Graduate Study for the Twenty-First Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities

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By: Gregory M. Colon Semenza
(11 customer reviews)
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EDITORIAL REVIEW

FROM THE FOREWORD BY MICHAEL BERUBE:
"Gregory Colón Semenza has written the ideal book on [how to be a graduate student]. By 'ideal' I mean simply this: it is sane, circumspect, and sagacious.... Semenza knows that no two humanities departments are alike, and that there is almost as much variation among graduate programs as there is among graduate students. He remembers well how terrifying it is to face your first class as a teacher, and he knows how difficult it is to try to explain to your parents– or your loved one’s parents– what you’re doing (and hoping to do) with your life. He knows what it’s like to balance the demands of profession and family, and he knows what it’s like to mediate among differently-minded members of a comprehensive-exam committee. Best of all, he knows how the academic professions really work, right down to the invisible but critical minutiae of departmental committee service and the tricky question of when it’s all right to ask a journal editor what happened to the essay you submitted last spring. The result is that Graduate Study for the 21st Century might just be the least idiosyncratic–-that is, the most reliable–-book I have ever read about academe and its inhabitants."

PRODUCT DETAILS

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Pub. Date: 15th September 2005
Catalog: Book
Media: Paperback
Number Of Pages: 336
Ean: 9781403969361
Isbn: 1403969361

ABOUT THIS BOOK

USER REVIEWS

the previous poster hit the nail on the head...
~ Written on Dec 19, 2008. 2 out of 2 users found this review helpful.

I also found this book to be "full of the things that I wanted to know, but no one was telling me." The very grounded, informative, step-by-step guide to writing a publishable article (or making your seminar papers publishable) was worth the price of the book.

Since buying and reading this book, I've given a copy to one friend and photocopied a chapter for someone else. I imagine that I'll continue to give copies and photocopies to friends: more than helpful, it's mobilizing.

A Must Read
~ Written on Aug 29, 2008. 2 out of 2 users found this review helpful.

As a first year graduate student, I was asked by my Director of Graduate Studies to read Semenza's "Graduate Study for the 21st Century" this summer before beginning the program. The book is a concise, easy-to-read introduction to graduate programs in the humanities that manages an excellent balance between useful information in the short term (how to approach seminar papers and comprehensive exams, for example) while also keeping the big picture in view (i.e. the looming job search). I found the book incredibly informative and worthwhile, full of the things that I wanted to know, but no one was telling me. A must read.

Great advice that often applies to all academics
~ Written on Jan 8, 2008. 3 out of 3 users found this review helpful.

I've read "Getting What You Came For" and other highly recommended books out there about graduate school and academics, but this one is certainly the most up-to-date, detailed, and clearly focused on those who want a tenure-track job. Although this book is written for the humanities and I'm in a social science Ph.D. program I found it very helpful and it was easy to 'translate' to my field. If you know you want an academic career I highly recommend this engaging and well thought out book.

A must-have for humanities Ph.D.s
~ Written on Dec 1, 2006. 4 out of 7 users found this review helpful.

Finally! There's no better advice for graduate students in the humanities than what Prof. Colon Semenza offers in this incredibly detailed, thoroughly honest guide. I share other readers' regret that Graduate Study for the 21st Century wasn't available when I began graduate study in English. I've recommended this essential book to everyone I know in the humanities as well as the social sciences (where Colon Semenza's insights also apply in many respects).

I wish I had written this book.
~ Written on May 30, 2006. 11 out of 12 users found this review helpful.

I am a tenured professor of English (coicidentally, my specialty is Semenza's -- early modern drama -- I should say, however, I don't know him). For several years now I have been running workshops on the job market, serving as my department's "placement director. This is easily the best book on the topic out there, an essential work for any graduate student in the humanities. When I read it I immediately disposed of stacks of photocopies (sample letters, etc.) and stopped preparing a rather lame powerpoint presentation. Now, I simply recommend (read:insist) students take a look at this book.

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