Blog Archive
These blogs were written by Christine during her PhD journey. Christine is currently no longer writing blog posts but they are archived below for reference.
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Rebooting: What to do when classes end
The time has come! I am finally finished the first year of my PhD (holy crap, can’t believe I can say that). I will write a reflection on my experience of the first year in an upcoming blog post – so stay posted! But for now, I am entering a two-week break before I start work full-time for
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How are you challenging yourself?
Grad students fall on either side of what I am calling the “challenge yo-self spectrum”. They find themselves pushing their limits so often that anxiety is getting in the way. Or they are on the other end of the spectrum – feeling stuck in their work and sometimes even bored. Finding a balance between the
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10 mindfulness tips for motivation
With only one month left in the first year of my PhD, the “summer break” is very near and very distracting. I find myself getting easily distracted by plans in the summer (and by plans I mean more work and reading). I am needing extra help to stay focused and motivated to finish up my
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Is grad school taking a toll on your confidence?
I remember starting my undergraduate degree with a strong (and naïve) sense of confidence. It has slowly decreased from that day but once I entered into my PhD, it skyrocketed downhill. There are so many things that can interfere with our confidence – imposter syndrome, funding rejections, grades, discussions in class, setbacks in research, stress, lack of
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A grad student’s take on coffee
Ahhhh coffee, just writing the word makes me happy. I can already feel the warmth of the mug, the smell of roasted coffee beans in the air and the sense that productive work is about to go down! But is it really healthy for us grad students to be drinking it?
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How to write research field notes
Recently I went on a research trip where we used a research method called ethnography for the study. Essentially, ethnography is the study of people and cultures, where researchers observe from the point of view of the subject. During this research trip, I was asked to write field notes on my observations. I had never participated