Turning work into play

It's my busiest quarter yet, but instead of stress I've found motivation in working most nights and weekends. Going into the quarter, I thought all the work would put me over the top. I'd finally be the harried grad student I'd envisioned since my first day. But this year is the first time I've worked exclusively on my own projects and I have a sense of my future plans. The combination of the two makes me want to work. It's something I have to do not because of pressure to succeed or looming deadlines, but because my brain continually processes information that needs an outlet. In fiction writing, there's a saying: You write because you are unable to not write. That's how I feel about my work this quarter: I work because I am unable not to work. It's exhilarating, exhausting, and totally addicting.

Today's Grad Gravy: Develop a healthy addiction to your ideas.

Postscript: I reread my post and realized that it sounds like I'm neglecting my life in order to by an academic. Not true. I still find time to write fiction for at least an hour every single day, eat three meals, read small chunks of the novel of the month, and galavant into the city for a day off. The only part of my life that's suffering is my television watching time. I have no qualms about ridding myself of that.

Sociology writing

I found a book that every social scientist should read at least once: Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish your Thesis, Book, or Article by Howard Becker. The book makes me want to write my best every time. He encourages you to stick with revisions and spend the time to make your paper great. He talks a lot about how grad school trains us to become bad writers. We don't have enough time to do our papers well, we use bad writing in journals as a guide, and we lack the self-confidence to just say what we mean without qualifying it. I started reading the book a few nights ago and could not put it down. Every page or two I'd jump up in excitement, "Yes," I'd say, "That's exactly how I feel!" Until I read this book I never realized why I didn't apply the same standards I use in my fiction writing to my academic writing. My excuses ranged from "they're different types of writing", to "no one will notice." But Becker noticed and he makes me want to do it write (haha, a play on words).

Today's Grad Gravy: Your writing represents you in the professional world.

How to revise a paper

I've been slacking on writing blog posts because I've been so busy with the start of the term. It's going to be a crazy one with classes, TA'ing, finishing up my qualifying paper and possibly starting to read for oral exams. So, I'm going to be a little less ambitious about the blog this quarter and try to write once a week.

This week I'm learning about revision. To get the full effect of taking a paper and making it into something different than it was before, I tried a tactic I use sometimes with my fiction writing. I cut it up. Not MS Word cut and paste. I literally took scissors to my paragraphs and chopped my paper into bits. Each paragraph now stands alone, stacked with others from the same section. I chose a section and listed the purpose and goals for that section. Then, I randomly drew out a paragraph and read it through. On the second read, I started to edit the sentences thinking about their relation to the overall purpose of the section and the paper, and making sure that the paragraph had a strong topic sentence, good support, and a conclusion that would both summarize the point and transition to the next paragraph. Then, I started again with another paragraph. Even though the second did not immediately precede or proceed the first, I tried to make sure it fit with the ideas of the first.

I've been going about my strategy for three sections now and I really think it works. The idea came from a person who said to me, "Revision is about just that: re-visioning." It's not editing, but actually re-seeing the paper. To this point in my academic career, I've never actually revised a paper. Usually the first draft along with some minor edits was enough to ace an undergrad class. Now, that won't work and I think my paper will be better for it.

Today's Grad Gravy: Re-vision your paper to discover the insights lurking between the lines.

Teaching with writing

I spent yesterday in an all-day workshop about how to use writing as a teaching tool. It was very helpful in thinking about what I expect from students and what they are capable of at different stages. Part of the workshop dealt with cognitive development in relation to knowledge. During the early stages of a college career, students still see knowledge as something external to them. Professors and people with authority possess knowledge and hand it out. So, when we ask entering freshmen to come up with their own ideas in relation to a topic, they may not have the cognitive skills to do so because they have this conception of knowledge. As we progress through schooling, we begin to see that knowledge can be created within and that we have a right to form our own knowledge. So, those students in the later years are better at writing assignments where they are asked to perform critical analysis. I think it will help me to keep these things in mind when working with my students. I have to realize that we all think about knowledge differently and this makes it easier or harder for students to do what I ask.

The other part of the workshop dealt with using writing to teach, not just to check understanding. This means that if you have a final paper as a course requirement, use writing tasks along the way to build up to that final paper so that when they actually sit down to write, they understand what they're talking about rather than just regurgitating what you've told them.

I'm excited to try out this new information in my class that starts on Tuesday!

Today's Grad Gravy: Put yourself in their shoes.

Hard at work

Today I almost made my brain explode.

New Year's Resolutions

It's the first and time for resolutions. I've been thinking all day about my school-related goals for the year, so here they are. By the end of 2008, I want to:

1. Be started on my dissertation, which involves finishing my qualifying paper, oral exams, and dissertation prospectus.
2. Have a smaller project started to submit for publication.
3. Stay sane by continuing to go to the gym and write regularly.
4. Let the daily stresses melt away by keeping my sights on my long-term goals.
5. Have a list of the small and big things I learn about myself, the process, and life in general as I move through the program.