That first couple of weeks of study can be confusing. Without the structure of an undergraduate course and other classmates to guide you, simple things like finding the closest bathroom to your office can be challenging. Or you may find you don’t actually have an office at all! Roaming the halls and haunting the library with your book bag and a laptop is hardly conducive to settling in well.
Monthly Archives: February 2012
I have spent years exhorting students to publish as much as possible before they finish and straight after. But lately I am beginning to wonder about my place in the academic publishing system, both as a researcher and a teacher. I don’t think I can keep handing out this advice with a clear conscience. Academic […]
“…It was at this point Dave would ask me what was wrong. You know what my reply was to someone who has finished a PhD and now has students of his own? The ever classic, “You wouldn’t understand.” Stupid or what? If anyone was going to understand my private hell, Dave was…”
Your hardworking editor will be working with PhD students at the RMIT campus in Vietnam next week – and hopefully getting to eat large bowls of pho! I’m not sure that I will have ready internet access or time to blog as the schedule looks very busy. Instead I will wish you “tốt bằng văn […]
“… So you see my problem with the advice “it’s a marathon not a sprint”. I was not built to “run a marathon” in the traditional sense, it’s just not the way I work. I used to think this meant I could never write a dissertation. The truth is, as a sprinter, it is a bit of a struggle. I always used to feel like I was having a much harder time of it than the natural marathon runners I knew. However, it is possible for a sprinter to run a marathon – in fact, I even think there are some advantages….”
“We wondered: was the discomfort and inability to cope well with uncertainty a result of the kind of student being produced in undergraduate programs…” Prof Denise Cuthbert wonders about undergraduate baggage.
