All academics have been here before in their writing process: staring at a blank page or screen and wondering how they will get from point A to point B before ripping their hair out. Endurance has been the name of the game for academics and students alike in higher education. In moments of frustration and...
Unless you live in a cave, you probably noticed a big election season happening right now. Elections are happening up and down the ticket, from the President of the United States to local boards and city councils. No matter which direction you lean in your political beliefs, it’s time to let your voice be heard...
Maybe you’re just starting grad school, or this isn’t your first grad school rodeo. Whatever the case, a large part of any successful graduate student career is properly managing what time you spend where. As graduate students, we wear a lot of different hats—teacher, researcher, writer, student, person—and sometimes it’s hard to balance all of...
You’ve made it through the summer! Whether you have basked in sunshine and bliss or were doomed to your tiny office and massive manuscript, reflecting on the summer behind you is important. How do you feel? Are you ready for a whole new academic year? If you answered ‘Not well’ or ‘Absolutely not’, this post...
Graduate school is hectic. There are endless tasks across several responsibilities that compete for your valuable time. Graduate students may be balancing between: Research Taking classes Teaching classes Volunteering Leadership activities Life outside of graduate school How does someone manage it all? This blog shares my top strategies for a better schedule: prioritization, mindset shifts...
Summarizing a great deal of books and articles is a task many of us in graduate school learn how to do. There are several ways to start summarizing. In the long run, our notes can store some important ideas for us to draw from later, especially when we need to write new essays or take...
It is amazing how many documents we need to learn how to write and submit as we begin applying for potential teaching positions. When you apply, one document you will likely submit (along with a long resume) is called a teaching philosophy statement (TPS). This piece of writing should not necessarily talk about your immense...
Whether on vacation all summer or hustling along like any other season, reflect on your summer so far. Have you felt present and in control? Have you basked in your strengths and successes? Have you sought happiness and pleasure? If you answered no to any of these questions, you may be in need of a...
There are still plenty of ways to maximize your summer language study – whether you’re supplementing your program or considering enrolling. Here are a few opportunities to level up your language learning!
The weather is warming up, and the beach is starting to sound more and more tempting. As someone eager for summer vacation, I find it hard not to look ahead and put school in the rearview mirror. Unfortunately, the harsh reality of a grad student is that the grind truly never stops. Here are five...
We all handle stress differently. When the workload increases, the knots on our necks also begin to increase. In my experience, my snack cabinet suddenly has more snacks than usual. The workload throughout the year can increase or decrease depending on the season. When crunch time begins, it's good to knock out assignments as they...
Producing scholarly work involves reading and synthesizing an often overwhelming amount of information from various sources such as journal articles, books, websites, reports, etc. Having a well-organized set of references from which to pull from can make the difference when writing scholarly papers like essays and manuscripts. Citation management software, also known as reference management...
For context, I’ve been a TA every quarter since Summer 2020 and have served as a teaching assistant for various courses, from introductory-level psychology to more advanced upper-division seminars. Sometimes, I had as few as five students; other times, I had as many as 30 in a single session. Though there are many skills afforded...
As the sun begins to stay out longer, you may feel the itch of being outside to enjoy the nice weather and ditch your seclusion inside! UCR offers many indoor places to study, but what about outside? And how do I avoid high-traffic areas if I am trying to stay focused? Well, we have some...
Many of us have our own writing methods. Some of us lock ourselves in our rooms for several hours and crank out our first draft. Others write for one hour, stop, rest for another hour, and repeat this process until the first draft appears. But, regardless of your process, getting the initial draft out is...
The journey towards and achievement of a graduate degree is a significant life milestone, but it should never come at the expense of your health. As graduate students, we typically have sedentary lifestyles, hunched over a desk or lab bench like with many professions nowadays. We might also take shortcuts in our diet and nutrition...
During my first quarter here at UCR, along with several other students, I was asked by one of my professors to give a class presentation on a set of readings for one of the designated weeks of the course. The presentation was on a theoretical textbook, around 250-300 pages, and my presentation had to be...
We won’t sugarcoat it: the academic job market can be rough! In recent years, however, the relative scarcity of academic jobs has opened up many other, equally edifying job prospects for us PhDs. This quarter’s Career Pathways Week will be themed “Beyond Academia,” and will explore the many burgeoning “alt-ac” career opportunities available to us...
When I look back on all my English teachers, I notice a few who taught me some valuable things related to writing (and sometimes maybe about life). Most of my English teachers were always interesting characters. During my high school years, I recall one of them – a short woman with a strong character –...
As we make our way out of fall and into winter, we all need to take some well-earned rest! Relaxing during downtime is essential to keep productivity up (i.e., not getting burned out from the constant work stream). Burnout can sneak up on you, so you must care for yourself. If you can, visit your...
