======= Date Modified 26 09 2009 05:09:24 =======
Hi all,

I've been lurking on here for a few weeks. Reading everyone's stories and advice has been very therapeutic for me in dealing with the frustrations of doing my PhD. I'm also very thankful for everyone who has kindly partaken in my online questionnaire.

I was curious if anyone has any good tips for books or articles to read about being a researcher/grad student, things you've found therapeutic.

My tip:

Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article by Howard Becker (http://amzn.com/0226041328)

From the title, you'd think it was another collection of common sense advice like "plan ahead, don't procrastinate, set goals, do drafts". It's not. It's more about the psychology/sociology of trying to make your way in academia, and the fears that trip us up. The focus is on the pain of writing, but it has wide implications. It's also applicable to non-social scientists, I would think. A quick (abridged) excerpt:

"Standard texts in composition traditionally address college undergraduates, though they generally say, correctly, that people in business, government and the academy might profit from them too. But the graduate students and scholars I work with have all had Freshman English, very likely taught by people who know the modern theories of composition and use the new methods, and it hasn't helped them... They don't consult the composition books that might help them write clearer prose, and probably would ignore their useful advice if they did...A book meant to help them must deal wit why they write that way, given they know they shouldn't...Undergraduates don't have the same problems with writing that older people have...They know what they write in this one paper will not affect their lives much. Sociologists and other scholars, on the other hand...know that their professional futures rest on how their peers and superirors judge what they write...Being serious, writing scares them more than it does students, which makes the technical problems even harder to solve."


:-)

======= Date Modified 26 Dec 2009 21:39:09 =======
Hi Mark ,
thanks for this tip , I would never have considered looking at this book but it looks really interesting and as someone who is just starting on their PhD it seems to tackle some of the barriers to academic writing (up)
Bluebell

I am doing a psychology/sociology MSc so will definitely buy this - thanks for the recommendation!

Hi Mark

Glad you've started posting - welcome! The bible round here is Joan Bolker's 'How to Write your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day" - it's fabulous. It related directly to doing a PhD, so am not sure if that applies to you.

Cheers.