It’s all well and good for me to say it isn’t the right question. People still ask it. People you care about. People you have trouble ignoring or being snarky to. So what do you say? Assume the best intentions Whenever you are faced with a stomach cramp inducing question like this, it is always […]
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Taking responsibility for your PhD
There is a lot of discussion out there about attrition rates (high) and time to completion (long). Beyond asking questions of your prospective programs, what can you do to make sure that you finish and finish in a reasonable time? Take responsibility. Here’s an extended example from one cur
Read More »Finishing the Dissertation
If you are still working on your PhD dissertation, or if you supervise doctoral students, this post is for you. As you may be aware completion times in the humanities and social sciences are long. Much longer than for other disciplines. And humanities disciplines tend to be longer than social sciences. This seems to be have […]
Read More »What is a doctoral candidate to do?
News reports, such as this one in the New York Times, appear from time to time reporting on the lack of tenure-track posts in the current economic climate. Searches are being cancelled. Tenure-track positions are being downgraded to term positions. Senior faculty are postponing their retirements. And those completing PhDs are panicking, or at least being […]
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