by Dr. LaJoie Lex, Consultant
As you navigate the perils of grad school, have you ever had the thought: there should really be a guidebook for this wilderness? I’m grateful that a professor introduced me to Gregory Colón Semenza’s Graduate Study for the 21st Century during my first semester in the Ph.D. program at Baylor. I wish I’d known about this book during my M.A. studies, but thankfully, this guide is structured in such a way that it’s never too late to pick it up and start gleaning from its wisdom.
Although the book is subtitled How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities, there are certainly segments that are relevant across disciplines. And again, it’s the type of book that allows for picking and choosing applicable topics and chapters based on your current needs and relevance to your own program.
I initially read through this book during my first semester at Baylor, but I came back to it during certain stages of my program to reread chapters like “Exams,” “Attending Conferences,” and, of course, “The Dissertation.” I’ve also recommended it to several of my clients at the GWC who were writing their first seminar papers—there’s an entire chapter devoted to this special academic genre. Also helpful throughout my program was the early chapter on “Organization and Time Management,” something that can make or break the successful (and timely) navigation of graduate study.
The wonderful thing about this book is that it’s not merely designed to help you “make it” through grad school—it also helps you set long-term goals and focus on things that will help you have a successful academic career, from first-year student through the job market and beyond.
For example, Semenza encourages some conference attendance for grad students while warning that too much focus on conferences early on can actually get in the way of pursuits that will be better for both your CV and your development as a scholar in the long run. He instead recommends other uses of time that can bear more fruit for the grad student if pursued faithfully throughout the course of their study.
Chapter 10: “Publishing,” for instance, encourages students to set a long-term goal of having published at least two articles by the time they’re ready for the job market. While this is something you’ll likely complete towards the end of your program, having the goal in mind early on will allow you to work towards it in manageable steps rather than being overwhelmed by the “shoulda, coulda” thoughts once you get to that stage.
My recommendation for making best use of this invaluable resource? Read through the book fully when you first get it, then use it as a reference and return to chapters as you need them. This will allow you to create a long-term vision for making the most of your early semesters while not becoming overwhelmed by the larger tasks that will come later.