A Time of Action
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Well the semester is over. Finally. And I can't say I feel proud of it. Just relieved. This has been the most difficult semester yet. The trouble is not the work there is to be done, but the fact that I have done too much of it thus far. After a while, each additional class actually works against me, rather than for me. It is the academic law of diminishing returns. The longer I study, the less benefit is derived from that study.
I have sat through seminar upon seminar, listened to lecture after lecture, read paper after paper and endured endless, mind-numbing presentations of the kind I was taught never to do. (Here, I refer to making a handout and then reading from it to/at the class.)
Of the papers we are to read as part of the course work, many have been read years ago, many others are based on ones previously encountered. I have heard the same names over and over, learned the same concepts again and again. I have grown weary from reading for reading's sake and writing small research papers for the sole purpose of passing a class.
In our discussions in class, there has been a lack of depth in terms of the analysis of the linguist's work, as well as in terms of the overall process of turning an idea into a series of questions, then on to a research project and on further to the process of publication.
Also, there are issues of legality and formal protocol. In what class does one learn such things? What of funding? Going to conferences? Preparing an abstract? And what of mentoring? An esteemed professor once advised finding a mentor and learning the ropes from that person. But the reality has been different. Mentors are hard to come by. This makes the work much more difficult and frustrating - due to the above-named uncertainties.
However, I desperately want to do work that matters. I want to publish, to do the actual job that a linguist does. I want to learn how to develop a publishable research paper from start to finish. I need to know how this process occurs. Recently a professor shared the following with me:
"To learn and not to do is not to know yet." (Zen Proverb)
Well I have been learning and not doing. I need to transition to this, and now.
So this is the next step, and I am hoping to start soon, but for the prelim. I need to pass that before anything else can happen. I'll sequester myself away all summer, studying and studying. Once that is concluded - hopefully - I can move on to the real focus: doing publishable work.
Being a graduate student is many things, both good and not so good. Right now, I am on the not so good side. I have neglected friendships, have neglected my health, have let things go undone around the house, have become much more single-minded, and I may have even become somewhat fatigued by it all. However, I feel I am ready to confront the challenges that await me. The goals to be accomplished are clear, even if the methodology is still somewhat mysterious. I look forward to many great learning opportunities, hoping all the while to notice them when they occur.
Well the semester is over. Finally. And I can't say I feel proud of it. Just relieved. This has been the most difficult semester yet. The trouble is not the work there is to be done, but the fact that I have done too much of it thus far. After a while, each additional class actually works against me, rather than for me. It is the academic law of diminishing returns. The longer I study, the less benefit is derived from that study.
I have sat through seminar upon seminar, listened to lecture after lecture, read paper after paper and endured endless, mind-numbing presentations of the kind I was taught never to do. (Here, I refer to making a handout and then reading from it to/at the class.)
Of the papers we are to read as part of the course work, many have been read years ago, many others are based on ones previously encountered. I have heard the same names over and over, learned the same concepts again and again. I have grown weary from reading for reading's sake and writing small research papers for the sole purpose of passing a class.
In our discussions in class, there has been a lack of depth in terms of the analysis of the linguist's work, as well as in terms of the overall process of turning an idea into a series of questions, then on to a research project and on further to the process of publication.
Also, there are issues of legality and formal protocol. In what class does one learn such things? What of funding? Going to conferences? Preparing an abstract? And what of mentoring? An esteemed professor once advised finding a mentor and learning the ropes from that person. But the reality has been different. Mentors are hard to come by. This makes the work much more difficult and frustrating - due to the above-named uncertainties.
However, I desperately want to do work that matters. I want to publish, to do the actual job that a linguist does. I want to learn how to develop a publishable research paper from start to finish. I need to know how this process occurs. Recently a professor shared the following with me:
"To learn and not to do is not to know yet." (Zen Proverb)
Well I have been learning and not doing. I need to transition to this, and now.
So this is the next step, and I am hoping to start soon, but for the prelim. I need to pass that before anything else can happen. I'll sequester myself away all summer, studying and studying. Once that is concluded - hopefully - I can move on to the real focus: doing publishable work.
Being a graduate student is many things, both good and not so good. Right now, I am on the not so good side. I have neglected friendships, have neglected my health, have let things go undone around the house, have become much more single-minded, and I may have even become somewhat fatigued by it all. However, I feel I am ready to confront the challenges that await me. The goals to be accomplished are clear, even if the methodology is still somewhat mysterious. I look forward to many great learning opportunities, hoping all the while to notice them when they occur.
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