Most academics are paid to do research. Research is part of your job description. Research figures prominently in the criteria for hiring, tenure/confirmation, and promotion. This can feel out of sync with the reality of your daily life in the university. You teach. You attend meetings. You do the work necessary to do those 2 […]
Read More »Research: a category in transition
Also known as scholarship, thinking big thoughts. A big part of your academic life.
When reviewing the blog with a view to treating it more as a library of useful information (in summer 2015), I noticed that I have stopped putting things in this category and shifted much more to categorizing things as "writing".
Posts in this category will be edited and/or recategorized starting in July 2015.
Don’t you worry it’ll be a waste of time?
One of the participants in a workshop about post-PhD careers asked the question in the title. We were talking about not knowing what jobs might suit us and the value of taking short-term contracts or taking jobs to try them out, knowing that we could move on in a year or two to something else. […]
Read More »The research you want to make happen
Research produces more questions than answers. (Liz Gloyn calls these “academic otters“. Her strategies reflect her position as an early career research in the humanities.) The successful researchers I know have far more questions and projects they could be working on than they could possibly pursue in their lifetimes, even if they had fewer service […]
Read More »The goal of your conference paper
Scholarly work is inherently collaborative. Not in the sense that it should all be co-authored, but in the sense that you develop your ideas in conversation with others.
These may be formal conversations. They may take place mostly in writing, even formal types of writing. But you do your best work in conversation.
The reason you give conference papers is to meet people and build relationships.
Read More »
How scholarship is evaluated
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How scholarship is evaluated The quality and impact/significance of your research is usually evaluated based on where you publish. The advent of new outlets for your scholarly work has raised some interesting issues about how this is done. A blog exchange about Melville scholarship (read the comments, and also […]
Read More »Embrace the research process
“The usual result of worrying about excellence or perfection before you start creating is that you’ll never start creating. Let go of how good the end product will be and embrace the act of creating. Excellence comes as a byproduct of continual creation and learning.” (Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing, July 30, 2009) When you only […]
Read More »If you had one more week…
One day on Twitter one of the people I follow says: Just realized Fall term lectures start a week later than I thought they did. A week more of prep time, here we come! You might be able to guess what I replied: Or a week free for writing! What would you do with an extra […]
Read More »
