Tips for Excelling at Literature

[boomah]

When I was an undergraduate English major, I never actually felt that I'm at the top of my class. Now that I'm starting an MA, I'd really like to excel. What are your tips to performing well in studying literature?

 

Some mistakes I'm thinking of avoiding this time around:

 

-Not giving myself enough time to read

-Starting papers the night before

-Writing papers without discussing the ideas with professors

-Going to class without any prepared thoughts on the readings

 

What other advice and tips can you guys offer? (In general about literary studies, or the way you analyze literature, or how to handle an MA lit program, or anything else about being a grad student/student of literature).

 

Thanks!

[jhefflol]

I'm going to do list form because I'm feeling lazy.

DO THE DARN READING. This is seriously the most simple concept about getting a literature degree but darn if it's not the hardest part too. It piles up so sparknotes/audiobooks/movie versions get real tempting. Also, a good deal of the material, in my program at least, was only discussed for maybe one week and then was never tested or anything. It gets really tempting not to read stuff that isn't tested but you never know when a text is going to come up in another project/class.

Find a niche. Everyone has one. The sooner you know it, the sooner you can start focusing as many of your papers around it as possible. I don't think I have written one paper in the last 2 years that wasn't gender theory. And once you've done that,

Talk to your professors about your writing. They know what kind of writing is taken seriously in academia. This one is hard for me because I don't want to hear any criticism about my writing but honestly I need it. And that's why I'm getting my MA: to better my academic writing.

Submit for publication/conferences. You never know who is going to find your research interesting.

Try not to work as much. I'm paying for my schooling myself and last year I was working 2 jobs at 55+ hours a week. I was working 7 days a week and had shifts anywhere from 7 am to 3:30 am. I missed out on a lot of talks, readings, and mixers because of work. I also had hardly any time to do reading. Don't do that.

ETA: About waiting until last minute to write: sometimes it's necessary. Last year there were 2 instances where I had to write two 18-page term papers from scratch and only had about 12 hours to do each one. I don't recommend it, but I pulled As out of both. Make sure you give yourself enough time to proofread and try to start researching for term papers at around midterms. Sometimes literature can take a while to get to you, especially if you have to use any kind of interlibrary lending programs. And if you do, download the literature on to a flash drive. The text expires after a certain date and you won't be able to access it unless you have it downloaded.

Also, learning how to do an effective review of literature for your papers will save you a lot of time, especially if your thesis for the paper has little secondary sources to directly back up your claims. From what I know, that's how it should be anyway; the majority of your evidence should come from the primary text.

Edited August 19, 2014 by jhefflol

[Dr. Old Bill]

Jhefflol has some great advice there. Just a few thoughts to add...

 

First, you've identified four areas for improvement, and indeed, those are four areas you need to improve. As Jhefflol says, writing papers the night before can be done (some people work best with an imminent deadline), but results may vary. This leads into the one big thing that simply isn't stressed enough in undergrad: TIME MANAGEMENT. Right from the first day of classes (and preferably before), you should be assembling your syllabi / reading lists and forming a plan for the semester. As an undergrad, I've always taken all of my syllabi and created a master spreadsheet with deadlines for all papers and readings for each of my clases by date. It takes a couple of hours or so to assemble the spreadsheet, and things change throughout the semester, but having everyting on one or two sheets of paper (virtual or otherwise) is extremely helpful.

 

I'm a particularly slow reader, I think. Close-reading something like Coriolanus or a book of Paradise Lost can take me the bulk of a day. Yet I've never not done the reading, no matter how many courses I'm enrolled in or daunting the material is. This is because I'm constantly looking at what needs to be done weeks in advance, and forming a plan of attack. It doesn't take as much time to form such a plan as you might expect. It's just a case of being aware of what's on the horizon and not having the little "oh s***t!" moments when you realize that some big reading is due the next day.

 

And one final general comment. Be mature, and be an adult about things. This, too, seems to be an underrated -- yet essential -- element of students entering grad school. In undergrad, professors generally expect that there are some frathouse shenanigans going on, with many students having the freedom to fool around and straddle the boundaries between responsibility and irresponsibility. But when you're a graduate student, there's not a lot of leeway for that sort of behavior. You're expected to be professional, and ultimately a scholar-in-training, if not a scholar in fact.

 

This advice might not be specific to the field of literature, but it is no less important for that.

[mikers86]

I'm going to be a voice of slight dissent on this. Yes, do the reading, but learn HOW to read effectively. This does not mean you read every single line of every single article or novel. Get a god enough sense of the material to discuss it. Time management helps in this regard, but so does reading introductions, conclusions, and topic sentences to get a general gist before delving deeper into an article. Faculty honestly do not assume you've read every single thing they assign every week, particularly those who assign hundreds upon hundreds each week. It's an admirable goal to shoot for, but it's not always possible.

Go. To. Office. Hours. Faculty much prefer talking with you than undergrads who almost never come.

Be kind. I'm sorry if you end up in a program that practices book hiding. Courtesy to faculty, admin staff, and your fellow students will go a long way, both during and after your program.

Understand how your department operates, including its politics, but DO NOT get sucked into it. You're there for 2-5/6/7 years. It's not your job to fix things, no matter how tempting. But do know that Professor X and Professor Y will never sit on your committee together and cooperate; this will save you a lot of grief.

If you need something, ask for it. You're a pre-1800 scholar and nothing is being offered in the next year? Ask your DGS. Find some way to get what you need in order for your program to work for you.

[ProfLorax]

So much good advice here! I'm pretty much going to repeat everything that's being said. I have an MA in literature and am now working on a PhD in rhetoric and composition, so my advice can apply to pretty much any English studies grad student. 

 

mikers86 is on point. Read smartly. When you have 500-1,000 pages of reading in a week, plus grading and writing and applying to conferences and oh yeah a personal life, it is physically impossible to read all the pages. This may be more applicable to PhD programs, but I have had multiple professors tell me to prioritize my own research over coursework. So, how does one read smartly? Like boomah already knows, you want to come prepared with some ideas or even questions about the readings. If you are reading a pile of articles, read enough of each one so that you can synthesize and make a connection between all of them (if I'm desperate, I read the intro, really skim the body, and read the conclusion). That being said, once I am reading an assigned novel or article that I know will be helpful for my comps or dissertation (or for the OP, an MA thesis), I zero in. I read it thoroughly, make notes, and highlight that baby. If I know I will use the reading again, having done a deep reading early on will save time when I sit down to cite or memorize or summarize it later on.

 

Okay, now onto my own advice. As always, I don't expect what worked for me to work for everyone, so feel free to pick and choose what you resonates or doesn't! 

 

1. Ask questions. And no, I don't mean those kinds of questions you get during the Q & A at a conference, wherein the question is really a statement about how smart the asker really is. No, I mean ask questions if you're confused. My first semester as a PhD student, a professor had mentioned something about affect, and another grad student piggy backed onto her comment. I was nervous to admit that I didn't really know precisely what "affect" meant in a rhetoric/literature context, but I asked. When the professor turned to the other students to explain it to me, they ALL admitted (even the one who was previously talking about it) that they didn't really understand affect either. It was this great moment when I realized that if I don't understand something, chances are, others don't as well. So, now I ask for clarification whenever I need it: rather than looking ignorant, I feel like I come off as engaged and confident. 

 

2. Forget competition with others. Compete with yourself. When I started my MA program, I immediately was plagued with impostor syndrome. Everyone in the program knew more than me! And looking back, that's probably true; I don't think my undergrad adequately prepared me for graduate studies. I almost dropped out because I just didn't think I'd ever be as smart as everyone else. But after the semester ended, I had a couple professors tell me that I wrote the best seminar paper in the class. So the next semester, I wanted to do even better. And I did. My second semester, I didn't really register how I was doing compared to the other students: I started to see if I could be a better scholar than I was last semester. This simple yet radical change empowered me to enter a PhD program years later, knowing that no matter where I'm at in the pack, I will find a way to better myself throughout the program. 

 

3. Advocate for yourself. You have a right to be happy, satisfied, and safe in your program. If something isn't working out, speak up! I read so many threads of the Officially Grads forum of miserable grad students asking for permission to advocate for themselves. I'm giving everyone that permission now. 

 

4. Make connections. The difference between a great seminar paper and a publishable article is that the former demonstrates an understanding of the course material and the latter breaks into the larger conversation within the field. Make connections among what you're reading in one course with the others. See if you can find connections among your Shakespeare, Classical Rhetoric, and Feminist Theory courses. The ability to see the larger conversation within your field will enable you to write kick ass papers that not only get the "A" but also the coveted "let's talk about submitting this to X, Y, or Z journal" comment from your prof.  

 

5. Make connections. Obviously, with professors. Go to department events, office hours, or book readings by the professors. But also make connections with your classmates! Fostering a sense of community can be especially challenging in an MA program, versus a PhD program, but it's worth it: you will simply be a happier grad student! But having a community of support can also be priceless when you are too sick to go to class and need notes, or need a second pair of eyes on your seminar paper before turning it in, or discover that your classmate has been hoarding the one copy of that library book you so desperately need. And later on, you don't know where your fellow MA graduates will be! I helped an MA classmate get a job where I was teaching, and other MA students helped me when I was applying to PhD programs. It's a community of support that can extend beyond the two years of the program.

 

6. Have an end game in mind. This is MA specific, but since an MA in English is not a terminal degree, I've noticed that some students who don't have an end game in mind just kinda flounder throughout the program. However, those who had, even a vague plan, succeeded. PhD student? Grant writer? Teacher? Editor? Whatever your endgame is will hugely direct the kind of research and extracurricular activities you pursue. If you really have no idea what you want to do post-MA, that's fine too: then, I suggest dedicating yourself to trying a little bit of everything so you can figure out what makes you happiest and most fulfilled. That's what I did! I tutored in the writing center, presented at conferences, chaired the graduate literature association, volunteered with youth, organized group outings to education funding protests. By doing a little bit of everything, I had a pretty diverse CV. After my MA, I was hired as a supervisor at a children's museum (thanks to my volunteer work), which I quit pretty quickly once I was hired as an adjunct instructor (thanks to my tutoring and TA experience), which I then quit three years later to start a PhD program (thanks to my coursework and conference presentations). 

 

I hope this is helpful! Good luck to all who are starting their programs soon! 

[Horb]

This goes with close reading but: familiarize yourself with secondary sources/experts in your field/current discourse and read as much of it as you can. Your arguments need to be fresh and relevant to what is happening in the field. The best way is to read as many papers as you can. It is good to start by reading a bunch of abstracts, determining which interest you, and then reading those. It is also good to start by reading the intro and the conclusion (or last few paragraphs) to get an idea for their main points and then go through and read the paper. 

[queennight]

Wow, this is all great! Thanks to those who have shared!

[boomah]

Hey, thank you so much for all the responses! They were all really helpful.

 

Find a niche. Everyone has one. The sooner you know it, the sooner you can start focusing as many of your papers around it as possible. I don't think I have written one paper in the last 2 years that wasn't gender theory. And once you've done that,

 

 

Yeah, I'm just starting to realize that. I think it's going to be postcolonial for me.

 

As an undergrad, I've always taken all of my syllabi and created a master spreadsheet with deadlines for all papers and readings for each of my clases by date. It takes a couple of hours or so to assemble the spreadsheet, and things change throughout the semester, but having everyting on one or two sheets of paper (virtual or otherwise) is extremely helpful.

 

 

That sounds so useful! I wish I'd done something like that during undergrad days. If it's not much of a hassle, would it be possible to share a screenshot of one of these master spreadsheets?

 

(By the way, Wyatt's Torch, I noticed you're planning on applying to Rice. I did my undergraduate there, so if you have any questions, I can try to answer whatever I know).

 

I'm going to be a voice of slight dissent on this. Yes, do the reading, but learn HOW to read effectively. This does not mean you read every single line of every single article or novel. Get a god enough sense of the material to discuss it. Time management helps in this regard, but so does reading introductions, conclusions, and topic sentences to get a general gist before delving deeper into an article. Faculty honestly do not assume you've read every single thing they assign every week, particularly those who assign hundreds upon hundreds each week. It's an admirable goal to shoot for, but it's not always possible.

 

Yeah, I'll have to train myself in that.

 

2. Forget competition with others. Compete with yourself. When I started my MA program, I immediately was plagued with impostor syndrome. Everyone in the program knew more than me! And looking back, that's probably true; I don't think my undergrad adequately prepared me for graduate studies. I almost dropped out because I just didn't think I'd ever be as smart as everyone else. But after the semester ended, I had a couple professors tell me that I wrote the best seminar paper in the class. So the next semester, I wanted to do even better. And I did. My second semester, I didn't really register how I was doing compared to the other students: I started to see if I could be a better scholar than I was last semester. This simple yet radical change empowered me to enter a PhD program years later, knowing that no matter where I'm at in the pack, I will find a way to better myself throughout the program. 

proflorax, thanks for that super helpful post! I sort of have imposter syndrome right now. Do you remember what it was that led you from having imposter syndrome to writing the best seminar paper? What steps did you take to ensure you're performing well?

 

This goes with close reading but: familiarize yourself with secondary sources/experts in your field/current discourse and read as much of it as you can. Your arguments need to be fresh and relevant to what is happening in the field. The best way is to read as many papers as you can. It is good to start by reading a bunch of abstracts, determining which interest you, and then reading those. It is also good to start by reading the intro and the conclusion (or last few paragraphs) to get an idea for their main points and then go through and read the paper. 

Definitely need to do that. Will start right now!

[Dr. Old Bill]

That sounds so useful! I wish I'd done something like that during undergrad days. If it's not much of a hassle, would it be possible to share a screenshot of one of these master spreadsheets?

 

 

Sure thing, Boomah. Here's a screenshot of my combined syllabi spreadsheet from my Spring semester. I typically "bolded and blued" the assignments on their due dates (though I see I forgot to do that for the essay on March 20th. Oops.)

 

 

 

(By the way, Wyatt's Torch, I noticed you're planning on applying to Rice. I did my undergraduate there, so if you have any questions, I can try to answer whatever I know).

 

 

Awesome! I'll drop you a PM.

[ProfLorax]

proflorax, thanks for that super helpful post! I sort of have imposter syndrome right now. Do you remember what it was that led you from having imposter syndrome to writing the best seminar paper? What steps did you take to ensure you're performing well?

Sure thing! I really think it came down to just changing the way of thought of grad school as a whole. I think lots of people tend to forget that grad school isn't about showcasing brilliance but about learning; I sometimes forget this myself and catch myself wanting to say the smartest thing in a seminar. But to attempt to be the best also shuts me down from opening myself and learning from what I don't know. So now, every time I don't know or understand a concept, I ask rather than hide, then I decide if it's an idea that I can incorporate in my own work. If yes, I explore it further. If no, I move on. 

 

Back to that first semester as an MA student: I was taking one class that I hated; it was all about prose poetry and experimental prose, and other students found ways to discuss a page with maybe five words on it for HOURS. And when doing so, they would mention all sorts of critics and theorists I had never heard of. Instead of focusing on learning from my classmates, I just felt bad about how little I already knew. Which is silly! The whole point of grad school is to become an expert in a niche of the field; no one is expected to be a scholar in every period, theory, and genre. But I didn't know that at the time, so I just felt bad about myself.

 

What ultimately saved me was focusing on what I do know. I was also taking a feminist literary criticism course, and that's my jam. I was really rocking in that seminar. So, when I had to start planning my final seminar paper for the prose poetry class, I took what I had learned from my fem lit crit class and applied it to a text we read in the prose poetry class. I am, after all, a feminist scholar and activist, so I was able to feel and write like an expert, even though working with a prose/poetry novel was foreign to me. Knowing my strengths helped me feel good about what I did know and apply my knowledge to a somewhat new area.

 

It's a tricky balance: you want to open yourself to new concepts and frameworks, but you also go to grad school to study what you like. If I had only written through a feminist lens, I may have missed disability studies my second semester, which is now hugely influential in my work. So, know your strengths and interests, but also be open to learning new things. That should help you focus on your own work rather than how you are doing compared to others, and thus, help you produce some great work in the process. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

I have nothing to add really, other than to say that I have also had pangs of "imposter syndrome," and until this thread, assumed it was just me. It's not that I don't think I'm capable of working at the same scholarly level as others, but more a case of constantly realizing that as much as I've already learned, there's so much left to learn...and some of what's left to learn has already been learned by others in a similar situation as me. Fortunately, knowledge is an almost infinite fount, which means that even the people who have learned the things you haven't learned probably have gaps when it comes to things you have learned that they haven't.

 

All-in-all, it's really like golf. You can't really concern yourself with others, as you can only control the things that are in your own power. And if you're writing interesting material, and have moderately interesting research objectives, you're certainly not an imposter, regardless of the occasional pangs.

[boomah]

 I think lots of people tend to forget that grad school isn't about showcasing brilliance but about learning

 

 

I think there's this expectation that you need to be brilliant to get into grad school. So if you don't feel brilliant, and you see all these other kids who know so much more, you naturally feel like an imposter. But I think your point is really important, that we're there to learn anyway.

 

Back to that first semester as an MA student: I was taking one class that I hated; it was all about prose poetry and experimental prose, and other students found ways to discuss a page with maybe five words on it for HOURS. And when doing so, they would mention all sorts of critics and theorists I had never heard of. Instead of focusing on learning from my classmates, I just felt bad about how little I already knew.

 

Gah! I hate it when that happens to me. But I guess you're right, I need to focus on my interests and become an expert on them (while of course keeping my eyes open to new interests).

 

I have nothing to add really, other than to say that I have also had pangs of "imposter syndrome," and until this thread, assumed it was just me. It's not that I don't think I'm capable of working at the same scholarly level as others, but more a case of constantly realizing that as much as I've already learned, there's so much left to learn...and some of what's left to learn has already been learned by others in a similar situation as me. Fortunately, knowledge is an almost infinite fount, which means that even the people who have learned the things you haven't learned probably have gaps when it comes to things you have learned that they haven't.

 

All-in-all, it's really like golf. You can't really concern yourself with others, as you can only control the things that are in your own power. And if you're writing interesting material, and have moderately interesting research objectives, you're certainly not an imposter, regardless of the occasional pangs.

So true. Like you said, I think we're all capable of producing serious scholarly work. Any gaps in knowledge are easily filled, so there's really nothing much to worry about : )

[Horb]

I'm actually really happy this thread appeared. One of my biggest problems with reading scholarly work is that I often don't think to contradict it or look for contradictions. I took a graduate course in anthropology as an undergrad that was theory based and the grad students were always arguing with different theorists. This motivated conversation but it also brought up some good points -- just because an article is written by a famous critic or authority does not mean it is correct, without failings, etc. My goal is to be able to start arguing with these critical essays so I can begin reading not to just find sources that agree with my point of view, but find ones that don't so I can make my argument stronger. This pursuit, I feel, is one way for excel at literature, but it is perhaps the hardest path. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

Yeah, I think finding ways to rebut the views of other critics is an important skillset for a future academic. In fact, my WS rebuffs a POI at one of the places I'm applying to...twice! I shouldn't be framed like "Dr. Inglehoffer is an idiot for thinking that [insert idiotic supposition here]," of course. I tend to frame my rebuttals in a "credit-where-credit-is-due...but" way, like: "While [critic] is correct in assuming that [some factoid about some literary work], his work does not consider the possibility that [some new and exciting factoid of your own]." One of my favorite papers took a claim by a certain highly regarded, oft-cited literary critic from the sixties that one of Shakespeare's sonnets was like a particular Horatian ode, and I turned it on its head, pointing out a bunch of reasons the sonnet is not, in fact, like that Horatian ode. The key is making sure your tone is not remotely snide, and completely scholarly...otherwise it comes across as if you think you know better than an esteemed critic, rather than pointing out a flaw in an otherwise consistent assertion. Most arguments have flaws, and it typically makes for a fine paper indeed if you can find and rebut those flaws.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Wyatt's Torch

[RoundandRoundAgain]

Speaking of the writing centers, a lot of schools offer free tutoring for graduate students. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT (whether it's another English or humanities or science PhD, find one or two people who you trust and listen to their critical take on your work). Alternately, you can arrange editing workshops with your cohort (I never found it particularly useful, but it was very popular in my program). My first semester I waited too long to properly utilize the writing center, but my second semester, I started meeting with one person to talk about all three papers in the pre-writing phase, then during the initial first couple of pages, and finally the close-to-finished draft). Make time for it, it will improve your writing. My papers were significantly better the second semester (and I'm a horrible procrastinator).

 

Following on that, it can be really helpful to have a writing partner or two if you're somewhat social or want someone to hold you accountable. I have multiple people that I write with and while we take frequent breaks to chat, the moment that we sit down and promise to write for 20 minutes straight without looking at the Internet can be incredibly effective for commitment and accountability. It can be a little competitive, but generally speaking, it's far more about encouraging each other to do better the next time.

 

Also, I really love Scrivener for academic paper writing (though it's a Mac program, the Windows beta is great and not terribly expensive).  

[Strong Flat White]

Be kind. I'm sorry if you end up in a program that practices book hiding. Courtesy to faculty, admin staff, and your fellow students will go a long way, both during and after your program.

 

What is book hiding?

[mikers86]

What is book hiding?

Book hiding being the practice of purposely taking out books you know others in your cohort need. It's less of a problem with ILL, but still a pain in the butt. And it does happen.

[Dr. Old Bill]

Book hiding being the practice of purposely taking out books you know others in your cohort need. It's less of a problem with ILL, but still a pain in the butt. And it does happen.

 

Wow. That's kind of insane. I've never heard of that before.

 

I tend to buy most of my own research materials, rather than borrow, though I suspect that as the amount of research I need to do increases, the amount I'll have to rely on a library will increase as well. I'm kind of surprised to hear that this sort of thing happens in good programs.