Welcome back! Fall 2013 Edition

jjpacres / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Welcome back students (or just welcome, if you're a new MALS or ASGC student)! Now that you've survived your first week of classes, perhaps you've had time to look through those course syllabi and start getting an idea of all the different types of writing you'll be doing this semester. Once your head has stopped spinning at the thought of all that reading and writing (you can do it!!), check out the following links to help you get your semester of academic writing off to a great start.

MALS Online Writing Assistance
The MALS Writing Center has lots of online assistance available to help you with the writing process. Besides calling on your trusty writing consultant, don't forget to check out www.malswritingcenter.info for information on specific types of graduate-level writing, to Turabian style tips, to what to make of your professor's comments on your papers.

Writing Strategies
These posts from the blog Explorations of Style feature the author's "five key strategies for improving academic writing," which I think are a great to place to start, or just review, your academic writing habits: Reverse Outlines, Paragraphs, Transitions, Verbs, and Subjects.

Make Yourself Clear
Clear writing can be difficult to achieve, especially if you're new to graduate-level writing and all the concepts and ideas you'll need to communicate in your papers. Learn how to be concise in this handout from UNC's Writing Center, and read my thoughts on the topic in this previous blog post on sentence clarity.

Resource Roundup: End-of-semester Miscellaneous Edition

Nenyaki / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

This edition of the Resource Roundup features a variety of unrelated writing topics, which might be just right for you if you're feeling a little scattered at the end of the semester. There should be something in here to help you push through those last few papers—enjoy!

Punctuation
There is no more confusing punctuation mark than the humble comma, except for, perhaps, its cousin the semicolon. Used inappropriately, these tiny marks can completely obscure or change the meaning of your sentence. Learn about how to use commas here (be sure to check out the additional pages from the lefthand sidebar), and more about semicolons here.

Interdisciplinarity
If you have a few free minutes (or if you don't, but can't bear to type another word), have a listen to this interview with all-around interdisciplinary guy Edward Tufte. He has some interesting things to say about asking questions (food for thought for researchers and writers), and some great insights on taking a multi-disciplinary approach to life and learning.

Writing Groups
I know, I know—it's the end of the semester and the last thing on your mind is joining a writing group. And you don't even have time for one during the semester. Still, I encourage you to check out these two links (here and here) with info on the benefits of writing groups, and consider that a summer-time writing group might just be a great way to stay in practice over the break, improve last semester's seminar papers, and even get started on material that could later be used in your thesis or project support paper. Just something to think about!

Tips for seminar papers 
Sometimes graduate student writers seem hesitant to take a clear stance in their papers. Remember that a seminar paper is (in most cases) a paper that presents the writer's argument, research and sources that support that argument, and evidence that the writer argues against. Don't be afraid to clearly state your claim! After all, the purpose of your writing the paper is to add to the academic discussion about your topic, so you should be saying something different and new that other researchers have not explicitly said before. Here are some tips for addressing your audience, making an argument, and more about seminar papers.

As always, please get in touch if you'd like additional assistance with these or any other topics as you finish up your writing assignments for the semester! ~ Lahla

In the home stretch

As the end of the semester fast approaches and deadlines loom, stress and the sense of being overwhelmed by work can send your focus and motivation out the window.

via Cyanide and Happiness. 

All joking aside, you are in the home stretch now, and in less than three weeks, the semester will be behind you. Hopefully you are all looking forward to a warm and restful winter break, and will finish out the semester feeling satisfied with the work you have done.

A reminder

I'm sure none of you are in such dire straits as Patrick here.

Your friendly neighborhood writing consultant remains available to help you with end-of-semester assignments, including both MALS and elective coursework. Even if you have never worked with me before, I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions, could use a second pair of eyes on a paper or other writing in progress, or if you simply need to vent about the stress and challenges of graduate school. Email any time at malswritingconsultant@gmail.com, and feel free to open a chat if you see me online. 

I know how difficult it is to complete work far enough in advance to allow time for feedback, but keep in mind that you do not have to have a finished draft in hand in order to seek consultation! If you have a couple of pages roughed out, or even a couple of paragraphs, feel free to send them my way. Be sure to indicate the goals of the assignment  (it doesn't hurt to send the original guidelines along with your work), specify any particular concerns you may have, and let me know the due date so that I can prioritize appropriately.

DON'T BE THIS GUY.

via ETSU Memes.

Thinking ahead

Although this is a very busy time of year, this is an ideal time to start thinking about steps you can take to make your life and your schoolwork easier next spring. Specifically, consider the power of teamwork, and think about joining a peer writing group. I'll talk more about this later, but for now, check out some FAQ's about writing groups on the MALS Writing Center website, as well as the information under "content" on the Writing Center D2L page. If you are at all interested in working with a writing group, please email me and/or post on the D2L page so we can get the ball rolling!

In a different approach to teamwork and community support, MALS is preparing to launch a new peer mentorship program. Details are coming to you via email. This spring semester, everyone enrolled in the MALS program will be eligible to participate, either as a mentor (students in their third semester and beyond) or a mentee (newly enrolled MALS students and those entering their second semester). Please look over the email and think very hard about getting involved in this program.

Take five

Don't be this guy, either. via Shoebox Blog.

In the midst of all this hustle and bustle, try to make a little time in your busy schedule to unwind. You can often focus better and work more productively after stepping away from work and schoolwork for a few minutes or a few hours. This is particularly helpful if, like me, you tend to get stuck in a cycle of non-productive time wasting instead of getting your work done.

Here are a few local and on-campus happenings over the next few weeks (click the links for more information):

• ART 

If you are on campus this Wednesday or Thursday, November 28-29, swing by the Culp Center's ballroom for ETSU's Student Ceramic Association sale. Students will be selling one-of-a-kind, handmade pottery and ceramic items.

Walk through Slocumb Galleries in Ball Hall this week to see graduating students' BFA and MFA shows.

Beginning December 3rd, visit the same space for the annual postcard art show and silent auction fundraiser. The first weekend of December also brings First Friday and the annual Christmas Parade to downtown Johnson City.

• MUSIC

At 7:30pm this Thursday, November 29th, ETSU's Ending Fall Bands Concert will play in the Culp Center. The concert is free and open to the public.

ETSU Chorale's annual Christmas Concert takes place this Friday and Saturday in downtown Johnson City. Appalachian Studies professor Jane MacMorran, whom some of you may know, is featured on the violin.

Check out the Down Home and the Acoustic Coffeehouse for additional live music close to campus, including several upcoming performances by ETSU affiliates.

• THEATRE

Glasgow Theatre Company's production of David Sedaris' hilarious "Santaland Diaries" plays this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 29-December 1, at Nelson Fine Art in downtown Johnson City.

Johnson City Community Theatre's holiday comedy, "Nuncrackers," opens this Friday, November 30th, and runs for three weekends.*

For non-holiday-themed fare, Theatre Bristol presents "Peter Pan the Avenger" the first two weekends in December.

• DANCE 

ETSU's Student Dance Workshop performs on Thursday, December 6th, at 7:30pm in the Mini-Dome Dance Studio (room 104). Free admission.

• GET MOVING

As ETSU students, you all have full access at no additional charge to the campus Center for Physical Activity. The CPA is a fully equipped gym with a pool and fitness classes. Drop by to blow off steam, work up a sweat, or even study while using a treadmill or stationary bike. The CPA is open through December 7th, and operates on a limited schedule over winter break.


*Disclaimer: despite appearances, I am not generally a Christmas shill; the holiday tends to take over the area completely in December. If you are looking for a Christmas-free break, you can still see Halloween-themed movies or even "Brave" for $3 at the Real to Reel cinema. 

First things first

Greetings, MALS friends, from your shiny new Writing Consultant! My name is Emily Carmichael. A few of you already know me from classes we shared during the past two years; I hope to meet the rest of you face to face sometime soon.

I graduated from MALS in May 2012. My area of study was the relationship between text and culture, with specific emphasis on folklore and fairy tales. Because text and culture are both broad fields, I built my program of study from a relatively wide variety of disciplines, including literature, art, history, and anthropology. For my Capstone, I chose to do a creative project focused on Grimms' fairy tales and the ongoing process of revising and retelling those stories, both visually and verbally, with an emphasis on the mutual interplay between retellings and the cultures in which they are produced. 

Grimms' Girls: part of a larger series
which made up part of my Capstone.
Acrylic and glitter on canvas, 2012.

My undergraduate work is in fine art and literature. I also have a background in librarianship (I have worked in public and school libraries, and earned my Master of Education with a concentration in school library media simultaneously with my MALS degree), which means I'm happy to help with research problems. I will certainly post about research here as well.

I came to MALS, interdisciplinarity, and writing quite naturally; I am addicted to learning, my scholarly background is varied, and I have always had a tendency to think and write interdisciplinarily (although I didn't know there was a name for it). Even so, I found the work I did in the MALS program to be the most challenging of my life, in no small part because MALS students are held to an extremely high standard. As intimidating as that standard is, and as frustrating as I found it at times, it has shaped me into a far better writer than I was prior to entering the program. 

Swan Song. Acrylic and oil on canvas, 2012.

Additionally, I struggled with many assignments because I am highly subject to the major pitfalls that trip up many students: procrastination, a short attention span, and a vocal inner critic. While I still don't know how to fully conquer these problems, I have learned to devise personal strategies to circumvent them, a little at a time, in order to get the necessary work done. At a later date I'll talk some about those strategies as well.

On a personal note, I live here in Johnson City, so I am happy to make face-to-face appointments if those suit your working style better than online conversations. At present I live with four cats, but only two are permanent (the other two are foster kittens), so I have not quite reached cat lady status yet. I spend much of my free time reading, cooking, and performing in local theatre productions.

Since it is now my responsibility to craft a blog worth the time it will take for you to read, I will do my best to keep things fun as well as informative. I'll also try to do the same with the MALS Writing Center Facebook page. I look forward to meeting, getting to know, and working with all of you. 

Cheers,

Emily

p.s. Despite my background in literature, I still find theory challenging! If it's easy for you, please let me know, because I want to shake your hand.

No Such Thing as Useless Knowledge

Last week I addressed the demons of doubt we’ll all face sooner or later during our MALS careers.  This week I’ve asked current MALS student Valerie Bodell to share her thoughts on how interdisciplinary graduate study has proven valuable both to her topic of interest and her outlook on life. Valerie is in her third year in MALS, and she’s also a full-time ETSU employee. Her program of study concentrates on the role that comics, as a form of literature, play in forming cultural and personal identity. She has presented several papers at graduate liberal studies conferences during the last few years, and presented at The Graphic Novel Conference in Oxford, UK earlier this month:

Rabbit Race by Valerie Bodell

 A Few Interdisciplinary Thoughts

  First of all let me say that panic and confusion are normal.  In addition, elements that crop up throughout your interdisciplinary studies that seem crazy and not applicable to your situation will probably turn out to be the valuable tools, advice, or points of view you should keep in mind.  Also realize that we’re here to learn.  Since we don’t know everything - and some days it feels as if we don’t know much of anything - we’re going to make mistakes, lots of them.  That’s normal too. 

Another characteristic of interdisciplinary studies is that everything connects to everything else.  Therefore there can be no such thing as useless knowledge.  Now I want to take a moment to applaud my fellow students who are pursuing high ideals and socially conscious studies.  That recognition out of the way, I can tell you that my topic is creating a comics autobiography.  Is this a frivolous goal?  No.  If your topic interests you, go for it.  You’ll find that it connects to the larger picture of humanity sooner or later. For example, I learned that comics can help victims address trauma.  Further, as I consider identity in our modern, electronic world, incidents like the Colorado shooting at the Batman movie strike me as role playing fantasies gone wrong.   Can exploring the enduring allure of comics like the Dark Knight series, and fantasy in many online role playing games, illuminate how most people separate electronic realities from physical realities?  Is the Colorado shooting incident about male identity?
.... Valerie Bodell, MALS Student

Giraffe, Tree, Lion by Valerie Bodell

One of the greatest powers of interdisciplinary thinking is that it conditions you to make such connections. Interdisciplinary scholarship celebrates knowledge and recognizes the value in all forms of creativity, not just for their own sake but as tools to help us better understand both the natural world and the human experience. I encourage you to embrace your MALS journey and always to look for ways that your interests fit into to the big picture.