Here’s a preview of what we’ll be covering this year in Grad School: The Secret Syllabus. The final list is subject to adjustment, but it should give a pretty good sense.
Because participants are joining the program at all different stages, we will NOT be proceeding in exact order. That is to say: I will be making tutorials available from across this syllabus, a little bit here and there. By the close of the program, however, this is what you can expect (along with many other posts, interviews, and hopefully a number of live online events, Covid and daycare permitting).
For those of you in the College or Tenure program, I will be creating a dedicated page for you as well, to make things easier to navigate. At the same time, I’ll continue to post a lot of material here on the home page.
NOTE: Any tutorials below featuring a hyperlink mean that the tutorial is already online and ready to view!
Welcome to the Course
Applying to Grad School
Please refer to the syllabus for College: The Secret Syllabus (coming soon)
Absolute Beginners
- The Summer Before Grad School Begins
- Phd Application Statement of Purpose: A Metaphor
- First Year Chaos
- Helping Your Potential Advisor Advocate for You
- How to Research Potential Advisors (Proquest Trick)
- No One Remembers Your Application
- Starting Attending Job Talks Now! (Here’s Why)
Working with Your Advisor
- Advising Your Advisor on How to Advise
- How Often to Meet With Your Advisor
Getting Your Research Off the Ground
- “That Was Then. Diss is Now.” (Read as many dissertations as books!)
- One Note, One Card: Back to Basics
- Meet a Librarian (Now)
- Figuring Out How to Speak about Your Research (before you know what it really is)
Coursework
- How to Choose Courses in Grad School
- Methodological Promiscuity
- Don’t Max Out Credits
- Transferring MA Credits
- Language Training
- Summer Courses
- Start Reading for Orals… Now
- Your First Research Paper
- From Proposal to Final Paper
- Independent Study/Directed Reading Beware
- Critique Like a Writer
- Getting Feedback from Profs (“You Need to Learn to Write Better” story)
Orals and Comps
- Auditioning Faculty to Be on Your Committee
- Briefing Memos
- How to Practice for Orals
- What is Orals For, Anyway?
- How to Begin Every Orals Exam Answer
Emotional and Mental Health
- Mental Health Begins Now
- Losing Your Advisor
Your First TAship
- Creating a Section Syllabus
- Working with Your TA Course Faculty
- Your First Course Evaluation
- Paying the Price for a Crappy Prof: What to Do with Bad Evaluations
- Unionization
Social Media for Grad Students
- TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube for Grad Students
- Creating a Professional Website
The Second Year
- The Summer Before Year 2
- Sophomore Slump
- When to Start a Secret Life
- On-Campus or Off? Where to Live
- Doubts
- Your Secret Life
Networking and Relationships
- Having a Child in Grad School
- Dating in Grad School
- A Death in the Family
- Physical Fitness
- Mental Health Redux
- How (and Why) to Avoid Cliques
- Meet a 6th Year and Ask Advice
- Activism, On and Beyond Campus
Conferences, Workshops, and Writing Groups
- Conferences: When to Apply for the First Time?
- How (and Why) to Form a Writing Group
Fellowships and Grants
- How to Write a Statement of Purpose
- Letters of Recommendation: How and When to Ask for Them
The Dissertation
- The Contours of a Dissertation?
- Time to Completion
- Switching Dissertation Topics
Filing and Defending
- The Defense
- To Embargo or Not to Embargo?
- Do This Right After Your Defense
- When to Approach Editors
The Job Search
Please refer to the syllabus for Tenure: The Secret Syllabus (coming soon)
