Reflective Scholar in Training

Literature Review: 3 pages

I'm doing a little experiment.   I'm always attached to my laptop, I take class notes on it, read from it, document everything on it.  The problem is that when I'm online, the web is a distraction.  I'm a lot more productive when I'm working at a coffee shop or anywhere I don't have a connection to the Internet. 

So what is the experiment? I'm traveling to a conference and will leave the laptop and home.  I don't like to worry about theft in a hotel so I'll leave it instead.  But that means I won't be able to take conference notes on the laptop (much easier to search later) or spend a long time answering e-mails. 

But what I'm really interested in knowing is if my reading and writing output will go up. I'm working on a literature review for one of my classes and have a ton to read and write.  I'll work unplugged for the weekend, just plain old paper and pencil... and pens and index cards and sticky notes... ok, I know you get it. 

I'm sure my reading and note taking will be more productive, but I wonder about the writing process. I'm too used to working on a word processor and tracking new leads on the web.  I like writing on paper, but find it is a lot more work to revise it and keep copying from one page to another.  Anyways, we'll see how it goes. [I'm assuming I'll have a lot of free time to study... we'll see if I have any energy left after long days of "conferencing".]

I wonder what writing routines work for other graduate students. Anyone wants to share?

As I read the scathing reviews of a paper my research group wrote, I've come to realize that I got to be more careful about what my name is attached to.  

I was happy when I heard my name was included in a conference proposal paper. I had done a good deal of the data analysis for a research program that encompasses several research strands.  I had collaborated in writing two of the papers out of this program and I had revised a third work, a conference presentation.  I did not see the fourth paper, I actually didn't know my name (as one of the last authors) was on it until after it was submitted. Back then I thought: Great, I didn't have to work on it and I get a publication!

Few months later, the reviews are in, and they are not good! Most of the reviewers gave lower ratings and detailed negative comments on key areas of the paper. There are both rookie mistakes and weaknesses in the logic of the paper. What is surprising - disturbing? disconcerting? - is that the paper was accepted and will be presented.  I'm guessing the other papers submitted to that division were worst.  So this paper, that otherwise should have been rejected, is now going forward, with a conference presentation and publication in the proceedings.  

So, I offered to revise the paper. When I finally got to read it, I really wished my name was not in it. The quality of the paper does not compare to our previous work and there are passages of it that seem too similar to our previous work. I'm usually paranoid and this paper isn't helping... so I now have to edit it to provide appropriate citations, etc.  

Lessons learned: forget publishing at any cost, protect your - yet unrecognizable - name, quantity is good, but quality paramount. Oh! and don't trust that because a collaborator is more experienced, her work will be acceptable.  

Now I got to go, to repair this paper so it at least does no harm and to keep working on other much better papers to offset the negative impact this paper will have on my "reputation". 

Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/boo...

Are Americans hostile to knowledge? Let's see: parents don't want evolution being taught in public schools, the President admits he doesn't read newspapers, many argue college degrees are overvalued.... yes, I would say there is hostility to knowledge... you really didn't think education is the cornerstone of a free society, did you?

I hate first posts... they are like an awkward elevator introduction... but this is it... I'm a doctoral student... in the future I will teach and research for a living and I'm loving it already... but for now I am in training... so to help me reflect on the process I will write about it here...  oh! and English is my second language, so practicing my writing helps... being "anonymous" should keep me from trying to editorialize every sentence.  My goal is to be a productive writer, not to write the perfect American novel.

I'm hopeful... this blog might help other PhD wannabes ... or discourage them... we shall see...

TaDa... first post done...