Academic Advice [F]
Disclaimer: There isn’t any actual academic advice for you here. It just made a good title and stuck. …I dunno, drink lots of water. 😀
Had my last meeting with Dr Sophie Eliza Tomlinson this week. I am relieved* our meetings are over but also kind of sad. It was suggested to me that I see an adviser by an on-campus organisation but doing so was not mandatory, and since then no one from that organisation has even contacted me or Sophie about it, which is weird and/or just lazy. I’m still not 100% certain why I was chosen and given an academic adviser in the first place, but I am glad to have met Dr Tomlinson. She is interesting. The first meeting felt a little like I was on parole (I’m generalizing of course) and the second time felt a bit like going to see a personal psychiatrist. Our last meeting felt like both of those, only I had a lot more to say about my university experience thus far, to which Sophie had much more helpful and encouraging advice to impart.
Also in the week gone by, I collected an essay I had written one night before its due date and received an ‘A-‘ for it — lulz — and a lecturer from a different course asked if he could use one of my tutorial assignments as an example text in one of his classes next semester. Not bad for one week. I think I’m just going to play it cool from here on and ease-up with the stress. Self-doubt is not healthy.
In regards to an earlier post; I stopped my lecturer after class and asked about her personal view on the usage of a scientific term for a non-scientific paper. She said, ‘consider it like freeware.’ I’m not cool with that explanation, but at least now I am assured of her standards for marking the upcoming exam. I may choose not to wholeheartedly believe everything that is taught, but exams are about conveying what I have learnt and convincing my grader I understood what was taught. If using scientific jargon is what it takes to pass, why fight the system? OK, I may still have a few of lessons to learn about being confident with myself and my own words enough to contest and persuade people’s expectations, but good things take time. I am an astute learner after all.
I like the revision process of writing, but writing freehand for marking purposes truly frightens me. Do you see the irony here? A writer who is afraid of his work being read. Essays are one thing but exams have me worried, and in my head, I’m still trying to pinpoint why this is. I guess it’s because I think my unrefined thoughts are messy, but I have to accept this process as an unavoidable part of academia — you have to be vulnerable enough to allow the right people to see you. Through your work, I mean.
🎭 