What Has Really Changed in Job Searching Since Your Parents’ Generation? Most likely, your parents did all of their job searching in person: they may have gone to career fairs, interviewed in-person, and networked at stuffy conferences. If your mom or dad tells you to “network”, it’s easy to brush them off saying “everything is […]
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Get Past Gatekeepers and Publish Your Academic Paper
Why Is It So Hard to Write an Academic Paper For Publishing? When you are writing your first or second academic paper, the journey to publishing feels complex and overwhelming. Where do you get started with writing? The technicalities of publishing (choosing a journal, adhering to their guidelines, writing a rebuttal letter) are actually the […]
Why Writing Your Academic Publication Brings Out Your Worst Fears
Why Is it So Hard to Write a Publication in Graduate School? Publishing your research during graduate school is considered both prestigious and, by some students, necessary for career advancement. The first thought that pops into many students heads when they think about writing a publication about their research is: Am I worthy? Do I […]
Why Writing a Dissertation is About Showing Up, No Matter What
Why is Writing a Dissertation So Scary? When Aileen, a Chemistry PhD student, started graduate school, she didn’t think that writing a Dissertation would be a challenge. She passed her PhD candidacy exam with perfect grades and had a great relationship with her PhD thesis supervisor. Fast forward several years… As Aileen was beginning her […]
How About a Fresh Start For Your PhD Dissertation Writing?
If You Focus on “How”, You Will Fail to Finish Your PhD Dissertation Have you read a lot of articles about “how” to manage your time during your PhD? Did you find any of them useful? To be honest, I found some of them useful. I read tons of articles on time management as a […]
There’s Nothing “Bad” About Being Stuck With Your PhD
Can Something Actually Keep You Stuck In Your PhD? Don’t tell me there’s nothing “bad” about: -Getting your draft back with insulting remarks from your supervisor -Staring at your blank screen all night with writer’s block and then oversleeping -Having a fight with your spouse about why you’re still doing your PhD -Spending 3 hours […]
You Can’t Be the Victim If Your Want to Finish Your PhD Thesis
Do You Feel That Life is Unfair to You During Your PhD? Bitterness seemed like the constant companion for senior graduate students in my department. Worn down by years of intense labor, little pay, and an uncertain future. Sounds like a prison, doesn’t it? Many of these PhD students certainly seemed like they felt that […]
Why Structure is Sexy During Your PhD Journey
Does the Idea of Structure During Your PhD Journey Sound “Icky”? There are few things that makes PhD students roll their eyes more than the idea of having structure. Here are just a few complaints: I’ve heard about structure before and it doesn’t work for me Structure is boring I can never follow a routine […]
Solving the Puzzles of Your PhD Dissertation
Why You Can’t Predict the Course of Your Dissertation If you have imagined PhD students hunched over a laptop sweating from their ears while writing their Dissertation…well, you are not alone. The writing part of the PhD process is perhaps the most feared aspect of the whole graduate school experience. The anguish is further intensified […]
How 50 First Dates Helped Me to Finish My PhD
Can Going to the Movies Save Your PhD? Did you ever get an idea and you didn’t know where it came from, but you did know that it was a good idea? I got such an idea the day I lost an entire chapter of my Dissertation one week before the deadline. This was in […]