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Teaching and Research Statements

Adjectives Are Not Arguments, Part I

By Karen Kelsky | October 31, 2014

It is time that all of you grasped a simple yet profound truth of academic writing: adjectives are not arguments. Simply repeating the words: complex multivalent/multidirectional/multiplicitous unique diasporic transnational … [Read more...] about Adjectives Are Not Arguments, Part I

Filed Under: How to Interview, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Major Job Market Mistakes, Teaching and Research Statements, Writing

Break The Cycle of List-Addiction (Or, Just Say No To Flabby Logic)

By Karen Kelsky | August 8, 2014

[This is a repost from August 2011] Too many of us are addicted to lists in your writing. What does this look like? Well, something like this: “In sum, my dissertation uses interviews, surveys, textual analysis, and internet research in order … [Read more...] about Break The Cycle of List-Addiction (Or, Just Say No To Flabby Logic)

Filed Under: How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Teaching and Research Statements Tagged With: good academic writing, tips for academic job letters

How to Plan Your Research and Writing Trajectory on the Tenure Track

By Karen Kelsky | June 20, 2014

This is a re-post.  Various readers and clients are looking ahead to the new jobs they are starting in the fall, and I want you all to have a very firm handle on the nature of a tenure track research trajectory.  This post is written from the … [Read more...] about How to Plan Your Research and Writing Trajectory on the Tenure Track

Filed Under: Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Surviving Assistant Professorhood, Teaching and Research Statements, Tenure--How To Get It, Yes, You Can: Women in Academia Tagged With: first year tenure track research, how do I decide on a research trajectory, how to plan a research trajectory, research trajectory

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Topic vs. Contribution

By Karen Kelsky | August 30, 2013

When writing job letters clients often struggle to understand the distinction between their dissertation TOPIC and their dissertation CONTRIBUTION.  In the first dissertation paragraph you talk about the content of your dissertation--main argument, … [Read more...] about Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Topic vs. Contribution

Filed Under: How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Major Job Market Mistakes, Postdoc Issues, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements

Teaching: Not When and Where but What and How

By Karen Kelsky | August 23, 2013

When discussing teaching in the teaching paragraph of your letter, one of the temptations is to tell a chronological tale of how you taught as an adjunct here and an adjunct there, and taught this class in Fall 2012 and this other class in Spring … [Read more...] about Teaching: Not When and Where but What and How

Filed Under: Adjunct Issues, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, Writing

The Postdoc App: How It’s Different and Why

By Karen Kelsky | May 28, 2013

For the next few months I will be posting the "best of the best" Professor is in blog posts on the job market, for the benefit of all those girding their loins for the 2013-2014 market.  Today's post was originally published in … [Read more...] about The Postdoc App: How It’s Different and Why

Filed Under: Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Postdoc Issues, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Tenure--How To Get It Tagged With: applying for postdoctoral fellowship, how to apply for postdocs, writing a postdoc application

Gerund Addiction and Word Repetition–Two More Scourges

By Karen Kelsky | February 15, 2013

Faithful readers know that I have several posts on different kinds of writing tics that plague many academic writers.  These include list addiction, dyad addiction, and cheap adjectives. There are two more writing tics that I've come to identify: … [Read more...] about Gerund Addiction and Word Repetition–Two More Scourges

Filed Under: How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Writing

The Weepy Teaching Statement: Just Say No

By Karen Kelsky | January 18, 2013

An expanded and updated version of this post can now be found in Chapter  25 of my new book, The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job. I am keeping a shortened version here, but for the complete discussion including … [Read more...] about The Weepy Teaching Statement: Just Say No

Filed Under: Major Job Market Mistakes, Promote Yourself!, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, Writing

Banish These Words

By Karen Kelsky | October 26, 2012

Do not use the words “unique” or “burgeoning” in any of your job documents. They are painfully overused. The first is just trite. The second is over-dramatic. That is all. … [Read more...] about Banish These Words

Filed Under: Graduate Student Concerns, How to Get Grants and Fellowships, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, How To Write CVs, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, Writing

Damning Yourself With Faint Praise–Teaching Edition

By Karen Kelsky | October 12, 2012

For some reason people love to include undergraduate student feedback in the teaching paragraph of their job letters, and that feedback usually looks like this (from an actual letter): “Former students have consistently told me that I give helpful … [Read more...] about Damning Yourself With Faint Praise–Teaching Edition

Filed Under: How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Promote Yourself!, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios

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