ruru107

Hmm, rising_star, that is a thought. It would hopefully get things moving along!

I wish I could do that, but he's out of the country. We were just going to discuss the paper through emails.

Hello all! I've been waiting about 5 weeks to hear back from my advisor with comments on a 35 pg. draft of my master's thesis. I'm starting to think he forgot... I was going to wait one more week and then send him an email asking if he had any thoughts so far (also as a subtle reminder in case he forgot). How would you word such an email? If he really hasn't forgotten, but just hasn't had time yet, I don't want to come off as a nag. Thanks for your help!

Background: I'm not actually enrolled at the university, as all my other requirements for graduation have been met, and I even already walked in commencement. I just need my master's thesis approved to officially graduate. For the past year, on my own time, I've been finishing the latest draft of my thesis. My advisor and I are both horrible at keeping in touch, and we haven't contacted each other this entire time. I just heard from a former classmate that she recently left the university to teach at a different university out of state. She didn't tell me about this at all, and now I don't know what to do about my thesis. I think this draft is my last, so I probably wouldn't have needed to meet with her too much anyway, but I don't know who should read this draft and approve it, or even who to contact about it. It doesn't help that I feel embarrassed and ashamed/awkward about taking so long on this draft and not being in contact with her. Should I email her at her new university email? I feel like that's a little presumptuous since she's not even getting paid to read/ comment on my paper anymore. Should I email my second reader? Should I email the administrative assistant/office manager for the department? I just don't know what's appropriate in this situation. Also, if anyone has a recommendation on how to word the email itself, that would be awesome. I want to include an apology and explain myself, but not sound like I'm making excuses or being immature. (The reason my draft has taken so long, if you're wondering, is a mixture of working a tiring full-time job and some irrational anxiety I developed about working on my thesis.) Thank you for your help.

That's a good rule of thumb! Thank you! Part of the problem is that I'm writing about several installation works, and there isn't just one picture of each like with a painting, but lots of different details and from different viewpoints, and I feel like my images could get out of hand really quickly.

How many images should be included in art history papers? It's never been directly addressed in my education. I'm writing a paper that's about 30 pages, and I'm not sure how many images to include...I could include TONS, and maybe that's okay, but maybe I need to know when/how to limit them. What do you think is an appropriate amount for a paper this size? (I'm not publishing it, so that's not an issue here.) What is your criteria for including/not including an image? (I'm pretty far along in my graduate career, so I'm a little embarrassed that this is something I'm just now considering but hopefully it can help somebody else out, too.)

Food/Beverage: pizza with bacon and a variety of cheeses (fontina, gorgonzola, etc.), Sour Patch Kids, flavored hard cider Internet: YouTube, Reddit, Tumblr Movies: Studio Ghibli

I decided to play it safe and submit the resume. I used my cover letter as a way to bring up other relevant experience and go into a little more detail, which is what the cover letter is for, right?

The flexibility of the CV has allowed me to include things that are usually omitted from a resume, but that give a better representation of my qualifications (school projects, etc.). The length of the CV also allows me to more clearly describe what I have done in the past. My resume is full of unrelated jobs (clerical, food, retail)--which I will remove for these applications since they are unrelated to my career goals--but when I take them out, my resume looks sadly empty. The job I'm applying for asks for a resume, but I feel that a resume alone is too short and exclusive to accurately represent my experience. Would it be bad form to submit a CV instead of a resume? Do you think that would get my application thrown out?

Linkup.com is another large search site.

Are you looking for something general, or area-specific? I've been reading Getting What You Came For by Robert Peters (some suggestions are outdated, and it's directed more at PhD's in science, but it was still beneficial) and The Craft of Research (helps you analyze your topic and strengthen your argument).

ArtHistoryandMuseum: I don't mean to take this topic in a different direction, but about the internships... I've had 3 internships (2 undergrad, 1 grad) and some volunteering. My experience from this is 2-2.5 years total. When a job requires 2 years experience minimum, do you think my experience is what they're looking for? Are they looking for 2 years as an intern, or 2 years as a professional employee? I really want to start applying for full-time (or even part-time) museum jobs, but if internships "count" as less experience than permanent employment, I'm afraid I'll have to keep interning for a while. What do you think? GreenePony: Thanks for your input! I'm not surprised that the larger institutions would take longer. So many more administrative hoops.

I'm also interested in this. My relationship with my advisor isn't bad, but there are professors and professionals in my field that I have spent more time with and who are more enthusiastically supportive than my advisor. But I also see how someone might find it strange if my advisor is not listed as a reference.

Thank you, you have some very practical solutions. I do have a mentor-type at a museum nearby who would probably be happy to talk about job applications with me. I think I'll leave it up to the recommenders and their schedule to decide if they have the time to write customized letters. Not all of the applications require letters, so the issue might be moot.

Hello all, I'm graduating in May with a master's, looking for a position in a museum, preferably art or local history/material culture/anthropology. I have two questions: 1) When should I start applying for jobs? In a perfect world, I would have a job ready to start shortly after graduating, which makes me want to start applying sooner rather than later. On the other hand, I don't want to apply too early, because some institutions may be looking to hire someone before I graduate. Google told me the best time would be between mid-January and mid-March. Is there a golden time frame to start sending out applications? 2) Some job postings I am interested in require three letters of recommendation. With the large number of jobs I will be applying for, I don't want to ask the same three people for letters over and over. Is it "proper" to have general form letters that I use for every application that requires them? Am I less likely to be hired if my letters aren't tailored to the specific job (keep in mind that all the jobs will be similar)? If this is "proper," how should I approach and ask my recommenders to write their letters in this way? Thanks everyone! You're amazing!

Thank you both for your advice! I guess I'm just impatient... I looked into my school's policies regarding incompletes. A student may have an incomplete for one year before it is automatically changed to an "F." So it appears I have many more months of waiting... My main worry is that the professor completely forgot about my paper. Like fuzzylogician said, I'll wait a bit longer and then pop into her office.

Hello all, I need your advice on contacting a professor about a grade. Here's the situation: During the spring semester, my professor told the class that if she was not able to grade our final papers in time before grades were due, she would give the students whose papers were ungraded an "incomplete" for the semester. Then, as soon as the papers were graded, she would update the grade. An "incomplete" didn't sound appealing to me, but she seemed fairly nonchalant about it. Anyway, my paper ended up being one that she didn't have time to grade. This paper was submitted to her, both electronically and in hard copy, almost four months ago, and my grade is still listed as "incomplete." It's now into the fall semester, and I figure it's about time that my grade is changed, so I sent the professor a polite email, asking if she had had a chance to look at my paper. That was several days ago, and she hasn't responded. In my experience, if a professor doesn't respond within a few days, he or she probably isn't going to at all. So, should I email her about it again? Should I track her down in her office? Should I talk to someone higher up in the department? I really don't want an "incomplete" to reflect badly on my work ethic, especially since the grade has nothing to do with my inability to finish the course, but rather the professor's inability to grade my work. At the same time, I don't want to ruffle any feathers and be considered a bothersome student. What would you do?

Actually, financially needy graduate students attending participatory schools are also eligible for a subsidized loan, the Federal Perkins Loan. It is not nearly as large as a Direct loan, but if you are coming up a bit short, I would definitely look into the Perkins loan and see if it is available to you.

There are some great planners at Target (might also be the Greenroom brand). They have both weekly and monthly views, a tab at each monthly calendar so it's easy to find the month you need, and an address book section. They come in some really nice colors and have soft, leather-esque covers. I prefer the smaller size that's about 5x8 because it's easier to break out quickly and jot something down. Should be under $15.

I like this way of thinking, too. For me, after long periods of nonstop work, all I really want is to do nothing. But after 2-3 days of lying around, instead of feeling "free," I just feel bored. Then, the idea of work becomes very appealing. I think taking time off can give us perspective and remind us why we love what we study.

If you are planning on taking a few more art history classes, why not Herron at IUPUI? I had a great experience there.

The only one I can think of is the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck. You may not consider it to be pre-Renaissance, depending on what year you consider to be the starting point of the Northern Renaissance, but it features a mirror that shows two additional people not in the main scene, one of which might be the artist.

I love moscato, and I definitely would not describe myself as part of the hip hop scene. That's sort of an arbitrary assumption to make. I just prefer sweeter drinks. I would prefer a rum and coke over an old fashioned, and a hard cider over a beer. Maybe it means I'm not "cultured" enough to appreciate less sweet drinks, but so be it. I'll drink what I like.

I like the idea of sleeping for four hours or so and then getting back to work, but I never try it because I'm afraid I'll just sleep through my alarm, sleep the whole night, and have no time left to work on the assignment!

It can be helpful to get out of the house. I usually try to work on campus around many other students, especially if people can see what I'm doing. It keeps me accountable if I know everyone might judge me if they see me watching cat videos on YouTube instead of working. Also, your productivity will soar if you don't have internet at home. As iowaguy said, you will be forced to prioritize what needs to be done on the internet, and it won't be there to distract you when you're working offline.