't in it because you want to make sure there aren't larger issues to deal with first. If she objects, explain that you will both work on revising the style when you've got the paper itself finished. This will help you discuss the meat of the paper because you're both working within the same boundaries. The real problem will crop up when it is time to revise for style. Once you're ready to do that, take it to someone else first. Universities have writing centers, though I imagine in the Netherlands it's not one that staffs English writers. Take it to the people who teach English writing courses, or find out if they have tutors that you can use for this purpose. Maybe find a native English speaker attending the university, particularly one in a similar discipline, for a look see. Get someone else to help you with the first draft of editing for style, not just for their help, but so that you can have a more authoritative source to defend your style choices to your co-author. Don't use your English reviewer as a mediator, but rather the way you would use another researcher's work to develop your own. We scholars stand on the shoulders of giants. For example: if you want to call something blue and your co-author prefers to use cerulean, you now have some back up when you explain that blue is more appropriate because, unless such specificity is required to differentiate between different instances of blue, it's an English convention to use clearer language, and you know this because John, your English writing professor that agreed to look the paper over for style, said as much about a few word choices and referred you to a book called Strunk & White. When you send her the draft specifically to have her look at it for style (and final approval to submit for publication), you can mention that you've already had your English writing person look it over because you've been told that previous papers you've worked on together have horrible English. Be prepared to compromise on some things because you are a co-author. This is the process I teach to my composition students when they have to collaborate. It's also the revision process I teach to my students for every paper they write. It makes no sense to fix sentence-level problems when you might have to delete, move, or add sentences, and then have to revise the sentences all over again. It's kind of like writing the perfect conclusion paragraph when you don't yet know what the paper is going to argue.

It sounds like you have a legitimate complaint. He should never laugh at you when you bring him a problem. That's humiliation, which is harassment, which universities take seriously. He says you aren't writing at the graduate level, but did he explain why? Did he have a constructive response when you asked? You asked a fellow student, but you can't get reliable feedback because people don't want to hurt other people and will offer solidarity rather than criticism. You should not go over your p/a's head. You should, instead, take it directly to him. Don't take him complaints, but rather ask for suggestions to improve. He wants you to take a required course rather than the poet laureate's course (unless you're getting an MFA in poetry, I don't see how he's wrong here). His reply is a good one for a university student: is it going to help you write? If you think so, you should not only say so, but explain how and why. Yes, because Poet's work focuses on compressed narrative, imagery, and accented prosody, which is where I need work with my writing. While you have to have him sign off on courses you take--your candidacy is his responsibility--you aren't exactly asking for permission. You're a graduate student, so you should have looked at the course offerings, your requirements for candidacy, your interests, and your weaknesses in scholarship before you ever went to his office for advising. If you want a specific course, you should have reasons beyond who is teaching it. He's told you what he wants to know: is it going to help you write? So you should be able to answer the question. It's not about picking interesting classes, it's about selecting classes that will improve you and will help your job prospects. If he's right about your level or writing, will the required class be better for your over all scholarship? Sometimes, you have to let what appear to be great opportunities go in favor of your academics. I think it comes down to this: can he help you help yourself achieve your degree and put you in a place where you're a strong job candidate? If not, the program might not be the fit for you. I also think you should talk this over with someone who is able to understand both sides of this situation, knows university policy, and can advise you on how to resolve problems with this professional relationship in order to have a better experience in graduate school. That person isn't a fellow student (they don't know how policy works and will usually prefer solidarity and sympathy over constructive) or someone in the department (you don't want to add to your reputation). Your university's counseling services are a good place to start. They can help you work through this with confidentiality, and in enough time to drop with a full refund if necessary. They can also help you deal with the hostile work environment this guys presents, either personally or officially, as the case may be.

I've been thinking about this a lot. I have two BAs, English and sociology, and I love them both. The dream is to secure a tenure-track position where I can work in the sociology of literature area. Most people doing this are sociologists, but I think I have a better shot going via English. The reality is that I need a multi-faceted record of graduate work. Academia may not be hiring. Or they might not hire me. I have to figure out how to develop my research, dissertation, published papers, and so on in a way that appeals to the type of university I'd like to work for (dream job!), to the government (I have some "ins" there), to the private sector, and internationally. I also have to figure out how to do all of this in a way that satisfies me, too. It will be challenging and I will require an advanced degree in sociology. They have to know I know my methodology. Spanish is one of the largest languages and there a lot of opportunities in the, um, thinking/analyzing job market for those who can not only get at the heart of the language, but the culture as well. Literature sets people up to understand the culture of the people the works come from. For example, if Company A wants to enter the market in Mexico, they hire people, usually another business, to figure out how to bring their product/service into the market in a way that will be embraced by the locals, so they can profit. While researching universities, research the various jobs you can do so you can select programs not only for their academics, but for their ability to help you develop your non-academia cred.

The departments I applied to had very specific methods about how to submit materials ranging from snail mail only to their own online forms with document upload features. Interfolio would not have been helpful for me. Frankly, just applying to grad school is expensive enough already. An added expense for this kind of service would not have been welcomed news. Budgetary constraints dictated how many schools I could apply to, so interfolio would have reduced the number. I suppose I could have had an interfolio thing set up and gave them access in addition to everything they asked for, but why the redundancy? Just to add: people should not submit their applications and associated documents in any way other than the school's requested format. The school and the department both have a system in place for selecting people, and things that alter that system tend to be frustrating rather than helpful. Everyone else's paperwork is located in specific places where they don't have to be tracked, just processed. The Didn't Follow Directions Applicant's paperwork is someplace else where it has to be tracked (meaning someone has to be responsible for remembering where it is and then shifting the application to where it's supposed to be, which might be frustratingly difficult if it's all submitted electronically to an incompatible platform). Since they're not the DMV (who has to deal with someone whether they want to or not), they can just send a rejection without actually processing applicant materials. Bucking the paperwork system can be a good thing in the right context, but not when trying to get accepted into a program or hired from a large pool of candidates. There are better ways to stand out. I do think that some graduate schools will adopt things like interfolio as their application system, particularly smaller ones that don't have the resources to develop and maintain their own online application system and want to use one. It appears that some schools already have.

Wear anti-antiperspirant. Drink plenty of water, but use the bathroom before lecture starts. Wear clothes and especially shoes that you're comfortable standing in for several hours, not just an hour. The floors of lecture halls are either concrete or carpeted concrete and that maxes the joint exhaustion for people not used to standing for long periods. Pre-plan your method for tracking your time, that way you don't have to try to spit out five minutes worth of lecture in the last few seconds while everyone is packing up and walking out. Aside from that, chunking into 10 to 15 minutes on one topic helps. After about 10 minutes, students typically lose focus for a while. This guy has a great way to work activities into a lecture (as fuzzylogician suggests) even in a large lecture hall: Now, you're a substitute, so they won't respond as quickly to your cues as students that are used to doing this on a regular basis. Make sure to be clear about helping them move from lecture to activity to lecture.

Two things: 1) I typed up and printed my motivating reason for going after the PhD (my MA program was super-stressful) and hung it on the wall where I could see it every day. Some days, I didn't feel much, but it did remind me that I had a valid reason for my course of action and the sheer masochism it requires to complete. 2) Campus counseling services. I learned some helpful stuff, though the most helpful thing I learned was to give myself permission to not be perfect. I felt guilty, at first, for spending a few hours of time not doing homework, family time, or work, but, in the long run, it was worth it for me.

I register with disability services because of a physical issue that required testing accommodation (a different room, no added time). I never needed to use it for ADHD because I've got strategies that work for me and I don't need extended time to complete an exam. I feel that, for my circumstances only, and ADHD accommodation with extended time would be unfair, and therefore inappropriate. I registered my ADHD because of the meds. I'm a bit paranoid, and while I have a prescription, I wanted to make sure my bases were totally covered if anyone ever questioned my use of the meds (it's the controlled substance thing). I've had students fresh from high school come through my comp courses trying to by mature and getting through college on their own, without any special help, even though they qualify. Some of them do fine. A few flounder and need accommodation that I couldn't extend because they never registered. Everyone has to decide for themselves what works best for them.

First, talk with your adviser and other profs in the department (particularly the newer hires) about how jobs are looking and what skill set(s) might make you the most marketable. For example, a person who does primarily theory may have more trouble than a person who is Brit Lit or an Americanist simply because of the number of theory classes taught compared to literature classes. Comparative Lit job prospects are sinking fast. You can't reliably predict the job market 7 or 8 years down the road, but you can get a feel for what's totally not hot for search committees. From those choices, find a program that will fit your interests. Read PMLA and other publications to find researchers you like, and then look at their colleges for graduate programs to see if you like and if you fit. Take the GRE and write your SOPs. If you wanna start next fall, you'll need to apply this fall.