Summer 2016: What will you be researching this summer?

[_etruscan]

Working on my French this summer.

But mostly learning the best way to move to Nashville with the least possible round-trips back to Dallas 

[Calgacus]

Any other advice out there about what people are doing/recommend doing in the summer prior to starting the PhD to prepare?

[nevermind]

18 hours ago, Calgacus said:

Any other advice out there about what people are doing/recommend doing in the summer prior to starting the PhD to prepare?

The only thing(s) I'm doing are:

1. Making a 5 year plan (as suggested in "The Professor is In"), which basically tracks deadlines of important research proposals/funding opportunities.

2. Some light reading regarding a core class I'm taking in the fall. (Reading the assigned texts / articles, so I have more time to devote to other things once I'm in the program.) 

3. Brushing up on my foreign languages. 

But really, nothing major. I'm just enjoying my last summer (except I also work) before my Ph.D., so I don't burn out and don't hate my life.

[kotov]

I'm gonna be working on turning my dissertation into a book. Not necessarily doing new research, but going back over some of the old documents that I read back at the beginning of my research for this project (three years ago now -- good grief!) that I want to reconsider and possibly put different weight on and interpret differently now, with the perspective of the completed project. But, more or less, I'm trying to get enough of the book together to be able to send out the proposal to a press by the end of the summer.

[Danger_Zone]

10 minutes ago, kotov said:

I'm gonna be working on turning my dissertation into a book. Not necessarily doing new research, but going back over some of the old documents that I read back at the beginning of my research for this project (three years ago now -- good grief!) that I want to reconsider and possibly put different weight on and interpret differently now, with the perspective of the completed project. But, more or less, I'm trying to get enough of the book together to be able to send out the proposal to a press by the end of the summer.

That is so exciting!! Good luck! What was your dissertation on?

[Sigaba]

On 5/3/2016 at 9:15 PM, Calgacus said:

I was hoping someone would start a "summer" topic. I know this is about summer generally, but I'd love to hear advice about what people are doing/did do/recommend doing in the summer prior to beginning the phd specifically. 

I recommend that one focus on the historiography on one's areas of interest by identifying and studying the must read works and the articles that define the state of the art.

I think focusing on dissertation writing skills is putting the cart in front of the horse. The creation of new knowledge requires a certain mastery of the knowledge that already exists.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Sigaba
Formatting

[kotov]

On 5/11/2016 at 9:13 PM, Danger_Zone said:

That is so exciting!! Good luck! What was your dissertation on?

Jewish forced labor in Romania during WWII.

[kotov]

On 5/12/2016 at 0:23 PM, Sigaba said:

I recommend that one focus on the historiography on one's areas of interest by identifying and studying the must read works and the articles that define the state of the art.

I think focusing on dissertation writing skills is putting the cart in front of the horse. The creation of new knowledge requires a certain mastery of the knowledge that already exists.

This is *great* advice. Even if you don't have a specific topic in mind, broadening your historiographic knowledge in your general area can only help.

Obviously, if one can work on languages during the summer, one should do that as well (I did during my first two summers of grad school). 

[pro Augustis]

Thanks as ever for your veteran advice, @Sigaba & @kotov.

For my english-language readings this summer, I am trying to have a balance between some of the classic studies (Millar's Emperor in the Roman World, Syme's Tacitus) and work from the professors I will be working with next year that sounds particularly interesting. Being in such a language-heavy field, I will also be doing readings in Latin (the parts of Tacitus' Histories I and Annals IV I haven't yet gotten to, then some speeches of Cicero for a more relaxing finish), Greek (the start of Thucydides, Xenophon's Anabasis, and finishing Oedipus), and German, though I have not yet figured out what German I want to focus on. Theodor Mommsen would be the obvious choice, but I have heard that his German is very tough, and my comprehension is not yet superb. 

On a lighter note, I will also be wandering around the Mediterranean for a few weeks later this summer, and I can't wait to stand in the Pantheon. 

[BlackBear50]

I will be hiking in the Maine woods, reading some books here and there, practicing my French + Spanish, and preparing to move.

[Klonoa]

My summer plans are not going as I had originally pictured it. I went to visit my family twice in the month of May, which has gotten be behind on my reading and research. I had planned for my Sundays to be my day of rest, but I will using Sundays to catch up. I hope I can got a lot accomplished before the July 4th holiday weekend.

[tingdeh]

Oh boy, summer's a busy one, but fulfilling I hope. Panels to prep for at a big field conference, finishing a big digital humanities product, and comps prep while I'm at it. I'll be travelling for July to Cornell, Michigan, and the Newberry at Chicago for some archival work. 

On the bright side: it's only been my first year and I've got a book review in press, an article in press in a top field journal, another article in peer review, and a co-authored article submitted! What a productive year. I'm happy to be back here checking in on you folks.

[maelia8]

I'll be at a Digital Humanities conference in Canada this week, and frolicking around in the archives in Berlin, Germany for two months starting the week after that! Putting on my Big Researcher Pants this summer

[knp]

Besides my language prep, a disability of mine has started maybe rolling down into yet another slow-motion avalanche, so I get to go on another round of treatment hunting. Whoopee (not).

[Klonoa]

Did anyone apply for an internship on volunteer position at a museum or archive this summer? I'm in the process of doing this now. I am curious to know how this is working out for anyone who has applied for an internship or volunteer position.

[dr. t]

I am reporting in to inform you that Toronto is simply the worst.

[tingdeh]

On 7/14/2016 at 11:27 PM, telkanuru said:

I am reporting in to inform you that Toronto is simply the worst.

Oh no! Do tell. It looks like we tag-teamed (I left Toronto a couple of weeks ago to do research around the Northeast and the Midwest). What's going on in my home base?

[dr. t]

5 hours ago, tingdeh said:

Oh no! Do tell. It looks like we tag-teamed (I left Toronto a couple of weeks ago to do research around the Northeast and the Midwest). What's going on in my home base?

Well, the university bureaucracy is the worst I've ever encountered, but mainly I didn't like the city. Specifically, I didn't like that it was very hard to get out of the city.

But now I am in the northern French countryside, so everything is lovely.

[tingdeh]

On 7/21/2016 at 4:52 AM, telkanuru said:

Well, the university bureaucracy is the worst I've ever encountered, but mainly I didn't like the city. Specifically, I didn't like that it was very hard to get out of the city.

But now I am in the northern French countryside, so everything is lovely.

Disagree, of course, with the city-love (I love it), but I absolutely agree with the bureaucracy. The University is a mongrel between some "British" and "American" system, and so you get a centralized de-centralized administrative model. Very Canadian. Blegh.

Hope you're enjoying France!

[Klonoa]

The summer has come to an end, as the fall 2016 semester is only days away (for me at least). How did everyone's research go? Was it successful? Are you proud of what you accomplished? 

[mvlchicago]

I'm pretty great work is pretty great things are pretty great 12/10

[Neist]

My pre-graduate school work was pretty vanilla, but productive. Did some language training and read a lot. I wish I read a little bit more, but I probably went through 20 books. That's not terrible.