In two weeks, the school year will begin. For the second year, I am amazed by how quickly the summer, which always appears to stretch out endlessly when classes end in May, slips by. There's no question that this was a very good summer in a number of ways. I criticize myself for taking vacation …
Reference library help for the day.
And so it begins. Last week, it finally had to happen. I spent hours looking up call numbers on the university library website. I dragged out the rollerboard luggage (and my partner, Stephen). And, together, we went to pick up the first batch of comprehensive exam books. I think I underestimated the amount of time …
Continue reading Here It Starts: books, exams, and, of course, cats
. . . I will move these books from my office to my house.
As a PhD student, reading is a daily activity. And not just reading, but reading as much as you can as quickly as you can. Training to speed-read is like training for a marathon--each book is a new opportunity to improve upon the overall time it takes you to understand: the author's argument, the sources …
Continue reading A Grad Student’s Plea for Standard-Sized Books
It goes without saying that reading, and reading ALL THE TIME, goes hand in hand with the pursuit of a PhD. I think I realized this within the first few weeks of my first semester. I fondly remember uploading this picture on Facebook after realizing that, in the world of the PhD student, a "weekend" …