Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Developing A New Practice: An Update In my Planning Classes, I talk about how you learn to juggle by tossing one beanbag from one hand to the other. Your goal is form and consistency. Once you have that, you can add more beanbags, change from beanbags to something else, […]
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Beginning of term chaos is temporary
It doesn’t matter if this is your first year in the job or your 20th. The beginning of term is chaos. This is temporary. It will only last a week or two. Then you will settle into the normal rhythm of term time. Adjust your priorities During beginning of term chaos you can temporarily suspend some […]
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How much writing can you do in term time?
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · How much writing can you do in term time When I say “You can write during term time”, I don’t mean you can write for an hour or more a day. A privileged few have the teaching and service load that makes that possible. Most people would find that […]
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What does Reading Week mean for you?
Many universities now have a Reading Week or mid-semester break in one or both semesters. (It may or may not be called Spring Break.) This means no (undergraduate) teaching. Students tend to disappear so probably little or no advising either. It is a break from the usual term-time routine. So what can you do in this week? […]
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It IS possible to write during term time
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · it is possible to write in term time The academic year has cycles. There are periods, like the summer, when there are more opportunities to make writing your priority, even dedicating full days to intensively work on a writing project. Most academics look forward to those parts of the […]
Read More »End of summer panic
As the long summer break nears an end and the beginning of the academic year looms larger on the horizon, you may have a tendency to panic about your writing and research. You wonder whether you’ve done enough over the summer. You fear that you won’t get to it at all once teaching, student advising, […]
Read More »Writing summaries and abstracts
In my last post I talked about writing an abstract as a way to begin a project. In this post I’m going to talk about writing an abstract or summary after you’ve completed a project. Remember: An abstract is like maple syrup It takes 30-40 litres of sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup. When […]
Read More »Why writing an abstract is so hard
A common way to start a new project is to decide to give a conference paper. You’ll have a deadline to get some of your thoughts on paper. You’ll get some feedback from others at the conference. You might even get to talk to some people in depth over lunch about it. You just need […]
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Using the supports you need
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Using the supports you need One of the things my yoga teachers are constantly reminding us about is that using supports is not a sign of weakness. Sometimes, in order to get the benefit of a pose, you need to use a block or a strap or modify the […]
Read More »Being part of a collective is part of your work
Just like eating, sleeping, and exercise, the work required to build and maintain relationships and to work collectively with colleagues has to be a priority. Those relationships are the foundation that makes a lot of other things possible. You cannot leave it to whatever time remains. Nor is it helpful to enter every collective situation […]
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Freedom and scheduling
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Freedom & Scheduling One of the things you like about being an academic is the considerable freedom to organize your work the way you want. You cringe at the thought of having to be in at a set time every day, take your lunch break at a set time, […]
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Developing A New Practice: How I Do It
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Developing A New Practice: How I Do It You are probably worried about being able to write high quality academic prose, to get it published, to write and publish enough of it, and so on. You may look at my advice to write for 15 minutes a day and […]
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