From Student to Scholar

This week, students in my labor class are writing proposals for papers due at the end of the semester. This is kind of a big deal since, hopefully, these papers will turn into "third year papers" which (if they're good) will become chapters of their dissertations. It's been quite something to see students go from a broad interest in a topic to a specific question to a specific answerable question to a specific answerable question that hasn't already been answered. I'm reminded that this stuff is hard! But it's so much fun to see them zero in on a topic that they're excited about! Especially when it comes after a long struggle.

In honor of these students, I thought I'd share some of my favorite pieces of advice on how to go from student to scholar. One piece of advice: Don't be boring. Another: Look for ideas in the world, not in journals. But I actually found my favorite piece of advice in a CSWEP newsletter interview of Anna Mikusheva. She writes,

"The main advice is trivial: always work on something. If you have not found a big, exciting project to work on, work on something smaller—a big project will eventually come your way. If you don’t have even a small project, work out some missing details of a paper you’ve recently read or seen presented, and/or try to answer questions that have arisen during the last seminar you attended. Your big idea will come once you have realized enough small projects." 

She also recommends ambition and patience. I would also add that talking about your ideas to people, especially smart people but really anybody who will listen, can be so helpful!