Week Three: The Whole

If you are lucky the group that you have just begun coursework will remain with you throughout your program.  In academia they call this a “cohort”.  According to Wikipedia just for support sake a cohort is “a cohort is a group of subjects who have shared a particular time together during a particular time span” (“Cohort”, 2011)*.  The first cohorts were all a part of the Roman military, as it was their way of dividing up the soldiers into smaller groups that could be easily identified.  This format also allowed for the small cohort groups to get very close to each other further assisting them in battle (“Cohort”, 2011).  While you are likely not headed into battle, this your cohort is likely to signify the beginning of a long journey with a few people who have a lot in common with you.  If you were to ask me, I think this is a great idea.  What better way to encourage students to learn from each other and their accumulated knowledge than to put them in a scenario to get to know each other very well.  There is a quote by Aristotle, pulled from his writings in metaphysics that goes like this, “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” (“The Complete Works”, 1984).  I am with Aristotle on this one, if you work with your cohort, the group of you will each become greater by being willing to learn from each other.

*Authors note: There is some debate over the merit of using Wikipedia as a document source.  Given the relative informality of this blog I chose to use it, but be sure to consult prior to using it in more academic writing.

Tactics:

• Continue to write a little bit each day.  Even if you are just writing pieces of papers that will come in handy later.  It is not uncommon to have ideas that relate to writings at random times.  For this I use GoogleDocs as a way to have a continuous document to record thoughts that relate to papers.  As a matter of fact this is being written right now in a GoogleDoc.
• Also consider starting to back up course materials on something additional too a jump drive or external hard drive.  This will give you a higher likelihood that materials will not be lost in a technology tragedy.  I use Dropbox, (available at www.dropbox.com) a free software online but feel free to check out other versions.

Tips so good that I cannot take credit for them.

• Divide and conquer.  If your cohort group is faced with a large amount of reading to keep track of considering dividing up the materials amongst the group evenly so that members of the group can outline materials and share them.  This way as each person surveys the reading material they will have a strong outline reference to refer back to later.  This will also help with comps and justifying why materials were assigned to begin with.
• Save all drafts of your writing, you never know when you might suddenly feel that what you wrote previously is better than the version you are working on now.

Quote that best represents the week.

• “The whole is more than the sum of the parts.” - Aristotle (“The Complete Works”, 1984)

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.

Resources:

Cohort. (n.d). In Wikipedia. Retrieved, September 9, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohort.

The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. Ed. Jonathan Barnes. 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1984

Week Two: The Marrow

Within the movie Dead Poets Society there is a line that I like “suck the marrow out of life” (Weir, 1989). I like to think that this means that there is a lot of great substance to life that cannot be seen by the eye. Graduate work is no different. It is important to make sure that each and every lecture and study material is examined and its relevance to your field of study uncovered. While some of the material that we study each day might not be a huge foundational support of our future work, that does not mean that it is not important. Just like the marrow within a bone does not itself support the body, it is still the life blood of the structure that supports the body. Every opportunity we have to learn something of relevance to our study is important. This week has helped me to realize this. Each of the lectures have been rich with content, and their material interesting but all very foundational. I really want to understand this material to make sure that the foundation of future study can have a foundation to be built on.

Tactics:

• Developing a stream of consciousness writing style to get drafts of papers started. This will be very rough around the edges at first but will help in development of ideas and reorganization as papers begin to develop.
• Be prepared to be challenged on your way of thinking. Each program is designed to challenge and push students toward a higher level of thinking. This at times means deconstructing and reconstructing ideas that once might have been important.

Tips so good that I cannot take credit for them.

• “Manage your freak outs.” There are going to be moments throughout the number of years that lie ahead that each us will “freak out” about the mass amount of things that lie ahead. It is important to try learn to develop a level head and roll with the punches that the program throws at you. This way when the time comes that something large does happen, and it is worth of a “freak out” you will not be so emotionally drained that the task can be taken in stride and the additional work that remains unfinished can still be undertaken.
• Schedule your “fun” time. There is enough work to do within graduate programs to keep someone busy during all hours that you might be awake. Now that the program has started it is time to defend territory that will help to insure your long term health. This means finding time that preserves both your physical and emotional health. This might mean scheduling time to make sure that you are getting a chance to remain fresh and on top of your personal health.
• Try to focus all of your writing assignments and projects around your potential research areas. This helps to start do develop competency in your areas of interest and start to identify potential voids of research that might help to identify areas of research for later. Making your job in the future even easier. “Think smarter, not harder” your brain will be plenty worn out later on in your academic career.
• Work a little bit each day. This breaks down the overall work load to make things more manageable.

Techniques I have tried that may or may not be worth considering using.

• Review the materials you are addressing for class a second time briefly prior to class starting. There is so much material to review for each week that it is very easy to lose site of materials that are critical for discussion in as little as a couple of days.
• Write a brief summary of the article or chapter on the cover page of the piece so there is an easy reference for later. This could be used in class, research comps and especially for the dissertation toward the end of your program.
• Keep an ongoing list of research interest areas to begin to investigate. This will give you quick access to ideas for potential research all throughout your program and make things a lot easier. Using google docs, or carrying a notepad in your work bag are methods I have used that have worked nicely.

Quote that best represents the week.

• “Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone. (Weir, 1989)”
• In other words, don’t take the advice above too far.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.

Resources:

Haft, S., Junger Witt, P., Tony, T. (Producers), & Weir, P. (Director). (1989). Dead poets society. [Motion picture]. United States: Silver Screen Partners IV.

Week One: Trial by Fire

There is no better way to start a new adventure than to jump right in. The cliche quote for this is “trial by fire”. This quote accurately describes the first week of a doc program. Orientation is over and it is time to get to work. The wonder of what the experience will feel like and what the work load will be is finally over. It is time to see what the reality that lies ahead really looks like, ready or not. Here were a few happenings that are helpful to note as the week passed by.

• Life is now written in APA format (Sixth ed). Notice from this point on each sentence now has two spaces between it rather than one. Get comfortable with the manual and ear mark the pages that are used most frequently. The sooner this adjustment is made, the better.

• Prepare to read, and then read some more. There is a lot of information to absorb when setting the foundation for future study.
• Ask yourself why each piece you are reading was assigned.
• What contextual value does each piece have to the course and to the study of the discipline globally?
• Find a way to take notes to quick reference later and stick to it.

Tips so good that I cannot take credit for them.

• If you know what time a day you work best plan to schedule time your other commitments around that. If you happen to be a morning person, make sure you are doing your academic work in the morning if possible. The same goes for the evening. Use you best time to commit to your purpose, learning and ultimately graduating.

• “Begin with the end in mind” (Covey, 1989, p. 95). If you know what your research interests are apply them to as many work assignments as possible to start to get exposure to areas of interest. This helps to narrow things down some and learn how future research might be further adapted to close in on a potential dissertation topic.
• To take this a step further a resource that was suggested to me was the following book to start the process of the dissertation from the first day.
• Single, P. B. (2010). Demystifying dissertation writing, a streamlined process from selecting a topic to the final text. Sterling, PA: Stylus

Techniques I have tried that may or may not be worth considering using.

• 20/10.
• Some of the materials that have to be read are rather heavy in content. To keep focus I broke down the reading into twenty minute lengths and then took a 10 minute break to rest and get something else small done. This kept my focus on the material for the time I was reading and was far more productive than trying to stay focused on a piece for hours at a time. This might sound a little elementary but it was helpful in being productive and maintaining focus amidst long study periods.

• Find quiet places to go that will keep you motivated to keep working and change up the environment in which you study. This might help to keep you fresh even when that is far from the truth.

Quote that best represents this week.

• "We must face tomorrow and whatever it may hold with determination, joy and bravery" (Helm, 2007).

That is all for week one. Stay tuned for further updates.

Remember that what lies ahead might be a challenge but it is worth every minute.

Resources:

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American psychological association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 habits of highly effective people. New York: Free Press.

Drake, J., Kahane, N., Miller, J. (Producers), & Helm, Z. (Director). (2007). Mr. Magorium’s wonder emporium [Motion picture]. United States: Mandate Pictures.

Single, P. B. (2010). Demystifying dissertation writing, a streamlined process from selecting a topic to the final text. Sterling, PA: Stylus