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This blog contains information about internships and opportunities in the library science field

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A helpful blog with all sorts of info on getting through grad, academia, and the work world.

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Are You Tired of the Academic Run-Around -- an Advisor Who's Never In, a Grad Program That Doesn't Care, Funding That's Never Enough, a Job Market That's in The Tank, and a Tenure System That's a Total Mystery -- And No One to Give You an Honest Answer?

I am here to help. I am Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D.. I spent 15 years as an R1 tenured professor, department head, and university advisor, and I tell you the truth. The truth about grad school, the job market, and tenure. To the best of my ability.

I also tell you the truth about your applications and your record. If they are bad, I will tell you. And then we will get a plan to improve them.

On the 'Pearls of Wisdom' Blog (see the categories to the right), I offer the hands-on information you need now to get through the hoops of academia.

I also work with you, one-on-one, with complete confidentiality, on the writing, speaking, and interview skills you need to move closer to your professional goals. I focus on your particular strengths and challenges, and outline the steps you need to take to be successful in each of your specific applications and projects. Together we chart a path to make you competitive. I can't guarantee a particular outcome, but I can guarantee that I will deliver to you, to the best of my ability, bullshit-free advising on your grants, writing, the job market, and tenure, as well as coaching on professional and career dilemmas.

I am the available and career-savvy adviser you need, that you should already have, but probably don't.

Interested? Please get in touch with me by email to inquire or make a plan. Gettenure@gmail.com

And I love coming to your campus or disciplinary meeting to speak! Learn more about that here. I speak regularly on campuses both private and public, large and small, and to graduate student and administrator organizations.

~~"After talking with her I aced my next telephone interview and was invited for an interview. I was offered 2 post-docs at a VERY prestigious university. Thank you Karen!"- 2009 Ph.D., Social Sciences

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Curious to Know More?

Read more by and about The Professor in these places: The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education (again), "From Graduate School to Welfare" (yes, Chronicle of Higher Education) and Inside Higher Ed.

Read about her personal story here: Death of a Soul on Campus, on the blog Tech in Translation.

Learn more about Dr. Karen's academic background. And read the Blog, Pearls of Wisdom.

~~"My materials sucked last year, and I can say with confidence that they no longer suck. I will absolutely use your services again. There is hope for people who do wish to continue on the path to academe, part of which comes from investing in mentors like you that can guide us in this very difficult process." 2013 Ph.D. who got R1 tenure track position.

I have mentored students and junior faculty at all levels. Clients have landed numerous prestigious national and international grants, and tenure track jobs in scholarly fields, and the junior faculty I mentored have all been successful in tenure and promotion. Do as I say and your applications, writing projects, and tenure dossiers will be as competitive as they possibly can-within the scope of what your own record permits (and by the way, I'll always tell you when and how your record is falling short, if you ask). It is a grueling process, I'm not going to lie.

"It's been a long time since anyone had been as critical about me as you have. In fact, I felt like a student again, and it wasn't always comfortable. But that is how we grow, so I am glad to have been able to work with you."

But the results are intense. A client explains:

"I wanted to let you know that I am really enjoying working on getting doc to where it should be; it's deeply satisfying. Exhausting but satisfying. Over the past 3 years, I've read, listened, watched, worked with and really LEARNED how to change my writing overall. It's great to have sustainable skills from consulting your resources and you directly. I want to be a better academic writer overall, not just a one-time improvement. I've been re-educated by you, thank goodness."

Of course it goes without saying that nobody can promise jobs where jobs don't exist in a disintegrating academic job market, or guarantee the success of any one particular job application or grant application, manuscript submission, etc. The politics and hidden agendas of any selection process are known only to the selection committee members themselves (and sometimes not even to all of them!)

But my methods will ensure that what you submit is effective, persuasive, and targeted to the competition. And more importantly, my methods take the mystery out of the hiring process. As one client recently wrote,
"I had no idea how any of this worked until I found your work."
~~~~~~~~~

My method? All forms of academic writing and speaking-whether conference abstracts, grant applications, job letters, conference presentations, job talks, or tenure statements - are highly formulaic. But advisors almost never teach these formulas, and indeed the vast majority of academics don't realize just how formulaic their successful writing is. I have created schemata to articulate your record in these proven ways that that can be adapted to every project.

The goal is not to produce "cookie-cutter" applications, but to discipline your writing to meet the unspoken and unacknowledged biases and expectations of evaluation committees who are impatient, overworked, and judgmental, and who generally give applications at most a few minutes of initial review. One anthropologist client articulated it like this:

"Seeing the document improve through the different drafts is very gratifying, if also at times incredibly humbling. It's also very cathartic to work through the frustration of feeling like this should be a familiar, natural genre that I should have already mastered, and yet it is neither taught nor discussed in most grad programs (certainly not mine). It makes such a difference to be able to actively improve the documents without it feeling like a stab in the dark, learning why different elements either improve or detract. You're one of the few scholarly voices actually talking about this."

All writing is intensively tailored both to your personal project, and to the specific job or competition at hand.

One outcome of the work is that you also better understand whether or not you're ready for the job market, and how best to maximize your time to get ready. Another client email:

"Through the process of us going back and forth I've actually come to the conclusion that I am not as job market ready for this fall as I thought/would have hoped. I'm honestly SO grateful for this realization; I would have continued to spend countless hours on things that are really not at this time, the best things for me to be spending time on. In your feedback for my cover letter you've posed some really great points, given helpful comments, and have overall helped me see the real 'holes' in the way I am packaging myself in my letter - basically, I need to be further along to have a good chance. All of this is to say thank you for helping me realize these things."

Once your documents land you an interview, TPII also offers the intensive Academic Job Interview Intervention, Job Talk Intervention, and Campus Visit Intervention, 50-minute sessions by skype in which Intervention Coaches Kellee Weinhold or Petra Shenk put you through the paces of the likely interview and/or job talk.

Finally, I delight in helping you negotiate your tenure track/NTT/postdoc offer. I've worked with hundreds of clients in every field, at every rank and type of institution in the country and internationally, and will assist you in evaluating your offer or offers, deciding on what to ask for, crafting the asks, interpreting the responses, using leverage effectively, and avoiding bad feelings (or god forbid, the rescinded offer) to a mutually agreeable yes.

can assist you in your tenure case-specifically writing your research statement, teaching philosophy, and even in strategizing your external reviewers. A s a Department Head, I put a number of junior faculty through successful tenure cases in my department and learned a lot about how tenure cases are compiled and evaluated at the departmental, college, and campus level.

While - again! - no one can guarantee a positive outcome in terms of a particular grant, job, or tenure (there are variables in every selection process that no applicant can account for or predict), I guarantee that if you follow my advice, you will understand the logic behind the review process and make all parts of your application as effective as they can be.

Click on the "About the Professor" and "Why Should You Trust Me" pages above to learn more about my academic and personal background.

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I am here to help. I am Karen L. Kelsky, Ph.D.. I spent 15 years as an R1 tenured professor, department head, and university advisor, and I tell you the truth. The truth about grad school, the job market, and tenure. To the best of my ability.

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Set times for self-reflecting, deep breathing, WTF moments, and drinking water.

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It's GOOD to have a social life: Boston Calendar Free Events Email List

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It's GOOD to have a social life: Boston Calendar Free Events Email List

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Check out what's going on in Boston and stop doing your homework for a couple hours.

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FREE events - Things to do in Boston - The Boston Calendar

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The Boston Calendar is a place for Bostonians (and non-locals) to find interesting, fun, under-publicized, mostly-free events happening around the city and surrounding areas (e.g. Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline).

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Citations are the worst- The Writing Center and Purdue OWL are great resources!

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You can also watch our APA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .

General APA Guidelines

Your essay should be typed and double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11"), with 1" margins on all sides. Include a page header (also known as the " running head") at the top of every page. For a professional paper, this includes your paper title and the page number. For a student paper, this only includes the page number. To create a page header/running head, insert page numbers flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened version of your paper's title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation.

Font

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual requires that the chosen font be accessible (i.e., legible) to all readers and that it be used consistently throughout the paper. It acknowledges that many font choices are legitimate, and it advises writers to check with their publishers, instructors, or institutions for guidance in cases of uncertainty.

While the APA Manual does not specify a single font or set of fonts for professional writing, it does recommend a few fonts that are widely available. These include sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, and 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode as well as serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern.

Major Paper Sections

Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, and References.

Title Page

Note: APA 7 provides slightly different directions for formatting the title pages of professional papers (e.g., those intended for scholarly publication) and student papers (e.g., those turned in for credit in a high school or college course).

The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name, and the institutional affiliation. A professional paper should also include the author note. A student paper should also include the course number and name, instructor name, and assignment due date.

Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. The title should be centered and written in boldface. APA recommends that your title be focused and succinct and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.

Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).

Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research.

A professional paper should include the author note beneath the institutional affiliation, in the bottom half of the title page. This should be divided up into several paragraphs, with any paragraphs that are not relevant omitted. The first paragraph should include the author's name, the symbol for the ORCID iD, and the URL for the ORCID iD. Any authors who do not have an ORCID iD should be omitted. The second paragraph should show any change in affiliation or any deaths of the authors. The third paragraph should include any disclosures or acknowledgements, such as study registration, open practices and data sharing, disclosure of related reports and conflicts of interest, and acknowledgement of financial support and other assistance. The fourth paragraph should include contact information for the corresponding author.

A student paper should not include an author note.

Note again that page headers/page numbers (described above for professional and student papers) also appear at the top of the title page. In other words, a professional paper's title page will include the title of the paper flush left in all capitals and the page number flush right, while a student paper will only contain the page number flush right.
Student APA title page

Professional paper APA title page

Abstract

Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of the abstract page, center and bold the word "Abstract" (no italics, underlining, or quotation marks).

Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph, double-spaced. Your abstract should typically be no more than 250 words.

You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.

Abstracts are common in scholarly journal articles and are not typically required for student papers unless advised by an instructor. If you are unsure whether or not your work requires an abstract, consult your instructor for further guidance.

APA Abstract Page

Please see our Sample APA Paper resource to see an example of an APA paper. You may also visit our Additional Resources page for more examples of APA papers.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in APA

Individual Resources

The page template for the new OWL site does not include contributors' names or the page's last edited date. However, select pages still include this information.

In the absence of contributor/edit date information, treat the page as a source with a group author and use the abbreviation "n.d." for "no date":

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Title of resource. Purdue Online Writing Lab. http://Web address for OWL resource

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). General Writing FAQs. Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/general_writing_faqs.html

The generic APA citation for OWL pages, which includes author/edit date information, is this:

Contributors' names. (Last edited date). Title of resource. Site Name. http://Web address for OWL resource

Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here.

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You can also watch our APA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel . General APA Guidelines Your essay should be typed and double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11"), with 1" margins on all sides. Include a page header (also known as the " running head") at the top of every page.

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Making friends with people who are not in my track-- I am bad at technology but luckily there are many cool people in this degree who love it and love helping! 

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Making friends with people who are not in my track-- I am bad at technology but luckily there are many cool people in this degree who love it and love helping! 

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Work for 20 minutes, take a break for 5, cont. It really helps! There are websites and apps that will help you time it out!

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In honor of the inaugural First Generation College Celebration on November 8, 2017, Sonoma State University Library asked our First Gen Students:
What inspires you to succeed as a First Gen Student?

My family inspire me because they are always there for me and encouraging me to move forward. - Carmela

My parents, friends and college advisors inspire me to succeed as a First Gen Student. - Maria

My family has inspired me to succeed as a first gen student. Creating change in my next generation is the next step for a successful future. - Rosa

My mothers efforts and strength which got me to where I am now. - Leslie

What inspires me to succeed as a First Gen student would be my family and breaking through stereotypes. Being the oldest I have seen the struggles my parents have gone through to provide for my siblings and I. I continued higher education to give back to my parents for all their hard work. Being the oldest made me take on the role of being a role ,model for my siblings and this has motivated me to give my all in everything I do. Also, societies stereotypes regarding Mexicans has pushed me to want to prove many that Mexicans can succeed in a STEM major and can succeed in becoming a physician. - Monica

Success in college, much like life, is not necessarily about how much you know but your ability to withstand the difficulties along the way. I am inspired to succeed so that I can show everyone in my life that a higher education is possible for anyone who is willing to try. - Riley

Knowing that I can do something my siblings never got a chance to do. I could succeed in gaining the education my ancestors didn't have a chance to get. I'm inspired by those who has never/will never get a chance to be here. - Aareona

Salir adelante (get ahead in life) - Joceylin

I had a lot of people expecting me to succeed when statistic showed that I was supposed to fail. I felt like I had so much help from my teachers in High School that I did not want to let them down. They put a lot of effort into helping me get to college, against so many odds, that I owed it to them to succeed. To be honest, once I got to college (to SSU) I just kept coming. Each term I would finish and I would register for the next term and show-up. - J

What inspired me to succeed as a first generation student was the obligation I felt to support my family who first supported me. - Ashley

My mom is my inspiration, without her I would not be here. But also, myself is an inspiration, as I am not the person I was 3-4 years ago. Being in college gives me the chance to learn my skills, my abilities, my passions, but it has also gave me the chance to pave the way for my family, my younger cousins, and many younger children who look up to me. I am the first of both my parents sides to graduate high school and go to college. I am proud to be at SSU, to be at school receiving higher education, because I know how much it took to get here, how difficult it can be to get through it, but how privileged I am to experience it all. I am one of many who are taking the initiative to push through statistics to reach for a higher education despite my background story. I am one of many who still struggle to be a first gen student because being a first gen student means learning absolutely everything on your own. Having to adjust on your own, being self motivated, self determined, self reliant. Being a first gen student is not easy as it consists of not only teaching yourself the ways of college, work, social life, building skills, and life after college; a first gen student must then, explain to their parents, family, siblings, cousins, whoever it may be, about everything they are learning or have learned. Being a first gen student has taught me and still inspires me to never be afraid to keep going, that when the going gets tough, the tough keep going. And that no matter what life throws at me, keep an open mind that it's currently shaping me. I might not know exactly what I'm doing 100% of the time, but I know with the determination to keep going, ill achieve my degree with my head held high and someday be able to say "I did it." - Ariana

What inspires me to be successful as first Generation student is my family - Anonymous

It took generations to get where I am today. I want to make my family proud. - Gloria

My parents have had a rough life with 2 kids and no degrees, they made me see how much I needed this education to succeed. - Katelyn

My family and setting a positive role model for my family and my community - Erick

Being a First Generation Student as well as a Chicana woman, I refuse to give up and become another statistic . I am full of ambition to succeed and surpass any barriers which I come upon. The help and support that I receive from family and loved ones is what inspires me to continue to push forward to achieve my goal of becoming an environmental science educator for all generations and to achieve my aspiration of becoming a role model for my 13 year old brother and baby niece. - Nayeli

I am inspired to succeed because no one in my family has ever gone to college, and very few people have graduated high school. I am determined to graduate and have a stable career and break away from the pattern of minimum wage jobs that my family is forced to work. - Quianna

What inspires me to succeed as a First Gen Students is realizing that the struggles I went through were only shaping me for who I am today. A proud and unashamed First Gen Student. - Breana

As a first generation student, I've learned to appreciate the importance and challenges of gaining a higher education. My parents' sacrifice has inspired me to succeed as a first generation college student. They sacrificed their lives to give me a better living. I've learned to persevere and to be resilient because of them. My background is my strength when others see it as a deficit. It does not define me. I am capable of breaking those barriers that don't allow be mobilize and prosper. The limitations that have been imposed on me inspires me to succeed as a first generation student. Being the first in my family has brought a lot of self-doubt. I've encountered the challenges of navigating higher education when the system itself was not made for me to succeed. Finding others who share the similar experience and background as me empowers me to succeed and advocate for first generation students. My work ethic, connections, and my vulnerability has allowed me to be where I am today as a first generation college student and has showed me no limits. - Briana

"As a first generation student, I can passionately say that education means more than holding a degree. A college education is a time of dedication, to enhance your knowledge in both broad curriculum through general education courses, and to tune in to the interests you gravitate toward through your declared major. As a Sociology major, the theories and data included in my coursework have resulted in the connection and validation of my personal experiences, as more than just observed but as real for others beyond myself and my community. The Sociology discipline has been enlightening in educating students on diversity and global issues, so that perspectives that were once foreign can be applied to understanding the world with greater awareness. When I consider my years of college, I reflect on the continuous self development and the demanding pursuit of where I can give my "best self" that I have wrestled with. As a senior at Sonoma State University, I know that I am making progress in graduating this upcoming May of 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree. The degree I earn will be the foundation for earning a Master's in Social Work to become an Oncology Social Worker. I lost my father to lung cancer at seventeen, and I know that I can give my "best self" through honoring his legacy and enact positive change through the fieldwork of my career path." - Terra

My parents migrated to the U.S in search of a better life yet found themselves working 12 hour shifts and bringing the minimum amount of money to the table. Nevertheless, they always stayed up late helping me as much as they could with my homework and always supported me with school, pushing me to become someone in life. Seeing them struggle day by day gives me the motivation to achieve my academic goal. - Cristobal
Would you like your voice to be added to this page? Please send your response to the question, "What inspires you to succeed as a First Gen Student?" to marjorie.lear@sonoma.edu. Thank you!

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Research Guides: First Gen Student Resources: First Gen Students at SSU

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In honor of the inaugural First Generation College Celebration on November 8, 2017, Sonoma State University Library asked our First Gen Students: What inspires you to succeed as a First Gen Student? My family inspire me because they are always there for me and encouraging me to move forward.

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In case someone needs it: Crisis Textline

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In case someone needs it: Crisis Textline

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Crisis Text Line | Text HOME To 741741 free, 24/7 Crisis Counseling

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Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 support via text message. We're here for everything: anxiety, depression, suicide, school. Text HOME to 741741.

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Migraine Buddy - Free app for migraine sufferers

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It's nice to remind myself that I'm more than just a brain :)
We like to:
-Run
-Do "living room yoga" (yay Yoga with Adrienne!) or pick a few from a yoga pose deck
-Dance (Ballet lessons once a week)

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Trident is a bookstore that offers an amazing cafe and lots of fun community events! It's a perfect space to chill out, get inspiration, enjoy a meal, and make/spend time with friends.

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Trident Booksellers & Cafe | 338 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02115 | 617-267-8688

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Following Libraries and Library Organizations of Social Media

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Following Libraries and Library Organizations of Social Media

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Like the New York Public Library on Twitter (and their Reader's Advisory Fridays!)

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Tweets by nypl

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When my brain gets super frazzled, I like to meditate :)

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Unlock hundreds of mood-boosting meditations, relaxing sleep exercises, focus music, and more with our biggest offer of the year.

It's the healthiest, happiest deal you'll find this Black Friday, and it won't last long.

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Meditation and Sleep Made Simple - Headspace

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Live a healthier, happier, more well-rested life in just a few minutes a day with the Headspace app.