Category Archives: Studying

Grant application

How to get Funding for Academic Research

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Research is a vital part of any academic’s career, and getting the money to fund that research is essential. But getting funding, no matter what field you’re in, can be tricky and intimidating. With so many resources out there, how do you know which one to choose? And how do you know the best way to move forward once you’ve chosen one? Below you’ll find some ideas on how to get started on your funding journey.

Learn how to Write Grant Applications

Funding and grant applications (also known as funding/grant proposals) go hand in hand, so it’s a good idea to put some time into learning how to write applications. Fund application writing is a genre of its own that often involves technical jargon and specific formats that can be confusing if you’ve never written one before. Many institutions, such as libraries and universities, offer grant application classes to the public. You can also look for real-world experience by asking if there are any grant writing opportunities at your job, or if a colleague has experience successfully writing funding applications for their own research. The sooner you become familiar and comfortable with writing grant proposals, the sooner you can start applying for funding.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a great resource on writing grant proposals, and we can also help proofread and generally shape up your application once it’s written.

Create a Budget

Most funding applications include a section on how you plan to spend the money you’re seeking. Sitting down and actually creating a budget is key to understanding all of the necessities you might need funds for as you conduct your research. Obvious costs include travel, lodging, and food, but you may also need to allocate some cash to areas such as conducting focus groups, compensating participants, bringing in experts in your field, or hiring the services of a market research company. Make sure you read the requirements and guidelines for each funding application you’re working on, because different sources of funding will have different stipulations regarding what you can and cannot use the money for. Talking with colleagues, professors, and other researchers in your field can give you a better idea of what type of budget makes the most sense for your research.

You can find a couple of budget examples here.

Provide Value for Money

When applying for funding, it’s always important to keep in mind the value that your research will bring to specific organizations and your field as a whole. By closely reading the guidelines on funding applications, you can get a better sense of what they’re looking for in terms of research and project value. Use your application as a way to highlight the importance of your subject, and what your research will contribute to the field you’re in. When funding sources have a clear understanding of what they can expect in return for giving you money, they are more likely to fund your project.

Get Feedback

If you’re at an academic institution, chances are there’s someone around you who has experience applying for funding. Use the resources at hand to get as much feedback as possible on your application. Keep in mind that your application will often not be reviewed by experts in your field, and needs to be clear and make sense to every reader. For this reason, it’s also important to utilize resources outside of academia to ensure your proposal is as strong as it can be, and that typos or poor wording don’t undermine its chances of success. Again, we can help with this stage!

7 Tips for Surviving and Thriving in Graduate School

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It’s no secret that graduate school can be a stressful time for many people, especially with mounting pressure on the appearance of perfection, productivity, and having it all together. These seven tips can help you to not only survive grad school, but thrive in an environment where you are learning about and researching the topic you are most passionate about. By focusing on things like mental health, understanding your work style, and self-care, you can make the most out of your grad school experience.

  1. Don’t be Afraid to Ask for Help

If this is your first time in grad school, it can be a scary transition. Even though being a grad student can feel isolating at times, you should never feel like you’re alone—there are thousands of students across the world and in your own institution who are feeling lonely and maybe even lost. It’s important to reach out and ask for help when you need it, and this should not be seen as a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength. Whether it’s sitting down with current students, faculty, or a mental health professional, there are plenty of people and resources around you that can help you navigate your graduate studies and all the related pressures that come with them.

  1. Keep Your Goals Visible

Grad school can get hectic really quickly. From homework, to research and even teaching responsibilities, grad school suddenly becomes about much more than the thing you’re passionate about. It can be easy to lose sight of your original goals and reasons for wanting to come to grad school in the first place. By taking the time to write out your goals and post them somewhere where you can see them everyday, you can remind yourself of what makes all of this worth it when you’re having a bad day.

  1. Have a Life Outside of School

When you’re in grad school, it can be hard to think about or do anything other than school-related tasks. But it’s equally important to have a life outside of school as it is to be chipping away at your dissertation. This could mean finding a way to connect with friends outside of your program, or even taking up hobbies that interest you. Look towards your local community for things like classes, workshops, and groups that you can join to give your mind a break from school every once in a while.

  1. Focus Less on Grades

Grad school is less about GPA and more about focusing on a topic that interests you and working towards your thesis or dissertation. Yet it can be hard to break out of that mindset of grade-focused schooling. If you get less-than-perfect feedback on a paper, don’t let it throw you off track. Instead, think about your overall grad school experience in terms of the knowledge you’re gaining, as opposed to the grades on your transcript. This way of thinking will help you put less stress on yourself to perform and remind you of the joys of learning.

  1. Practice Self-Care

Self-care is an important part of anyone’s health, but especially those pursuing a postgraduate degree. It can be hard to justify carving out time to take care of yourself when you’ve got so many deadlines looming, but even something as small as one hour a day can really make a different for your physical and mental health. Self-care looks different for everyone, and can include anything from watching a movie on your couch, to hanging out with your friends, doing yoga, cooking your favorite meal, or getting some extra sleep. Whatever self-care means to you, dedicating time to it can help reduce stress levels and keep you sane.

  1. Maintain a Strong Support System

Grad school can be tough to get through alone, but creating or maintaining a strong support system of friends and family who care about your wellbeing is a great way to help you thrive in tough times. Find time to strengthen your relationships with your friends and family, whether that means calling them or hopping in the car for an in-person visit, and don’t be afraid to lean on them in challenging times—after all, they care about you and want you to complete your degree! We often don’t realize how important our support systems are until we need them the most.

  1. Learn How to Manage Your Time

You’ve probably heard this a million times, but time management really is one of the keys to success in grad school. There are countless methods and strategies for time management (check out our recent blog post on the Pomodoro method for an example) that can help you think about the best ways to use your time. But sometimes time management just means cutting out the less valuable commitments in your life and not overscheduling yourself. It can be hard to say no to things, but often that’s the best way to help yourself focus on what’s important to you.

Even though grad school can be stressful and hectic at times, that doesn’t mean that you can’t thrive your time in higher ed. We hope these tips get you one step closer to making your grad school experience more enjoyable!

The Pomodoro Method

The Pomodoro Method—Improve Your Productivity Levels

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Scientists believe that, thanks to technology, the human attention span is now less than that of a goldfish. If you’ve ever had a hard time focusing while studying or writing, a short attention span can be to blame. While there’s not a lot we can do to change our shortening attention spans, there are a few proven techniques that can help you stay focused and improve your productivity levels. Being productive is all about staying away from distractions and keeping your head in your work. The Pomodoro Method of productivity encourages you to take regular breaks while you’re working, in order to stay focused. Keep reading to learn more about the Pomodoro Method and how you can use it to improve your productivity levels.

What is the Pomodoro Method?

Developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, this time-management technique gets its name from the common tomato-shaped kitchen timer. The system operates on the belief that by dividing your work and breaks into regular, short increments you can avoid feeling overwhelmed by looming tasks while also preventing burn out. Today, it’s a widespread method that’s used by professionals in a variety of fields, from science and technology to writing and academia.

How Does it Work?

  1. Set a timer for 25 minutes, and start your task. You don’t have to use a traditional kitchen timer, of course—there are several apps and websites that were specifically developed to be used with this method.
  2. If a distraction pops into your head, write it down on a piece of paper and return to your task.
  3. When the buzzer rings, put a checkmark on your paper. You’ve completed one increment, also known as a pomodoro.
  4. Take a five-minute break. During this time you can check the distractions that popped into your head, stretch, grab a cup of tea, and so on.
  5. After four pomodoros, take a 30-minute break.
  6. Repeat!

How Does the Pomodoro Method Improve Your Productivity?

Although taking frequent breaks may seem counterproductive, in reality they help keep your mind fresh and focused. The official Pomodoro website says, “You will probably begin to notice a difference in your work or study process within a day or two. True mastery of the technique takes from seven to twenty days of constant use.” By keeping up with the Pomodoro method, you should see steady improvements in your productivity.

 

Whether you’re working on a short project, studying for an exam, or writing something longer, like a thesis, the Pomodoro Method can help you get through projects faster by forcing you to adhere to strict timing. Watching the timer go down can give you the motivation you need to finish up a task before the clock runs out. The constant timing of your work also makes you more accountable for your tasks and minimizes the time you spend procrastinating. Instead of trying to ignore distractions completely, by carving out a specific time for yourself to address distractions you can actually be more productive in the long run.

Rocks

Postgraduate Study got you Down? Try these Tips

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A great deal of our proofreading and copy editing work at Stickler comes from master’s and PhD students. In fact, theses and dissertations are some of our favorite jobs, because we can see all the dedication and passion that have gone into them and we love helping edge that hard work towards the finish line. However, with hard work often comes a great deal of stress, anxiety, and other mental health problems, and if these aren’t managed effectively it can seriously undermine your health, not to mention the end result of your dedicated study. Here are some ideas for managing stress and related issues.

Have a Good Support Structure

Surrounding yourself with friends and family is a great way to help you blow off steam and put things in perspective. Isolating yourself is one of the worst things you can do and only fosters anxiety and depression during tough times. It might seem like a tall order, but carving out time in your schedule to go to lunch with a friend, visit family members, have dinner with your significant other—or even just have a 10-minute video chat with someone who helps you stay positive—can make a huge difference.

Don’t Forget to Take Care of Yourself

Stress, although a psychological problem, is a self-feeding phenomenon and can affect your physical body more than you realize. However, this means stress and related issues can also be managed, at least in part, through physical care. Taking care of yourself by eating right, getting enough exercise, and making sleep a priority can help you feel more relaxed and ready to tackle the next stage of your research or writing.

Celebrate Successes, No Matter How Small

As a PhD or master’s student it’s easy to focus only on setbacks, especially if you’re stuck on a chapter or not quite achieving the research results you want. To counter this, remember to celebrate the successes in your life—no matter how small. Keeping a gratitude journal is one way to focus on the positive things, whether these are study-related or not.

Remind Yourself of Your Long-Term Goals

Writing your thesis or dissertation can be a grueling process. It’s easy to lose sight of your long-term goals and get stuck in the dread of everyday challenges. Remind yourself of your long-term goals and the reason you want to obtain your postgraduate degree in the first place. Whether it’s a dream job, a research goal, or even just a personal achievement, keeping sight of the light at the end of the tunnel can remind you of why all the hard work now will be worth it later.

Don’t Forget About Your Life Outside of School

While it’s good to be passionate about your work, it’s also important to maintain hobbies and interests that aren’t related to your thesis or dissertation, and to remind you that there is more to life than your degree. This will also enable you to take a break and get refreshed when your studies become stressful.

Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Help

If you sense your feelings are too much to handle on your own, or even just that you might benefit from some outside perspective, don’t be afraid to seek professional help. Many graduate schools offer counseling and therapy services for students, and there are now several websites, such as www.betterhelp.com, that offer counseling online (this can be a great way to access help quickly and easily). Talking things through with a professional can give you the boost and the personal tools you need to continue with your studies in a healthy way.

Fear-based procrastination

“The Thief of Time”: Fear-based Procrastination and How to Fight It

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Have you ever tried to ignore an important task, irrationally hoping that it will go away on its own? You might have imagined that an assignment is bigger or smaller than it really is. Many people substitute an essential task with something else, such as cleaning their workspace or home. Others will create detailed plans but not do the actual work, or stick to only one part of the project and ignore everything else.

All of these are examples of procrastination, and all are seductive ways of putting off what we need to do today.

Why do we procrastinate, even when the results can be so negative?

For most people, fear is the cause of procrastination; we procrastinate to relieve fear and anxiety. This might be fear that:

  • Our work will not turn out well due to our own high standards. (Did you know that some people handicap themselves when they feel not up to a task, so as to have an excuse for their failure?)
  • If we start working harder and then succeed, expectations will increase to an unsustainable level.
  • The task is just too big to accomplish.

In a similar vein, we might delay starting work because:

  • It makes us feel more in control, perhaps as a form of rebellion against authority figures or teachers.
  • We want others to come “rescue” and help us.

Here’s where the tough love comes in.

Whatever emotions drive your procrastination, it’s important to realize that procrastination is a choice. For example, when you substitute one task for another, you are actually choosing to procrastinate, even though it feels very impulsive. Most people make time for the things that they really love to do, and have appointments that they would never miss or cancel. When you look at procrastination as a choice, it’s easier to see that you can change the way you manage your time.

How can you overcome procrastination?

Most people ultimately overcome procrastination when their fear of missing a deadline becomes greater than their fear of doing a bad job. They throw something together and hope for the best. However, this is a very hard path that can lead to regret.

We here at Stickler got together to find some slightly (we feel) more effective ways to change your procrastination habit.

  1. Take care of yourself physically.

There aren’t a lot of things that can’t be cured with a walk in the fresh air, moderate exercise, a healthy diet, and enough sleep. Studies have shown that people who take walks see marked improvement in their focus and attention span. And those who are well-rested have more willpower and are more likely to make the tough choices that combat procrastination.

  1. Reduce negative self-talk.

Most procrastinators hate the fact that they do it on a regular basis. They often think that there is something wrong with them. They might tell themselves that they’re stupid and don’t deserve to be in the position they’re in, which is known as imposter syndrome. Negativity pushes you deeper into procrastination because you need a relief for your anxiety.

You would never bully a friend who procrastinates, so why should you do the same to yourself? Be nice to yourself most of all.

  1. Create a productivity log.

Rather than creating a to-do list, you might consider creating a “done” list and write down things that you’ve accomplished that day. You’ll see what you’re doing well and what you could do better. It’s much more heartening to see completed tasks, rather than a list of things that you didn’t get around to doing. It’s one way to create accountability to yourself.

  1. Break it down.

In a similar vein, it can be useful to break down that one “mammoth” task (e.g., “write my PhD dissertation 😐 ”) into smaller, digestible chunks (e.g. “draft outline,” “write introduction,” “send literature review for proofreading,” and so on). Regardless of whether you favor a to-do list or a productivity log, it will end up with a lot more items on it!

  1. Get an accountability buddy.

Many PhD candidates’ biggest regret is not joining a thesis support group. We’ve talked before about asking others for help when it comes to your writing, and we’ll say it again. Accountability buddies can help motivate you, keep you on track, and give you a trusted vent for your emotions. You don’t even have to find someone to work with face-to-face—try online forums for students in your field.

In the end, it’s always important to keep your goal in mind. Instead of thinking about your goal in terms of finishing your academic paper or your master’s thesis, you might want to think about the place of this big project in your life. How will it benefit you to do well on it? How will you feel once you finish? Giving a project personal meaning is the key to consistent motivation in the face of difficult tasks.