Good evening readers! I am honored and excited to be taking on the post of MALS Online Writing Consultant for ETSU's Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. I completed my MALS degree in Spring 2010. As a student, I served as the graduate assistant for the MALS program. I designed and wrote a large portion of the MALS Writing Center. My mission for this blog is to provide current Liberal Studies graduate students with information that will keep them grounded in the writing process as they complete rigorous programs of study that include interdisciplinary seminar papers, culminating projects, and theses.
As a MALS alumna, I know how frustrating the writing process can be, especially for students returning to the academic world after a long time away. As a MALS student, you are thrust into a world of interdisciplinary scholarship in which you encounter theory and vocabulary you never even knew existed (transdisciplinarity, anyone?) and learn to analyze complex problems through an interdisciplinary lens. Add to this challenging program a seemingly insurmountable workload, and the thought of writing clearly and effectively in such a way that incorporates this newly formed perspective can bring tears to the eyes of the most dedicated student.
As I embark upon my duties as a writing consultant, let me share with you these words of comfort : graduate school is supposed to be hard. You will finish each semester thinking, "How in the world did I actually read all and write all of that?!? Next semester couldn't possibly be as demanding!" Alas, the next semester will probably be just as demanding.
You are probably hoping to hear that it gets easier. The truth is that the demands of graduate school will remain rigorous and at times seem to border on ridiculous. What I can say is that the difficulty becomes easier to manage as you progress through your program of study. You will get through it.
Cheers.
