(Academic) self-care
In the spirit of academic self-care, this week my reading response will consist in a reflection on the qualifying examination preparation process we have been engaging in early in our academic careers in ENG 7001–and how grateful I am for this. Typically I enjoy writing about the more complex theoretical text(s) each week, however, because I spent all day finishing my proposal and preliminary bibliography for my ENG 8002 seminar class–on self-care–it is refreshing to read and reflect on Semenza’s “Exams” chapter this evening as a form of academic self-care. However, I intend to take this space to write out goals for my qualifying exams to flow relatively smoothly into my prospectus and dissertation, and how I see them coming together now as a result of (1) Semenza and (2) the opportunities to start these things early in this course.
Luckily, prior to embarking on the Ph.D. process, I formed a strong relationship with task management and goal mastery texts that seem so grounded-to-this-earth compared to the Kant, Greenblatt, Foucault, Nietzsche, etc., around which my mind has been twisting. (Last Tuesday I went to a concert after class, and the opener was talking about masks–I told my friend “I just read Nietzsche all weekend, I don’t need to hear this.”) Semenza’s Graduate Studies for the 21st Century “Exams” chapter sums up much of what I love about goal mastery experts a la Brian Tracy, whose audiobooks and texts have taught me to: Eat that Frog: 21 Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time (a text I am having my technical writing students read this semester to assist in their project/product management and group work–teaching, research, QE preparation–it all comes together). The theoretical texts exercise my mind; Semenza et. al. help/inspire me to exercise my will (power). One thing that I have learned–and experienced–is that simply by writing out and meditating on my goals, I have exponentially increased my chance of achieving them.
To this end, I found Semenza’s emphasis of “process over product” to be enlightening, and to expound upon ideas I have begun to employ in other areas of my life. It is refreshing to see them so clearly focused on the experience of the qualifying examinations as we write out our practice/preliminary lists and questions. Until I read this chapter, I did not think of qualifying examinations as daunting and I am grateful for the more realistic, yet positive, perspective Semenza provides: it is useful to see how some people might consider them flawed, but I strangely look forward to these due to my (1) hermit nature and (2) love of reading. I appreciate the idea that we cannot truly “differentiate central and peripheral texts and ideas” and that all texts, not just those “arbitrarily labeled as ‘central’ are worthy of our attention” (151). While it seems popular in the academe to denounce objectivity, though, the value of framing central versus peripheral text lies in the process, in the exercise of it, not in the final product (list). It is not that, in the qualifying examination process or in any other aspect of life when we differentiate between “central” and “peripheral” elements, we arrive at an objective truth; rather, it is in the deciding process itself that the value lies. To return to the topic/image of academic self-care, in yoga, the joy is in the journey, in the movement between positions such as down dog to plank/cobra, that mental/physical growth/connection can occur. (With all this reading and typing, for instance, I have realized that stretching/exercising is a necessary daily practice henceforward in my Ph.D. process.)
Semenza refers to the “relative uselessness of that product, once you’ve been permitted to move on to the next stage of your career,” (151) while also recommending ways to get the most out of the qualifying examination process for (1) your dissertation and (2) teaching (and job interviews). To that end, below are the top-ten tips I am writing now courtesy of Semenza, for my (not-so-distant) future self:
- Assigning myself deadlines then rewarding myself when achieving them to stay motivated.
- Think of the comps as the “best time in one’s graduate career, “enjoy the freedom you’ve been granted,” remember, I have the opportunity to “read a hundred or more books,” “don’t have to go to class anymore, “don’t have to write seminar papers,” and don’t “have to leave” my house; I “just have to read” (153-4).
- Make clear up-front which texts I want to study (154).
- “many , if not most, of the works included on your list will play some part in your dissertation; … cut and paste material later on” (156).
- “Rather than worrying too much about the right order in which to read everything, I recommend focusing on the time frame in which you plan to read everything… Remember that most people read more carefully and even leisurely in the first few months of study and speed up the process later. … Work to establish a reasonable time period for all of your reading and pace yourself as sensibly as possible” (157).
- “You’ll never forget the works you read for your Ph.D. exams” (157).
- “If you do your homework, it’s unlikely you’ll be surprised by the questions you encounter on exam day. … The examiner allows the student to choose among at least two questions for each session” (159).
- “If no opportunity for clarification exists, begin your response by articulating exactly how you interpret the question (e.g., ‘My understanding is that by post-modernism, you mean…’)” (160).
- “Complicate questions rather than simplifying them” (161).
- “Show your ability and willingness to critique your own work. … The more confident, upbeat, and focused you appear to be, the smoother your defense will go” (163, 164).
Works Cited
Semenza, Gregroy. Graduate Studies for the 21st Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities, 2nd Edition. Palgrave Macmillan: 2010.
