12 Things I’ve Learned as a Ph.D. Student

SMU history graduate student Tim Seiter recently wrote an insightful and witty  article for INSIDE HIGHER ED discussing what it’s really like to be a PhD student and shares what he’s learned along the way.

To read, click here.

Graduate Students as Writers

Last week we had a wonderful lunch with the great Alessandra Link (On twitter at @AlessandraLink2).   She talked about writing, learning to write, writing well, and cherishing writing.

Here is a list of the great books she recommended

  1. Aaron Sachs, “Letters to a Tenured Historian: Imagining History as Creative Nonfiction–or Maybe Even Poetry,” Rethinking History  14:1 (2010)
    1. with responses from other historians:
      1. Jeffery Wasserstrom, “A letter from an Emeritus Historian, c. 2049″
      2. Kate Brown, “Three Letters from to a Junior Colleague
      3. Jenny Price, “A Letter from a Lapsed Colleague
  2. Anne Dillard, The Writing Life
  3. Dani Shapiro, Still Writing (a personal favorite)
  4. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
  5. John McPhee, Draft No. 4
  6. Stephen King, On Writing
  7. Zadie Smith interview