"Let me conclude by saying that I see René Brauer as a diamond in the
rough [...] his further development
as he would be an excellent contribution to any graduate program. [...] He will not disappoint you."
This was written for me in a
recommendation letter 2012. After that I spend 2 years applying for PhD
positions (20 in total). During that time, to survive, I spend my time; sorting
post cards, being dumped, moving, living in apartment in the winter (-20°C) without heating, applying for
mind numbing work, applying for more mind numbing work, receiving social benefits
to pay my rent, working in a research project, participating in a conference,
writing an article, working in a different research project, flying to Rome,
networking at a conference, working in a another research project, running into
ethical issues during that project, answering a peer review, having your peer
review accepted, being published, attending another conference, doing a PhD
interview, applying for a PhD position recommended by a professor I met in
Rome, getting this position, vacation in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia, working
on a construction site, arriving in England and finally realising the
aforementioned potential.
This brings us to today, today I got
my mark for a research methods class I attended when I started my PhD. I achieved
not only the top grade (an A). I also, received this comment:
“The insights you give are deeply critical and reflective. [… K]eep on track. You do appear to be.
Overall a fantastic job – well done!”
After all these setbacks, another massive step forward. This all has put me in a position where I can finally realize my potential (instead of wasting it in some call center for example). Currently, I am planning on
starting two new articles. The first
one is something that my supervisor suggested. As part of my PhD I am going to
have to do a literature review. He suggested that I adjust my literature in
such a way that it potentially could be published.The second, that I am really enthusiastic about, I just got
inspiration for this week.
In the middle of December we had a seminar with one of the senior members of the department, on which he talked about ‘how to write’. However, the seminar, in my opinion, was quite dull and superficial as it only touched the ‘politically correct’ aspects of publishing. So I proposed to him (Scott Cohen) that I could interview him on his writing style and process from a science studies point of view; that focuses on the actual process rather than an abstract description of it. So I had the interview with him on Tuesday (20th of January 2015) and it was amazing. Not only divulged he information on his process, he talked a lot about the internal politics of publishing, what rank journal you should aim for, how to adjust your style to a specific journal, how to choose a title, how to boost your own status, how to use references etc.
In the middle of December we had a seminar with one of the senior members of the department, on which he talked about ‘how to write’. However, the seminar, in my opinion, was quite dull and superficial as it only touched the ‘politically correct’ aspects of publishing. So I proposed to him (Scott Cohen) that I could interview him on his writing style and process from a science studies point of view; that focuses on the actual process rather than an abstract description of it. So I had the interview with him on Tuesday (20th of January 2015) and it was amazing. Not only divulged he information on his process, he talked a lot about the internal politics of publishing, what rank journal you should aim for, how to adjust your style to a specific journal, how to choose a title, how to boost your own status, how to use references etc.
This type of article would massively improve my chances to get a job in
STS. Because: it is novel, it is a focus on practice (which is what I want to
do), it is published in the most prestigious journal within the field and it
associates my name with big names. As such, establishing my research profile as
an respectable academic within my field.
No comments:
Post a Comment