For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. -- Romans 12:3, NIV For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? -- 1 Corinthians 4:7, NIV As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. -- Proverbs 27:17, … [Read more...] about Academic Conferences and Spiritual Practice
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On Submitting Academic Work (Scholar’s Compass)
Scripture Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. -- Psalm 143:8 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. -- Lamentations 3:22-23 Reflection I have a love-hate relationship with deadlines. I am a procrastinator. I'm sure many of you can relate. I don't procrastinate because I'm lazy or because I don't want to work hard. It's … [Read more...] about On Submitting Academic Work (Scholar’s Compass)
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 3
Jonathan Warren shares the last in a three part series. Explore Part 1 here and Part 2 here. As I wrap up this series, two more things I learned from my dissertation come to mind: 4) You need to strike the proper balance between research and writing. One of my besetting issues during the entirety of my Ph.D. program was the sense that I always needed to know more about the topic than I did before I could write about it. My tendency was to consume more and more information, compile more and more detailed … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 3
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 2
Boston Public Library Last time I explored how important it is to have a supportive community while writing. Here I move on to lessons 2 and 3 from my dissertation process: 2) Be realistic about how much time good writing takes. I mentioned before that I'm an ENFP and find it extremely hard to focus. I'm also very social and tend to get depressed if I spend too long in the library researching and writing. One of the initial challenges for me in making progress on the dissertation was developing what historian … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 2
Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 1
Over the past six years, I've been enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University, studying church history. For the past three years, I've been trying to write a dissertation, which is more or less like trying to write a book–but for three or four very persnickety readers. More than once during this process I've questioned whether I would be able to finish. I never struggled with “imposter syndrome” during coursework or comprehensive exams, but during the dissertation … [Read more...] about Five Things I’ve Learned from Writing a Dissertation, Part 1