GradHacker

We've all been here: A deadline for a dissertation chapter, conference abstract, or presentation looms ever largely on the horizon. At first, work sessions proceed in a regular fashion. Progress is being made, and stress levels are low. Then, at some point, panic sets in because it seems like the task at hand can't be completed--at least in the desired fashion. If only there was more time!

The hardest part about sitting down to write is the actual beginning of making the clackity sound on the keyboard. I can get myself in the chair. I can turn on my machine. I can cruise around on the Internet, and type up a blog post or two about being in graduate school. But when it comes to getting into the nitty gritty of writing the dissertation, starting is the hardest part.

We are pleased to announce the launch of The Gradhacker Podcast! Alex Galarza and Andrea Zellner co-host Episode 1: Flipping the Classroom, in which they interview Dr. Ken Frank, a professor at Michigan State who has employed the technique of ‘Flipping the Classroom’ in his courses.

We are pleased to announce the launch of The Gradhacker Podcast! Alex Galarza and Andrea Zellner co-host Episode 1: Flipping the Classroom, in which they interview Dr. Ken Frank, a professor at Michigan State who has employed the technique of ‘Flipping the Classroom’ in his courses. They also discuss a number of blog posts including: “Publishing Your Presentations Online”,“Negotiating the Dating Scene in Grad School”, and “Branding Yourself: Not as Painful as You Think”.

Here at Gradhacker, we've written about online identity and the use of Twitter before. In this post, I thought I'd tackle less of the "how to use Twitter" and move into the idea of leveraging the power of Twitter to improve your online presence and academic identity. I also can resist making new words with "tw" in the front of them.

Control is important, we need to be able to balance a number of lives as grad students, maintain multiple fellowships and jobs, work on our research as well as ace our classes, and make a good impression in the department as well as the broader discipline. Our success comes from the close control over every aspect of our professional and academic lives: mapping out every minute of our week into our Google calendars, tracking assignments through various iPhone apps, using Zotero to organize every bibliographic reference, and keeping up with the professionals through every social media site we can think of. This is good, it keeps us grounded. So here's the problem: you can't control everything.

This past August, I sat my doctoral comprehensive exams. It was a grueling, exhausting process, and the months leading up to the exams were some of the most stressful of my life. I don’t think that I have ever cried so much in my life; from exhaustion, stress, fear, and from the worst bout of impostor syndrome I had felt since beginning grad school. Comprehensive exams are a massive, daunting undertaking, one that marks the transition from coursework and being a student to dissertating and being a candidate.

So, to protect my own fragile ego, I like to have practice runs of my big presentations in more casual events--but not where the entire audience is made up of my friends and family. Brown bags are a great resource for practicing your presentation, building your confidence, and sharing your research. We have them on campus all the time and they give you an opportunity to present your materials in a somewhat casual, but somewhat formal setting. Sometimes you'll get some friendly and familiar faces in the crowd, but more often than not, it simulates the "real thing" in a more effective setting than sitting in front of a mirror and practicing your speech.