A WhatsApp-text popped up on my phone, and a notification “ding” tone followed. The screen showed Shelly’s message in a blinding glow. An untimely text from her, although I liked her lots – a very outgoing, intelligent colleague. A promising scholar in the making. “I went to your sharing seminar,” her message read. “Your research…
Tag: Academic Writing
If you Give a Mouse a Research Project
Third grade, they say, is the year that school shifts from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” I can remember my own third grade year feeling a lot harder than school had up until that point. And one of the things that happened that year was that my third grade teacher insisted that we…
My PhD Advisor (A Good Teacher is Hard to Find: 3)
Page is hard to write about. Despite working with her for over 4 years, she remains a mystery to me. She was my PhD supervisor, and we had a bumpy start. To be fair, I was partly responsible for that bumpy start because I didn’t know what I was getting into when I applied to do…
The Negativity of Reviewers Stops with Me
“Don’t let the words get to you”, I said to myself, reluctantly flipping open the reviewers’ comments one more time after letting them settle for months. It my first grant proposal as research staff at my university. What’s unpleasant always comes first, raising a big flag and waving it at you. You can feel the…
Eric, the Teacher & Researcher: A Horror Story
My name is Eric, a teacher and a husband. In the daytime, I teach and research. In the night-time, I rest and cook, and sometimes run and play music. Lately, I do research, teaching preps, proposals and plans. Cooking and running in the evening. Seven days a week. I don’t mean to scare you, but…