Hello everyone,
I think I can speak for the rest of bloggers in saying that this year has been an enlightening experience. Thanks to all of you for tuning into our thoughts, rants, and concerns about the graduate school experience. As a token of our gratitude, we want to provide a summary of what we discussed this year, divided into three themes: productivity, self-development, and experiences and events. We hope that this summary will provide you with a resource for the future when you need a motivation boost or reminder.
Thank you all once again. We will return blogging later this year at the end of August.
Productivity
- Overcoming the challenges with distance learning: many Queen’s students engage in distance learning and Umair described some strategies that worked for him maintain motivation throughout course work.
- A short guide to promoting your research: Umair explains the best ways to get the word about your graduate research projects, for example, recommendations for leveraging the different avenues available in academic conferences.
- Making your own grad study station: all Gradifying bloggers shared images of their study spaces; from Grace’s silent study escape to Eruani’s fluid work space.
- Delivering in a time crunch: Grace discusses the concept of prioritizing tasks when on a tight deadline.
- Surviving archive fever: Isabel shares her experiences indulging in archives looking for answers to never-ending questions
- Where do I start? Strategies for writing effectively: Umair shares some strategies for writing effectively, such as outlining and pre-writing.
- Highly effective study habits: Grace describes some strategies she found to be effective in maintaining focus on tasks, for example, not cramming and teaching knowledge to peers and colleagues.
- Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: Isabel explains how writing PhD dissertation is one of the most difficult aspects of the journey and how she accomplishes this by writing for 15 minutes a day.
- Starting off with a bang: suggestions for beginning new semesters: Umair shares the best ways to ensure that the semester is not a stressful time but something that gives motivation to continue learning.
- Maximizing your potential at academic conferences: abstracts, posters, presentations, and networking: Umair shares strategies for leveraging the best aspects from academic conferences, for example, meeting new individuals every day.
- Professional development fundamentals: curriculum vitae and resume: Umair explains the differences between CV and resume and where and when to use them as well as uncommon advice for writing them.
- On balancing breaks: Eruani talks about Write No Matter What by Jensen and what lessons it provides for making breaks effective in writing.
Personal Development
- Tackling the decision monster: a welcome to fellow new grads: Grace welcomes new grad students by offering insight into how to make good decisions as they build their careers, for example, being resilient during decisions with a lot of uncertainty.
- The essentials of being a graduate teaching assistant: Umair shares strategies to serve as an effective educator, for example, building a strong rapport with students at the beginning of semester.
- On feeling overwhelmed: Eruani describes strategies to reduce stress when it comes to study workload, such as prioritizing important tasks and developing clear goals.
- Goal-setting and occupational planning: designing your ideal career: Grace offers suggestions on setting goals for professional careers, for example, making a goal planning worksheet.
- Healthy eating on a budget: Grace shares some quick and health and cheap recipes for students.
- On the art of procrastination: Eruani explains what happens to individuals cognitively in the moments of procrastinating important tasks and how to address them, such as putting comfort first so that it doesn’t become an excuse to procrastinate.
- Maintaining professionalism in an environment of unprofessionalism: challenges and opportunities: Umair recommends questioning ourselves in moments where we think we understand the situation fully when it may be the case that it is more complex than we originally thought.
- Be inspired by women to be all you can be: Grace provides examples and principles for being a stronger individual.
- Get involved and give back: Isabel shares opportunities to getting involved in the Kingston community beyond Queen’s University.
- Imposter syndrome – you’re not alone: Grace explains how to overcome the feeling of being incapable of accomplishing things in graduate school and how to overcome the feeling of isolation.
- Making Kingston home: Isabel shares the ways to feel at home in Kingston by visiting Queen’s Student Community Relations website.
- What might academic writing learn from text messages: Gabriel reviews posts on writing and describes how academic writing process can learn from how we write text messages.
- A Student Perspective on Human Rights: Grace describes how many individuals face discrimination and harassment and shares with us our basic human rights so we can be equipped with addressing these situations.
Experiences and Events
- Views of Campus: A Proposal: Gabriel provides some recommendations for renovating an underused building on campus.
- On dissertation-on-the-lake: Eruani shares her experiences with the writing dissertation on the lake service offered by the School of Graduate Studies.
- Let’s take back the might at Queen’s: Isabel shares her experiences at a protest advocating for the end of sexual and gender-based violence.
- To all the books I’ve loved before: Gabriel describes his love for books, for example, how some serve as traveling companions.
- Graduate students read with Queen’s reads: Isabel’s experiences with the Queen’s Reads program
- Doing food, together: Gabriel describes his experiences eating food in larger groups, such as the collegial environment and sharing of knowledge and ideas.
- Q&A with Tanya Tran of TEDxQueensU.
- On celebrating 2018 and welcoming 2019: a review of how Eruani has said goodbye to 2018 and what she looks forward to in the new year, for example, her enjoyment blogging on Gradifying.
- Queer screens, queer scenes: Gabriel has a conversation with Pierre-Luc Landry, chairperson of Reelout board of directors and professor at Queens.
- Experiential learning with the PhD-community initiative: Isabel recommends learning about what services are offered by the School of Graduate Studies through the PhD-community initiative and how it can enhance PhD journey.
- To these friends, thank you: Gabriel explains how acknowledging our friends explicitly is important.
- On peace be upon you: Eruani’s journey to Canada and interacting with the Muslim community, coming from Malaysia, celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr in Kingston, and participating in weekly Islamic circles at the local mosque.
- A reading for grad students: Gabriel concludes his last blog for the year to suggest that you trust what you have accomplished until now and know that it deserves recognition.
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