I heard an interesting interview on my local CBC Saturday morning show* recently. The interviewee was a news anchor who had decided not to be plugged in and available 24/7, but rather to limit his smart phone and other device use to 16/6. Yes, he decided to not be connected to the internet, phone and […]
Read More »Writing is the social currency of academic life
In high school things like fashionable clothes, knowing the latest hit from a popular band, and being good at sports were the keys to popularity. Getting good grades might have endeared you to teachers and parents but it wasn’t really the currency of peer approval. The world you are in now is like an upside […]
Read More »Are deadlines helping or hurting?
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt In a coaching session, a client mentioned how she’d missed a bunch of deadlines for a co-authored paper and needed to set new ones. I sensed that the whooshing noise was not comforting for her so […]
Read More »An experiment: Standing desk
When I moved back upstairs at the end of the summer, I decided to experiment with a standing desk.
Read More »Why finding time for writing is hard
Recognize this little fella? Research day? Is that what you call it? You’re just staying home in your pyjamas taking a day off. You’ve got more important things to do like plan classes, and prepare for that committee meeting, meet with students … I certainly do. In fact, back when I was still an academic […]
Read More »Is writing even on your to do list?
Do you get to the end of the day and wonder if spending that last 30 minutes writing will be worth it? Would that happen even if you had a deadline next week and a big chunk of writing to do to meet it? How come you aren’t getting to that writing until the last […]
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Research produces more questions than answers
The popular view of research is that it produces answers. This is not untrue. If you need answers, research is going to help you find them. The problem is that research also produces questions. In fact, it produces more questions than answers, which can have a big impact on your ability to publish and on your […]
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From Conference Presentation to Journal Article
In an earlier post, I suggested that conference presentations make great first drafts of journal articles. The hard part is actually sitting down to turn that excellent first draft into something good enough to submit to a journal. Dealing with criticism. Maybe someone in your conference session asked some awkward questions. Or made some suggestions […]
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Do Conference Papers Count?
This is a question I get asked a lot. Whether it is for hiring, tenure, or a research grant, researchers seem unsure of the value of conference papers. It’s all about impact. Conference presentations feel like they have more impact than other forms of dissemination. There are real people in the room listening. They ask […]
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Getting the most from conferences
Are you going to a large disciplinary conference? Are you worried about your conference presentation? Or excited about meeting up with colleagues you don’t see in person very often? Is this your first time? Are you unsure about what it’ll be like? What to wear? Who to talk to? How your presentation will go? Don’t […]
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Life is like a video game
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Life is like a video game Caveat: I am not a gamer but friends who are have confirmed that what I’m going to say here makes sense. One of my posts for the Careers Cafe at University Affairs compared life to a video game. Video game developers write stories […]
Read More »Maybe sitting at your desk to work is the problem
Do you struggle with research because you think you need to be sitting at your desk to do it? I know that schools are really big on sitting still and being quiet as the necessary precursor to doing academic work. You did well in school. But just because that’s how school trained you, doesn’t mean […]
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