#'in the future lots of lit profs will go by the old definition of 'they''

[maishairbuns]

Zuko is a bad boy in the sense that he'd get in trouble for arguing at length with his literature teacher over the singular "they" pronoun (this is me btw, true story), or he'd get in a fist fight with the school bullies on an impulse. He's definitely scolded by a teacher on a regular basis, and winding up in the nurses office about as often, but not for conventionally bad boy reasons. He's more of a rebel i think.

Everyone thinks Zuko is the bad boy at school. Katara is the class president going through a rebellious stage when she starts dating Zuko. She tries to get Zuko to Corrupt Her and Zuko is just like "if I do any of those things, my dad will literally murder me."

[xiaq]

Hi, I hope it's alright to ask this here (and please feel free to ignore this otherwise!), but I was wondering if you'd have some advice re: academia? So my ongoing undergrad major has nothing to do with the masters programs I'm hoping to apply to (I'm studying engineering but I plan to switch to cultural studies or something similar). And the MA that sounds most exciting to me is an interdisciplinary one called Society and Culture that touches upon varied subjects like cultural studies, archeology, literature, etc., with the expectation that the student would pick one to go deeper into for their thesis. I like the program because it's so varied, but I was wondering if that could also be a disadvantage (i.e., be viewed as too shallow for any one field)? With no other significant degrees/credentials in the humanities, would it be better to pick a, uh, sort of more "focused" or traditional program like literature instead (and then use that to springboard off into the specific topics I want to study further)?

I suppose I'm asking if you could shed light on how the less common interdisciplinary degrees are viewed by arts/humanities academia in general, if that's a valid question?

(Also I'm not from the US, if that matters, and the profs I approached at my uni didn't have much to say. :( )

(Also also, hope your day ahead is nice to you and your plans!)

Sorry I'm so late answering this, but I wanted to give it a think and talk to some academic friends for their input since I'm a bit jaded. The folks I spoke to are from the US and Canada, so keep that in mind, but the general consensus is that, particularly in these (I hate to say it, but I'm gunna) uncertain times, having varied experiences and expertise will likely benefit you more than picking a very particular niche right off the bat. Especially because a lot of folks don't end up in a career that is directly related to the thing they specialized in anyway (I mean, exhibit A, me). Ye Olde School academics might turn up their noses at interdisciplinary degrees, but many employers will prefer them unless, again, your future career necessitates extensive study in one area. So if a program interests you, and you're excited for a multitude of future opportunities it might facilitate, I'd definitely go with that one (if I could do it again, I'd probably do an interdisciplinary degree rather than straight English lit, if that means anything to you). But what's most important is working toward the Thing You Want to Do and getting Experience Doing the Thing. The sooner you sort that out, the better!

[mermaeids]

for the university asks, every prime number?

oh wow okay here we go!

2. how far do you plan on pursuing academia?

i’m definitely at least getting my masters or going to law school. my mom wants me to get my phd but i’m not sure how practical that would be. right now i’m planning to pursue either law or teaching high school.

3. what made you want to attend university?

i’m very lucky that it’s a given in my family. both my parents and my grandparents went to my university, so it was kind of just an automatic assumption that i would go to college, and an added assumption that i might end up at this school. (i didn’t start there i transferred this semester but i’m so glad i did!)

5. what do you wish to accomplish by studying at university?

i’m here to read a lot, learn a lot, and have a good time with my friends. i want to mature as a person and a writer while also creating memories that will last me a long time.

7. answered here!

11. what classes are you taking this/next semester?

this semester i’m taking three lit classes, a roman civ class, and geology to fulfill a science requirement. next semester i’m taking psych (again for a liberal arts requirement), two lit classes (the english novel and modern poetry), philosophy of law, and an advanced fiction workshop.

13. what has been your favourite class you’ve taken?

i took a nonfiction class last semester at my old school and i’m so glad i got to take it with that prof because she is literally!! the only thing i miss about my old school!! she made the class so wonderful and memorable and we all got really close as a class and i loved it.

(wow okay i’m halfway through this and there are so many more prime numbers than i thought... but we’ve gotten this far!)

17. what’s your favourite thing about academia?

i miss being in the library until 1 am with the girls every night :’( getting coffee whenever we started to feel tired :’( and then walking home together in the freezing cold, the only sound on the silent campus

19. would you go to a different university if you had to choose again?

the answer was yes last year so i transferred and now i’m at my dream school!! my transfer experience was amazing and i would 10/10 recommend transferring if you want to/have the ability to. for me i actually saved money by transferring and it was the best decision i ever made for myself. it’s difficult to get through the application process without the help of guidance counselors like you have in high school and it nearly killed me having to balance applying to new schools while trying to do well at my old school, but it was so, so worth it. i think people have this weird reluctance to transfer even if they’re unhappy and there’s this feeling that i definitely felt of having to stick it out where i was, but there’s no point in doing that when you could be ten times happier somewhere else! if you regret your decision, look into transferring. please.

23. theoretical or practical?

is this like the qualitative or quantitative question? like humanities or sciences? i’d say theoretical then, meaning humanities. i’m an english/lit major and i’ve gotten a lot of shit for it, especially at my old school, but i wouldn’t be doing this if i didn’t have a plan and i think it’s a really damaging misconception that you need to major in something in college that will directly feed into a specific career. pre-meds especially have often looked down their noses at me, but i’m good at what i do and i have every confidence that i’ll be able to be successful after college, even if i’m not a STEM or business major. the world will always need writers!

29. who is doing the most interesting research in your field at the moment?

lately in literature we have a lot to catch up on when it comes to feminist readings. last semester i read quite a few papers on female characters, particularly portia (merchant of venice) and hermia (midsummer night’s dream), and it made me really excited about future work i could do because there are so many gaps in the existing work and there’s a lot to be done. i don’t have the specific names on hand but reading feminist readings of shakespeare by women was super cool.

31. what is subject you wish your university taught but doesn’t?

i go to one of the oldest schools in the country and we’re liberal arts so we have pretty much everything? so idk underwater basket weaving?

37. what do you do to rewind?

i think this means unwind. my friends and i do a tv night (this semester it was the bachelor) every week when we don’t have a ton of homework!

41. what is an interesting subject that you would never study yourself?

last semester i took a biological anthropology class and i found it really cool. if i had to change my major, i would probably change it to either anthropology or bio.

43. what is your plan B career?

if becoming a lawyer is plan A, teaching is plan B. but i also have considered working in publishing/journalism so that would probably be the real plan B before teaching.

47. what do you wish you’d done differently in your first year?

there was no possible way i could have done this but i wish i had started out at the school i go to now. but since that wouldn’t have been realistic, i’d say i wish that i branched out a little more and made more friends rather than settled on the first group of people i ended up with. OH actually i wish i had requested a room change because my roommate was terrible but i thought i could stick it out so i didn’t but that was dumb i should have just moved.

okay i think that’s all of them!! thanks for asking wow there are more prime numbers between 1 and 50 than i originally thought!!

university asks

[studying-inwonderland]

How to Research in College

Note that I am not talking about doing a research study but how to find them, how to read them, and what to do with them.

Step one: Identify your criteria. 

 Often professors have a set of criteria for articles they’ll consider acceptable.  Generally that means less than 5-10 years old depending on the topic lately my profs want less than 5 but swk is constantly changing and keeping up to date is critical, someones interpretation of shake spear will be relevant always etc.  And almost invariably they want a peer reviewed journal article.  I’m sorry psychology weekly or that weird html website you found on the 10th page of google just don’t make the cut.  And for that matter, neither do a lot of genuine research articles done by legitimate researchers.  Peer Reviewed is exactly what it sounds like.  In order to get into a reputable journal a researcher/experimenter/writer needs to have their article read and approved by a few of their peers.  After that it’s about finding something related to your topic.   Sometime you can find a journal article on exactly your topic (like your thesis is their hypothesis), other times it’s more of a stretch.  It’s also important to use critical thinking when reading an article, you don’t want to choose something and then realize the conclusion doesn’t add up right for your paper.

Step two: Find an article.  

You can go onto your school library website and find your databases.  Mine is called AllKnight Search (go golden knights!) and when I go to my library’s webpage and it’s smack in the center of the screen as a search bar, and along one side there’s a list of databases that are searched with the AllKnight Search.   I generally just use my schools and recommend you do too, it’s simpler and since I don’t usually need to use a specific journal it works just fine for me.  Another good database most schools have is JStore you’re school probably has a bunch for each major.  These Databases have a search function to type in a query and then narrow your results with a year published range, and make sure to select peer reviewed articles only, you can further narrow your search by country published, topic area (child abuse from a medical or social perspective etc.) and a few other criteria.  If you don’t know what to do you can always ask your librarian or whatever for help.  

Step three: Reading the Article!

I have a method that works pretty well for me and I’ll explain why and what each part is. So, a research study has roughly 7 parts (it depends how you break it down but generally its 5 basic parts broken into 7.  

Abstract, All articles have an abstract.  This is sort of like the bit on the back of a book it tells you what the article explores.

Introduction, this part sometimes runs in with part 3.  The introduction is some general information about the issue.  This may include definitions of terms used throughout the rest of the paper.

Literature Review, In this portion the writer examines and summarizes past research and writing.  It uses this as an opportunity to explain in depth the issue that the paper will examine.  It also convinces the reader why this is important, maybe by citing an article on the effects of the disorder you’ll be researching a treatment for.  This section is a gold mine for other articles. You might be reading something and find that last source that you need for your paper.  I was doing a mock research proposal on reducing violence in inmate populations and found the bulk of my argument referenced in another article. 

Methods.  Okay this is where it can get blurry.  The methods section describes what is done in the study and if it’s not a field you understand and you don’t know research lingo it can get kinda crazy.  Just remember Google is your friend.  Don’t know what GB-CBT-IM is?  Google.  What the hell a p-value is?  Google.  Just remember unless your taking a research class or doing a lit review for a higher level class you don’t need to understand the difference between cluster and systemic sampling.  Just that if was random sampling or not etc which is a much easier thing to understand believe me.  

Results, Again this is a really important part of the study.  That you don’t need to understand every single word of.  This is where their going to throw those words like p-value and so and so’s number at you. You don’t need to understand every word just the gist.  And remember that google is your friend.  This is the part with all the charts and stuff, and while those are great for understanding the content it’s weirdly hard to put it into words.  

Discussion.  This is a good place to have all of part 5 broken down.  This is where it says, since we know this, the field can start doing this.  Its important to paraphrase this section into a sentence or two.  Its what says this is why this matters, as well as explains what all those weird numbers and italicized letters mean.  The last thing that it does is to examine any possible faults with the methods.  So it’ll say “due to a small mostly male college student sample, the results may not be generalizable” etc.  basically its a space to examine the faults of the study and to leave suggestions for future researchers.

Conclusion.  This wraps everything up.  It also usually calls for future research on the topic.  I used to be very disheartened  by the phrase “further research is needed” but really it seems most articles close that way because there’s no such thing as definite answers in a lot of feilds.

I like to read an article in the order 1,2,3,6,7,4 I usually only just skim part 5 results are really hard to get through and unless you understand them its a frustrating waste of time.

Step Four: Writing about the article. 

Writing about an article is hard if you didn’t read it SO READ IT.  Don’t try to skim through it while you write do it separately.  If your really jammed for time annotate on the article and then write directly from your annotations.  Start with a single sentence for the abstract, and one for the introduction.  A 2-3 sentences for methods and then 1-2 for the discussion.  That puts you at a 5-7 sentence paragraph.  Repeat for each source you need for the paper and your good!  If you need to do a full page do one paragraph for Intro and Lit review, and then a bulkier paragraph for methods, results, and discussions.  After that finish off with a paragraph critically analyzing the article (small sample size? is there a lack of explanation?) this is the space to argue with some points or to talk about what you would have done differently.  Remember even though this is your thoughts it’s important to stay out of the first person.