Let me first apologize for writing about my doctoral program experience. I know not everyone can get into this but there are a lot of lessons that apply to areas outside of school.
First, my adviser, Dr. Ewart Skinner, said to me, "Think of the end....now." In other words, what I do now has a direct bearing on what happens when I graduate and look for jobs if I want to move around or even stay at Toledo. In terms of what I am doing now, more specifically, he meant the theory I specialize in as well as the research method is something I will carry with me throughout my doctoral student career and then when I apply for jobs or stay at Toledo, I can talk about my areas of specialty.
Second, think about your audience. My research interest is studying how pregnant teens and teen moms identify with pregnancy themes in the media like tv shows and movies. We have seen people blame the media for glamorizing pregnancy and making it more appealing to teens. To me, this has practical applications. I want to talk to teens about the media's impact. Once my research is completed, I want people, especially teens, to read it. In my opinion, there is a lot of academic research that seems to float in this cloud above people that only academic types read. I don't see the point in doing research if it does not benefit people in some way. So, to shorten up my point, basically, who is the audience? Who will read or hear your research? How will it impact them?
Lastly, you are constantly making an impression on somebody. What I mean by that is no matter what happens, what assignment you have, you are always "interviewing." Someone has their eye on you. The faculty in the Media and Communication Department at BGSU is strong and have published a ton of research articles and have connections. While many are set in where they are, they might get a call from a professor they know at another university asking if they know of someone who they think would make a good hire. I try to keep that in mind. I don't want to be the student who gets spoken of as, "yeah, he tries hard but doesn't seem to give it his all" or "he goes through the motions a lot." Not cool.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Valid points, all, Struke. That last paragraph is especially true. There is always someone watching you. Everything you do and say contributes to how people see you. It's a good thing to remember.
Not to sound too contentious, but I think you should be happy (and lucky) getting undergrads to read you work, I doubt that most teens will read a doctoral thesis unless it has a lot of sex in it, and even then they will skim. You put a lot of faith out there in teen, as someone who was a teen not so long ago, I can tell you that if you intend for your work to be read by the audience that your writing about, that is teens likely to get pregnant, I doubt those teens are the type to read a doctoral thesis. Good luck on your work though, it sounds interesting.
Bigvic...don't worry about being contentious. You're right! And that's exactly my point. If teens read my research, that would be great. As I said in my post, I would like others to read it as well...especially those that think that the media have a huge role in teens getting pregnant. Please understand that in no way do I intend for my original doctoral dissertation to be sold or marketed to teens. That's just not smart. No research needed to know that. :) I was a teen awhile ago and I know what you're saying. The dissertation material/data would definitely have to be in a more reader-friendly version. That kind of hits again at my point of "thinking about the audience." In my opinion, doing this research has absolutely no value if it just gets published in academic journals and "float(s) in this cloud above people that only academic types read" as I said in my original post. Doing ethnographic interviews with pregnant teens and teen moms and putting together an article or a book based on what they say would be meaningful. As of now, the only way we hear from pregnant teens is on the shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, which are heavily edited and scripted.
Thanks for the well wishes! Good luck with your studies.
Post a Comment