vitaebella

Ah, thank you so much, my brain is so fried from the past 9 months I forgot to search first. Whoops!

Hey all, I just wrapped up my first year in an English MA program and things went pretty well, but I found myself really struggling with effective note-taking on pretty much all kinds of texts, especially when it came to tracking the longer and more complicated arguments in the academic texts. This is rather embarrassing to admit, and I'm not sure how I got this far without developing a better note-taking method than the underline, write out a few quotes and hope for the best strategy, but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for refining note-taking techniques? Especially when it comes to tracking and pinning down the essence of the argument in really long, unwieldy, complicated essays or monographs. I'm starting work on my thesis this summer and I am desperate to get better at this before I start trying to tackle the research. Any suggestions for note-taking programs or essential tricks would be greatly appreciated!

Hey all, I'm a first year MA in an English graduate program, and my teaching assignment for the spring semester was switched from grader/general assistant in a relatively small course (the same assignment I had this past semester) to leading several small recitation sections for a large course. This will be my first time being in charge of students "on my own" and I'm pretty nervous. I lectured a couple of times for my previous assignment but it was with the assistance of my faculty of record. The class is a humanities course of about 400, and I'll be responsible for about 100 students broken up into three sections. Any general tips for handling running sections for the first time? Time management when it comes to prepping discussions, grading, etc? Tips on prepping lectures/discussions in general? Also, does anybody have any guidelines for writing a section-specific syllabus? Thanks for any help, looking forward to your tips and suggestions!

Started using it the same day you suggested and it's been incredibly helpful so far. Thank you for the suggestion! I love it, it's definitely helping to refamiliarize myself with the basics.

I'm living alone with my three rabbits this year, thank goodness. I've never yet had a good roommate experience. I started off with three different absolute nutters my first semester of college (I had to move three times in one semester because they were each so awful), I went to living alone until I graduated, then times were tough so I had to take on a roommate in my apartment last year. We didn't know each other and made the decision more or less out of desperation, and it turned out terribly. We were not compatible personalities at all, had very different ideas about what being a good roommate meant, and were just very uncomfortable for the whole year. She moved out when the lease came up a few days ago, and now I'm back to being on my own. Honestly, it's very much worth the extra money to me. I need alone time and quiet in order to get anything done. The potential stress of a crappy living arrangement is just too much to compound on top of graduate work, especially for my first year. I'm just lucky I've gotten enough funding to have this luxury. I'm trying to steel myself for the possibility that I may have to take on a roomie when it comes time to do my PhD depending on the money coming in.

Hey guys, I figured this might be a good place to come for some language-learning advice since that's what a lot of you are doing for a living I'm starting an MA in English this year and my program requires demonstration of second-year proficiency in a non-English language by the end of the first year of the program. I studied Italian previously (first year 07-08, second year 08-09) and did quite well my first year. I felt very confident in my progress, but my second year course was just awful and I learned nothing. The professor didn't actually teach much of anything and was more interested in yelling at us for not understanding things he wasn't teaching than trying to help us through our struggles. Anyway, that second year class killed a lot of my motivation and here I am four years later, having regressed to more or less square one. I still have my first and second year textbooks, the workbooks that go with them, supplemental workbooks, an English-Italian/Italian-English dictionary, a verb dictionary, and flashcards but I'm not sure eactly how to get started again. A textbook supplementing an informative classroom experience like my first-year course is a lot different than just a textbook. Any ideas on how best to go about re-learning? Thank you!

Excellent suggestions! Yes, I'll definitely be looking for first editions of anthologies. I just picked up an old edition of Braudy, Cohen, and Mast's Film Theory and Criticism the other day for $10, where as the most recent edition is usually $60-$80. Score! And I was just thinking I should ask around for past syllabi from professors I know I want to work with. I'm glad you mentioned it because I feel a lot more comfortable asking for them now

Nothing wrong with an Anglo/Irish perspective I'll definitely look into it!

I made my decision a little while ago, but I am headed (back) to Michigan State in the fall for my MA! I would have killed to go to NYU, but their offer sadly came with zero funding and zero possibility of funding. Understandable at the MA level, but just not doable for me. They did say they're looking forward to my doctoral application in a few years, though! Congrats to everyone's acceptances and decisions It's over... it's finally over haha

Thank you! I've read Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, but I could definitely do with going over them again. The rest will be new reads. I'm most familiar with The Uncanny and the Interpretation of Dreams, so it'll be good to expand my Freud background. Also, shooting you a PM! Now that sounds perfect. Thank you so much! I've been pretty lost on what the finer points of some theoretical approaches, and even on the general meaning of some others. I'll be picking this up as soon as possible!

Excellent. Thank you! I'll definitely add that all to my list Oh yes, Freud. I'm already pretty familiar with a fair amount of his work from my film theory classes, but I'll be sure to look over several essays again. Any suggestions in particular?

Excellent, thank you!

Hey everybody! I've accepted my offer of admission to Michigan State's English MA for the fall, and after a meeting of prospectives yesterday, I'm a little nervous. Of the whole group, I am the ONLY fresh MA student. Everyone else was looking at the PhD, except for one student who's halfway through his MA at another school and wants to finish it elsewhere. Our graduate courses are available to both MA students and PhD students, so I will likely be taking some of my first year MA classes with upwards of 5th year PhDs. Obviously, they're going to have a huge leg up on me in terms of their base of knowledge and their familiarity with certain works and essays. My undergraduate English education (also at MSU) was mostly comprised of film studies/film theory classes, as that was my concentration (and that's my goal for PhD study). As such, my familiarity with certain novels and theoretical works is really lacking. I'm looking to beef up my knowledge base mostly of critical theories that are frequently used in discussing literature (and film, to a slightly lesser extent, as I'm already familiar with a fair amount), as well as with novels you're more or less expected to have ready by the time you enter a Master's program. I don't have a particular era I'm focusing on, and I'll likely be taking courses dealing with several different literary movements. Any suggested reading on feminist theories and queer theories is especially welcome. Thank you all in advance! Cheers

Yep, this is my second time applying. I made a couple fatal flaws my first time 'round: shooting to high (of 5 apps, 3 were for PhDs with no MA - what was I thinking!?), and an over-long personal statement that was totally lacking focus. I'm going to be going with MSU because they've offered me some very generous funding - a teaching package that includes a tuition waiver, a ~$13,500 stipend, health insurance and a couple other benefits, as well as nomination for a fellowship. Additionally, since I did my undergrad here and have stayed in the area, I already have my old student job lined up again starting this summer (and it's a job I know I can handle on top of classes - it's stupidly easy and there is almost always time to study/do homework on any given shift). MSU was my last choice simply because they don't have an MA that is specifically film/media. But we have an incredible film studies faculty within the English department, many of whom I already have an excellent relationship with. I'm sure I'll be able to work with them on keeping my work as media-centric as possible while still working in the confines of the English curriculum. I just hope doing my BA(s) and MA in the same place doesn't look too bad when it comes time to apply for PhDs. I'd have gladly gone elsewhere, but I can't justify another $30k/term in debt when I can get away with maybe no more debt, or if any, very little. I'll be sending out my official notices to each program on Monday. I'm just going to savor one more day of pretending I could be going to NYU in the fall, haha

In at NYU! No funding so I can't afford to go, but the acceptance feels good (especially because it means the waiting is over!), and this gives me some hope for a PhD acceptance in 2 years.