Your survival guide for graduate school.
Welcome to the university, where the Academic Hunger Games, fueled by
precarious employment conditions, is the new reality: a perpetual jostle
for short-term contracts and the occasional plum job. But Inger Mewburn
is here to tell you that life doesn't have to be so grim. A veteran of
the university gig economy, Mewburn--aka The Thesis Whisperer--is
perfectly placed to reflect on her experience and offer a wealth of
practical strategies to survive and thrive.
In Becoming an Academic, Mewburn, who has spent over a decade helping
PhD students succeed in graduate school, deftly navigates the world of
the working academic. Offering tips and tricks for survival, she touches
on everything from thesis and article writing and keeping motivation
alive to time management, research strategies, mastering new
technologies, applying for promotion, dealing with sexism in the
workplace, polishing grant applications, and deciding what to wear to
give a keynote address. These essays are funny, irreverent, and spot on;
Mewburn peppers her writing with wit and wisdom that speaks to graduate
students.
Constructive, inclusive, hands-on, and gloves-off, this book is a
survival manual for aspiring and practicing academics, as well as for
students who are considering whether to stay in academia. A field guide
to living in the academic trenches without losing your mind (or your
heart), Becoming an Academic confirms that--no matter what your
experience is in academia--you are not alone.
