Gene Parmesan

See if you can get yourself to a conference in your field and network away!

NEVER apologize for going to a state school or thinking you're less qualified to be at a top tier program. If a university committee doesn't look at your app or take you seriously because you went to a state school, you don't want to be going there anyways. That being said, you're work has to speak for you and you have to speak for your work. Many people in the profession look down on certain schools or don't take people's background seriously. You have to work at your full potential whether you're at an ivy league school or whether you're at a state school. Work on your statements, work on your gre scores, work on your research questions. Develop your questions/interests intelligently and in conversation with current scholarship. Consider minors and "studies" as they relate to your interests and be ready to defend those choices. Also, there is no harm in considering an MA to tighten your interests and gain some more experience. Find yourself some mentors--yes, mentors in the plural sense. Each will offer you a different perspective. Some will teach you about the profession, others about teach, and others about managing life as a scholar. If you're considering labor history and class feel free to private message me if you'd like to talk some more about those interests.

+1

American Studies!

I showed my SOP to as many people as possible. I noticed some profs read for content while other read for structure, and their combined comments produced what I'd like to think of as a workable and efficient SOP. I've also heard one prof offer this advice, do three different quickwrites: one when you get out of class (if this applies to you), one after you've had a beer/wine/coffee, and one when you've just woken up, finished running, or anything that relaxes you. I found it also really helps if you determine the tone of your SOP. I knew people who made their SOP really personal and weaved personal narrative with research interests. Personally, I included one sentence about personal struggle as an undergrad, but beyond that my SOP was 3 pages or so of research discussion (what I've studied, what I want to study, why I want to study it at that school). Regarding the app process, I wish I would have started earlier. I began writing around October and felt like I was scrambling to finish in November after my 30th or so draft (no kidding). If you have the time and energy to jot down your ideas now, go for it. I wouldn't recommend aiming for a full draft until the fall. I noticed my interests changed a lot and I found new ways to articulate those interests as I read more and talked more w/ faculty. Also, I worked 2-3 jobs at a time during the fall semester w/ classes so I really didn't set aside enough time "brainstorm" ideas and such, so if you can anticipate a busy fall semester/workload then getting started as soon as possible helps. If you can, start an excel sheet for your prospective programs. Write in deadlines, transcript requirements, gre requirements, POIs and their emails, and whatever else you can gather that will keep you from having 7 internet tabs open at once.

I posted this in "Reading tips for graduate students in history programs" about 20 min before this thread was started but maybe its more appropriate here: Since we've been discussing how to read books effectively in a short time, I'm curious to learn how many of you take external notes on monographs. This is somewhat related to the thread, "To Buy or Borrow?" In a more recent post a few people mentioned checking out books from the library and taking extensive notes externally outside of the margins. I've been experimenting with a few note-taking strategies, and they include the following: -Using thin post-it notes to mark pages in a book. Typically, I'll use two colors like blue and green. Blue for argument/method/theory, and green for content/evidence/case studies that are relevant to a write up or relate to something else I've read. This can get tedious or confusing sometimes, so I'll just use one color and mark all relevant pages. -Writing a list of the author's critical vocabulary in the first blank page of the book if I own the book. So for example, I just read Don Mitchell's Lie of the Land and marked all relevant definitions of landscape and cultural geography in the blank pages. This works for identifying periodization, too. -External notes on blank paper that identify thesis and method. I also take notes of the author's outline of chapters that they generally put in the intro. That way when I skim chapters I can refer to my paper note to quickly remember what the point of the chapter was in their words. Later I try to go back and type all my notes. On a good day, I'll be able to practice all three of these strategies, but sometimes it ends up being an odd mixture of the them. So if anyone would like to share how they take notes or if they have a particular strategy that works for them, that'd be great, as I'm trying myself to learn an effective combo of strategies. Also, I noticed some people are starting to use kindles/e-readers more, at least for articles and PDF. Maybe they can share how they take in-text digital notes.

Since we've been discussing how to read books effectively in a short time, I'm curious to learn how many of you take external notes on monographs. This is somewhat related to the thread, "To Buy or Borrow?" In a more recent post a few people mentioned checking out books from the library and taking extensive notes externally outside of the margins. I've been experimenting with a few note-taking strategies, and they include the following: -Using thin post-it notes to mark pages in a book. Typically, I'll use two colors like blue and green. Blue for argument/method/theory, and green for content/evidence/case studies that are relevant to a write up or relate to something else I've read. This can get tedious or confusing sometimes, so I'll just use one color and mark all relevant pages. -Writing a list of the author's critical vocabulary in the first blank page of the book if I own the book. So for example, I just read Don Mitchell's Lie of the Land and marked all relevant definitions of landscape and cultural geography in the blank pages. This works for identifying periodization, too. -External notes on blank paper that identify thesis and method. I also take notes of the author's outline of chapters that they generally put in the intro. That way when I skim chapters I can refer to my paper note to quickly remember what the point of the chapter was in their words. Later I try to go back and type all my notes. On a good day, I'll be able to practice all three of these strategies, but sometimes it ends up being an odd mixture of the them. So if anyone would like to share how they take notes or if they have a particular strategy that works for them, that'd be great, as I'm trying myself to learn an effective combo of strategies. Also, I noticed some people are starting to use kindles/e-readers more, at least for articles and PDF. Maybe they can share how they take in-text digital notes.

Listened to this podcast today of an interview with Peniel Joseph by the Journal of American History. The interview expands on a "state of the field" essay he published in the journal on Black Power studies. It might help point you in the direction of some faculty, readings, and current and future trends in the literature. I imagine that the article itself can be found online through a university library. “The Black Power Movement: A State of the Field” in December 2009 issue of the Journal of American History. Hope it helps Navigate down the page or click on "2009" under episode guide. http://www.journalof...ry.org/podcast/

Oh those interested in labor, radicalism, and political economy should read whatever they can on neoliberalism, in my opinion. I'm still working on devising a list for myself on neoliberalism and I'll share that once I do

Some quick suggestions of books that have cropped up for me, by no means exhaustive or definitive, and in no order than what I could conjure in my brain in the moment. Many of these books might be considered American Studies, FYI. George Lipsitz, How Racism Takes Place or Rainbow at Midnight Robin Kelley, Race Rebels and Freedom Dreams and Hammer and Hoe Nikhil Pal Singh, Black is a Country Herbert Gutman, "Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America, 1815-1919" Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem During the Depression Mark Solomon, The Cry Was Unity Bill Mullen, Popular Fronts: Chicago and African American Cultural Politics, 1935-46 James Barrett, William Z. Foster and the Tragedy of American Radicalism Barbara Foley, Radical Representations: Politics and Form in US Proletarian Fiction, 1929-41 David Montogomery, The Fall of the House of Labor Michael Denning, The Cultural Front Danny Widener, Black Arts West

I just received a rejection via email. 1300 applicants. oh well.

Maybe start with this: Try and identify historical questions that you feel crop up in all your papers, and think about what methods you've used or would like to use/explore in the future. Ask yourself what fields interest you, what bodies of literature, what time periods. Then search out the citations in your favorite books and find out where those historians teach. Not that I have a whole lot or any experience yet, but my impression is that you do not exactly need a professor who shares the exact same research as you. It certainly helps and is a good benefit, but websites and publication lists conceal more than they reveal. When I started speaking with faculty, books I loved that they wrote years ago were topics they left behind because maybe they found a new project. Also, try looking at Universities that have African and African American Studies departments. A lot of times faculty will be crosslisted and there will be a solid group of students working in the field.

Danny Widener at San Diego might be a good fit.

Yea Morgan's American Slavery, American Freedom is an interesting and worthy read. Regarding something almost everyone reads in Theories and Methods: Spivak's "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Found at: http://www.mcgill.ca...ltern_speak.pdf Thanks for the suggestion of Sarge, Heyles. Regarding biography, Linda Gordon's Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits is an excellent biography and I believe won the Bancroft prize(?). Contributing some more Americanist lit: Sterling Stuckey- Slave Culture Mike Davis- City of Quartz (interesting story if I remember correctly, this book was his diss at UCLA but was rejected by faculty) David Roediger- Wages of Whiteness Dubois- Black Reconstruction Barbara Fields- "Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America" and "Ideology and Race in American History" http://www.solidarit...hool/fields.pdf I'm starting to wonder if people can suspect where my fields lie.

3rd year MA in American Studies. Beginning PhD in Fall 2013. Pivotal books I've read in courses and (somewhat) related to my interests: Edmund Morgan- American Slavery, American Freedom John Blassingame- The Slave Community Raymond Williams- Culture and Society Rhys Isaac- The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 William Cronon- Changes in the Land Robin Kelley- Freedom Dreams George Lipsitz- Time Passages, Possesive Investment in Whiteness, and/or How Racism Takes Place Benedict Anderson- Imagined Communities