How Much Reading for Phd History Comp
In writing this mail I am struck with the realization that "Wow, it's been almost a decade since I made my comps list!" It was a time of excitement. Putting together the comps was similar selecting a menu of awesomeness: a wish list of things I wanted to read for a long time, only didn't have the take chances to read during coursework. Or life. Of course, the excitement was quickly followed by an incapacitating dread every bit I contemplated the "Mom, I think I'k having a heart attack; should I go to the ER?" terribleness of really getting the reading done.
I've idea a lot about the utility of my comps list over the by few years, especially post-PhD in the context of my changing research focus and the evolution of my (lack of a) career. I realize, in retrospect, the comps list is a tricky genre because it looks backwards; serves as an in-the-moment document; and besides functions as a frontward-looking anticipatory document. The comps list, in many means, functions as a meaningless document in a post-Great Recession world.
I've thought a lot near my comps listing since the shut of my PhD. Not and then much the comps list itself, just the process of its creation. Every bit a practical outcome, I've fatigued more on the creation aspect of making a comps list, as opposed to what I actually read. More recently, I've revisited the idea of reading lists in the context of my contempo research interests and my desire to expect further dorsum into American literature. Permit's be honest: there will never be graduate students for me to shepherd through the process of creating a comps list. Even so, that hasn't stopped me from thinking most the process of generating a comps list.
All the same, I have good ideas about creating a comps list and I want to share them because they might be helpful to graduate students and their advisors. The advice below is tailored to graduate students studying literature. Notwithstanding, I believe the advice might be useful for students and advisors in related humanities fields.
Streamline
Do what yous can to streamline the comps list, the reading procedure, and the exam process, whether you're the educatee or (particularly) if you are the mentor. The job situation has changed drastically in the 10 years since I created my first comps lists drafts. The market has inverse fifty-fifty more in the few years since I've completed my PhD. Exercise what you can to streamline the entire process. If y'all're a mentor, don't allow students become caught up in some kind of rosy, idealized process of comps. Gear up the comps list to move students through. To this cease, don't get caught up including things for the sake of didactics. In the idealized earth of the past, the comps listing also served every bit a forward-looking document that considered the function of pedagogy. Let's be honest: many of us will never take the opportunity to teach the literature and secondary materials on the comps listing. Cut things where possible. Information technology is hard to write this statement for an essay on a teaching focused site, but: if the justification for including a text is the chance you might teach information technology in some arcadian time to come, and then don't include it.
Know the purpose of your comps listing in the context of your department's comprehensive exams and the trajectory of completing the PhD.
Well, of grade. Duh. I share this advice as a preface to my own advice. Departments, advisors, commission members, and others might be driving this comps listing railroad train in some weird ways. Only get through the procedure in the context of your department. Some lists, depending on the department, will skew towards an overview of the field or more towards dissertation grooming. Navigating this attribute of creating a comps list is on your advisor, but they'll probably tell you only to read the department's comps list guidance. Recognize that there tin can be dash in the preparation of a comps list in the context of your department'due south preferred test process, whether information technology is a timed essay or exam, a weird genre of essay that you'll never write again, or dissertation prep. Now, I'll get to my advice.
Push Back Against Your Advisor and Committee Members
Honestly, I wish I did this more during the creation of my comps list. Still, there is considerable retrospect bias on my function with this ane. The primeval drafts of my comps listing leaned heavily towards a trans-Atlantic focus and skewed more than towards the eighteenth century. What am I doing now? (lol nothing; I'g doing nothing) I am thinking almost trans-Atlantic and early American literature. Partly, I wish I was improve prepped to do what I'thousand thinking most now. Don't hesitate to abet for what is meaningful to your intellectual growth. If you are an advisor, make certain to push back confronting other committee members bloating the reading list with their hobbyhorse readings and projects. Again, the watchword is streamline.
Create a Draft Certificate Right Away
Become started on creating a draft document where y'all can paste in texts for your reading list. Think nearly how you'll organize information technology. Your advisor will likely have ideas on the organisation. I had to do my list by author's engagement of birth. Figure out the format and the data you'll include. I recommend creating a shareable document that can be posted online and easily sent via email.
Get on Twitter
Getting on Twitter is my go to slice of advice for starting to put together a comps list. Academic Twitter is at its best when used every bit a crowdsourcing tool. In the by, folks asked for reading suggestions on listservs. Maybe they still do. I can't say considering I'grand non on any listservs. Nevertheless, I was in the by and can say they were kinda lame. Listservs really tin't compare to academic Twitter's depth of cognition, generosity, and encouragement when information technology comes to the crowdsourced reading list. Twitter is at its best when you can get in with your fellow travelers. Prepare an account, introduce yourself, and ask for reading suggestions. Be sure to bank check out my guide for getting started on Twitter, too.
Consult Comps Lists Posted Online
Many departments take posted case comps lists online. Cheque out these lists to get a feel for the full general contours of the field. You don't have to follow them exactly, but they will provide helpful inspiration for your own comps listing.
Check out Websites from Professional person Societies and Your Favorite Blogs
Your master field and secondary field likely take some great resources online for suggested primary and secondary readings. These recommendations might be more reading lists than comps lists, only check them out anyway. Many of these lists are upward to appointment; reflect the field's latest trajectories without being trendy; and provide an splendid sense of the approved and the new in terms of principal and secondary readings.
Check out the Major Anthologies in Your Field and Sub-Field
Hey, most of us want to blow upwardly the catechism. I go that. Even so, about department guides for comp lists want students to capture the approved contours of the field for the purposes of pedagogy and research. Anthologies are helpful for getting a sense of canonical texts ideal for inclusion in a comps list. Additionally, some anthologies are improve than others in terms of including marginalized authors and texts. An album'south inclusion of new canon texts is helpful evidence in pushing dorsum against skeptical committee members. Skeptical committee member says "take it out." You say, "well, it'south in the anthology." Don't just consult the main teaching anthologies; make sure to check out the several nifty anthologies focusing on different aspects of American literature which take come out in the by decade or so.
Amazon
Amazon is an awful company. However, the Amazon website can be a skillful place to source texts for your comps list. One of Amazon'due south features is the "Customers who viewed this item also viewed X" characteristic. Detect some of your key comps list texts on Amazon and see what appears based on the algorithm. More often than not, these suggestions are pretty skillful, reflecting likely pairings of texts purchased for course work and research. However, sometimes you don't get this characteristic because Amazon decides to serve upwardly a listing of sponsored related items. One infinitesimal yous're looking up texts related to Moby-Dick, the adjacent minute Amazon is serving up a sponsored listing of Kindle furry erotica near jellyfish. Your mileage may vary using Amazon to source reading suggestions. However, when it works, information technology just works.
Make Life Easier for Yourself: Role 1, Principal Texts
It is easy to get bogged downward in the comps reading period and throw off the trajectory for completing the PhD in a timely manner. Make life easier on yourself past beingness strategic about creating a comps list. It is easy to the comps listing into an ideal menu of things y'all should read or have wanted to read, but didn't get the hazard to reading during coursework. Or life. Resist the impulse to create a dream list. Recognize that non including something doesn't hateful you'll never read it considering it isn't on the comps list. Instead, pepper the comps list with things you've already read. Don't worry about rereading them. Hit upward the American History Through Literature databases if you're in demand of any kind of refresher during the comps process. American History Through Literature is an astonishing resource for comps, educational activity, and just in general. Additionally, hit up anthologies for inspiration about what to read in full and what to read in selections. Accept inspiration from how the anthologies curate their selections. All of Emerson's essays? No, only read the highlights. All of Dickinson'south poems? No, merely read the selected poems.
Make Life Easier for Yourself: Function 2, Secondary Texts
Much of the communication used for selecting primary texts applies to the selection of secondary texts. Include things y'all've already read. Need a refresher? Read book reviews with the added bonus of getting a sense of how the reviewed text is situated within the field. One of the biggest slogs of reading for comps comes in the class of reading canonical secondary works. It isn't that the works are bad, many are even so groovy. Yet, much of the reading comes with a pervasive feeling of "I've read this earlier" or "I already know this cloth." My biggest piece of advice: skew the selection of secondary texts towards contempo works in the field. Reading recent secondary scholarship will more than than fairly provide you lot a sense of the major threads of past scholarship. I'd jettison most of my canonical secondary readings if I did comps again. At most, read the introductions to some of these approved works, but don't read the entire thing. Acquire to dearest essay collections and contempo journal articles, which are quick to read and give you a great feeling of accomplishment when crossing them off the listing. Also, consider using a reading method to help motion rapidly through scholarship, like the method advocated by Karin Wulf. I also have an erstwhile handout for some other reading method called STEAM. Send us a message if you'd like a copy.
Be wary of reading outside of your discipline. The majority of my secondary reading came from the field of history. Towards the end of my comps reading, and during the grade of my dissertation enquiry and writing, I realized that I sort of hated my own subject area. I preferred, enjoyed, and got more out of reading books by historians. It might have been useful for me to acquire this lesson earlier. Mayhap I would have not completed the PhD. Information technology also could exist a reflection of discovering what kind of scholarly work I like to exercise.
Conclusion
Wow, this mail service is long. I didn't realize I had so much to say. I accept much more to say, but those thoughts are moving towards the actual procedure of comps reading and the exam. Permit me know if you'd like to hear more almost the process (from the perspective of mentor and mentee); I've got a lot more than to say. What tips do y'all have for creating a comps list? Leave a respond or hit usa upwardly on social media!
Bonus: I dug upwards a copy of my comps reading listing. Check it out hither. The list is in three principal parts centered effectually American literature from the Revolution to 1900ish. The secondary field focuses on sentimental literature from the Revolution and through the nineteenth century. There is a heavy dose of Harriet Beecher Stowe (my eventual dissertation topic). The secondary source listing is focused on scholarship examining sentimental literature and culture.
Source: https://teachingpals.wordpress.com/2019/12/08/how-to-make-a-comps-list-tips-tricks-for-grad-students-and-advisors/
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