My wonderful mom keeps sending me pictures like this – this one captioned, “incredible morning sunrise!” I’m pretty excited to go home.
In a few days, I’ll be home in sunny Kona, Hawaii. I haven’t been back since June, and by now I’m hankering to feel the warm Pacific on my skin. I’m going to eat homemade chocolate truffles, free-dive with my dad, catch up with old friends…and also write an entire junior paper, and review a semester’s worth of organic chemistry. Gulp.
Last Friday, hoping to figure out how to juggle it all, I attended a workshop at the McGraw Center: Balancing Work and Play During Winter Break. Here are five essential take-aways:
When you present at Princeton Research Day, you’ll be one cool tiger!
As you might have noticed, everyone’s talking about Princeton Research Day — but what is it exactly, and what can it do for you? In a campus-wide email about the event, Princeton Research Day was described as a chance to celebrate research on campus. Which, it is. But that premise might sound a little vague. Never fear, readers: To help you out, here’s a list of 5 cool things you can do if you apply to present at Princeton Research Day.
Just because it’s called “independent work” doesn’t mean that you’re alone. PCUR knows we’ve reached a very research-heavy time of the semester, and we have some words of wisdom for anyone tackling a new project – whether it’s your first or fifteenth at the college level. Watch below to hear our advice; and remember, if you have a specific question, we’re never more than a contact us form away.
The Sunday before midterms: the Lewis Library Tree House, my favorite study spot, is packed.
Fall midterms creep up on me every year. Like the steady accumulation of unfolded laundry in my closet, and the growing pile of readings on my desk, midterms approach incrementally – and then they pounce.
I’m trying to practice honesty, which is sometimes harder than it sounds. So, here’s some real talk: this week is a struggle.
On top of the commotion of midterm exams and assignments, I have other, more long-term responsibilities that need attention: beginning background reading for a final project; meeting with my adviser to discuss future research plans; and tackling the freezer full of summer samples that sit on my conscience, unanalyzed. During weeks like this one, staying on top of such tasks overwhelms me more than anything. They incur the deep, gnawing fear that perhaps, this time, I’ve really bit off more than I can chew.
I said I was practicing honesty, right?
My to-do list this week. I find it calming to see everything on one page…sometimes.
I don’t have encouragement, tips, or success stories to offer this week. But I do have honesty and some reassurance: if balancing school, research, extracurriculars, and sanity seems, this week and others, near impossible – I agree.
If there is anything I have learned from junior independent work, it’s the following: Pace yourself!
Juchitán’s main market, located in the central plaza, is perhaps the city’s busiest area. On breaks from research, I would come here to try local foods and people watch.
I’m writing my JP about Juchitán de Zaragoza, a city of around 70,000 in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. For those interested in issues of gender and sexuality, Juchitán is notable for the indigenous Zapotec culture’s acceptance of a third gender identity, “muxhe” (pronounced “moo-shay”). Additionally, many visitors to the city, noting thestrength and visibility of women in the society, have declared Juchitán a matriarchy. I spent some time there this summer, and visited a few organizations to talk to activists about the problems facing their communities, hoping to explore why perceptions of Juchitán as a queer and feminist paradise don’t match up with the city’s reality.
Last week, as I approached a deadline for class, I was forced to face a reality I’d put off since returning to campus: I had to transcribe the hours and hours of interviews recorded in Juchitán. Word for word — with every “um”, “uh” and “like”. The chore was doubly daunting because the interviews were in Spanish — my second language. Then I’d have to translate them into English.
You’ve probably heard that research is more of a marathon than a sprint. That’s definitely true — Every independent project involves thorough planning and lots of stamina. But since we’re on the subject of analogies, it’s also true that research is an obstacle course. Think about it: There are challenges built into the research process, and sometimes they’re impossible to avoid. PCUR gets real about these roadblocks in our second Correspondent Convo. Watch below to learn which struggles are most common, and which strategies can help you reach the finish line.
As the semester rolls on, it can be difficult to get excited about your research projects or independent work. You may be tempted to view an upcoming assignment as just another addition to your busy schedule – but that line of thinking zaps your energy before you even start. Now is a good time to remember the things you enjoy about research. And yes, there are things you enjoy about research. Watch PCUR weigh in on the most exciting moments of independent work, and make sure to stay pumped for your next project.
Studying abroad entails a lot more than just visiting famous landmarks like the London Eye.
One of the biggest concerns students have when considering studying abroad junior year is how they will work on their independent work, specifically their Junior Paper (JP). While the experience of writing a JP abroad varies from person to person, I can say that I found writing the JP abroad to be a lot easier than I had initially expected! I did, however, intentionally seek out ways to facilitate the JP writing process. Here are a few things I did that can make JP writing a lot easier if you’re planning to go abroad:
First off, I found it extremely helpful to start thinking about my JP in advance, at least a month before leaving for study abroad. Although I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about, I had a general area that I wanted to explore (cognition in the classroom). By deciding this early on, I was able to meet with my adviser and brainstorm potential JP topics. Together, my adviser and I also found professors at my university abroad who were involved in research related to the areas I was most interested in. I was then able to reach out to these professors via email to introduce myself and find out which classes they were teaching the following semester. I actually ended up taking a class based on the work done by a professor that I reached out to, and it really helped me narrow down my JP interests!
Most of us consider the submission of our bound theses to be the end of the Princeton road. While this is definitely a huge accomplishment and a major milestone along the path (congratulations!), we shouldn’t forget that many of us are still required to communicate our findings as a presentation to the wider community. In fact, this last step is arguably even more important than the bound thesis itself – what good is your hard-earned discovery if no one knows about it?
2017 is not the first class to be in this position.
Sophomore year is the awkward transitional phase of the Princeton experience. When you arrive on campus in September – propped above the new freshmen – you feel empowered by your first-year revelations: how to divide your time among classes, where to find accurate reviews about said classes, and how to get to said classes in under ten minutes. At the same time, however, you have not yet earned the title of “upperclassman,” which brings with it the junior papers and senior theses you were admitted to write. It is both freeing and confusing to be sandwiched between these two extremes.
It’s also unbelievable (at least for me) that sophomore year can actually come to an end. I entered the 2014-15 school year with expectations — a draft, if you will, of how to balance prerequisites with broader passions. Now we’re approaching the deadline. And besides using a research analogy in the preceding sentence, I found that research was a huge part of sophomore life. It turns out that the awkward phase is the perfect phase to get comfortable with your own research expectations, before you begin to apply them more intensely. Continue reading Draft to Deadline: The Sophomore Experience
