Sigaba

What about a third option: Shelving the snark and doing what one can to help get students ready for graduate school. Does a student hating to write and to do research mean that she automatically won't seize an opportunity to improve her skills at either? Or is a less than ideal mindset just as good a reason as any to stop teaching? Regardless of the motivation, a student is still going to have to create new knowledge to earn a doctorate. What harm is a student doing to you or a particular field if she creates that knowledge only for the social prestige of a doctorate? Why is the standard of creating new knowledge good enough for a field but not for you?

As you well know, there are other ways that undergraduates can color outside the lines short acts of cheating or plagiarizing. A four page essay can become six pages. A student can be habitually late and/or under-prepared to section. A student can be late to appointments. A student can horde library books. And, ultimately, how is cheating by an undergraduate "completely" different than a graduate student going against an executed agreement to not take on additional work? In both cases, a student is deliberately violating established standards of behavior for that student's personal gain. Indeed, at some institutions, an undergraduate could reasonably argue that he or she did not know she was plagiarizing because she was never given extended guidance as to what constitutes plagiarism. Are you saying that a graduate student also reasonably say "I did not know that I was expected to abide by the contract I signed when I was offered a fellowship/teaching assistant ship?"

IME in the private sector (which includes working at a multinational consumer and business electronics company's R&D lab) It takes a lot of time, effort, expertise, and money to design, to build, and to test a very good website. While we as end users are increasingly used to user friendly websites that are intuitive, useful, and aesthetically pleasing, not all institutions are going to make their websites a priority. In some cases, this decision can reflect a lack of vision. In others, it can reflect focus on other goals--such as keeping overhead costs down so a firm can avoid raising the cost of its products to its consumers. (In other words, what would you rather have: a program with a great website but one or two fewer financial aid packages to offer graduate students, or a program with a crappy website but more money for graduate students?) Moreover, IME (as a graduate student but also from working for a consultancy and having a small private college as a client), getting stakeholders on board to support an imitative to improve an institution's 'marketability' can be a tremendously complicated and time consuming process. Getting the interested parties into the same room long enough to debate one issue among many is a task unto itself. Getting them to agree on a solution and to hold to that agreement over time can be equally time consuming. And after that, the discussions will start all over again over the specific solution to implement. My point here is that when one is on the outside looking in, it is very easy to talk about the way things ought to be, especially when it comes to something like an institution's website. However, I think it is important for one to balance that perspective with some understanding that a lot is going on behind the curtain.

Judging academic institutions by their websites makes as much sense as admissions committees assessing applicants by the font they use in their SOPs. In both cases, who shoulders the burden for such snap judgements: the institutions in question or the aspiring graduate student?

Was it the studying or the pipe weed?

Were I in your position, the first thing I'd do is vet my assumptions. That is, how do you know that you screwed up the interview and that your gaffe is why you weren't offered a spot? (Unless you were ranked as one of the top ten of the forty, this conclusion might be unwarranted.)

Check your PMs, please.

And if it isn't, you might be able to order a copy of it here.

You are not alone. (Although I recently did bend from this sensibility to buy one book that had a handful of check marks in pencil.)

I would say that it depends upon who is reading and evaluating a piece, and also what field. I've had professors who read the footnotes/endnotes first. And I've read reviews in scholarly journals in which the reviewer complain about a writer resorting to a "garland of ibids." IMO, a way to manage one's risk is to learn the format for your field like the back of your hand and to not take shortcuts. My $0.02

Relying heavily on the highlighting and marginalia of a book's previous owner may be a double-edged sword, especially if one is preparing for qualifying exams.

I prefer to buy. Over the years, I've become more discriminating in my choices and more willing to buy used books on line. For me, one of the chief advantages of buying the book is that when you need to book, you have the book. (And often, at least in IME, I need a book for something that I initially did not think was too critical a point.) (Er, that is, until you have so many books that you have them in storage. But that's another issue.) YMMV.

FWIW, I agree with this statement. All of my computers have been laptops. While the additional cost of an external keyboard, mouse, monitor, HDD, and, if you're so inclined, a docking station can add up, the mobility is, IMO, worth the additional expense. In regards to a printer, please consider the advantages of doing most of your printing at an on-campus computer lab. Similarly, one might also do Xeroxing at a copy shop or purchase a copy card that will run your school's copiers. That way, you have access to better technology than you might be able to afford on a graduate student's budget. Also, if the hardware goes south during the eleventh hour, it is someone else's problem, not yours. My $0.02.

Another way to show this awareness is to describe one's research interests in terms similar to one or more professors at a school. For example, if John Smith's research interests center around A, B, and C, one can point out that one wants to do research on A, B, and D. (Compare the impact of domestic politics on American foreign policy during the Second World War to the impact of domestic politics on American foreign policy during the Vietnam War.) To be clear, this approach should only be used if one is representing honestly one's projected research interests. HTH.

I think there's too much posturing in this thread by members of this BB who have never stood in front of a classroom of undergraduates. I think that if some of you are going to need much thicker skins. I also think that some of you need to figure out ways to communicate your points of view more respectfully and without the snark. Otherwise, your professors--if not also your classmates--are going to use you as chew toys. Back on topic. Regardless of one's familiarity with the research on the acquisition of language skills or one's empathy or sympathy for students who are not native English speakers, the question remains: What are you going to do when you've got a limited amount of time to evaluate fifty or more assignments and some of the replies are incomprehensible? The temptation to punt will be tremendous. The opportunities for rationalization will be plentiful. (She's a student athlete and it is the middle of her season...English is his second language and he's trying very hard...She's a single parent and she's going through a tough time right now...this class isn't part of his major.) When those of you who are fortunate enough to be entrusted with the teaching of undergraduates face these situations, ask yourselves what kind of educator do you want to be. As you deliberate, consider the following point. A reason why a BB like thegradcafe exists is because too many professors and experienced graduate students have punted. That is, rather than taking an active interest in your development as students, many of your professors and teaching assistants have decided not to make you a priority. Consequently, during each application season, this BB has thousands of members who do not have an idea how to pick programs, to ask for LORs, to write SOPs, or how to initiate conversations with POIs. Make no mistake. Professors and graduate students have plenty of reasons for not mentoring undergraduates--even those who want to follow in their footsteps. They have rationalizations of their own. (I've got too much work to do on my dissertation. I need to study for quals. I've got to prepare for a committee meeting. I don't want to get negative evaluations from undergraduates; I'm up for tenure review next year. It isn't my job. They are not worth the effort.) Think about how as graduate students want to fit into this dynamic. Consider the example you want to set for your students, your fellow graduate students, and the professors for whom your working. Do you want to be known as someone who is committed to educating undergraduates? Or do you want to be known as someone who is willing to kick the can down the hallway in the hope that someone else will pick it up? If you pick the latter option, I suggest that you keep in mind that professors who do care about teaching may ask around about your sensibilities towards teaching. If they don't like what they hear, you may find your relationship with them subtly changing. Or they may use their influence to send a clearer message by not hiring you for more work. (And believe me, working for professors who care about teaching is much more rewarding than working for a professor who doesn't give a shit about undergraduates. But I'm not bitter.) My $0.02.

@cokohlik-- Be very careful when using your experiences as an undergraduate as a reference point. That is, let your achievements as an undergraduate be a source of confidence but understand that as a graduate student, you'll be held to a standard that is both different and higher even though many of the assignments may appear to be essentially the same. From the script for Men in Black.

I have it on good authority that some departments are so concerned about grade inflation that some admissions committees are placing less and less weight on applicants' GPAs and more on the LoRs, the SOP, and the writing sample. FWIW, as an UG at Cal, I knew a few engineering students. Their experiences were very much in line with the dynamic described in post #8, above. Overall, I would recommend to every aspiring graduate student to not let anything or anyone deter you from applying to at least one top program. Regardless of what the statistics say, there are always going to be outliers and those who travel a route off the beaten path. Why shouldn't that person be you?

Ever consider the advantages of renting a room in a house? IME, one can get a lot more bang for the buck. (Were I in your position, I'd look to rent a room in a house close to Leimert Park. That way, I could use the MTA 305 to get to and from UCLA and be within walking distance of several grocery stores, drug stores, and banks.) In any case, I think you're going to need to manage your expectations IRT how much work you'll be able to get done on a bus. The economy is pushing people out of their cars and onto mass transit so the buses are increasingly crowded. WRT making it in L.A. without a car, one can do it and do it easily. One just needs a watch, change/tokens/pass, MTA timetables, and, ideally, a smartphone to access NextBus, a dedicated GPS device, an iPod with noise cancelling earbuds, plenty of Purell, lots of patience, and good SA.

Please consider the utility of looking around here and using this resource, and that one as well. If you really want to save yourself time, it might be worth your while to study the L.A. DOT's commuter express lines <<LINK>> and find a place to live that is close to a route that stops in Westwood. HTH.

C-- Please take a look at this It might have information that you'll find useful.

For me, the issue isn't about asking for funds that one legitimately needs from a position of respect, but attempting to leverage one institution's offer against another school's offer as an act of self gratification. To me, the differences between what one needs and what one wants are clear.

RB-- I think you might have missed my point. Because professional academic historiography is not highly regarded by Americans in general, public intellectuals like West and Smiley feel comfortable offering generalizations about America's past. IMO, thedig13's piece offers an opportunity to make the point that the serious study of history is much more complicated and that Americans might be better served by looking carefully before they leap. Moreover, I don't know if the practice of academic history is well served by drawing strict lines of demarcation between "professional" historiography and everything else when it comes to contemporary events. As Donald Cameron Watt pointed out in his seminal essay on the historiography of the Yalta Conference, historians need to protect their domain of knowledge.* If academic historians are to address successfully the widening gap between professional historiography and everything else, we might be better off if we widen the scope of debate sooner rather than later. My $0.02. ____________________________________________________________________ * D.C Watt, "Britain and the Historiography of the Yalta Conference and the Cold War, Diplomatic History 13:1 (1989): 67-98. Watt argues "The true historian, like the settler, has to contend with brigandage, conmen, get-rich-quick operators, vigilantes, utopians, bushwhackers, religious fanatics and even indigenous inhabitants trying to preserve their traditional hunting or burial grounds (68)."

@thedig Were I in your shoes, I'd be very careful about using present-day interviews UNLESS I'd done some course work in oral history. Memories can get very fuzzy over time. You might not have the time nor the training to verify the information in your discussions with former BPP members. So, I recommend you follow the path that StrangeLight recommends in post #8 and that you use the interviews as "icing" on the cake. I also suggest that if you do use interviews, you protect yourself by indicating clearly within the body of your paper that the interviews were conducted long after the events in question. Also, if I recall correctly, the Ron Dellums papers have recently become available at the Oakland public library. You might profit from contacting a librarian to see what there is to see. Finally, consider the utility of placing your essay not just within the historiography of the Black Panther Party, but also within the context of other debates. For example, Cornel West and Tavis Smiley are leading an initiative to tackle poverty in America. How might the history of the BPP's efforts in Oakland inform our understanding of the historical context of West's and Smiley's effort? To be clear, I'm not suggesting that you need to make a policy recommendation or to express a political point of view. And I would caution you about taking a teleological approach to the past. And I'm dubious about the concept of "the lessons of history." I am merely suggesting that you use your paper as an opportunity to demonstrate the continued relevance of professional academic history. (As an example, Mr. Smiley insists that poverty in America is not a skill problem but a problem of will. Maybe your study can serve as an example of or counter point to Mr. Smiley's interpretation of America's past.)

Three quick suggestions. First, if you're going to make a transition from one method of organizing your materials to another, please consider the value of giving yourself plenty of time to design, to implement, and to tweak your new solution. Sometimes, what may seem like a small change can end up being a big drag on your time at the worst moment. Second, please be mindful of the fact that software changes at an alarming rate. The solution you employ today may not be available three years from now. Google Desktop Search is no longer available because Google decided to chase the cloud. Also, some free software solutions may not be free down the road. So if you find software that works great for you, please consider the utility of archiving a copy of it, and understand that future versions of "free" software may not be as robust as previous iterations (Copernic desktop search comes to mind) and/or may not keep pace with upgrades to your computer's OS. Third, if you use a detailed method of naming directories, folders, and sub-folders, please note that the length of your path/filenames may lead to hiccups when you're backing up your stuff.