Hey hey You!
Welcome back here.
my family and I on Sunday
It’s a LONG holiday WKND in Nigeria, and once the holiday kicked in, I kept telling myself not to forget that I have assignments, deadlines, and of course, project!
On Saturday, I was on a call with my Supervisor. I was so desperate to see him and show him the progress I’d made on my Literature Review, especially after incorporating the tips he gave me just two days earlier. Only for me to finish at the library and find out… his office was locked. Haha!
Anyways, I started to talk about the UVA-UNILAG joint workshop in my last post From Intimidation to Impact: My Carnegie UVA-UNILAG Workshop Experience (Part 1), where I shared 5 things I learned. Today, I wanna share 5 more things, not just from the workshop, but from my week.
Here we go:
6. Literature review can be as exciting as it is hard!
My goodness. I’m currently using Zotero as my reference manager, and let me just say, I’m still trying to get a hang of it. My Supervisor has promised to put me through this week sha.
For someone like me who gets easily lost in reading too many materials, I’ve had to discipline myself to set boundaries around the unending literature available on my topic. Fam, it is HARD!
7. There should be different pathways for disseminating research findings.
Honestly, I think a lot of post-grad writings are created with just academia in mind, and it’s starting to feel quite annoying. If I’m writing to the academic world, fine, I’ll write with them in mind. But if I’m writing to the everyday man, without watering it down, I should still be able to use simpler language abeg!
My friend Jesudunni, who’s doing her PhD in Brazil, was ranting about the same thing. Abeg, we need to change all the complicated writing! I’ve already started that conversation with my HOD, Prof.
8. Still on pathways, there should be a different PhD track for those of us not going into academia.
The general assumption when someone is doing a PhD is that they’re headed into lecturing. I thought so toooooooo!
But now that I’m in the system, I realize how off that assumption is. Not all of us want to dedicate 3–4 years solely to books, we also want to live life, even though we know we can’t exactly be partying like others sha.
I’ve heard some lecturers say how they left everything and everyone to move into school, and literally, their supervisor’s office too! Well, that’s great, but what about those who are married? Have kids? Or still need to keep a job because the whole point of the PhD is to apply it to their current non-academic work?
These are real conversations that need to come to the table, just like conversations around female athletes and their periods. Think of swimmers in their tight outfits dealing with tampons or pads, or gymnasts pushing through intense PMS while twisting their bodies into impossible shapes.
You know, real life, real issues, beyond the so-called “norm.”
I’m truly looking forward to seeing how my own journey plays out because like my lecturer said, I can be different, and I’m excited to see what that different will look like.
Speaking of different…
This is a good time to segue into something related, but outside academia.
I also run a YouTube channel, where I talk a lot about healthy eating and living. In my latest video, I teach how to educate yourself so you don’t fall for the deception of manufacturers and advertisers out there.
9. I love the idea of coursework in the first semester/year of a PhD instead of jumping straight into your project/fieldwork, which is what we currently do in UNILAG Sociology.
I think coursework levels the playing field a bit before we all go off on our individual research journeys. Someone actually suggested this at the seminar, and JD (my friend in Brazil) confirmed that it’s what they do in her university.
They said they would consider it here too, so fingers crossed! That said, I definitely don’t want exams o! Just coursework that’s practical and helps launch us into preliminary work and then bam, fieldwork!
10. I looooove being in rooms like these!
Rooms full of intellectuals and intellectual conversations are my happy place.
I’m so glad that beyond core academic work, we also get these seminars and workshops, at least once a month, to hear from PhDs, seasoned Lecturers, and fellow post-grad students on their research journeys.
Love love love it!
Ok, see you in my next post! Hopefully, by then, I’ll have figured Zotero out even more—and maybe, just maybe I’ll have done like 7 pages of LR. Haha!
With BIG academic LOVE,
Eziaha