This post was originally written in February 2021 as a follow up to Planning Your Winter Semester and was shared in the Academic Writing Studio. It has been edited and divided into a series of shorter posts for ease of reading. The general principles—habits, routines, and default responses—are explained in the first post in the […]
Read More »Publishing
The value of intellectual engagement
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Valuing Intellectual Engagement Burnout and stress are not just about the quantity of work you have to do. Lack of control and a sense of meaninglessness are major contributors to burnout. It has become very clear that your difficulty managing your workload is not a personal failing. You are […]
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Thoughts on academic freedom, scholarly publishing, and mundane practices
This post is something I initially wrote for my newsletter. I had come across something that I wanted to write about even though I didn’t have a neat conclusion or lesson. I value freedom and autonomy. I know freedom and autonomy are important factors for many people who choose an academic career. I also value […]
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Pressure vs Ease
Jo VanEvery, Academic Career Guide · Pressure vs Ease Deadline Day? I have noticed in social media posts and in conversations with clients that a lot of people use deadlines as a way to motivate themselves. Or at least the story they tell themselves, is that they need a deadline to ensure that they will […]
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From the archive: It’s not how much you publish
In this season of setting goals it is worth thinking about how you frame those goals. At the end of a workshop on publishing plans, clarifying objectives, figuring out when to apply for a SSHRC grant, and related issues, one participant made an interesting comment. Thanking me for the workshop she contrasted my approach to the […]
Read More »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 confidence […]
Read More »Post-PhD precarity
We know that to get an academic position you need to publish from your dissertation. It would be helpful to at least have a good idea of where your research program is going to go next. If you can get started on that next project, even better. Competition is stiff. Even institutions that don’t have […]
Read More »Interesting post on impact of research
This post on measuring impact (within and beyond academia) has some interesting elements. Impact zones and the role of publishers: changing the way academic research makes wider impact | Impact of Social Sciences. I find the middle section, with the green chart, particularly interesting as a way of imagining the potential impact of a piece […]
Read More »In lieu of my own post on writing
Inger Mewburn at The Thesis Whisperer wrote a brilliant post recently on getting writing finished. The ‘Out The Door’ rant « The Thesis Whisperer In his superb book “Writing for social scientists” (which should be renamed “Writing for everyone”), Howard Becker talks about the importance of being the kind of writer who can get stuff […]
Read More »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 see this discussion of that post) highlights the particular issues […]
Read More »How I help with writing
A hadn’t been publishing. He wrote regularly despite a full teaching load. But he wasn’t getting things finished. And he wasn’t submitting them. Writing was an intellectually satisfying process for A. In thinking about why he didn’t finish he realized that he wasn’t motivated by the product — an article or a book — but […]
Read More »You can take your time
Your dissertation is not an end. It is a beginning.
Getting a tenure track job (or equivalent academic appointment) is not an end. It is a beginning.
And even if your ultimate goal is “Be a full-professor, with an international reputation in my field.” (and it’s okay if that isn’t your goal), you aren’t going to get there in 3-5 years.
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