I made many mistakes in my graduate career. Distilled from reflection about those mistakes, and thinking more generally, are a few tips (incomplete and imperfect) for early stage and prospective graduate students-
- Tools of the trade are five – logic, ethics (broadly philosophy), statistics, writing, and skill in using tools for statistics (R), and writing (Latex). Spend time learning the tools of the trade.
- Everything takes time. Spend time wisely.
- Sub-clause: Don’t waste time on projects with no realistic future.
- Model for dissertation: Markus Prior’s Post-broadcast era democracy
Given time is a scarce valuable resource, deploy other resources to help you get more from your time. Some such resources include -
- A good laptop, backup drive, and laser printer
- Quiet, comfortable office space
- You can’t read what you don’t have. Buy the books you want to read.