Making the Most of Graduate School: A Practical Guidebook for Students

in Applied Linguistics, Education, and TESOL

Matt Kessler and J. Elliott Casal

ii

Making the Most of Graduate School: A Practical Guidebook for Students in Applied
Linguistics, Education, and TESOL © 2024 by Matt Kessler and J. Elliott Casal is
licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Cover design: Emily Gillo

Published by Applied Linguistics Press

https://www.appliedlinguisticspress.org/

Series Editor: Luke Plonsky

Copyediting and Typesetting: Payton Hall
 iii

Making the Most of Graduate School: A Practical Guidebook

for Students in Applied Linguistics, Education, and TESOL

This book serves as a guide for assisting new graduate students in socializing into
graduate school in the fields of applied linguistics, education, and TESOL. Because
graduate school is a challenging endeavor for almost everyone, this book covers
common issues that most students face throughout their programs. Such issues
include: dealing with imposter syndrome; learning how to develop effective study
habits and routines while striving for work-life balance; developing teaching,
research, and professional interests; learning how to network and build relationships;
coping with personal crises; dealing with failure and rejection; and more. As a result
of reading this book, the goal is for both master’s and doctoral students to experience
less stress and anxiety, and to walk away from this text with concrete tips and
strategies for successfully navigating their respective graduate school experiences.
iv

About the Authors

Matt Kessler is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of South

Florida, where he teaches in the MA Applied Linguistics program and the PhD
Linguistics and Applied Language Studies program. His research focuses on issues
pertaining to second language writing, genre-based teaching and learning, and
computer-assisted language learning. He is the co-editor of the book Conducting genre-
based research in applied linguistics: A methodological guide (Routledge). He is also
the author of Digital multimodal composing: Connecting theory, research and practice
in second language acquisition (Multilingual Matters).
https://mattkessler.weebly.com/

J. Elliott Casal is an Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics (Department of

English) at the University of Memphis, where he teaches in the undergraduate, MA, and
PhD programs in Applied Linguistics. He is also a faculty affiliate with the Institute for
Intelligent Systems. His research focuses on second language and discipline-specific
writing, genre-based writing instruction, corpus linguistics, and computer-assisted
language learning. His work has appeared in Journal of Second Language Writing,
Journal of English for Academic Purposes, English for Specific Purposes, and Research
Methods in Applied Linguistics.
https://www.jelliottcasal.com/
 v

Acknowledgements

Like many books, this book too could not have come to fruition without the
efforts and support of numerous people. First and foremost, we would like to thank our
own advisors from our respective master's and doctoral programs. They not only served
as mentors who shepherded us through our degree programs, but they also served as
positive role models more broadly in areas beyond work and academia. In this vein, we
must also thank and recognize many of our own graduate student peers. Together as
students, we spent many long nights in labs, in libraries, and elsewhere. During these
interactions, we learned a great deal from each other and formed tight-knit bonds, some
of which continue to this day. Notably, these experiences have informed the various
stories and bits of advice that we provide throughout this book.
Relatedly, we would also like to thank the current graduate students who
contributed their personal narratives to this book. We sincerely appreciate their
willingness to share such personal accounts, which we hope will have the capacity to
help others in the future as well.
Lastly, we would like to thank Luke Plonsky. Admittedly, this is a book that we
had been wanting to write for some time. However, it was Luke's encouragement that
ultimately made it happen.
In closing, we hope that you will enjoy this book. We note here that any errors or
omissions are our own.
vi

Foreword
Luke Plonsky

Everyone knows that finding success in graduate school—regardless of what that

might look at the individual level—is challenging. But it doesn’t have to be mysterious!
These basic facts were on the hearts and minds of Matt and Elliott when they wrote me a
couple years ago to discuss a book proposal that they were working on. Their idea was to
craft a text that would provide a guide for traversing some of the unfamiliar and often
high-stakes terrain that we all encounter in graduate school.
My interest was piqued. In addition to my scholarly interests in second language
acquisition and research methodology, I care deeply about professional development
(PD). In just the last few weeks, for example, I’ve given workshops on (a) developing
research questions, (b) reviewing journal manuscripts, (c) crafting the author response
document, and (d) navigating the journal submission process. I regularly teach a
sequence of one-credit PD seminars in the MA and PhD programs at my home
institution (Northern Arizona University). And I published an edited volume a few years
ago on PD (Plonsky, 2020). (The book you’re reading right now can actually be seen as a
kind of prequel to my book, which picks up where this one leaves off.) Naturally, I loved
Matt and Elliott’s idea. But the publishers and series editors that they had been talking
to didn’t. More precisely, the publishers couldn’t see how such a book would fit within
any of their series or collections, despite a clear and intense need in the field for what
the book had to offer.
Matt, Elliott, and I strategized a bit on potential publishers they might approach
and on how they might reframe the proposal to generate greater appeal. What became
apparent, however, was that we were coming up with a solution to a problem that didn’t
exist! The idea for the book was great; it was the publishing side that needed to change.
Around that same time, I had been mulling over the idea of launching a small-
scale, open-access publishing house for applied linguistics. That idea was born in part
from a frustration with the for-profit publishing model where academics produce 100%
of the content while corporations receive almost 100% of the profit. (Adding insult to
injury, our institutions have to pay the publishers to gain access to research that we give
to those publishers for free!). It’s not that we as scholars write articles or books for
money. We write to share our findings and knowledge with the communities that we
belong to and care about. I imagine most scholars—Matt and Elliott included—would
gladly give up the mere 5-7% royalty from book sales if it meant more people who want
to read our work can do so. All the more so if the audience for that book consists
primarily of graduate students.
 vii

The idea behind the press was also bolstered by the open science (aka. ‘open
scholarship’) movement, which has been underway now for approximately a decade.
Among other tenets, and as the name implies, this movement seeks to increase the
transparency and accessibility of research materials and findings to the scholarly
community as well as to the public (see, e.g., Bolibaugh et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2023;
Marsden & Plonsky, 2018).
As for Matt and Elliott’s book, well, you already know how the story ends. In fact,
you’re now part of it!
Matt and Elliott took a chance on me and on the experiment that is Applied
Linguistics Press (ALP). More importantly, their choice to publish with ALP is a sign of
their sincere care for the development of current and future graduate students and,
hence, for the field. If even one student accesses and benefits from this book, I’m calling
it a success. And I’m sure that many will! This text is full of insights that are actionable,
empirically-informed, and broadly relevant. But it’s also concise-by-design. Matt and
Elliott strike the friendly tone of trusted allies but with the time-tested wisdom of
scholars who have not only survived but thrived throughout and beyond graduate
school. I hope and believe that by reading this book you will be one step closer to doing
the same.

References
Bolibaugh, C., Vanek, N., & Marsden, E. J. (2021). Towards a credibility revolution in
bilingualism research: Open data and materials as stepping stones to more
reproducible and replicable research. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition,
24, 801–806. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728921000535
Liu, M., Chong, S. W., Marsden, E., McManus, K., Morgan-Short, K., Al-Hoorie, A. H.,
Plonsky, L., Bolibaugh, C., Hiver, P., Winke, P., Huensch, A., & Hui, B. (2023).
Open scholarship in applied linguistics: What, why, and how. Language
Teaching, 56, 432–437. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444822000349
Marsden, E., & Plonsky, L. (2018). Data, open science, and methodological reform in
second language acquisition research. In A. Gudmestad, & A. Edmonds (Eds.),
Critical reflections on data in second language acquisition (pp. 219-228). John
Benjamins.
Plonsky, L. (Ed.) (2020). Professional development in applied linguistics: A guide to
success for graduate students and early career faculty. John Benjamins.
viii

Table of Contents
Contents
Front Matter………………………………………………………………………………………………………..i-v
Foreword, Luke Plonsky……………………………………………………………………………….…..vi-vii

Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1

Unique Features of This Book .................................................................................................... 3
Breakdown of Chapter Content .................................................................................................. 4
Closing ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Chapter 2: Dealing With Your Imposter Syndrome: You Belong Here!........................................ 8

Being Admitted: The Onset of Imposter Syndrome ................................................................... 9
Meeting Your New Classmates ................................................................................................ 11
Engaging in Early Coursework and Attending Your First Academic Lecture ......................... 13
Achieving Academic Success ................................................................................................... 15
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 17
Tips for Dealing with Imposter Syndrome ............................................................................... 17

Chapter 3: Developing Your Study Routine and Strategies, While Making Time for Yourself .. 21
Establishing a Dedicated Work Schedule ................................................................................. 22
Making Time for Yourself, Both Personally and Professionally .............................................. 26
Breaking Down Projects into More Manageable Chunks......................................................... 29
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 30
Tips for Developing Your Study Routine and Strategies, While Making Time for Yourself .. 30

Chapter 4: Carving Out Your Research, Teaching, and Professional Interests ............................ 34
Exploring and Gaining Experience with Different Research Topics and Methods .................. 35
How Your Future Career Interests May Factor into Your Decisions ....................................... 37
How to Adapt to a Teaching Assignment and Find Something Meaningful Within it............. 39
Seeking Additional Teaching Opportunities ............................................................................. 41
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 43
Tips for Carving Out Your Research, Teaching, and Professional Interests ............................ 43
 ix

Chapter 5: Seeking Out (But Not Over Relying On) Your Advisor’s Input ................................ 47
Your Advisor’s General Role ................................................................................................... 48
Your Expectations as a Student and Advisee ........................................................................... 49
Learning How to Be Independent and to Take Initiative .......................................................... 52
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 55
Tips for Seeking Out (But Not Over Relying On) Your Advisor’s Input ................................ 55

Chapter 6: Building Relationships: How to Network, Network, and Network Some More! ....... 60
The Importance of Finding a Close Confidant ......................................................................... 61
Building Relationships by Being Professional and Having Something to Offer ...................... 63
Reaching out to Those Beyond Your Own Institution and Inner Social Groups...................... 64
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 68
Tips for Building Relationships and Networking ..................................................................... 69

Chapter 7: Coping with Crises ...................................................................................................... 73

How Being a Graduate Student Can Put Stress on Relationships ............................................ 74
How Managing Finances Can Be a Difficult Endeavor............................................................ 75
How an Unexpected Personal Crisis May Occur Over the Course of a Multi-Year Program.. 78
Learning to Expect the Unexpected Challenge, Especially with Teaching and Research........ 80
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 82
Tips for Coping with Crises ...................................................................................................... 82

Chapter 8: Dealing with Failure and Rejection............................................................................. 86

Taking Feedback in Stride (Even if It Is Harshly Delivered) ................................................... 87
Recognizing and Getting Over Your Ego ................................................................................. 91
Knowing When It Is Simply Time to Move on From an Endeavor.......................................... 92
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 94
Tips for Dealing with Failure and Rejection............................................................................. 95

Chapter 9: Conclusion................................................................................................................... 99
The Important Role of Kindness in Achieving Success ......................................................... 100
How Kindness Manifests During Graduate School ................................................................ 101
Concluding Remarks............................................................................................................... 103
CHAPTER 1

Introduction
Opting to enroll in graduate school is a significant and life-altering decision. For some
people, making the decision to pursue a graduate degree is a ‘no-brainer’ in the sense
that it is something they have reflected on over a long period of time. Conversely, for
other people attending graduate school may be something that they began to consider
shortly before applying. Perhaps they started thinking about it as they neared the end of
their respective undergraduate program, master’s program, or even after being out in
the workforce for some time. Regardless of which group you fall into personally, we
think that it is not particularly controversial to state that graduate school itself can
represent an exciting yet also uniquely challenging time period for many (if not most)
people.
In terms of being exciting, graduate school is a time in which many people make
life-long friends, expand their knowledge base, and receive hands-on training in a
specific subject or area that they have an immense passion for. In fact, we agree that our
time in both our master’s and doctoral programs were rich, stimulating, and even fun.
And yes, it is often a key step towards achieving broader academic and professional
goals. Despite these positives, graduate school may also pose considerable challenges for
many. Such challenges range from dealing with imposter syndrome (i.e., feeling like you
do not belong) (Clance & Imes, 1978), to managing the increased workload, to wrestling
with issues involving socializing into a new community whose practices may be
idiosyncratic, unfamiliar, and even cryptic (Fernandez et al., 2019). Unfortunately, the

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Introduction. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of
graduate school: A practical guidebook for students in applied linguistics, education, and TESOL
(pp. 1-7). Applied Linguistics Press.
2

sum of these issues can sometimes lead to negative outcomes such as stress, an
unhealthy work-life balance, and eventually attrition, with some students embarking on
yet never completing their graduate degree programs (see Cassuto & Weisbuch, 2021).
In order to help students overcome some of these issues and achieve their
maximum potential, a number of books have been published that focus on different
aspects of graduate student professional development. Many of these books are
extremely helpful. However, they often fall into two primary categories, focusing on
either 1) helping students transition from graduate school into a full-time academic post
(e.g., Plonsky, 2020), or 2) developing individuals’ general academic skills during their
studies in terms of learning how to read or write (e.g., Shore, 2016; Swales & Feak,
2012). Related to this second category, some books even focus on assisting students with
preparing for specific time periods and seminal events of their graduate studies, such as
the dissertation (see Casanave, 2014 and 2020, Before the Dissertation and During the
Dissertation).
Again, while these texts can be immensely helpful for assisting students with
specific academic tasks and transitioning out of school, when we were graduate students
at both the master’s and doctoral levels, we recall wishing that there was some sort of
practical guidebook intended for incoming and new graduate students. In particular, we
wished that there was a guidebook that offered helpful advice, relatable stories, and tips
on how to deal with different situations that are likely to arise during the first year of
most graduate school programs, along with guidance on how to succeed, generally
speaking. Both of us eagerly sought out advice and stories throughout our MAs and
PhDs to inform the processes of making our own decisions. These stories and
perspectives were useful (and variably inspiring, entertaining, or disappointing).
However, not everyone was willing to share their experiences, understandably.
Additionally, many of those around us had completed graduate school a number of years
before (e.g., instructors, professors), which typically limited the types of insights that
they could offer with regards to life as a student.
This is why we wrote this book. Specifically, we wrote this book to serve as a
guide for incoming master’s and doctoral students, but also for those graduate students
who are newly enrolled and within the first year or so of their programs and are looking
for practical tips and advice on how to make graduate school one of the most fruitful and
enjoyable experiences of their lives. When developing this text, we specifically had in
mind students who are studying in the United States and North American contexts in
disciplines related to applied linguistics, education, and TESOL. That being said, many
of the tips and advice we provide here are more broadly applicable to numerous
 3

disciplines in the social sciences, humanities, and beyond (e.g., topics such as
networking and dealing with personal crises are not discipline-specific). As such, large
parts of each chapter are supported by empirical research from a variety of academic
disciplines, and importantly, they are also supported by the voices of current graduate
students whose stories are integrated throughout each chapter. Many of these stories,
tips, and advice that we share are based on our own experiences and those of our peers
from when we made our respective journeys through our MA and PhD programs.
One key point that we would like to bring up here is that the fields of applied
linguistics, education, and TESOL are highly interdisciplinary. Thus, the combination of
our own graduate studies, plus those of our peers whom we draw upon, are quite
diverse. This diversity includes voices from individuals who not only differ in terms of
research and teaching interests, but also in terms of gender, first language,
socioeconomic status, and more. The sum of these voices and perspectives, we believe,
enables us to speak to a broad number of topics and issues that reflect the diversity of
life histories, experiences, and challenges that different student populations may face
during their time in graduate school.
Important to note as well is that during our own respective graduate studies, we
were constantly seeking out best practices by engaging in reflective activities and by
contemplating our own actions (see Farrell, 2019). We also frequently sought out the
advice of more senior graduate-student peers and faculty. When doing so, one key
question that we constantly asked ourselves throughout our studies was: How can we be
more efficient and more effective in everything that we do? We strongly believe that it is
this type of attitude and openness that enabled both of us not only to successfully finish
our MA and PhD programs, but perhaps even more crucially, to truly love our time in
graduate school.

Unique Features of This Book

We now turn our attention to highlighting specific features of this book pertaining to
how the individual chapters are internally structured. Afterwards, we provide a more
detailed description of the content within each chapter.
Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion chapters (Chapters 1 and 9), this
book contains seven content chapters, and each of these seven chapters is constructed
similarly. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction to the topic at-hand. During this
introduction, any important background information is outlined along with key
terminology that needs to be defined for the reader (e.g., the concept of imposter
syndrome in Chapter 2).
4

Following the introduction section of each chapter, chapters are then broken
down into three or four different sub-sections, where a myriad of sub-topics are
discussed pertaining to the overarching chapter theme. For instance, Chapter 2, which is
titled Dealing with your imposter syndrome: You belong here!, has four sub-sections
that cover how different actions or activities during graduate school can contribute to
you experiencing imposter syndrome, such as: 1) being admitted into graduate school,
2) meeting your new classmates, 3) engaging in coursework and attending academic
lectures, and 4) achieving academic success.
Within each chapter as well we offer the reader breakout stories that appear in
boxes which are titled Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students.
As the title suggests, these breakout stories draw upon the experiences of currently
enrolled MA and PhD students as they relate to the chapter content. Not including our
own stories (which occasionally appear as well), there are multiple current graduate
students who have contributed short reflections on various topics. (In many cases, the
names are pseudonyms). The goal of these reflections, which are written in a narrative
journal style, is twofold: the first purpose is to highlight specific instances of how these
challenges might manifest into actual real-life accounts during others’ graduate
programs; the secondary purpose is to highlight the commonality of encountering such
issues, and thereby, to help the graduate-student reader feel more at-ease when
navigating similar challenges in their own academic lives. Everyone’s experiences will be
unique, but we suspect that many of these stories will be relatable.
While the aforementioned personal reflections are sprinkled intermittently
throughout each chapter, all chapters close with a series of practical tips that the reader
can use for addressing the chapter’s subject matter. Crucially, these practical tips fall
into a number of different areas, including those that are meant to be: interpersonal in
nature (i.e., discourse-based recommendations for interacting with other graduate
students or faculty); self-reflective in nature (i.e., questions to consider on your own); or
strategy-based in nature (i.e., specific tactics one can try out on their own when
approaching different school-related tasks).

Breakdown of Chapter Content

As mentioned, this book contains seven content chapters that address a number of
topics pertaining to graduate school life. The topics that we address span issues that a
student might encounter (and/or wish to consider) starting from initial acceptance into
graduate school, spanning through the end of the first year of students’ programs. These
topics also range from those that are more personal in nature (e.g., dealing with
 5

personal crises during your education) to those that are more public and program-
related (e.g., interacting with your academic advisor and other faculty).
The first content chapter, Chapter 2, as briefly described earlier, covers the
widespread academic phenomenon of feeling like a ‘fraud’ that many students
experience throughout graduate school. In this chapter, we examine potential triggers
for imposter syndrome that range from meeting your new graduate-student peers, to
engaging in coursework, to attending public lectures, conferences, and more.
Importantly, we discuss imposter syndrome as a pervasive and public feeling (Breeze,
2018) rather than something that is unique to one individual.
Chapter 3, which is titled Developing your study routine and strategies, while
making time for yourself, outlines a number of practical suggestions that many
incoming and new students will find especially useful. Covered are topics such as
establishing a dedicated work schedule, making time for yourself (both professionally
and personally), breaking projects down into smaller, more manageable tasks, and
crucially, tips for avoiding procrastination (the great and formidable nemesis of all
people within academia).
The next chapter, Chapter 4, discusses the important yet related topics of
Carving out your research, teaching, and professional interests. In terms of research
interests, included are topics such as how to gain experience with different
methodologies (e.g., through term papers and other experiential learning
opportunities), and how your future career interests may factor into such decisions. For
the section on teaching interests, we discuss how to adapt to your given teaching
assignment and find something meaningful within your teaching (e.g., integrating your
own interests into your syllabus design), and how to seek additional opportunities
outside of your designated graduate assistantship (i.e., things you can do if not given the
opportunity to teach).
Chapter 5 moves on to discuss a topic that is typically of great significance to
most graduate students. In particular, it is a topic that is vital to those who are pursuing
a degree that requires the completion of either a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation.
Titled Seeking out (but not over relying on) your advisor’s input, this chapter provides
information about your advisor’s general role (i.e., the types of things they typically do
and do not do as advisors), your expectations as an advisee, and also, learning how to be
independent and to take initiative.
Chapter 6 is called Building relationships: How to network, network, and
network some more! As the title suggests, learning how to establish relationships with
your graduate student peers and other faculty is instrumental, both in terms of
6

achieving current and future success. Therefore, in this chapter we cover a number of
sub-topics, including why it is critical to find a close confidant (i.e., typically a peer you
can speak to openly), how to build relationships by being professional and by having
something to offer others, and how to reach out to those beyond your own institution
and inner social groups.
The next two chapters, Chapters 7 and 8, deal with slightly more sensitive issues,
which sometimes have the capacity to derail students during their studies. Chapter 7 is
called Coping with crises, and it outlines a number of personal and academic challenges
that may arise during one’s studies. Discussed are how being a graduate student can put
stress on relationships (e.g., friendships, romantic relationships), how managing
finances during graduate school may cause stress, how an unexpected personal crisis
may occur over the course of a multi-year program (e.g., a death in the family), and
crucially, how you can learn to expect the unexpected challenge, especially when it
comes to teaching or conducting research. We also touch upon how to seek guidance or
other counseling services when a situation or experience becomes overly difficult
psychologically or emotionally. Such services are often free and confidential across most
university campuses, and they can be very high quality.
Chapter 8 then covers issues related to Dealing with failure and rejection. In this
chapter, we explain how failure is a normal part of graduate school. However, this is
often a very difficult thing for new students to deal with (especially since many are high-
achieving pupils who are accustomed to being the best in their classes). Thus, we discuss
sub-topics such as taking feedback in stride (even if it is harshly delivered), recognizing
and getting over your ego, and knowing when it is simply time to move on from an
endeavor. Notably, in our discussion of taking feedback in stride, we discuss the vital
issue of how to know if the feedback you are receiving is crossing a line and what to do
about it (that is, understanding when an advisor’s comments may go beyond what is
normal or appropriate).
Finally, Chapter 9, the Conclusion, reviews some of the major topics that were
discussed. In addition, there is a brief discussion of the important role that kindness
plays in achieving any high degree of success. In this final chapter, we discuss related
sub-topics such as taking time to help others with their work, and being kind to
everyone who crosses your path, including your peers, university/program staff, and
your own students.
 7

Closing
Before venturing into the first full content chapter, we would like to remind the reader
that there are undoubtedly other issues that will arise during your respective graduate
studies. After all, each person’s life is unique. That being said, this book attempts to
highlight some of the primary concerns and issues that likely will be applicable to new
graduate students across both master’s and doctoral levels, and also, to those across a
variety of disciplines related to applied linguistics, education, and TESOL. Thus,
whether you are only beginning to think about graduate school, whether you are about
to start your program, or whether you are already partway through your program, we
hope that you will find this book to be a useful and practical guide as you progress
through school. We sought out as much advice as we could during our own graduate
school experiences (even from each other), but we should always make our decisions for
ourselves.

References
Breeze, M. (2018). Imposter syndrome as a public feeling. In Y. Taylor & K. Lahad
(Eds.), Feeling academic in the neoliberal university (pp. 191-219). Palgrave
Macmillan.
Casanave, C. P. (2014). Before the dissertation. University of Michigan Press.
Casanave, C. P. (2020). During the dissertation. University of Michigan Press.
Cassuto, L., & Weisbuch, R. (2021). The new PhD. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women:
Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy Theory, Research and
Practice, 15(3), 1-8.
Farrell, T. S. C. (2019). Reflective practice in ELT. Equinox.
Fernandez, M., Sturts, J., Duffy, L. N., Larson, L. R., Gray, J., & Powell, G. M. (2019).
Surviving and thriving in graduate school. SCHOLE: A Journal of Leisure Studies
and Recreation Education, 34(1), 3-15.
Plonsky, L. (2020). Professional development in applied linguistics: A guide to success
for graduate students and early career faculty. John Benjamins.
Shore, Z. (2016). Grad school essentials: A crash course in scholarly skills. University of
California Press.
Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. B. (2012). Academic writing for graduate students (3rd ed.).
University of Michigan Press.
CHAPTER 2

Dealing With Your Imposter

Syndrome: You Belong Here!
For many people, being accepted into graduate school evokes a mixed set of strong
emotions, as novel and potentially life-altering events have a tendency to do. The initial
news of one’s acceptance typically brings a sense of immense joy and excitement,
feelings of pride and validation, and often even a bit of relief. However, this exuberance
may soon fade into negative emotions such as fear and anxiety that may be rooted in
practical concerns, or unfortunately, may be part of a growing case of imposter
syndrome. Imposter syndrome refers to a psychological phenomenon in which
individuals feel that they are insufficiently skilled, talented, or qualified for their current
position (often associated with feeling like a ‘fraud’), and that someone within their
community or discipline will eventually discover that they do not truly belong as a
member (Clance & Imes, 1978). Importantly, these feelings are distinct from a generally
healthy awareness of one’s own limitations or one’s ability to identify areas for potential
improvement. Rather, imposter syndrome refers to a condition where these strong
feelings of fear impact one’s success, relationships, or mental health in detrimental
ways.
This internal sense of self-doubt is not unique to academic life, but it has been
widely studied across academia. Some research has suggested that women in particular
may be prone to experiencing more severe bouts of imposter syndrome (e.g., Cowie et
al., 2018). However, such feelings of inadequacy have been reported across different
genders, academic disciplines, and among both graduate student and faculty

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Dealing With Your Imposter Syndrome: You Belong Here! In M.
Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of graduate school: A practical guidebook for students in
applied linguistics, education, and TESOL (pp. 8-20). Applied Linguistics Press.
 9

populations (e.g., Bothello & Roulet, 2019; Wilkinson, 2020). Additionally, it often does
not dissipate as greater levels of academic success are reached. In this chapter, we
discuss the broader issue of imposter syndrome and related negative mindsets that may
take up residency in graduate students' psyches, with attention to how these issues may
change over time. We begin by discussing how such ideas develop upon students’
admittance into their respective programs. Then, we move on to discuss the beginning
of graduate-level coursework and other activities that may occur during the first year of
students’ programs.

Being Admitted: The Onset of Imposter Syndrome

Upon receiving your graduate school acceptance email or letter, you were likely ecstatic
– (and for those of you awaiting decision letters, good luck!). Perhaps you even
celebrated the news by going out with friends and family. However, as the reality of
academic life sets in, that joy may soon be paired with other more negatively oriented
feelings. As the title of this section alludes to, we cannot overstate how many times we
have heard graduate students question ‘how they even got into’ their respective
programs. Admittedly, these are conversations that we, too, once engaged in. Crucially
though, as Sanders and Landrum (2012) have noted, prospective graduate students
often lack knowledge “about the importance of certain aspects of the graduate
admissions process” (p. 131). Therefore, we feel it is critical to highlight the typical
admissions process for the graduate student reader, as it may assist you in appeasing
your sense of illegitimacy.
After a prospective applicant’s materials are received by a program (i.e., once the
program collects the applicant’s statement of purpose, curriculum vitae, letters of
recommendation, etc.), those materials are typically evaluated by a committee of
readers. It is important to note here that multiple people likely read your application.
That is, the decision was probably not left up to one person alone. Two, three, or
perhaps even four people read your application (and sometimes the entire department
faculty). Additionally, these people entered the application process with a sense of what
they were looking for. In fact, studies have repeatedly shown that evaluators of personal
statements or statements of purpose across different academic opportunities (e.g.,
admissions, fellowships, grants) often approach the rating process with solidified,
preconceived ideas of what makes a strong applicant (e.g., Kessler, 2020). For your
particular graduate program, perhaps it was teaching experience the committee was
looking for; perhaps it was a strong academic record; perhaps it was the applicant’s
letters of recommendation, or even one’s capacity to conceptualize a research project
(e.g., Samraj & Monk, 2008). Most likely, it was a combination of factors unique to the
10

program’s strengths, needs, and the particular views of those on the selection
committee.
The point is: The review of your graduate school application was likely very
similar to what we have described here. Multiple faculty members with experience
conducting such searches and a clear idea of what the committee is looking for reviewed
and selected your application from a pool of applicants. You were chosen, rather than
randomly selected. Additionally, you were not chosen as a ‘finished academic product’ –
(after all, you are enrolling in a multi-year educational endeavor marked by close
apprenticeship with experts). Instead, based on what you put forward in your
application materials, your faculty saw potential in you as someone who has the capacity
to succeed both now and in the future. They may have been impressed with what they
saw, but overall, they likely saw something (and someone) they ‘can work with.’
This also brings us to another important issue which, early on, can often fuel
feelings of being a fraud and nurture imposter syndrome. As is common with numerous
graduate school programs across the U.S. and beyond, many students may be offered
funding packages from a variety of sources (Jongbloed & Vossensteyn, 2016), which may
include a tuition waiver and even a living stipend. For those who do not receive funding,
this itself can further fuel feelings of anxiety. In fact, we both had to seek creative ways
of obtaining funding during the first year of our master’s studies. Although students who
do receive funding opportunities are typically pleased by the prospect of not having to
finance their own postgraduate education, the response to seeing your specific Graduate
Assistantship (GA) assignment can trigger immense feelings of anxiety and self-doubt as
well (we return to this topic later).
In both master’s and doctoral programs alike, when it comes to teaching or
conducting research, it is usually the case that graduate students have limited
background experiences from which to draw. Therefore, being assigned a GA-ship where
you will conduct research with a faculty member might be an intimidating prospect.
Similarly, receiving a Teaching Assistantship (TA-ship) to instruct a university-level
course may not only prompt you to question your existing subject knowledge (e.g.,
Swabey et al., 2010), but it may also cause you to question your general preparedness for
handling a classroom full of undergraduate students (e.g., Giallo & Little, 2003).
What is important for all graduate students to remember is: Your faculty in your
new program are already aware of this. After all, you are probably not their first
graduate student. Additionally, they have read your application. Thus, your faculty know
if you have limited (or no) experience in teaching, research, or in a specific subject-area
that will eventually prove crucial to your GA- or TA-ship. Because of this, you should
 11

note that many graduate programs have existing mechanisms built-into their programs
that provide students with the support they need. Depending on the program you enter,
such support opportunities may come from the faculty or even from other graduate
students, and they may include things such as: recurring one-on-one faculty-student
mentorship meetings; student- or faculty-led reading groups on certain topics;
informational/training sessions for new or returning TAs; and more. If they do not, then
it is highly advisable that you seek assistance from your peers to address the problem. If
you ever find yourself feeling unprepared or uncertain, remember that you are in most
cases not the first graduate student who has been asked to navigate the situation you
find yourself in. You can reach out for help from other generations (or cohorts) of
graduate students who often received help from those before them.
In a sense, the logical problem with feeling like a fraud in these situations is that
you are not supposed to be a professor-level expert to begin with. Even after you begin
to feel comfortable with teaching and other assistantship activities, you may wish to seek
out and participate in college, university, or discipline-wide activities. For example,
many universities have teaching-oriented workshops and learning communities to
support educators at any point in their careers.

Meeting Your New Classmates

Once you arrive at your new university and graduate program, there are many activities
and experiences (especially early on) that may further evoke feelings of inadequacy and
imposter syndrome. One of these experiences is meeting your new cohort of graduate
peers for the first time or reading about them online. For many graduate school
programs, students usually meet their peers during a designated orientation day, which
is typically held prior to the first week of classes. During this orientation, you will
inevitably be asked to introduce yourself to your new graduate student peers, faculty,
and staff. These introductions often include stating where you received your bachelor’s
or master’s degree, along with information regarding your teaching interests, research
interests, and future career goals.
As you listen to your peers introduce themselves, there is a tendency to feel
anxious and overwhelmed. Not only will your new classmates likely hail from a variety
of universities both within the U.S. and abroad, but your classmates will also likely
possess a plethora of experiences that you do not. For instance, you may hear new
classmates discuss things such as the prestigious universities they have attended;
famous scholars who previously served as their advisors; the years of teaching or
professional work experience they have accumulated; grants, awards, and other honors
12

they have received; or, the different theories or methodological approaches that they
adopt when conducting research (which as a new student, you may or may not have any
understanding of). When listening to these introductions, it may be difficult to avoid
comparing your achievements to those of your new peers. Additionally, there is often a
tendency to focus on those specific experiences or skills that you lack, rather than on
how your experiences and abilities may be novel and complimentary.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Alba, from Spain

PhD student in Applied Linguistics

When I began my doctoral degree in Applied Linguistics, I had switched from

another line of linguistic study. I recall the feelings of inadequacy and often
intellectual loneliness in my first-year courses, especially those pertinent to my area
of specialization. I felt like I was the only one who did not have enough of a base to
discuss course topics, to offer insightful comments, or to raise good questions. Many
members of my cohort had deep knowledge of the area that I was interested in, or
broadly, and I felt that I could not keep up with them. Moreover, the fact that many
of my colleagues were also second language English speakers – but were thriving in
academic dialogue anyway – further reinforced the idea that I didn't belong.

I could not help but to compare myself to others. We were all in our first semester,
and yet somehow others were able to draw deeply on their prior knowledge of our
discipline in highly eloquent ways. I read widely and carefully, but I felt like a lesser
student, and I will admit that I struggled with the thought that I was not intelligent
enough. I often had moments of fear and panic, worried that my professors wouldn't
be willing to serve on my committee.

Moving forward two years, I am pleased to say that I have formed a committee full
of the same professors I thought were disinterested in my abilities. They have been
supportive and strongly committed to my success. My colleagues have congratulated
me for 'overcoming' a switch to a new discipline and 'making up so much ground,’
and some have even admitted that my considerable experience as a language teacher
was intimidating to them. Looking back, I can still feel the anxiety and fear, and it
strikes me how blind I was to the foolishness of defining my abilities through what I
could see in others. There was a feeling of helplessness that drew my attention to my
comparative weaknesses.
 13

This is also why it is important for you to pay careful attention to those things
that your new peers are not saying aloud and to consider how your past experiences and
accomplishments may be viewed by your peers. For example, you may be in awe of a
classmate’s teaching experience, and you may be in awe of another classmate’s research
history or publications. However, it is unlikely that each person possesses such a
balanced set of experiences and/or talents across-the-board. What we mean by this is:
The person with teaching experience actually may have little experience with research;
conversely, the person with a research publication(s) may have limited or no teaching
experience. You, too, likely possess some unique talent or experience that your new
peers do not. Even if your new cohort member does have an impossibly rich set of
experiences, they are on their own academic path, and you are not in a deficit to their
accomplishments.
Thus, as you listen to your peers’ introductions, the feelings of being an imposter
that arise inside you are likely not specific to you alone. Instead, it may be an unspoken
‘public feeling’ (Breeze, 2018) that is pervasive among all of the accepted students who
are entering a new intellectual community. Importantly, it is crucial to remember that
you made it into graduate school because you have shown some evidence of talent and
experience. However, it is also crucial to remember that possessing one experience alone
(e.g., research experience) does not necessarily translate into stronger academic
performance and being a ‘better’ graduate student (e.g., Miller et al., 2020).

Engaging in Early Coursework and Attending Your First Academic Lecture

Perhaps one of the most jarring experiences for many new graduate students is
attending their first class within their program. While students usually have taken prior
introductory-level coursework in their field, there is often a noticeable difference as
students traverse from undergraduate, to master’s, to doctoral-level coursework, both in
terms of the workload itself and in terms of the difficulty level associated with the
readings and assignments received.
Interestingly, many undergraduates in particular have reported a complex
relationship with academic reading, with some students even stating that they do not
consider reading to be important for academic success (Gorzycki et al., 2019). However,
these same undergraduates may be surprised to discover that when it comes to their
master’s programs, these classes are usually in fact quite reading-heavy. In master’s
level courses as well, the onus oftentimes flips so that students are the ones who are
expected to take charge of their own education and to assist in scaffolding their peers,
rather than relying primarily on the course instructor. The shift from writing essays to
assignments that are more structured around academic genres can also be an obstacle,
14

but there are texts which discuss these issues in great detail (for more, see Swales &
Feak, 2012).
Similarly, when it comes to master’s students who enter PhD programs, there is
typically a shift in personal responsibility and reading materials. This shift often comes
as students move from reading textbooks to consuming published research articles, a
new genre which may prove quite challenging for many. Again, although students may
be relatively familiar with numerous foundational concepts within their respective
fields, they may struggle with understanding the intricacies of specific theories, various
research methodologies, or as Kim (2011) has noted, even in understanding things as
basic as commonly used acronyms, which may be unique to a particular sub-discipline
within their field. The sum of these things – experiencing an increased workload, a
change in teaching style, and reading new genres and hearing the names of foreign
acronyms (which everyone else appears to know) – may cause a great deal of stress early
on. For those students who move directly from BA to PhD programs, these feelings may
be even stronger. In some programs, MA students often take courses with PhD students
as well, compounding these stresses further.
As you progress through the early days of your program, those of you suffering
from the fear of being an imposter will likely encounter plenty of opportunities to
nurture such fears. Apart from coursework, one such activity might be attending your
first public research lecture or academic conference. In terms of attending a public
research lecture, you may end up seeing a talk by an established academic or perhaps
even a peer who is in a later year of your program. However, as you sit in the room with
the other audience members, despite listening intently, you may find yourself struggling
to understand much of what the presenter is saying. While there is a tendency to feel
like a fraud in this type of situation, in reality, this is a common problem that many new
graduate students experience. Coming to understand the practices and field-specific
jargon in one’s discipline takes time. As Rhoads et al. (2017) have noted, though, over a
period of time, students gradually do become socialized into their new communities,
and they gain this knowledge through a variety of sources, including coursework,
interactions with peers, and collaborations with faculty. Therefore, it is important to
remember that although you may feel like an imposter during a class or a public
departmental lecture, the other first-year students (and other graduate students) are
likely experiencing many of these same feelings as they wrestle with an influx of new
information. Perhaps more importantly, if the presentation is by a peer, you can view
that student’s success as an encouraging indicator of the strength of your program in
transforming students into effective scholars.
 15

As mentioned, although you may experience a sense of imposter syndrome

during a lecture at your university, another public venue where you may experience this
feeling is at an academic conference. Academic conferences serve numerous important
functions, as they enable academics to share and disseminate knowledge related to
research, theory, and/or pedagogy. For many as well, conferences serve as crucial
opportunities to build and establish professional networks (which is a topic of great
importance that we return to in Chapter 6). In between conference sessions or during
designated coffee breaks, attendees typically splinter off into different groups and chat.
When this happens, you may experience a feeling of isolation, and unfortunately, simply
not recognizing any familiar faces can make you feel intimidated (De Costa, 2020), as
can recognizing the faces of famous scholars in your area.
As you attend individual presentations and sessions too, you may find yourself
struggling to understand much of what the presenter is talking about. However, as
mentioned earlier, it is important for you to understand that you will gradually build
much of this knowledge over time. In fact, if you attend the same conference only one
year later, you will likely be amazed at how much more you can comprehend. Something
that is equally important to take note of is that many of the faculty who are in
attendance also may have relatively limited knowledge of some of the presentations they
are attending. Although faculty themselves are often experts in one or two areas, they
are not usually experts across the field. This is to say: conferences themselves serve as
forums for learning. Therefore, do not worry if you attend a talk which you know little
about. After all, it is likely the case that people sitting next to you in the audience know
little about the topic, too.
In spite of our reassuring emphasis on the gradual nature of the socialization
process, it is also important to note that autonomy and initiative as a learner are
essential to success in graduate school (a subject we return to later). These moments
that mark gaps in your knowledge can lead to stress and anxiety, but they can also be
pivotal moments that shape your reading plans and future study.

Achieving Academic Success

The previous sections have all dealt primarily with the imposter syndrome that arises
near the first year of one’s graduate program. In many ways, it is understandable that
graduate students recognize the gap between their abilities at the start of graduate
school and their academic/professional aims that lie beyond the program. For many
graduate students, the assumption is that they will surely feel more comfortable as they
advance through their program milestones (e.g., comprehensive or candidacy exams,
16

thesis/dissertation proposals), get accepted into conferences for poster or paper

presentations, and experience success with publication. In talking to our colleagues,
sometimes this is the case. Some early success (or sustained progress) can be enough to
allay concerns that one is not ‘smart enough’ or does not belong.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Mingzhu, from China

PhD student in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education

Some people may feel more legitimized and comfortable within academia as they
receive positive feedback. Conversely, others may feel increasingly like a fraud. For
me personally, when I saw an ‘A’ on the very first assignment of my doctoral study,
knowing that some of my American cohort mates were graded lower, instead of joy,
I immediately experienced panic. I ran to my graduate student mentor and asked
her if I did not actually deserve the ‘A’ but was given one because I was an
international student. My mentor had to assure me that based on what she knew of
that professor, she would hold equally high standards for everyone. Nonetheless, I
remained skeptical. I felt like an imposter, and it was hard to believe that my first
attempt at ‘joining the conversation with current literature’ deserved a
complimentary grade. Afterall, who was I to join the conversation of well-known
scholars? Then, it might not be surprising that I became obsessed with the more
critical part of my essay feedback which was on accuracy of language use.

Therefore, for the second class assignment, I went to the writing center to have
English native speakers ‘fix’ my language use. However, I then received a ‘B’ on my
second assignment! The reason? When I went to discuss the assignment with the
professor, the moment I sat down she asked, “Did you go to the writing center?” She
explained that she could tell because my second essay didn’t sound like me, as I was a
cautious writer attending to nuances when developing my arguments, but this merit
was lost in my second paper. She went on to advise that I should not allow anyone
else to override my integrity – and particularly, my voice – as an author. This
conversation struck me; instead of collaborating with the writing tutor to improve
my writing together, I merely took their suggestions. It was an effective prescription
for my imposter syndrome as an academic writer.

However, for others, achieving some level of success feeds their concerns and
discomfort, particularly if it comes early. Academia is built around the community-
driven construction of academic knowledge, and developing an academic career
 17

therefore entails students joining an ongoing conversation on a given topic(s). Thus,

new graduate students may experience great discomfort when completing their first
academic assignments in their new program. And, regardless of whether one receives a
good or a poor grade, the feedback one receives from their professor or advisor can
trigger certain feelings of imposter syndrome. In fact, some scholars have discussed how
imposter syndrome may impact the degree to which students are receptive to feedback
(e.g., Gottlieb, 2021), and it is crucial to consider how feedback itself can fuel feelings of
inadequacy. These issues may be heightened when the feedback is part of the peer
review process (rather than a pedagogical interaction), and we will revisit this issue of
feedback in the coming chapters.
In the meantime, it is important for graduate students to view opportunities for
improvement and discussion of their academic work as part of the process of knowledge
construction rather than as personal evaluations.

Conclusion
Throughout this chapter, we have attempted to highlight some of those activities that
may cause you to experience imposter syndrome throughout the first year of your
graduate studies. In particular, we want students to step away from this chapter
understanding that this sense of imposter syndrome is not something that they are
experiencing alone. Instead, such feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, and fear are likely a
pervasive public feeling among most (if not all) of the graduate students, to some extent,
and this likely even extends to some of the faculty. Therefore, during your graduate
studies, you need to constantly remind yourself of this fact. You can also engage in
particular behaviors that may help alleviate some of these feelings. Thus, we close this
chapter with a number of practical tips that may help in this regard.

Tips for Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

Tip #1: Keep in Mind That Feeling Like There’s Room to Grow is Not the
Same as Having Imposter Syndrome.

We previously introduced the idea that imposter syndrome is not the same as healthy
and realistic humility, or the understanding that you have limitations. The boundary
between these concepts is likely the individual-specific point at which it impacts mental
health and your ability to navigate professional life. You want to be aware of your
strengths and hone them, and you want to identify your weaknesses and work on them.
But, you should also monitor your reflection and ensure that it does not become
18

obsessive. Having identifiable areas for improvement and realistic goals does not make
you a fraud, and having an exceptional raw intellect does not make you a community
member. Rather, your membership to a disciplinary community will be based on and
legitimized through your ability to contribute within your local, institutional, and
broader academic societies.

Tip #2: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Questions and Say You Don’t Understand.

This may seem like a fairly obvious tip. However, in our experience, there is a tendency
for many students to avoid asking questions in the early stages of their programs.
Students often fear that if they ask a question publicly (e.g., in a class or during a
conference), they may be exposed as a fraud or look/feel stupid to peers and professors.
Our advice is: Don’t be afraid of asking. In fact, if you are wondering about something, it
is likely the case that someone else around you also has the same question. If you are
still too afraid to ask your question publicly, be sure to take note of it. Then, ask the
professor (or the presenter) afterwards. You can also seek guidance from a more senior
peer who is in a later year of your program. Usually, they are very happy to help, as they
likely had the same question when they started the program.

Tip #3: Be Proud of Your Accomplishments, but Beware of Boasting About

Them.

As you progress through your program, it is important to remember that your own
actions play a prominent role in the culture of the program itself. In particular, you may
recall how severely you experienced imposter syndrome during the first year of your
master’s or doctoral program. Therefore, as you inevitably learn more and secure
different achievements during the program, keep in mind that many of your peers are
actively experiencing imposter syndrome to differing degrees. Thus, for example, if you
personally reach a major milestone such as publishing a research article, you should be
very proud of this accomplishment! That being said, you probably should not wander
through the halls announcing it to everyone in your program. Remember: Your actions
can both fuel or quell others’ feelings of imposter syndrome, and even good-natured and
justifiable actions can have a complex impact on the culture of your community.

Tip #4: Don't Overcompensate by Overworking.

Researchers such as Ramsey and Brown (2018) have noted that those who experience
imposter syndrome have a tendency to overwork or spend more time than necessary on
certain tasks. We have certainly witnessed many graduate student peers struggle with
 19

this. For example, we know of particular students who spent nearly 20 hours working on
a class presentation that was worth only 5% of their overall course grades, as compared
to other peers who spent 5 hours on the same task. There are two follow-up points here:
The first is that it is important to note (as Tip #2 also discusses) that even for classroom
presentations and other class-related activities, it is okay to admit to yourself that you
do not understand a certain aspect of a reading, presentation, etc. You should only
spend additional time working on something if it is essential to your task. Secondly,
although it is (obviously) important to work hard during graduate school, you should be
strategic about the assignments that you invest a significant amount of labor into. We
return to this point in Chapter 3 when discussing specific strategies for managing
graduate-level workloads.

Tip #5: Understand That Everybody’s Path Into, Through, and Out of
Graduate School is Distinct.

Perhaps the most important tip and takeaway of all is that you are on your own
academic path. The differences between your peers’ trajectories and your own (into
graduate school, through the program, and into an academic community or industry) do
not make you a fraud. You can learn quite a bit from discussing other people’s
experiences and plans, and while these discussions can help you reframe and work
towards your own goals, they should not determine your goals or how you go about
them. Graduate school is about training independent scholars, not about preparing you
to chase the CVs/résumés of others, useful guides though these documents may be. So
the service records, grant activity, teaching styles, writing habits, and publications of
your peers can and should inspire you, and it is advisable to periodically rework your
goals and plans (in conjunction with your family and mentors). However, you owe it to
yourself to be yourself.

References
Bothello, J., & Roulet, T. R. (2019). The imposter syndrome, or the mis-representation
of self in academic life. Journal of Management Studies, 56(4), 854-861.
Breeze, M. (2018). Imposter syndrome as a public feeling. In Y. Taylor & K. Lahad
(Eds.), Feeling academic in the neoliberal university (pp. 191-219). Palgrave
Macmillan.
Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women:
Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy Theory, Research and
Practice, 15(3), 1-8.
Cowie, M., E., Nealis, L. J., Sherry, S. B., Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (2018).
Perfectionism and academic difficulties in graduate students: Testing
20

incremental prediction and gender moderation. Personality and Individual

Differences, 123(1), 223-228.
De Costa, P. I. (2020). Making the most of your applied linguistics conference
experience: Things to do before, during and after the event. In L. Plonsky (Ed.),
Professional development in applied linguistics: A guide to success for graduate
students and early career faculty (pp. 41-48). Routledge.
Giallo, R., & Little, E. (2003). Classroom behaviour problems: The relationship between
preparedness, classroom experiences, and self-efficacy in graduate and student
teachers. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 3, 21-
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Gorzycki, M., Desa, G., Howard, P. J., & Allen, D. D. (2019). “Reading is important,” but
“I don’t read”: Undergraduates’ experiences with academic reading. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 63(5), 499-508.
Gottlieb, M. (2021). More than meets the eye: The impact of imposter syndrome on
feedback receptivity. Medical Education, 55(2), 144-145.
Jongbloed, B., & Vossensteyn, H. (2016). University funding and student funding:
International comparisons. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 32(4), 576-595.
Kessler, M. (2020). A text analysis and gatekeepers’ perspectives of a promotional
genre: Understanding the rhetoric of Fulbright grant statements. English for
Specific Purposes, 60, 182-192.
Kim, K.-Y. (2011). International graduate students’ difficulties: Graduate classes as a
community of practice. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(3), 218-292.
Miller, A., Crede, M., & Sotola, L. (2020). Should research experience be used for
selection into graduate school: A discussion and meta-analytic synthesis of
available evidence. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 29(1),19-
28.
Ramsey, E., & Brown, D. (2018). Feeling like a fraud: Helping students renegotiate their
academic identities. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 25(1), 86-90.
Rhoads, R. A., Zheng, M., & Sun, X. (2017). The methodological socialization of social
science doctoral students in China and the USA. Higher Education, 73, 335-351.
Samraj, B., & Monk, L. (2008). The statement of purpose in graduate program
applications: Genre structure and disciplinary variation. English for Specific
Purposes, 27(2), 193-211.
Sanders, C. E., & Landrum, R. E. (2012). The graduate school application process: What
our students report they know. Teaching of Psychology, 39(2), 128-132.
Swabey, K., Castleton, G., & Penney, D. (2010). Meeting the standards? Exploring
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25(4), 363-374.
CHAPTER 3

Developing Your Study

Routine and Strategies, While
Making Time for Yourself
Once you are officially enrolled in graduate school and classes have begun, many new
students are often immediately taken aback by the heavy workload. Indeed, the amount
of work that students within academia are required to complete typically increases
exponentially when moving from bachelor’s to master’s to doctoral degree. This is partly
because, in addition to coursework, a sizable number of graduate students hold graduate
assistantships (GA-ships) that are administrative-, teaching-, or research-oriented, or
they might even work other part-time jobs outside of the university context (Norcross et
al., 2010) or be working full-time! As was discussed in Chapter 2, the challenge of
balancing a GA-ship and coursework might be exacerbated by the fact that the nature of
academic work itself often changes as students pursue higher degrees. That is, when
making the transition to graduate school, students usually move from reading textbooks
to reading more challenging academic genres which are directed towards disciplinary
members, such as empirical research articles. These may contain concepts, theories, and
methods that are novel and unlikely to be explained in considerable depth. In turn, this
can make completing assigned course readings even more time-consuming, particularly
during the first and second years of one’s program. Unfortunately, the increased
workload – both from GA-ships and from coursework – may produce many negative

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Developing Your Study Routine and Strategies, While Making
Time for Yourself. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of graduate school: A practical
guidebook for students in applied linguistics, education, and TESOL (pp. 21-33). Applied Linguistics
Press.
22

side effects. As Swanson et al. (2022) have noted, this can result in students
experiencing stress, a decline in mental and physical health, and, as many graduate
students report, a sense of feeling overwhelmed either “frequently” or “all of the time”
(p. 2227).
Although completely avoiding stress is not a possibility, there are a number of
things that graduate students can do to effectively manage the workload in their
programs, and ultimately, to achieve greater work-life balance. In this chapter, we
discuss some of the strategies for dealing with the heavy workload that you are likely to
experience in graduate school. We begin by discussing the important topic of how to
establish a dedicated work schedule. Then, we explain the importance of making time
for yourself, including the concept of ‘no time’ for boosting personal productivity and
creativity. Finally, we address how to take larger projects and break them down into
smaller, more manageable chunks as a means of reducing the feeling of being
overwhelmed.

Establishing a Dedicated Work Schedule

It is important to begin this section by reiterating that we are all in unique situations
when it comes to balancing our lives and putting together a work schedule. For example,
the commitments and responsibilities towards our families, limitations or values
regarding health and fitness, and investments in other personal engagements, will all
need to be uniquely balanced with the particular demands of our programs and our own
individual goals and ambitions. All of this is dynamic and unpredictable, so good advice
can be hard to come by and harder still to apply to our own lives. One of the keys to
finding balance is reflection. Another is strategic planning. Together, reflection and
planning are a strong basis for developing, enacting, and perhaps adjusting a regular
work plan that fits you and your situation. It is important to learn about yourself and
take advantage of your strengths while working on things you may improve.
Firstly, we recommend that you develop an ongoing habit of reflecting on (a)
what is important to you professionally (Amida et al., 2020) and personally, (b) what is
and is not working for you, and (c) what work is the most urgent to complete (Covey et
al., 1994). It is well documented in the literature that “individuals who establish goals
and objectives, as well as priorities” (Alvarez Sainz et al., 2019, p. 638) tend to be more
effective at managing their time. The reflections can take many forms, including
conversations with those in professional and personal support networks, journaling, and
regular self check-ins. They can also be activities you arrange yourself or can be
prompted by formal/structural checkpoints, such as annual evaluations or the break
between terms. The importance of reflection is to identify what goes into the work plan
 23

and how much of your life the work plan represents, as well as to evaluate and modify
the work plan as time passes.
It is useful to consider each of these three reflection topics in a bit more depth.
Regarding ‘what is important to you professionally and personally,’ we recommend that
you resist the urge to take the personal reflections out of the initial equation. It is
essential to have a clear vision of your career goals and what will be needed to get there
(perhaps some programing skills for an industry job, or a publication for a tenure-line
job), but opportunities to enhance your CV may be nearly endless during your graduate
studies. Our view is that medium- and long-term professional goals should be developed
alongside personal health, family, and other goals. For us, we both placed considerable
importance on our families and friends, which meant that we were extra careful when
allocating time for new projects or taking on new and unpredictable activities. And on
the other hand, it is important to establish a list of professional sub-goals (in
conjunction with advisors or other knowledgeable experts, ideally) that set you up
realistically for your longer-term professional goals. The personal and professional
balance we mentioned before was neither constant nor easy, and our work plans were
customized to meet term paper crunches or to make room for high-impact projects from
time-to-time, as they fit our goals and values.
Regarding ‘what is and is not working for you,’ we advise that you attend to your
performance and productivity, as well as your mental and physical well-being. We
provide some guidance on creating a work schedule below, but it is important that you
monitor the effectiveness and suitability of your work plan over time. So while you may
find that experimenting with an evening writing schedule increases productivity, is it
cutting into your sleep or impacting relationships that you value? Similarly, while you
may find that it is more time efficient to schedule as many meetings as you can in a row
on a particular day, are you okay with the impact it has on your eating schedule or with
your alertness and attentiveness? Trade-offs aside, it is important to assess your plans
after you enact them. For example, Elliott generally prefers to work on single tasks for
long periods of time, but he found it to be difficult to maintain long hours of focus when
providing feedback in graduate writing courses while also reading for coursework.
Against his normal preferences, he found that implementing a ‘few papers at a time’
every day policy required a unique kind of discipline, but it also made the task more
manageable and enjoyable.
Regarding ‘what is the most urgent to complete,’ we direct readers to Covey’s
(1994) now infamous quadrant system that helps planners plot and consider activities in
terms of urgency and importance. Details of the system aside, the lesson here is that
24

tasks which are both urgent and important may be worth shuffling up a schedule or
making an exception for. Doing so seamlessly will require an awareness of how tasks
and events interrelate and pile up with the passage of time (which is harder than it
sounds).
Personal Reflections: Stories from Current Graduate Students

Ghadi, from Saudi Arabia

PhD student in Applied Linguistics

During my first semester, I wanted to find effective strategies to increase

productivity and share them with fellow graduate students who have the same
question: How can we be more productive? I found a system that worked for me
personally, and that is maybe the most important thing. I continued to use my
favorite online platform tool to organize my daily tasks. However, I noticed that I
was devoting too much time to certain courses. Thus, I used Google Docs to list all
my courses and other academic work as 'projects' and numbered them accordingly.
The reason behind this terminology was to treat each academic work as a distinct
project. Using a syllabus-style format, I listed the weeks of the semester, the tasks
required for each project, and provided space for notes and additional details. This
approach allowed me to ensure that I was not focusing on one project at the expense
of others. It also kept me focused and motivated, as I could visually highlight
completed tasks in green.

I typically work at my home, but I felt that a change in environment was needed to
increase my productivity. I used the library, and it was good. However, in my second
year, I discovered a place called the Technology Hub at my university. There are
different working areas that resemble professional work environments, and the view
is spectacular since it is located at the heart of the university. Now I have a few
options for work environments, which allows me to work for extended hours.

We are all human, so we often feel overwhelmed and stressed due to commitments
beyond our academic tasks. To manage these feelings, I developed a habit of writing
about my experiences, emotions, and achievements in a document. I consider this
practice as a form of meditation that clears my mind and helps me redirect my
energy towards what truly matters. I engage in this practice occasionally, while
enjoying a cup of coffee and my favorite chocolate bar, with relaxing nature sounds
playing in the background on YouTube. It sounds very specific, but this has had a
significant impact on keeping me motivated and dedicated to my daily routine, and
it creates moments of reflection where I can see how far I have come.
 25

Based on these reflections, we recommend that you develop realistic plans and
make earnest efforts to stick to them, until it becomes clear that you need new plans.
With your long-term goals in mind, establishing a dedicated work schedule involves
careful consideration of (a) the non-negotiable commitments (e.g., classes), (b)
predictable and regular commitments (e.g., reading for courses and preparing for
teaching), (c) predictable one-off or intermittent commitments (e.g., a class
presentation or an event such as a wedding), (d) the work required to meet longer term
goals (e.g., working on term papers throughout the term or analyzing data for a research
project), and importantly, (e) unpredictable commitments. Some people can make it
through graduate school without a plan (particularly at the master’s level), but our
conversations with successful graduate students who are also happy is that they have
strategies and plans for dealing with workloads. By the end of the first week of classes,
much of your work for a given term can be mapped out broadly already, highlighting
when you will likely want to start particular tasks, when you are likely to struggle to
meet overlapping deadlines, and when you can make extra time for important personal
matters. A strong work plan takes these things into account and makes it easy for you to
assess when new activities can fit in or when you have to say ‘no,’ reschedule, or make a
short-term sacrifice to get through a tight window.
Of course, when it comes to planning, the granularity (broad daily objectives vs.
micro-level planning to the hour) and format (printed vs. digital agendas) are up to you,
and we recommend experimentation. For example, Elliott uses both a paper and digital
planner (divergent, but also admittedly somewhat redundant) so that he has the
satisfying experience of scratching things off his list, without losing out on the
productivity boons of email-calendar integration. It works for him, and ‘setting his
calendars right’ at the end of the weekend was a graduate school habit that helped him
make reasonable plans in his professional and personal life while managing
expectations – both his own and those others have of him.
Before moving on to the next topic, we offer a few more tips. First, and returning
to the idea of unpredictable commitments, we caution you to pay close attention to the
amount of time you spend with emergent tasks such as emails, paperwork, and even
journal reviews/revisions. These unpredictable tasks can become major time sinks, and
they can even be spontaneous tasks with both high importance and high urgency. To
this end, we recommend planning in non-specified work time a few times a week that
can be readily dedicated to emergent tasks but otherwise used for regular important
activities, such as writing. As a separate point, we highly advise all graduate students to
26

consider carving our regular writing time and protecting it (see Tip #4 at the end of this
chapter). These habits will become essential. Lastly, we encourage you to consider the
value of a wide range of activities when putting your work plan together, reminding you
that the professional development and moments of creativity associated with ‘tiny talks’
with peers between classes (Zoshak, 2016) can be worth including in a schedule.

Making Time for Yourself, Both Personally and Professionally

Although it is clearly important to devote a considerable amount of time and effort to
your coursework and GA-ship duties, many students have a tendency to overwork.
Unfortunately, overworking is sometimes attributable to the inequities and inequalities
inherent in many universities’ academic systems, which are partly built around graduate
student labor. That being said, studies such as Oswalt and Riddock (2007) have also
shown that while some graduate students have developed relatively effective coping
strategies to counteract the stressors that are brought on by graduate school (e.g., time
management strategies, exercise), many graduate students lack effective coping
strategies. Therefore, as part of establishing your dedicated work schedule, it is also
crucial to simultaneously set aside some ‘me time,’ both for personal and professional
activities.
In general, taking an occasional break from work has been shown to be vital, not
only in terms of the obvious – i.e., reducing fatigue – but also for other reasons. For
instance, studies have shown that even intermittent breaks of 5-20 minutes during the
course of a single day have the capacity to positively impact one’s productivity (e.g.,
Nastasi et al., 2023). So, standing up and occasionally walking away from your desk
(e.g., walking through your building’s hallways, outside, or even up-and-down the stairs)
can be immensely helpful. Additionally, even more prolonged periods of rest, such as
taking an afternoon off or one day off per weekend, can be beneficial. In fact, many
successful scientists and public figures, including Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and
others, have long advocated for the integration of ‘no time’ into peoples’ schedules (see
Kotler, 2021). This concept of ‘no time’ refers to the act of completely removing oneself
from work, from personal chores, and essentially, doing something that you find
relaxing so that you can clear your mind.
So, for how long and when should you take breaks? Research suggests that it is
not so straightforward. In fact, it may be dependent upon you. In a review study by
Tucker (2010) that examined the impact of rest on factors such as fatigue and
performance, Tucker found that there was little empirical evidence to support the
optimum length of breaks. However, Tucker’s review did suggest that people should
take rest periods when they are most likely to experience heightened fatigue. For
 27

instance, if you are someone who is likely to become tired after eating lunch, then that is
precisely when you should plan to take an extended break each day, rather than trying to
push through your tiredness (which is unlikely to be effective anyway).
Clearly, establishing personal time is important, both in terms of improving your
productivity throughout the day and also in terms of helping to reduce stress and
improve your own health. But what can you do to help ensure that you take an
occasional break, particularly if you are someone who has trouble doing so? One
effective strategy is to make joint plans with others, for example your significant other
or with some of your fellow graduate student peers. This way, you can hold each other
accountable. For example, when we were both master’s students at Ohio University, we
recruited several of our peers, and we joined an intramural indoor soccer league that
played games once per week in the evenings (shoutout to our old team, the Glottal
Stops!). Admittedly, we were pretty bad. But hey! It got us away from our desks and out
exercising. Another example – one that is much less healthy, but fun – is that when Matt
was a PhD student, he and some of his peers would hold a ‘Classy Cocktail Night’ once
every few months. The location of the event would rotate from apartment-to-apartment;
however, each event had a featured cocktail and a bartender (i.e., one of the students)
who would make drinks for everyone. This was a nice way to connect with one another
outside of school, and importantly, to force ourselves to step away from work for an
evening. Elliott and his doctoral student peers had regular social events as well,
including attending college sporting events, taking local day-trip hikes, and organizing
seasonal or cultural cooking events. Of course, for some people attending social events
can itself be a source of stress, but regardless, it is important to make time for yourself,
as well as your personal hobbies and activities.
Apart from setting aside personal time, as a graduate student, it is also typically
important for you to set aside some professional time. By this we mean dedicating
specific time to work on your own professional project(s) of interest that are separate
from your coursework and GA-ship. In fact, one of things that many faculty strongly
encourage is for graduate students to take initiative and to develop their own interests (a
topic we return to in Chapter 5 when discussing how to navigate the relationship with
your advisor). This professional time may be devoted to working on your own research
project, volunteering for professional organizations (e.g., at a conference or in another
service capacity), or doing something else pertaining to your future career goals (e.g.,
learning a new skill such as coding).
During a busy academic semester, it can be quite challenging to find the time for
your own professional projects. Therefore, what many students will do is to work on
28

such projects during major break periods such as winter or summer break. Both we and
other graduate students we know have done this as well. Importantly, it is possible to set
aside some professional time (e.g., 2-4 hours per weekday) during these extended break
periods while still reserving a significant amount of time for personal rest and
relaxation.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Sarah, from United Arab Emirates

MA student in Linguistics and English as a Second Language

During the first few weeks of my MA program, I shuttled between three spaces: my
apartment, the building where I had my classes on campus, and the library. This
narrow locality was an adequate representation of my headspace: my primary
concern was keeping up with schoolwork. The rest of my limited time went towards
making sure I had enough energy to do so.

As you can imagine, it did not take long for me to start feeling overwhelmed and
fatigued. I have always taken pride in being sincere and hardworking, so the idea of
working smart, so to speak, did not occur to me at first. It wasn’t until I realized that
I didn’t have enough time on a given day to sit down for a half-hour to read a book
or watch an episode of a TV show that I realized something was missing from my
time management skills: prioritizing time for myself. Any journey in graduate school
comes with its set of responsibilities: classes, reading, research, and teaching are
everyone’s bread and butter. The problem is that those things are hard to do when
it’s all you’re doing.

Once I came to this realization, I started respecting my own boundaries. As someone

who finds it difficult to work past 5:00 p.m., I began to reserve my evenings for
myself. On weekdays, I would relax by watching TV, reading something non-
academic, or listening to music. I took chunks out of my day to exercise, be it going
on a walk or attending a Zumba class. On weekends, I would give myself one day off
where I didn’t do anything related to classes, teaching, or work. Whether I would
spend time with friends or stay at home all day was not important – the goal was to
give myself unstructured time to rest, recharge, and enjoy myself.

I learned that the life of a budding scholar is rigorous and demanding, but it’s
important to make sure you’re getting enough water, air, and sunlight to grow and
reach your full potential.
 29

Breaking Down Projects into More Manageable Chunks

To optimize your efficiency and lessen the stress that you may experience, there are also
other steps that can be taken. As referenced throughout this chapter, as a graduate
student, you are likely to be assigned multiple, lengthy projects across those classes you
take each semester. Oftentimes, these assignments will involve producing academic
genres such as annotated bibliographies, literature reviews, research proposals, and in
some cases, even full-length research articles that require data collection and analyses.
One of the primary challenges that many new students face when receiving such
assignments is that there is an immediate sense of being overwhelmed. In particular,
since some of these genres may be new and relatively unfamiliar, graduate students may
struggle with knowing how to get started, in addition to viewing an assignment as one
monumental (and perhaps insurmountable) task. However, instead of viewing a project
as one laborious task, it is typically better to view each project as a series of smaller steps
or chunks.
Before describing how one might go about breaking down projects into more
manageable chunks, it is first worth pointing out here the important role that goal
setting plays in one’s ultimate success. Studies such as Locke (1996) and others have
shown that when people set goals, this helps them in numerous ways. Specifically, goal
setting has been shown to stimulate and improve planning, to boost one’s self-
satisfaction, and also to influence task performance. Relatedly, as Locke goes on to note,
“when people strive for complex tasks, they are least effective in discovering suitable
task strategies if…there is high time pressure (to perform well immediately)” (p. 121).
Translation: If you wait until the last minute to try to tackle a large project, then it is
unlikely to turn out well for you, in more ways than one.
Thus, when you are assigned a project, it is best to take that project and divide it
up into a series of smaller tasks. For instance, if you are assigned a literature review for
one of your courses, you might try breaking it up into stages such as (1)
finding/identifying the articles for the review, (2) reading the articles and taking notes,
and (3) writing and revising your paper. In turn, you might also set corresponding goals
for each of these stages. With stage one involving finding and identifying the articles for
the review, you might set a goal of accomplishing this task over the span of 2-3 days.
Each day, you might set a goal of finding X-number of articles. Of course, the next stage
– stage two involving reading the articles and taking notes – will likely take more time
to complete. Therefore, you might set a goal of reading one article per day. If you are
required to include 10 articles as part of your literature review, this means that you can
complete this stage in two weeks. Finally, depending on how quickly you write, you
30

would set another goal for the purposes of completing the third and final stage of writing
and revising your literature review.
Lastly, it is also worth noting here that it is crucial to know yourself and to set
realistic and achievable goals. For example, based on experience, Matt knows that when
writing a paper, he can realistically write between two and two-and-a-half good pages
per day. (The keyword in the previous sentence is the word good, since the quality of the
writing tends to decline with anything beyond two-and-a-half pages). If you are
someone who happens to be similar, then setting a goal of writing four pages in one day
would not be a particularly smart goal. By setting an unrealistic goal, this also may have
negative consequences, perhaps causing you to feel like you have failed for the day and
that you are behind, thereby leading to even more stress and anxiety. Conversely, by
setting (and achieving) a realistic goal, you are far more likely to feel a sense of
accomplishment, self-satisfaction, and to be less overwhelmed in the long run.

Conclusion
In this chapter, we have discussed some of the work-related challenges that are likely to
cause graduate students to experience stress and anxiety during the first and second
years of their studies. We hope that you will walk away from the text with a better
understanding of the importance of establishing a dedicated work schedule, in addition
to making time for your own personal and professional activities. Additionally, we hope
that you will attempt to envision your future assignments and projects as a series of
steps, breaking them down into manageable tasks with realistic goals and corresponding
timeframes for completion. Finally, to further assist graduate students with various
challenges related to developing a work schedule and making time for oneself, we close
this chapter with five practical tips.

Tips for Developing Your Study Routine and Strategies, While Making Time
for Yourself

Tip #1: Keep in Mind That It’s (Often) Not Possible to Read Everything.

In most graduate programs, students take classes for approximately two years.
Typically, this consists of students taking three courses each semester. Although we are
not expert mathematicians, some basic math tells us that if you work 20 hours per week
as a GA and also attend classes for 9 hours per week, this means you are already
working/studying for 29 hours, (not including any commuting time to-and-from class).
On top of this, you will often be assigned between two and three readings per class, in
addition to an occasional presentation and project. Regardless of how fast a reader or
 31

worker you are, this means that you are easily exceeding 40 hours of work per week,
and perhaps reaching 50 or 55 hours in some cases if not careful. As such, unless you
want to spend every waking moment of your life working, it is not realistic for you to
read every word of the 6-9 articles that you have been assigned each week. You should
know and understand this. However, you should also consider Tips #2 and #3 below.

Tip #2: Know What You Must Read In-Full Versus What You Can Skim.

Because it is often impossible to read every single article that you have been assigned
from beginning-to-end, this does not mean that you should simply skim every article.
Instead, you must be strategic about what you read carefully, as opposed to what you
skim to get the gist of. For instance, imagine you are taking three courses during one
semester, including (1) Second Language Reading and Writing, (2) Psycholinguistics,
and (3) Syntax. If you are someone who is specializing in teaching reading and writing,
then you should absolutely strive to read all of those articles in the Second Language
Reading and Writing class carefully from beginning-to-end. Conversely, you might want
to devote much less time to reading in your other two courses, unless those readings for
a certain week happen to touch upon issues related to reading or writing. (Of course, the
opposite of this applies if you are specializing in either Psycholinguistics or Syntax, in
which case, you would devote less time to the other courses). The point here is: Do not
skim everything. Otherwise, you run the risk of becoming an expert in nothing.

Tip #3: Try Setting a Timer to Avoid Spending Too Much Time on Reading
Tasks.

Although it is important to carefully read those articles in your primary area(s) of focus,
you still should attempt to skim, scan, and gain an understanding of those articles in the
other courses you are taking. You are still responsible for and hopefully learning from all
course content, and this is important for developing a holistic sense of your field,
including how your own teaching and research fit into the existing landscape. But how
can you avoid spending too much time on reading-related tasks? Something that has
worked for us and for others in the past is to set a timer. For example, consider setting a
timer for 60 minutes (or shorter or longer, depending on your preferences) for each
article you are assigned. When the timer goes off, that means it is time for you to stop
and move on to the next article. Over time, this can help you become a more efficient
reader in terms of moving through articles and searching for key information.
Importantly, using a timer can also save you from overworking and spending too much
time on assigned readings.
32

Tip #4: Do Not Compromise the Time Period(s) in Which You Are Most
Productive.

For many graduate programs, self-motivation is a major key to success, as students are
often required to complete lengthy projects over multiple weeks without much constant
supervision. As such, when developing your dedicated work schedule, it is important to
know yourself, and particularly, to know those periods of the day when you are most
focused and productive. For instance, if you are a morning person (like Matt), this
means that you might be most productive when drinking your morning coffee between
8:00-10:30am. If you are a night person (like Elliott), then you might be most
productive in the evening. The point here is: Whenever you are at your best, you should
make sure to reserve this time each day for the most important task(s) that you need to
perform. In many cases, this is likely something related to writing, such as composing a
course paper. Importantly, you should not compromise this time unless it is absolutely
necessary. This means that if your peak hours are between 8:00-10:30am and someone
asks you if you are available for a meeting at 9:00am, you should say ‘no’ and ask to
meet at a different time. (After all, you typically do not need to be at your absolute best
to attend a meeting). On the other side of the day, if you are regularly working in the
evenings, then you will want to consider leaving time for other activities during the
traditional workday, as discussed above. Of course, in rare circumstances you should say
‘yes’ (e.g., a required meeting set by your department). However, you should make every
effort possible not to compromise your peak productivity hours, at the very least to
reinforce the habit.

Tip #5: Remember That Things Typically Get Easier as You Progress.
This tip is one of the most important pieces of advice that we frequently tell new
graduate students. For many students, the first year is the most challenging, with things
getting progressively easier as you move on to your second year (and third or fourth year
in PhD programs). This is because the learning curve is tremendously steep during the
first year. As discussed, during year one, in addition to grappling with new concepts,
theories, methods, and genres, you likely will also be struggling with how to manage
your time, including all of the work that you have been assigned. However, keep in mind
that over time, you will become smarter, and you will also become more efficient,
especially as you discover the time management and study strategies that work best for
you. You will develop genre awareness and read faster and better, not to mention write
with more intentionality. As such, during your first year (and particularly during your
first semester), don’t despair. Know that it will not always be this difficult.
 33

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Amida, A., Algarni, S., & Stupinsky, R. (2020). Testing the relationships of motivation,
time management and career aspirations on graduate students’ academic success.
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Covey, S. R., Merrill, A. R., & Merrill, R. R. (1994). First things first: To live, to love, to
learn, to leave a legacy. Simon & Schuster.
Kotler, S. (2021). The art of the impossible: A peak performance primer. Harper
Collins.
Locke, E. A. (1996). Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and
Preventative Psychology, 5(2), 117-124.
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Oswalt, S. B., & Riddock, C. C. (2007). What to do about being overwhelmed: Graduate
students, stress and university services. College Student Affairs Journal, 27(1),
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Swanson, H. L., Pierre-Louis, C., Monjaras-Gaytan, L. Y., Zinter, K. E., McGarity-
Palmer, R., & Clark Withington, M. H. (2022). Graduate student workload:
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Tucker, P. (2010). The impact of rest breaks upon accident risk, fatigue and
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Zoshak, R. (2016). ‘Tiny talks’ between colleagues: Brief narratives as mediation in
teacher development. Language Teaching Research, 20(2), 209-222.
CHAPTER 4

Carving Out Your Research,

Teaching, and Professional
Interests
As discussed in Chapter 2, which covered the topic of imposter syndrome, during the
first year of your graduate studies, you will frequently be asked to introduce yourself to
your new graduate student peers, faculty, and staff. These introductions often include
stating where you received your bachelor’s or master’s degree, along with information
regarding your research interests, teaching interests, and future career goals. However,
relatively few new students have concrete conceptualizations of their research and
teaching interests. Instead, for most first-year students, it is more likely that you will
have a tenuous grasp of exactly what it is you want to research, how you want to conduct
that research, and what you ultimately might want to do in the future. As such, one
question that many new graduate students may ask themselves or their peers is: How do
I determine what my research, teaching, and professional interests are?
In this chapter, we address these issues. Specifically, we discuss topics such as
how to explore and gain experience with different research topics and methods, along
with how your future career interests may develop over time and factor into some of
your decision-making. That is, although many graduate programs in applied linguistics,
education, and related fields successfully prepare students to become future university
faculty or teachers, these programs also often prepare students for other career paths
post-graduation in industry or government, which may (or may not) be discussed during

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Carving Out Your Research, Teaching, and Professional
Interests. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of graduate school: A practical guidebook
for students in applied linguistics, education, and TESOL (pp. 34-46). Applied Linguistics Press.
 35

your programs (Austin, 2002). That being said, since teaching is typically of great
importance in graduate programs and for many people’s future careers, we explain how
to adapt to a given teaching assignment if provided a teaching assistantship (TA-ship).
Also discussed is how to find something meaningful within your teaching, particularly if
you are assigned a course that may be of little interest to you. Lastly, we discuss what
you can do in the event that you are not given a TA-ship yet are still interested in gaining
teaching experience.

Exploring and Gaining Experience with Different Research Topics and

Methods
As referenced in the introduction, upon entering graduate school, it is rare for students
to know precisely what it is they want to research or how (methodologically) they want
to do so. Instead, most students enter their first year with relatively broad interests,
sometimes having one or two general areas that are of potential intrigue. Thus, when the
other members of your new first-year cohort introduce themselves and their interests
(e.g., I’m interested in pronunciation!), in actuality, this may be the full extent of what
they can articulate about their research interests. Therefore, do not feel as if you are an
imposter since many of your peers are likely in the same boat. How, then, do you
develop your research interests? As Roulston et al. (2013) have noted, graduate
students’ interests typically develop from multiple sources, including through formal
coursework, experiential research opportunities with faculty and peers, and through the
gradual development of their professional identity.
In fact, this is one of the main reasons that many programs have two years of
coursework as an initial requirement, which often spans the entirety of master’s
programs or the first two years of doctoral programs in the US. Coursework is meant to
provide you with an introduction to the major subfields of your discipline, the scope of
the issues that have been investigated, and importantly, how scholars have gone about
investigating such topics. Many graduate courses are also designed to enable you to
further investigate a topic through a final term paper or project such as a literature
review or research proposal. Thus, you should take advantage of these assignments. This
is because they are not only meant for assessment purposes (i.e., to examine your ability
to find, synthesize, and critically review articles). They are also intended as a learning
tool, particularly by providing you with the chance to explore a topic and research
methods in greater depth, in addition to receiving some personalized feedback from
your professor. When writing a term paper, one thing to keep in mind is that you are not
expected to demonstrate complete mastery of the chosen topic or methods. Instead, you
36

are typically expected to show an advanced understanding and exhibit personal growth
(since the beginning of the semester).
Apart from coursework, in many graduate programs, there are additional
opportunities to participate in research projects and gain hands-on experience. For
example, a faculty member might be working on one or more research projects in which
graduate student assistance is required or possible. In some cases, a professor might
directly ask you if you are interested in collaborating or working on their project.
Typically, however, you should know that you are much more likely to be asked to
participate if (a) you have taken a class with that professor before, and (b) you worked
hard and performed well. That being said, it is also acceptable for you to ask your
professors and to express interest in their work (see Tip #2 at the end of this chapter).
In addition to potentially working with a professor, both we and other faculty
often encourage graduate students to collaborate with their peers. That is, if you can
find another student who shares similar interests, then it is acceptable for you to take
initiative and conduct your own research, assuming that you still go through the proper
institutional channels when necessary (e.g., applying for IRB approval when your
research involves human subjects). You might even meet a graduate student at a
conference from another university and try to connect with him/her about the
possibility of collaborating (also see Chapter 6 on the topic of networking). Over time,
this combination of coursework, experiential research projects, and peer collaborations
should assist you in developing your professional identity (Sweitzer, 2009). This
includes solidifying what your primary research interests are, along with the specific
method(s) you want to adopt.
Before moving on to the next topic, it is important to make another point here.
Since you will likely enter your programs with relatively broad interests, it is also crucial
not to be negatively influenced by those around you. What do we mean by this?
Specifically, when it comes to the topic of research methods, new graduate students
should note that tensions have long-existed surrounding quantitative and qualitative
research paradigms for decades in many fields (Brannen, 2007). As such, some people
may believe that their chosen paradigm (i.e., quantitative or qualitative) is superior to
another. Some people may even use positioning statements regarding the assumed rigor
of one approach over another, the perceived ease of publication, and more. As a student,
you are likely to be exposed to such rhetoric. To highlight this possibility, for this book,
we surveyed a total of 94 current doctoral students within the domains of applied
linguistics and TESOL. Of those surveyed, 52.1% stated that during their graduate
programs, they had been asked if they were either “a quantitative or a qualitative
 37

person.” Additionally, 82.9% stated they had witnessed their graduate student peers
dichotomize quantitative and qualitative methods, with 19.2% stating they had even
witnessed peers refuse to participate in coursework (e.g., refusing to read) due to such
beliefs.
We strongly discourage you from holding or promoting such views and from
assigning your peers to one ‘side’ or the other. This polarization of research and
researchers not only perpetuates harmful dichotomies, but it also leads to insular
thinking that has the potential to limit your development. We revisit this issue in Tip #1
at the end of this chapter.

How Your Future Career Interests May Factor into Your Decisions
The expectations are less pervasive in master’s programs, but hanging over doctoral
programs in the social sciences and humanities is the pressure to work towards a
tenure-track faculty position. For many, this may indeed be the professional goal that
motivates graduate study, but it is important to point out that expectations are
changing, and it is becoming more acceptable in many contexts to discuss and prepare
for non-academic careers. Identifying an advisor and building a professional network
that are supportive of your professional goals and help you prepare for your goals will be
highly beneficial. Regardless of why you are pursuing a graduate degree, if you plan on
seeking employment based on your degree, you will benefit from developing a clear
understanding of how the degree will prepare you for success in your desired field. In
this section, we outline a number of activities and strategies for maximizing the benefits
of your graduate degree for your eventual post-degree search.
Firstly, we highly recommend speaking to senior graduate students who are on
the job market about their experiences, and also, watching the calls for jobs in your
desired area (at least a little, even in your first year!). This will help you familiarize
yourself with the types of skills and qualifications that you will want to develop. For
example, if an industry job of interest requires a design portfolio or leadership
experience, then you can prioritize summer projects or pursue service roles that allow
you to develop and demonstrate those specific skills. On the other hand, if you notice
that calls for academic jobs specify the minimum number of years one must have with
teaching experience, you will have more power to hit that target if you are aware of those
expectations early. This also allows you to plan research projects in advance to be able to
make a strong case for future hiring committees or recruiters.
Beyond these practical concerns, monitoring the job postings over the years will
help you gain an awareness of what the market is like in your area, including how many
38

jobs are typically available, what the application requirements tend to be, and how the
calls change over time and trend towards favoring certain skills over others. Gaining
these valuable insights early in your program allows you more time to strategically

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Jola-Ade, from Nigeria

PhD student in Applied Linguistics

Before grad school, I always had a passion for teaching, which was one of the
driving factors that led me to embark on a graduate program, an important step
towards realizing my aspirations in academia. As a master’s student, my teaching
ambitions were crystal clear, but the path I’d take in research and professional
development wasn’t. I knew I wanted to teach, but I wasn’t sure about my research
focus and other professional options.

During my master’s program, I got interested in the way people talked about
protests and activism, and it formed the foundation of my master’s dissertation. This
was the point where I began constructing my academic identity and engaging in
academic tasks such as presentations and publishing. My interactions with the
academic community also exposed me to the value of diversifying my skill set as I
started to develop an interest in technical writing, fueling my determination to
broaden my skills for potential roles beyond teaching. I took some free online
courses in technical writing just to learn more about it.

After my master’s, I had some job opportunities outside academia, but I decided to
follow my passion for teaching and joined a university to teach. This path naturally
led me to embark on a PhD program. At the start of my PhD, I thought I had a firm
grasp on my research interests and dissertation plan. However, the academic
environment had a way of awakening curiosity in me. Attending classes made me
find new interests. For instance, I used to focus on qualitative research, but I became
curious about quantitative methods and became open to both. Also, engaging in
discussions with my professors allowed me to refine my interests and seek valuable
advice.

My journey as a graduate student has been shaped by my career aspirations to

become a university professor and to explore technical writing, but I have also kept
an open mind and grown. By aligning my research, teaching, and professional
development with these interests, I have made good progress. Of course, I have had
challenges along the way, but they have only served to mold me.
 39

cultivate a CV or résumé that is not only filled with ‘academic stuff,’ but rather
tailored to the career you are seeking and the case you are making for yourself. This is
not to say that you should only pursue activities which direct you towards those goals,
but you should note that you can gain useful information by reading the calls.
To this last point, you may want to make decisions about which activities to
invest in during your graduate program so that you are advancing towards your goals
without shutting down other opportunities. Circumstances may change, and you may
change. To this end, even if you are confident that you are not interested in pursuing an
academic role in the future, it may not be in your best interest to avoid teaching
experience altogether, as those experiences can be challenging to secure after graduation
if you end up changing your mind. Plus, there are other valuable skills that you can gain
through serving as an educator. More broadly, it is advisable to develop back-up plans,
as securing competitive positions – whether within academia or on the outside – is
always uncertain. If you find yourself unable to secure a job in your desired area (or are
anxious while navigating the slow academic market), you may be happy that you had
considered an alternative career path in advance.

How to Adapt to a Teaching Assignment and Find Something Meaningful

Within it
Of course, we can plan and dream as much as we want, but most graduate students do
not have the ability to place themselves in the GA- or TA-ships of their choosing, and we
often find ourselves grateful to be funded at all. In many cases, graduates find
themselves with teaching assignments that may not be immediately identifiable as
related to their interests or goals. An optimistic approach to this problem is to take
advantage of the opportunity to hone your teaching skills, earn valuable student
evaluations and faculty observations, or even more simply, to fund your studies. More
practically, we want the time commitment involved in teaching to come with stronger
links to our goals, but this can be a challenge. Sometimes this can be teaching a course
you have taught many times previously, or teaching a course that is not at all related to
your goals. What can you do to make the most of this situation?
There is something to the optimistic perspective stated above. Each course you
teach, idealistic as it may sound, is an opportunity to work with real learners. Falling
short of saying that we should relish the chance and take our responsibilities seriously
(which we should), every role as an educator is a potential space to develop new skills,
innovate, learn, and grow as a leader, a listener, and an organizer. More practically, even
40

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Abisola, from Nigeria

MA student in French and Linguistics

When I began teaching some years ago before I started my master’s program, I did
not know much about language teaching methodologies, but I always knew that I
wanted to teach French in a fun and engaging way. So, when I began teaching
French while doing my master’s, I started learning a lot about different language
teaching methods and approaches, and then I created my teaching philosophy based
on the Communicative Language Teaching approach.

However, in my first year of teaching French, it was difficult because the assigned
French curriculum was primarily grammar-based. I was torn between changing my
teaching approach and focusing almost exclusively on grammar, or adapting my
preferred teaching approach to my lessons. It took a while, but I had to find a way to
ensure that while a lesson can be focused on a grammar topic, students can also be
engaging in activities that encourage real life and authentic communication in the
classroom.

One way I was able to achieve this was to ensure that I adapted both receptive and
productive activities (speaking, listening, writing, and listening skills) into my lesson
plans. That means that if I was going to teach a grammar topic like passé composé
(past tense) in French, students will start by reading a text conjugated in the past
tense (text about the life of a famous French writer like Victor Hugo), then in
addition to explaining the grammatical structure to them, I would also ask them to
listen to a French song, write down verbs that were conjugated in the past tense
after listening to the song, and I would also put students in groups to talk about the
things they did before coming to class and the previous weekend. After the lesson,
students would have not only learnt the grammatical structures required by our
French program, but they would also develop linguistic fluency while talking about
their experiences.

For me, it took a lot of effort and intentionality to adapt to my teaching assignment
and to balance what the program required with what I felt made for good
instruction. However, I love it now, and I teach all my classes enthusiastically.

in a course that does not connect with our ultimate goals directly (and especially
in a course we have taught many times), there is generally room for educators to
 41

innovate pedagogically or technologically in ways that can be showcased in the future, or

with some foresight and IRB approval, potentially researched. For example, Elliott
adopted a project-based learning approach in a first-year composition course that he
taught as a graduate student. In the class, he experimented with aspects of using
technology for teaching and evaluating writing, and this ultimately enabled him to
publish a research paper, a book chapter, and a software review from the work he did
while in class.
Importantly, sometimes the difficulty of an assignment is in the lack of
preparation that you may feel as a graduate student. And for those who are not
interested in pursuing teaching careers, it can be difficult to connect with teaching roles
in general. Novice instructors understandably struggle with their own identities as
educators and with their own perceptions of expertise (e.g., Garcia Alonso, 2022), and
the time investment that is necessary for effective teaching can be daunting. Both of us
taught writing during our graduate studies, and it is not uncommon for graduate
students in applied linguistics and TESOL to teach English for Academic Purposes
courses without any direct preparation or training in this area (Ding & Bruce, 2017). In
these cases, you may want to seek mentorship and guidance from those with more
experience. Faculty supervisors will generally respond well to motivated and concerned
graduate students who are looking for guidance, materials, or ideas to help them excel in
teaching roles. Similarly, it may be useful to reach out to other graduate students in your
area or those who have had similar teaching assignments to learn about their successes
and challenges.
On a more personal level, it is important to identify a connection between the
course or context and a skill or knowledge that will be useful for you later. We, for
example, were both able to use our experiences teaching writing to learn about genres
and writing contexts that benefited us elsewhere in our careers. For instance, following
the completion of his master’s degree, Matt was able to use the insights he gained from
teaching writing to serve as a communications and speech writer for the dean of a law
school for multiple years. Thus, even for those who may not be interested long-term in
teaching, it can be a potential site for developing other skills. Additional skills might
include integrating principles of design in materials development, improving
interpersonal communication and public speaking skills, and developing the ability to
provide meaningful feedback.

Seeking Additional Teaching Opportunities

Because gaining teaching experience is often a key component in successfully securing a
job, one question that many graduate students have is: What do I do if I am not given
42

the opportunity to teach? This is a relatively common occurrence, as many graduate

students might receive some form of funding, yet this funding may not be guaranteed or
tied to a TA-ship (Grady et al., 2013). As such, unfortunately, the answer here is: You
need to get creative and search for additional opportunities.
The first option is to seek established opportunities and positions within your
university. For example, most universities have a writing center, which serves
undergraduates and other graduate students on occasion. Working at a writing center
can be a great way to gain tutoring experience (and some extra money). Importantly, it
also typically involves no prep work on your part – other than an initial orientation
session and training – and, you can be selective about the number of hours you work per
week. Apart from working at a writing center, another option is for you to reach out to
other programs related to your field and see if they are in need of either TAs or tutors.
For instance, if you are in an applied linguistics program, then you might consider
reaching out to graduate programs in education or instructional technology to see if they
need support (or the reverse if you are pursuing your degree in education). It never
hurts to ask, especially since sometimes these programs might be short on graduate
student help.
And while summers are important opportunities to recover, visit your family,
take care of yourself, and to work on research projects, it is also an excellent time to find
teaching opportunities. Many programs offer summer courses that they directly recruit
graduate students for, and finding these summer teaching opportunities can often
simply be a matter of asking around. Depending on the department you are in, you may
find success reaching out to the directors of other programs. For example, we both had
peers during our doctoral programs who taught language courses (e.g., Chinese, Korean,
Russian, and Spanish) for language programs that needed instructors. We taught
courses both inside and outside of our departments in the summers as well. These
opportunities are often university and program specific, but summer teaching
opportunities are typically plentiful in general, and it is not uncommon for well-
prepared graduate students to secure them.
Apart from existing positions, another option is to get creative and to try to make
your own opportunities. For example, at Ohio University, some of the master’s students
and faculty worked together to create an evening ESL program called “English for All.”
This was a free, weekly English language course designed to serve the spouses and
partners of university faculty who were interested in learning English. The master’s
students then took turns volunteering and team-teaching the class each week, thereby
gaining valuable teaching experience to put on their CVs. Similarly, at the University of
 43

South Florida, some of the doctoral students in education and applied linguistics joined
forces to create a weekly ESL program for the university’s facilities staff (e.g., assisting
staff members in learning English for specific job-related tasks and daily interactions).
The program ran for a trial period before eventually being funded by both the university
and an external grant. Thus, it is possible that you can create your own opportunities
(and be paid for them!). You just need to consider (a) what your skills are, and (b) how
you can apply your skills to an existing need within your university or local community.

Conclusion
This chapter covered some of the challenges that graduate students may face in the
process of developing their research, teaching, and professional interests. We have
attempted to provide some potential solutions for the types of issues you are likely to
encounter, particularly when it comes to grappling with research topics and methods,
gaining (and enjoying your) teaching experience, and more. However, apart from issues
pertaining to research and teaching, we hope that graduate students will walk away from
this chapter with the understanding that their career interests may change during the
span of their graduate school studies, and that it is certainly normal and acceptable. As
such, there are numerous options beyond academia that students might pursue post-
graduation. Lastly, to further assist you with the challenges you may face with carving
out your research, teaching, and professional interests, we close this chapter with a
series of five practical tips.

Tips for Carving Out Your Research, Teaching, and Professional Interests

Tip #1: Keep an Open Mind About Different Research Topics and Methods.

As discussed in this chapter, some people may have a tendency to pit researchers against
other researchers, particularly when it comes to adopting quantitative or qualitative
methods. When we were students, we certainly observed some first- and second-year
students who quickly became entrenched in such dichotomous thinking, as they
disparaged (and sometimes even refused to read) research involving a particular
method or approach. However, by engaging in this type of dichotomous thinking, you
will only perpetuate these false binaries and construct your own developmental
obstacles by missing out on large bodies of influential research that have the potential to
inform your current and future activities. Instead, you should know that you will
strongly benefit from reading quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods works by
prominent scholars and others who have helped shape current understandings and
discourse surrounding your topics of interest. Speaking to this point, as Harden and
44

Thomas (2005) have rightly pointed out: “much research in the ‘real world’ does not fit
into neat categorizations of ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’” (p. 257). Thus, if you truly
wish to become a thoughtful, contributing member to your academic community, then
you need a holistic understanding of the broad spectrum of research that has been
conducted within your area, including how different schools of thought have differed
and converged to shape one another.

Tip #2: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask Your Professors (And Peers) to Collaborate
on a Research Project.

If you are interested in gaining research experience beyond what is offered via your
coursework, in many cases, you will need to take the initiative and make it happen. In
terms of approaching a peer, most students find it relatively easy to ask another student.
However, it is also possible for you to ask one of your professors to collaborate on
something. Although this may feel somewhat uncomfortable, you can approach a
professor in multiple ways. One option is to tell your professor something along the
lines of: I am interested in your research. In the future, if you have a project that you
need support on, please let me know. I would love to have an opportunity to work with
you. A second option is to ask your professor about a specific project that you have in
mind. For instance, perhaps you have a research proposal that you developed in that
professor’s class. If this is the case, you might say something like: In your class, I
developed a research proposal on X. I am interested in pursuing it further, but I don’t
feel comfortable executing the project on my own. If you have time and are interested,
would you be willing to help me and be a co-author? Of course, the key phrase in the
previous sentence is “if you have time.” As such, do not be offended if the professor says
“no” to your request, as they simply may not have the capacity to take on another project
at the moment.

Tip #3: Take Every Teaching Opportunity You Get Seriously.

We discussed this above, but teaching is a real responsibility that should always be taken
seriously. Aside from the value of educational work, teaching affords important
opportunities to develop a variety of social skills, acquire and sharpen your own content
knowledge, gain leadership experience, and grow as a person. It can be difficult to get
university teaching experience once you graduate, so you will want to pursue some
opportunities to teach even if you are not considering an academic career. In most cases,
teaching your own classes allows you at least some freedom to experiment with
pedagogies and educational technologies in a way that can genuinely be fun and even of
 45

scholarly merit! Also, over time the ability to demonstrate that you are an effective
educator across a variety of subject domains and contexts will allow you to convincingly
articulate a teaching philosophy.

Tip #4: Don’t Save the Job Hunt for the End, (Sort Of).

Each of us in our first year looked at calls for jobs we wanted in academia and imagined
what we would write in our cover letters if we were to apply. It was not much, but the
value of this exercise is that we started to identify areas where we were already
developing strengths and areas where we really needed to shore up weaknesses in our
applications. As we stated earlier, this helped us make decisions regarding the types of
activities we wanted to take on and seek out. At the same time, this sort of activity helps
you think of how you want to present yourself and what you are trying to get out of your
graduate degree. While we do not recommend applying for jobs before you are ready, we
certainly recommend keeping an eye on the market that you seek to enter. You do not
want to be surprised by what job posts are requesting only when it is too late to do
anything about it. Relatedly, if you are able to attend any job talks at your university
while you are a student, you should strongly consider attending them in order to learn
about the expectations and to start considering how you would tackle the opportunity
and what you would like to be able to say when you are one day in that position.
Elsewhere in this book, we recommend that you attend thesis and dissertation events as
often as possible, and that same advice applies here.

Tip #5: Keep Your CV And/or Résumé up to Date.

No, really. You absolutely need to do this. As you are accumulating teaching and
research experiences, you should add all of the relevant activities to your CV or résumé
documents (and preferably, immediately after an event or experience happens).
Practically, this is a suggestion that builds a good habit and saves you time, but it is also
relevant to the themes of this chapter. While you have your own goals and project an
identity of who you want to be at the end of your program, it is important to pay
attention to who the paper says you are. Keeping these documents up to date during
your graduate studies allows you to notice areas of emerging expertise or themes of
activity that you may not have noticed on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps you notice a string
of technological projects across the sections of your CV? Or maybe you note a
documented willingness to take on mentorship roles? These trends can create important
opportunities to cultivate interests that can be showcased to differentiate your
candidacy for positions later, while also helping you develop your interests now. At the
46

same time, perhaps you start to notice developing trends that you want to shy away
from. A current CV or résumé can be an important resource to stimulate reflection and
help you see your profile from a somewhat external perspective, which can be essential
when you are still developing a sense of your identity in your program or broader field.

References
Austin, A. E. (2002). Preparing the next generation of faculty. The Journal of Higher
Education, 73(1), 94-122.
Brannen, J. (2005). Mixing methods: The entry of qualitative and quantitative
approaches into the research process. International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 8(3), 173-184.
Ding, A. & Bruce, I. (2017). The English for academic purposes practitioner: Operating
on the edge of academia. Palgrave Macmillan.
Garcia Alonso, A. (2022). Narrative-based mentorship and mediation in an English for
Academic Purposes context. European Journal of Applied Linguistics and TEFL,
11(1), 151-167.
Grady, R. K., La Touche, R., Oslawski-Lopez, J., Powers, A., & Simacek, K. (2013).
Betwixt and between: The social position and stress experiences of graduate
students. Teaching Sociology, 42(1), 5-16.
Harden, A., & Thomas, J. (2005). Methodological issues in combining diverse study
types in systematic reviews. International Journal of Social Research
Methodology, 8(3), 257-271.
Roulston, K., Preissle, J., & Freeman, F. (2013). Becoming researchers: Doctoral
students’ development processes. International Journal of Research & Method
in Education, 36(3), 252-267.
Sweitzer, V. (2008). Towards a theory of doctoral student professional identity
development: A developmental networks approach. The Journal of Higher
Education, 80(1), 1-33.
CHAPTER 5

Seeking Out (But Not Over

Relying On) Your Advisor’s
Input
During the course of one’s graduate studies, it is common for students to develop a
number of close-knit relationships, primarily with other graduate student peers, yet
occasionally with some faculty and staff as well. The development of such bonds can be
particularly important, especially since studies have shown that students are more likely
to reach out to a peer about a personal issue (e.g., experiencing stress or anxiety) versus
a university counselor or physician (Mousavi et al., 2018). Although forming friendships
with one’s peers is undoubtedly important – a topic we return to in Chapter 6 when
discussing building relationships and networking – perhaps no relationship is more
important than the one that you develop with your primary faculty advisor. This may be
less crucial in some master’s programs, especially if they do not require a thesis.
However, the student-advisor relationship is typically of great importance in doctoral
programs, which are characterized by two (or more) years of close mentoring. Of course,
while many students have very positive and sometimes even lifelong working
relationships with their faculty advisors, unfortunately, not all experiences are positive.
In this chapter, we address the topic of the advisee-advisor relationship. When
doing so, we discuss a range of related topics, such as what your advisor’s general role is,
including the types of support he or she typically provides and does not provide.
Conversely, we also discuss what is expected of you as a student advisee. Addressing

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Seeking Out (But Not Over Relying On) Your Advisor’s Input. In
M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of graduate school: A practical guidebook for students in
applied linguistics, education, and TESOL (pp. 47-59). Applied Linguistics Press.
48

these two different perspectives is crucial since frequently, issues that may arise
between students and their advisors stem from unrealistic expectations (Tenenbaum,
2001). When addressing these topics, we also discuss the issue of how to go about
finding and selecting an appropriate advisor to guide your graduate studies. Finally,
before providing a series of tips, we discuss the importance of learning to take initiative.
As a graduate student, developing personal independence and a willingness to take
(calculated) risks is not only critical, but it is also something that most advisors value.

Your Advisor’s General Role

When it comes to doctoral programs, many students may enter their studies knowing
precisely who it is they want to work with and why. However, in some cases – and
particularly at the master’s level – students may not know initially. Because of this, it is
relatively common for graduate students to take classes for one or two years before
formally deciding on a faculty mentor and advisor. Regardless, when it comes to
selecting an advisor, graduate students often experience a considerable amount of fear
and anxiety surrounding the relationship that will be formed with their new mentor. The
good news is that much of this fear often stems from not fully understanding what one’s
advisor does (and does not do), including what one’s own role is as a student.
What is the faculty advisor’s role then? As Hart-Baldridge (2020) notes, advisors
are expected to provide their student advisees with several basic services. First, advisors
should be able to provide their students with information about what is required of
them (academically) in order to successfully complete the program. Second, advisors
should be able to refer you to any available academic resources pertaining to your
teaching- and research-related activities. Third, a faculty advisor should be able to help
guide your research project(s) by giving you advice about methods, related articles you
might consider reading, etc. Fourth, based on your skills and professional interests, a
faculty advisor should be able to help you determine what your possible career options
are in the future. Finally, an advisor will typically serve as your primary reference when
you go on the job market. Clearly, these services are a major time commitment on the
part of a faculty member, yet these are the basic things that you should expect from your
advisor. Of course, if your advisor provides additional support beyond what is described
here, then that is just more icing on the cake! Finally, it is also important to note that an
advisor is expected to follow all ethical guidelines of the university and to be respectful
of you and your privacy. You should note that some programs distinguish between an
academic advisor and a dissertation advisor, distributing these responsibilities across
those roles.
 49

So, what are faculty advisors not expected to do? For one, many graduate
students have the misconception that if they ask a faculty member to serve as their
advisor, this means that their advisor will tell them what their thesis or dissertation
should be about. This is not the case (in many social sciences, at least). Instead, it is an
advisor’s job to help guide you and your ideas by giving you helpful suggestions and
noting potential issues that may arise. Many students have the wrong idea that their
advisor should always tell them what to do and exactly how to do it. (We return to this
topic later in this chapter when discussing the importance of taking initiative).
Relatedly, some graduate students believe that if they select an advisor, this means that
their advisor should collaborate with them on research projects and presentations. This,
also, is not necessarily the case. That is, faculty members may be happy to collaborate
with you, but only if you have clearly demonstrated to them that you are responsible,
reliable, and hard-working, among other traits. So be forewarned: selecting an advisor
does not necessarily grant you the right to collaborate with them on research- and/or
teaching-related activities.
Notably, some students also have misconceptions about an advisor’s capacity to
impact monetary and funding-related outcomes, such as GA-, RA-, and TA-ship
placements. As Tenenbaum (2001) has noted: “From a mentor’s point of view,
difficulties can also arise when protégés’ have unrealistic expectations about the
mentor’s power to affect outcomes within an organization” (p. 327). That is to say: if you
would like to have a GA-ship or a different position within your university, you can
absolutely broach this subject with your advisor so that they can advocate for you in a
program or departmental meeting. However, you should also note that your advisor may
not be the person who ultimately makes such decisions within the department. These
decisions may be driven by basic factors such as availability, need, and fit. Thus, just
because your advisor makes a request on your behalf, it does not mean that your request
will (or should) be granted.

Your Expectations as a Student and Advisee

At the same time, we note here that an advisor-advisee relationship does not only entail
responsibilities and expectations of the advisor. First and foremost, as a student, it is
your responsibility to carefully consider whom you ask to serve as your advisor prior to
asking them (also see Tip #1 at the end of this chapter). Obviously, you will want to
consider your own interests and the extent to which they align with that of the faculty
member’s interests. However, you also might want to look for an advisor with certain
personal characteristics. For instance, in a study by Schlosser and Gelso (2001), the
researchers investigated 281 doctoral students’ levels of satisfaction with their advisors
50

in psychology programs. The results of the study suggested that students tended to be
more satisfied with their working relationships with their advisors and if they perceived
them as being (1) an expert, (2) attractive (in terms of their supervisory style), and (3)
trustworthy. Thus, you may want to consider the extent to which a potential advisor
exhibits such traits as well. You can learn this information in multiple ways, such as
taking a class with the professor, and also by asking some of their current advisees about
their experiences.
After asking a faculty member to serve as their advisor, graduate advisees are
equally expected to engage with their advisors in a respectful manner that reflects the
university and departmental ethical guidelines. This means that you, too, are
responsible for learning about department policies and making progress towards
graduation. As we have discussed, the advisor is expected to guide and facilitate, but
they are not responsible for making all your decisions for you along your journey
towards receiving your graduate degree. And while your advisor is expected to provide
you with timely feedback and mentorship, you are also expected to be reasonable
regarding your expectations and demands of your advisor’s time. Not only are they likely
teaching courses, conducting research, and engaging in service activities (e.g., serving
on university committees and editorial boards), but they are also likely to have other
students who ask for meetings, guidance, and feedback.
Of course, your advisor is a person, too. This means that they also have the right
to balance work and personal time while being attentive. Research has documented that
feelings of “perceived poor supervisor availability” (Cornwall et al., 2019, p. 372) can be
a major source of stress and anxiety for doctoral students, particularly at early stages,
but some flexibility is expected both ways. A common example of this is when you are
ready to request letters of recommendation. A general rule of thumb is that you should
leave at least two weeks between requesting a letter and the due date, allowing ample
time for your advisor to write/adapt your letter and submit it. And one of the most
important expectations is that you maintain clear communication with your advisor
regarding any difficulties that arise, your progress towards completing work and other
checkpoints, and any major change that may need to be made (for more, see Tip #3 at
the end of this chapter).
As one final note to this section, we do want to point out what may be obvious to
many readers: Building a strong professional and academic relationship with an advisor
takes time and energy, particularly when both parties have busy schedules and time is
limited. You should keep in mind that it can take many meetings to build trust and
familiarity, and more introverted or private individuals may take even longer than
 51

others. Thus, as a student, it is important to remain positive and hopeful in early

meetings, treating the time and input of your advisor – as well as the development of the
relationship – with respect and earnestness. At the same time, it is important to keep an
open mind when it becomes clear that the relationship is not working for one (or both)
of you.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Hana, from Saudi Arabia

PhD student in Applied Linguistics

A year ago, I was so enthusiastic about starting my PhD journey. I had high
expectations of the program as the study plan aligns well with my research interests.
During my coursework, I worked closely with my advisor and discovered the
research area that I am interested to explore more in my dissertation. The weekly
discussion posts, readings, and the research project tasks were the cornerstone of
that discovery. Besides that, the learning environment was fun, exciting, and
inspiring. I learned so many things from my classmates and benefited a lot from
their experiences in research and teaching.

Based on that, my role as a student centered around reading, writing, and asking
questions about research, understanding and applying research methods, and
finding my place in the academic world. On the other hand, what has been generally
expected from the advisor is to take time to get to know the student’s academic
interests, strengths, weaknesses, and more. Thus, if my advisor knows who I am
well, his guidance can meet my interests and needs. I was pleased to see that my
expectations were definitely exceeded! My advisor has been a supportive mentor,
always there to give advice whenever I faced difficulties or challenges. At the same
time, I aimed to demonstrate self-motivation and the ability to work on my own. I
wanted to show that I was ready to take ownership of my education and future. I see
our advising relationship as a collaboration, with responsibilities on both sides.

During this journey, I was thrilled to be one of the founding members of a lab,
including my advisor and a classmate. Within this lab, we started a reading group
that regularly meets to discuss topics aligned with our research interests. More
importantly, we collaborated on research projects and participated in conferences.
These experiences have provided me with valuable insights and practical skills that
will have a positive impact on my academic and professional journey.
52

Learning How to Be Independent and to Take Initiative

If you have ever been in a mentorship role, then you likely know well that guiding
someone towards a goal or accomplishment requires investment, initiative, and often
creativity by the mentee. This is absolutely the case during graduate school, where
advisors can offer support and guidance as needed – and in some cases, can create new
and exciting opportunities for you – but they are not your parent or some sort of agent
who makes decisions for you. With their support, there is tremendous potential for what
you can accomplish. However, it is also essential that you take initiative on your own
and adopt some form of independence.
One early example of this is with regard to planning what courses to take. As we
mentioned, some programs assign a separate academic advisor who is distinct from the
thesis or dissertation advisor you select later on in your program, but these early
interactions are representative regardless. For instance, it may be tempting for you to
ask your advisor “What should I take?” and put the onus on them. But a better option is
to study the requirements for your degree (asking any questions you need to
understand), read course descriptions and offerings for the upcoming term, and either
request input on a plan you create or ask for advice on options you have selected as
potential candidates. This is not merely a matter of showing your independence and
initiative to your advisor; it also helps them learn about you, your interests, and direct
their advice and insight to meet your specific needs. It may also be the case that they
have additional recommendations, and as such, it is always fair to ask “Do you have any
other recommendations for courses to consider”? For instance, if you are interested in
statistics, your advisor may have recommendations for courses within your department
and perhaps even in other related disciplines and departments (e.g., a stats course
within educational psychology).
Similarly, if you are in a program that requires a thesis or dissertation, when the
time comes to build your committee, your advisor may be able to recommend content,
theory, or methodological experts they know or have worked with in the past. However,
they are unlikely to know if you have a good working relationship with a certain faculty
member or not. Coming into your meeting prepared with some ideas of concrete people
(or even broad ideas like I am considering asking someone from Engineering since I
am studying Engineering discourse), can help stimulate conversation and help your
advisor advise you, rather than doing the thinking for you.
These recommendations in this section have so far focused on preparing for
meetings for major decisions, but there are also other significant ways that initiative and
independence are important during graduate work. First, you may be bogged down with
 53

readings from your courses, but you do not want to wait for your advisor to recommend
readings to you or only read what is necessary for completing coursework. We provide
more guidance on this below in Tip #4. However, we highly recommend that you read (a
bit) widely to keep an open mind and to sharpen your interests. Similarly, you should try
to keep up to date with new contributions in areas you are already interested in. It may
be a good idea to build a reading list with your advisor, but this is not necessarily
something that is going to be exhaustive.
And this all builds towards one of the central goals of many master’s and doctoral
programs: building independent thinkers, teachers, and researchers who can make
meaningful contributions to their field. Many scholars in higher education have noted
that the transition from the more structured stages of coursework to the more fluid
stages of the thesis and dissertation work rely on personal initiative and creativity (e.g.,
see Lovitts, 2008, who offers a model for creative performance and degree completion).
Such research underscores the “individualized nature of doctoral study” and the “need
for greater responsibility and creativity on the part of the student” (Gardner, 2008, p.
327). In part, this is due to the difficulty involved in conceptualizing a significant piece
of scholarship, and also in part due to the difficulty involved in executing and writing up
such work. The advisor generally plays a major role in guiding an advisee through the
difficult decisions involved in developing meaningful questions, formalizing a rigorous
design, and other important deliberations in social sciences. But, as referenced earlier,
their role is not to provide the plan directly.
In order to thrive during these stages, it is important for graduate students to
begin taking intellectual risks (perhaps in term papers or in discussions) and thinking
creatively about research questions and design, rather than waiting until they are
‘ready,’ as there are skills involved in research innovation and design that develop over
time. We both have master’s and doctoral students who have identified their research
(and teaching) interests rather early, but it is not uncommon for many of these issues to
be resolved over many rich discussions across several meetings. In our experiences as
former students and in serving as advisors, such meetings are enjoyable as long as
students are committed to taking intellectual initiative, thinking carefully with advisors
and on their own.
As we discuss elsewhere in this book, initiative also means taking charge to
develop your own interests, working hard to build professional relationships, and
seeking out opportunities to engage in teaching, research, and professional development
practices on your own. When we were graduate students, we both had success when
54

bringing ideas for projects to our advisors, professors, and peers for collaboration, and
this success was founded both on the contributions of our collaborators and our efforts

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Francesca, from Italy

PhD student in Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

Starting my PhD journey, I was constantly scared of not measuring up. Over time, I
learned that this fear was okay because it pushed me to improve. As my confidence
grew, I began to envision my future self, a time when I should step out of my comfort
zone, surrounded by individuals who might not always be willing to offer
unwavering support or guidance. This vision urged me to reflect on my desired
identity as a researcher and my place in academia. This planning is not set in stone,
but it helped me set goals. From that moment on, I started looking up role models,
studying people’s CVs(!), and jotting down research ideas as well as pondering their
feasibility and collaboration potential. I also started saving tons of screenshots of
interesting opportunities shared on social media and taking plenty of notes at
conferences about research gaps, professional associations to join, and further
potential opportunities out there. I keep organized files in my Google Drive with all
this info.

This whole process of finding my own path motivated me to take initiative. For
instance, I began connecting with like-minded peers and organizations, seeking
advice on research ideas, approaching professors and fellow students to collaborate
on research projects or other initiatives. For example, I reached out to a peer for a
project, bringing together our research interests and skills. I am confident we will do
some awesome work together. Also, I approached my advisor with a research idea.
He helped me refine the focus, and now we are working on something truly exciting
together.

I got to learn that professors are not mythical creatures with all the answers. They,
too, have their gaps in knowledge and are open to learning from students. Exchange
of ideas are always mutually beneficial. The worst-case scenario typically involved a
simple “I'm not sure if this would work,” followed by constructive feedback, or a
polite decline, both perfectly acceptable outcomes. After all, being within the
supportive ‘academic bubble’ is the best time to take risks, like having a parachute
while free-falling.
 55

to take initiative on our own. Initiative, in this regard, does not necessarily mean doing
things completely on your own, but your advisor should be able to give you a task in
planning, reading, or collaborating that you can carry out to some degree on your own.
Likewise, your preparation for meetings and discussions will go a long way towards
building your independence, making the most of advisor-advisee time, while also
building respect.

Conclusion
This chapter covered some important components of the advisor-advisee relationship,
including expectations and recommendations. We have discussed some of the
reasonable expectations you can have of your graduate advisor, the expectations that an
advisor may have of you as a student, and the importance of taking personal initiative to
build this relationship and grow towards independence as a teacher, scholar, and
professional. The advisor-advisee relationship is a long-term and high stakes
relationship across graduate programs, and it can be a tremendous source of
mentorship and opportunities for growth and career-building, but research has also
shown that it can be a major source of stress and anxiety. For these reasons, we
recommend that graduate students take care when entering into such relationships,
work hard to cultivate and appreciate such relationships, while also keeping an eye open
towards discussing problems or changing advisors if it becomes clear that something is
not working. We are personally very grateful for our advisors as professionals,
academics, and people, but the relationships we developed with them were built over
time. We conclude this chapter with five practical tips for making the most of advisor-
advisee relationships and taking initiative in graduate school.

Tips for Seeking Out (But Not Over Relying On) Your Advisor’s Input

Tip #1: When Asking Someone to Be Your Primary Advisor, Be Polite, but
Also Be Observant.

As discussed in this chapter, as a student, it can be to your benefit to seek an advisor

who not only has the same research and/or teaching interests as you, but also someone
who exhibits other characteristics that you respect and admire (e.g., an attractive
supervisory style). When the time comes for you to formally ask someone to be your
advisor, if possible, you should do it in-person rather than via email (although
preferences do vary). We say this because you are essentially asking someone to devote a
large amount of time to helping you and your career. Additionally, contrary to some
56

students’ beliefs, faculty do not get paid extra for each advisee that they have! In light of
these issues, when asking, you should be polite. It can be as simple as meeting with
them and asking: I was wondering, would you be open to serving as my advisor for my
thesis/dissertation? I know it’s a big commitment, so please feel free to consider and let
me know later. That being said, in addition to asking politely, you should also be
observant. What we mean by this is that you should look for whether the faculty
member exhibits any hesitation or pushback (e.g., saying: Are you sure? Have you
considered XXX [faculty member]? It seems like they might be a better fit). This does
not mean that it is a definite no; however, it may mean that you should not push them
too hard to agree to be your advisor. And as hard as it is to keep in mind, a faculty
member may say no for a variety of reasons that do not have anything to do with you.
This could include currently having too many students, personal health reasons, and a
lengthy upcoming sabbatical or field work that could cause long periods of difficult
communication.

Tip #2: Have an Open Conversation About Your Advisor’s Expectations.

Once a faculty member has agreed to serve as your advisor, we strongly encourage you
to have an open and honest conversation with them about their expectations. Just as
students often have fears about the nature of the mentor-mentee relationship, so do
many faculty, since they may not know the student all that well. For instance, faculty
may struggle with trying to navigate the boundary between being a professor and being
a friend who can provide advice on issues that go beyond classroom-related activities
(Hart-Baldridge, 2020). As such, you should ask your advisor: For your advisees, what
are your expectations? What can I do to meet your expectations and to succeed? Not
only will faculty appreciate this question, but they will also know that you are serious
and professional about your desire to succeed. Importantly as well, this question might
subsequently prompt some faculty to discuss related topics, such as how they typically
try to help their students, and perhaps even asking you what your personal preferences
for advising are (e.g., the frequency of meetings, the nature of the feedback that you
would like to receive, and more).

Tip #3: Keep Lines of Communication Open with Your Advisor.

During the time in which you are working with your primary advisor, it is critical that
you keep lines of communication open with them. What we mean by this is that you
should communicate with your advisor as often as necessary, particularly when you
need to discuss a number of scenarios. For instance, if you and your advisor tend to
 57

meet less regularly, be sure to occasionally check in with them and tell them what you
have been doing. This also goes for any successes that you may experience (e.g., being
accepted to present at a conference). Conversely, if you have an issue or problem (e.g.,
with a student in a class you are teaching, or with how to approach researching a specific
topic), you should not be afraid to communicate this to your advisor. Ask them if they
have any insights involving how to solve the issue. Similarly, if there is something
personal going on in your life that is affecting you and your ability to perform (e.g., an
influx of work that is causing stress, or a death in the family), be honest with your
advisor. Depending on the problem, your advisor might be able to help you by taking
some work off your plate or by referring you to more professional counseling services
who can help. Finally, if a deadline has been set by you and/or your advisor and you
know that you cannot meet it, just tell them. Do not simply hope that they will forget.
And don’t avoid communication out of shame for not having met the deadline. The main
point here is: If your advisors do not know that there is an issue, then they cannot
possibly help you.

Tip #4: Develop a Manageable Reading Plan, and Stick To It!

This tip is associated with the section on initiative. We cannot stress enough how
valuable it has been for us and for others we know (including our current students) to
read beyond what is assigned in their courses and as part of collaborations with
professors and advisors. In fact, many of the projects we began during our doctoral
years were based on our reading of research articles we had read of our own initiative.
At the same time, we know that reading loads for graduate students are already heavy,
so we recommend that you start small. We both advise that you select a small number of
journals (potentially 5, but perhaps 3 during course work) that you plan to stay up to
date with. In applied linguistics, education, TESOL, and related fields, journals might
only publish a handful of issues per year. Depending on the journal, there also may be a
relatively small number of articles per issue, so staying up to date is not a tremendous
amount of work. For these journals, we recommend selecting at least one highly ranked
journal with a broad focus in your field, and other journals that are somewhat more
closely focused on your specific areas of interest. Typically, most journals enable readers
to sign up for automatic e-notifications when a new issue is published, so you might
consider signing up for your selected target journals. In terms of keeping up with recent
publications and trends, this can be as simple as reading over the new abstracts of the
articles in each new issue that is published. Then, you can take more time to read
specific articles that closely match your interests. An alternative option is to set a
58

designated time (e.g., every 2-3 weeks) to search for articles to add to your reading list.
For example, during his doctoral studies, Elliott made a Friday morning habit of starting
his day with a cup of coffee and a quick scan of his target journals for new abstracts. He
read all the abstracts as they were posted, but he saved and read the papers he thought
would be related to his work.

Tip #5: Reflect on Your Learning and Work Style Early and Often.

We are both major proponents of reflection in general, but it is particularly important

when thinking about who you will want to pursue as your graduate advisor. It is often
tempting (and sometimes the best idea) to work with the scholar who has the closest
research interests or most exciting research agenda. However, if there are multiple
potential advisors, you may benefit from considering more than just these issues. There
is not a single or universal best style of advising, and we have made the point many
times in this book that each person’s path through graduate school is unique. Thus, it is
important to work with an advisor that you feel comfortable asking questions to, sharing
your work with, and receiving feedback from. It is also essential that your advisor is
someone you feel you can trust in general and as a scholarly and professional advocate.
This may mean that you will want to set up a meeting with your potential advisor to talk
about their research before asking them to be your advisor, particularly in the event that
you have not had the opportunity to take a class with them. Before doing so, you should
also become familiar with their work, such as reading their CV, their paper abstracts,
etc. Likewise, it is generally useful to ask other students about their experiences. Of
course, not all assessments are likely to be equally as useful. It is important that you
reflect on what you need in order to succeed and to do your best to find out if a potential
advisor would be a good fit for you.

References
Cornwall, J., Mayland, E. C., van der Meer, J., Spronken-Smith, R. A., Tustin, C., &
Blyth, P. (2019). Stressors in early-stage doctoral students. Studies in Continuing
Education, 41(3), 363-380.
Gardner, S. K. (2008). “What’s too much and what’s too little?”: The process of
becoming an independent researcher in doctoral education. The Journal of
Higher Education, 79(3), 326-350.
Hart-Baldridge, E. (2020). Faculty advisor perspectives of academic advising. NACADA
Journal, 40(1), 10-22.
Lovitts, B. E. (2008). The transition to independent research: Who makes it, who
doesn’t, and why. The Journal of Higher Education, 79(3), 296-325.
Mousavi, M. P. S., Sohrabpour, Z., Anderson, E. L., Stemig-Vindedahl, A., Golden, D.,
Christenson, G., Lust, K., & Bühlmann, P. (2018). Stress and mental health in
 59

graduate school: How student empowerment creates lasting change. Journal of

Chemical Education, 95(11), 1939-1946.
Schlosser, L. Z., & Gelso, C. J. (2001). Measuring the working alliance in advisor-advisee
relationships in graduate school. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 48(2), 157-
167.
Tenenbaum, H. R., Crosby, F. J., & Gilner, M. G. (2001). Mentoring relationships in
graduate school. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59, 326-341.
CHAPTER 6

Building Relationships: How

to Network, Network, and
Network Some More!
While the previous chapter discussed the nature of the interactions that one might have
with their faculty advisor, this chapter now turns to the issue of building relationships
more broadly. In particular, in this chapter we cover the importance of networking – a
goal-directed action in which someone attempts to form and develop interpersonal
relationships (Gibson et al., 2014) – both with those at your own institution and beyond.
In fact, researchers in sociology and psychology have long discussed the impact of
developing positive social relationships on academic success (e.g., McCabe, 2016).
Beyond achieving academic success and graduating as well, other disciplines such as
business frequently stress the vital roles that networking and building relationships play
in career survival and success (Ford et al., 2011). Nevertheless, networking is a topic that
(sadly) often receives little-to-no attention in many graduate programs in applied
linguistics, education, and TESOL. That is, although you will no doubt hear an
occasional comment about the general importance of networking from a peer or faculty
member, you are unlikely to receive any formal training or support in how to go about
doing so.

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Building Relationships: How To Network, Network, and Network
Some More!. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of graduate school: A practical
guidebook for students in applied linguistics, education, and TESOL (pp. 60-72). Applied
Linguistics Press.
 61

In the current chapter, we address this topic, first by discussing the importance of
finding a close confidant – typically a peer, but perhaps a faculty member as well –
whom you can speak to openly and seek different types of support from. Afterwards, we
discuss how graduate students can foster relationships by being professional and by
having something to offer those around them. And finally, the chapter closes with a
discussion of why it is critical to reach out to those beyond your own institution, and
particularly, how doing so can increase your chances of success in your future career.

The Importance of Finding a Close Confidant

In the previous chapter, we discussed your relationship with your advisor in academia,
and that is an essential relationship for success to be certain. However, in this section
we discuss the importance of another type of key relationship for graduate students, a
confidant. A confidant, as we stated in the introduction to this chapter, is a person with
whom you can freely and openly talk to and trust not to share your discussions with
others. Such relationships are often close relationships, and scholarship from those such
as Demir et al. (2011), aptly named “I Matter to My Friend, Therefore I am Happy,”
highlights the overall value of close relationships in adulthood for happiness. In
particular, research on confidant relationships highlight that a key element of such
relationships is “self-disclosure” (Isaacs et al., 2015, p. 50), which has been strongly
linked to medical, emotional, and intellectual well-being, as well as a sense of personal
accountability.
With all of that said, why is having a close confidant important for you as a
graduate student? The answer to this question can in part be found sprinkled across the
pages of this book (or neatly summarized in the table of contents). That is, graduate
school is often an extended, intellectually demanding journey that is characterized by
long hours, copious amounts of feedback and rejection, new professional experiences,
complex or overlapping relationships, pressures on personal identities, financial stress,
and uncertainty. As such, when you have new experiences, questions, concerns, plans,
and/or goals (among many other things), it can be useful to have someone close to you
that you feel comfortable externalizing these thoughts to, who understands your
situation, and someone who is not necessarily going to make your comments public. For
instance, musing that you may want to try to graduate later (or earlier!) than planned at
a social event with friends can become embarrassing if word spreads. We had a mutual
confidant relationship throughout our graduate studies with each other, but we also had
such relationships with other peers at our own respective institutions during our
doctoral studies. And we are grateful that many of the thoughts and ideas we confidently
shared (e.g., involving difficult situations, research ideas, and more) never went public
62

more broadly. Additionally, while we do not encourage gossip and actively discourage
you from spreading rumors, it can be important to discuss difficult experiences or
positive impressions of colleagues, advisors, and professors through interactions.
Overall, a close confidant can be an excellent partner for conversations involving
concerns, plans, and discoveries that are not yet ready to be shared widely but that may
warrant discussion, or for even more sensitive topics that are best kept private in
general.
While it may sound like the alternative to having a confidant is to simply avoid
oversharing, the reality, which has been demonstrated by abundant research across
disciplines, is that there are considerable benefits to externalization and self-disclosure.
Within applied linguistics and TESOL, for example, Edge’s (1992) Co-Operative
Development framework foregrounds the important role that a listener/understander
can play in guiding reflection and self-discovery, and the popular work of Vygotsky
(1978) can recast such interactions as being mediational in nature. Such conversations
can be developmental without the repercussions of having these discussions shared with
others or even worrying that they will be shared at all. These relationships and safe
discussion spaces are particularly important during periods of high stress and
uncertainty. During these times, communication and friendship are extremely
important for many, but we are also realistically more prone to making comments about
ourselves or others that we may later regret or would prefer not to share. Ideally, these
types of comments are kept private, but more realistically, they are made from time to
time. Unfortunately, the matter of finding a close confidant is not straightforward. Trust
is built over time, so it is important to keep in mind that it may take a semester or more
to find a peer (or a faculty member) with whom you feel comfortable sharing your
thoughts.
Nevertheless, if you are fortunate enough to build a strong relationship with
someone close to you, then an important result is having a person who potentially
knows you well when you are in need of advice regarding major decisions or difficult
situations. That is, a close confidant is often a person who has a relatively good idea of
what is important to you, what stands out to you from positive and negative experiences,
and what types of things are prominent enough to share frequently over time. They are
also someone who might be comfortable when it comes to providing you with an open
and honest assessment of a situation, particularly in the event that you need to ask
either: Am I doing the right thing here? or Am I overreacting? Sometimes, certain
situations can be difficult to monitor by ourselves. Thus, having a close confidant can be
essential when it comes to assessing situations and making rational decisions.
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Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Helena, from Portugal

PhD student in Applied Linguistics

For me, it has been very important throughout my graduate studies to have close
friends and a large support network. In particular, it has been essential for me to
have trusted friends who I can talk to about my experiences, ideas, concerns, and
even fears in safe ways where I know they will not share what we have talked about
with other people. I had some relatively negative experiences early on in my
graduate studies, where people who I thought I could trust shared details of things I
had talked about with people I would not have shared as much information.
Fortunately, it was never anything private, important, or negative, but it made me
feel uncomfortable to know that my discussions with other people weren’t always as
private as I would have preferred or thought.

I am lucky that my husband and I work in related areas and have a supportive
relationship that allows us to talk about academic and professional matters
productively without concerns about things becoming public. This has been an
incredible source of support for both of us, but as our careers have progressed, we do
find ourselves talking less about work - which is also nice!

I have been very fortunate to build professional friendships with colleagues in my

program and field who are not always the people I see or talk to the most, but I
know care about me and like to hear what I am thinking and feeling, or what I am
worried about. I know I can trust these people to keep that information to
themselves, and our relationships are based on the trust that they can also confide in
me. We don’t always give each other advice, but sometimes it is very helpful to tell
somebody what you are thinking. And that can be an important process in coming to
conclusions yourself. Without being specific, there were a number of times that I
have had difficulties in my studies, uncertainties, or personal setbacks that
complicated my academic progress – and sometimes I have been worried about
things that I shouldn’t have been worried about at all. In all these cases, it was
wonderful to be able to talk to people in private about what was going on in my life.

Building Relationships by Being Professional and Having Something to

Offer
While the previous section was dedicated to the importance of developing a close
relationship that is often more personal in nature, in this section we discuss how
professionalism can play an important role in developing new academic relationships
64

during graduate school. It is true that many graduate students will be looking for friends
during the course of their programs, but graduate students are (of course) studying,
teaching, and working as and among professionals in university contexts. That is to say,
many long-lasting and valuable relationships that you develop during your graduate
studies will revolve around your academic and professional activities, but these
relationships often emerge through the academic and professional capacities that you
demonstrate.
Your professors, supervisors, and fellow graduate students may (or may not)
want to work with you specifically because you are punctual, respectful, and keep
deadlines. However, they are certainly likely to notice if you regularly do not exhibit any
of these characteristics. And thoughtful questions, strong listening skills, and careful
responses when asked for your opinions are a good way to build a reputation during
graduate work. It is important to keep in mind that both graduate students and faculty
members are generally busy people – and certainly the amount of work can exceed
reasonable levels at times – but there is a difference between asking for help and
extensions when feeling overloaded and mismanaging your time or constantly
complaining about being ‘busy.’ We feel that it is important to be serious and respectful
of all the activities you engage in during graduate school, and this spans teaching,
engaging in coursework, and even to attending meetings as well.
This is all to say that strong professional and academic relationships can be
established and cultivated on the basis of the respect and professionalism that you
demonstrate to others. Doing good work, contributing to collaborative endeavors,
speaking carefully and thoughtfully about ideas and others, and treating others with
respect can all signal to your peers, professors, and supervisors that you may be a good
person to invite to a project or have scholarly talks with. Importantly, such habits are
also likely to help you build positive relationships over the course of your academic
career. This includes both during graduate school and beyond.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Alix, from the United States

MA student in Applied Linguistics

What I consider to be the most vital decision I’ve made in my academic career was
joining a research lab as an undergrad. Through this, I was able to build a close
relationship with my supervising professor, which ultimately allowed me to make
connections and network even prior to applying for graduate school. I came from a
different field of study in my undergrad degree, and students in the department
 65

were highly encouraged to join research labs. I found a professor, outside of my

department, but who I shared similar research interests with. Through this, I was
exposed to interdisciplinary research, which I also find to be incredibly beneficial
when networking. The more that you learn, the more that your research interests
expand, so it is also important to connect with a professor whose interests or
methodologies are not restricted.

Through finding a professor I respected and enjoyed working with, I continued my

work with the same professor into my master’s program. One thing that cannot be
overstated in networking is joining a research lab or group. When you participate in
research, you get the chance to contribute to papers, present findings at conferences,
and have your name on published works. If you have skills that are useful to the
project (e.g., programming, web-design, photography), that can be a crucial
contribution to research. Even if you are developing the skills needed to be a
researcher, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work such as data compiling and
sorting that can be the work of graduate students to support the research process.

I do want to note that it is incredibly important to find a professor that you ‘vibe’
with so that your job is not completely insufferable. I think that it is important to
become involved with research as it can be hard to get a proper feel of what
methodologies you prefer if you are only writing research papers within your
courses. It also allows you to better understand whether you would rather work in
academia or in industry within your field. Having a professor you work for in a
professional capacity allows you important professional opportunities, which are
crucial since graduate programs are competitive.

Through being in a lab, I have been able to learn a new skill set and improve
preexisting skills such as taking different approaches to data analysis. And,
ultimately, I have been able to contribute to ongoing research.

Notably, a reputation for being professional is something that you build up over
time, so you may see the results of professionalism paying off later, rather than during
the first year of your program. This is because, in most cases, professional and scholarly
relationships are initiated because all parties have something to offer (of course,
students do get invited to collaborate on research projects for educational reasons and
as part of GA-ships, too). We note here that we certainly are not encouraging you to
speak out loudly about your capacities and ability to contribute to research projects.
Instead, you should seek to demonstrate that you are collegial, professional, diligent,
and looking to grow. Additionally, if your work in a graduate-level class, conference
66

presentation, and/or teaching are of high quality and demonstrate professionalism, then
you may stand out as a potential candidate for future opportunities.
Relatedly, if you are interested in attempting to initiate research collaborations,
then it is important that you have something to offer as well. This can be something
relatively small and simple, such as having a general idea of a potential research topic or
question(s). For example, you should know that faculty are frequently approached by
graduate students about potential research collaborations. In some cases, the faculty
have not had these students in class and/or do not know them all that well, yet these
students say something akin to “I would love to collaborate with you on something,” or
more directly, “Can we do a research project together?” In response to such a request,
when faculty ask “What are you interested in?” or “What type of project do you have in
mind?”, oftentimes, students have no ideas. This is a prime example of not having
something to offer.
Yet, importantly, having something to offer can go beyond simply having an idea
for a research project. For instance, it can be something more prominent, such as having
a dataset, or something less tangible but still highly valuable, like skills or experience
with a particular method or knowledge of a teaching context or content area. Regardless,
when contacting others such as faculty (and even your peers) to initiate collaborative
projects, it is important that you have something meaningful to offer your collaborators.
Otherwise, you are essentially asking them to tell you what to do, or to do most of the
work themselves.

Reaching out to Those Beyond Your Own Institution and Inner Social
Groups
The previous two sections of this chapter focused primarily on developing relationships
within your own institutional context. However, this section now turns to a discussion of
the critical role of connecting with those beyond your own university and graduate
program. Specifically, networking with people outside of one’s own academic context
can be a challenging endeavor for many students. In some cases, this is because
graduate students may not see the inherent value in it. In other cases, it may be because
some students simply do not know how to go about the process of networking.
In terms of its value, researchers have stated that broad networking is important
because it increases the likelihood of a number of positive outcomes. For instance, not
only can networking lead to increased visibility and power, but it can also lead to
increased access within one’s own organization and beyond (Gibson et al., 2014).
Related to this point, in a meta-analysis of 216 studies by Ng and Feldman (2014), the
 67

authors examined employees’ self-reported perceptions of their own career success.

Interestingly, Ng and Feldman found that people were more likely to experience
significantly lower levels of satisfaction with their careers if they had low social
integration (i.e., if they maintained few relationships with coworkers) and if they
exhibited low networking behaviors (i.e., if they rarely attempted to build new
relationships).
For graduate students, too, attempting to build relationships external to those in
one’s program can be highly beneficial. For one, making connections with other
graduate students from different universities can expose you to new ideas and schools of
thought. After all, students from external programs may be trained by faculty who work
with different theories or methods, which may overlap with your own personal interests
and have the capacity to inform aspects of your future work. Similarly, by connecting
with even just one or two graduate students from another school, this is likely to have a
snowball effect, in which your new acquaintance(s) may introduce you to their peers and
faculty as well, thereby leading to a greater number of contacts. Notably, the mere act of
introducing yourself to others including faculty and program administrators can be
beneficial. This is because, through these new external connections, it is possible that
you might receive opportunities to collaborate on a variety of research- and teaching-
related projects that are unavailable at your own institution.
One example of this in-action is, during his master’s program, while Matt was at
a conference, he ended up introducing himself to the director of the ESL program at
another institution. Matt saw the person’s name tag, and coincidentally, Matt was from
the same city in which the person’s ESL program/university was located; thus, Matt
used this as an opportunity to introduce himself and to engage in small talk for a few
brief minutes. Through this seemingly small interaction, three years later, the ESL
program director reached out to Matt to ask if he would be interested in participating in
a summer-teaching program in China. Coincidentally, Matt was a PhD student at the
time and in search of summer funding, so the timing aligned perfectly. Matt was then
able to pursue this same funding opportunity again the following summer. Importantly,
this story demonstrates how a simple act of networking led to a teaching (and funding!)
opportunity that might otherwise not have occurred.
If not for increasing your access to other research- and teaching-related
opportunities, then perhaps the number one reason that graduate students should
attempt to network beyond their programs is for the purpose of expanding their future
career opportunities. That is, by meeting and connecting with people from other
institutions, you are increasing your contacts for when you inevitably go on the job
68

market in the future. For example, when you meet faculty from other institutions, they
might subsequently think of you when their universities have positions that become
available. If this person recognizes your name from having met you – (and also
assuming that they perceived you as a kind and responsible person in your previous
encounters) – this could cause your application to rise to the top of the pile and help you
secure an interview. In some cases as well, by meeting other graduate students, such
students might complete their programs before you do. These people might
subsequently serve on search committees at the universities or companies you hope to
work for. If they know you and can recommend you, oftentimes, this can be enough to
help you get your foot in the door.
For these reasons and more, attempting to network and forge connections with
those beyond your own university is instrumental. And, if you ask your faculty or
graduate peers who are in the later stages of your program, they will likely have a story
about how networking helped someone secure an internship or job interview. As such,
you should make a concerted effort to network when possible, and particularly at
conferences and other social events (see Tips #1-3 at the end of this chapter for more
specific recommendations).

Conclusion
In this chapter, we addressed the importance of building relationships and networking.
Thus far, we have attempted to provide some basic information as to why graduate
students should do so. This included discussing why it is important to foster
relationships with those in your own program (e.g., finding a close confidant) and why it
is important to be professional and have something to offer those around you. In
addition, we addressed why it is critical to try to connect with those beyond your own
university, particularly since doing so may lead to future career opportunities. That
being said, one of the main issues that many graduate students have is knowing how to
network and what is appropriate in terms of approaching others. As such, we close this
chapter with a series of practical tips to further assist readers in building relationships
and networking. We encourage you to try out some of these strategies when able, but
also, to ask your peers and faculty for any other tips and strategies that might have
worked for them in the past.
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Tips for Building Relationships and Networking

Tip #1: Ask a Peer or Faculty Member in Your Program to Collaborate on

Something.

As discussed in this chapter, as a graduate student, it is important to develop

interpersonal and professional relationships with those in your program and university.
One of the primary ways in which this happens for many graduate students is through
collaborating on some type of project. For instance, within most universities, there are
numerous opportunities for graduate students to be proactive and to get involved,
depending on their interests. Of course, perhaps the easiest way to do this is through
starting your own research project and inviting a peer or faculty member to collaborate
with you. However, apart from research, there are also other creative things that you can
do. For example, you might consider starting a new reading group that meets once per
month or as little as twice per semester. At Michigan State University, for instance, a few
doctoral students banded together to create a reading group called Donuts and
Distributions. As the name suggests, this was a reading group for graduate students who
were interested in convening over breakfast to learn more about statistics and
quantitative methods. Another option is that you could put together a one-time training
workshop for your fellow graduate students and teachers that focuses on a certain aspect
of pedagogy (e.g., introducing a new activity or a new digital tool) and showcasing how
to implement it in the classroom. Regardless, we recommend that at least once during
your graduate studies, you should consider a potential idea and then pitch it to a peer or
faculty member. Through such collaborations, you will get to know those in your
program, you will have a chance to show some of your skills and expertise, and you
might even form strong friendships.

Tip #2: Don’t Be Afraid to Introduce Yourself to Someone at a Conference.

As mentioned, apart from connecting with those within your own university and
program, it can also be extremely beneficial for you to network with those beyond your
immediate social groups. One of the best ways to do this is by attending a conference
either locally or nationally (if able). As other scholars have noted, when attending a
conference, there are a number of things that you might consider doing before, during,
and afterwards in order to maximize your conference experience (see De Costa, 2020).
However, one of the main reasons to consider attending a conference is because it
provides you with a forum for meeting and networking with others in your field. But
how do you go about meeting new people at the conference itself? For starters, many
70

larger conferences have events that are specifically geared towards graduate students
(e.g., a ‘Graduate Student Mixer’ or a session on how to get published). Many
conferences also typically have a first-night welcome event for all conference-goers.
These events can be a great way to meet new people, and it is also the primary reason
such events are held. Apart from these events, you should not be afraid of introducing
yourself to someone at the conference. For instance, when getting something to drink or
eat during a scheduled coffee break, just smile and introduce yourself to the person
standing next to you in line. You can ask them where they are from, and if they have
attended any interesting presentations thus far. Relatedly, another easy way to meet
people is to approach someone who recently finished presenting. Simply walk up to
them and say: Hi. I am XXX. I just wanted to introduce myself and say that I really
enjoyed your talk. If you have a quick question to ask them about their presentation as
well, even better! The point here is: Making a new connection can be as easy as
introducing yourself and then paying someone a compliment. Elliott has also made a
point of thanking those who have been supportive of him for their kindness years later.
His experience has been that no one has reacted negatively (so far!) to a short and polite
comment, such as: Many years ago, you said this nice thing to me. It meant a lot, I’ve
thought about it several times, and I have always appreciated it.

Tip #3: Introduce Yourself (Virtually) to Someone Whose Work You Have
Read.

Apart from attending a conference, what else can you do to network and make new
connections? One easy strategy, which does not require conference registration fees, is
to introduce yourself via email or social media (e.g., direct message) to the author of a
recent article that you read and enjoyed. Similar to the previous tip, this can be as
simple as (a) introducing yourself, and (b) stating that you enjoyed their article and
found it useful for the teaching or research that you are currently doing. We promise you
that no one – (no one we know, at least!) – will ever be annoyed by receiving a
compliment about the work they have done. That being said, apart from introducing
yourself and paying a compliment, you should be careful about asking for anything from
people you do not know. If it is another graduate student who wrote the article you
enjoyed, then they may be open to (and even excited by) the prospect of chatting with
you about their study in further detail. However, if contacting a faculty member, it is
likely best to avoid making requests. In this vein, it is also best to avoid asking faculty
members you have not met to collaborate on a project. The answer is typically no since
 71

they have their own students to work with, and also because they are unlikely to know
much about you and your capabilities.

Tip #4: Avoid the ‘Busy Trap.’

In The New York Times, a well-known article discussed the 21st American tendency to
live within the “Busy Trap” (Kreider, 2012), in which a dedication to business and
dialogue surrounding business offers a sort of reassurance that we are successful and
perhaps even important. It is true that academic schedules can keep us all rather busy,
and there is certainly an endless amount of work we can be doing at all times. Notably,
we have dedicated considerable attention elsewhere in this book to the importance of
making time for yourself and balancing work and life (see Chapter 3). The tip here is not
to avoid being busy, but rather to do your best, perhaps in pursuit of professionalism, to
avoid fixating on being busy or presenting yourself as busy all the time. It is often the
case that graduate students feel obliged to discuss their packed schedules and weekend
work plans as a means of proving their commitment, but just as we recommend that you
set and respect work boundaries, we also recommend that you avoid falling into the
conversational busy trap. Of course, during particularly busy times (such as term paper
season), discussing the crunch is likely unavoidable. In the spirit of this chapter, if you
present yourself as busy all the time, you also may be less likely to be invited to social
events and professional opportunities.

Tip #5: Go to Things!

One of the most obvious tips that we offer in this book (and with perhaps the silliest
label) is that a great way to network in graduate school is to go to things. Of course, you
should likely be going to class and any mandatory activities associated with your
program and department. However, we also recommend making an effort to attend
invited speaker events in your department or related departments, interdisciplinary
university events, workshops, and other activities whenever possible. These are all
learning opportunities, but they also represent chances to meet other students and
faculty. These events can create formal or informal spaces to talk with others – either on
the way to the events or during them – which can be valuable for cultivating
relationships. At the same time, and resonating with our professionalism theme from
above, faculty who attend such events invariably notice the students who attend the
events. Importantly, these events are often valuable in and of themselves, and some of
the anxiety of meeting new academics and being in large academic spaces may fade over
time through experience and participation. We both made regular efforts to attend,
72

participate in, and even help organize various events on campus during our graduate
studies – in our departments and across campus – which were valuable professional
activities and opportunities for networking.

References

De Costa, P. I. (2020). Making the most of your applied linguistics conference

experience: Things to do before, during and after the event. In L. Plonsky (Ed.),
Professional development in applied linguistics: A guide for graduate students
and early career faculty (pp. 41-48). John Benjamins.
Demir, M., Özen, A., Bilyk, N., & Tyrell, F. (2011). I matter to my friend, therefore I am
happy: Friendship, mattering, and happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies,
12(1), 983-1005.
Edge, J. (1992). Co-operative development. ELT Journal 46(1), 62-70.
Ford, D., Gadde, L.-E., Håkansson, H., & Shehota, I. (2011). Managing business
relationships (3rd ed.). Wiley.
Gibson, C., Hardy, J. H., & Buckley, M. R. (2014). Understanding the role of networking
in organizations. Career Development International, 19(2), 146-161.
Isaacs, J., Soglian, F., & Hoffman, E. (2015). Confidant relations in Italy. Europe’s
Journal of Psychology, 11(1), 50-62.
Kreider, T. (2012, June 30). The busy trap. The New York Times.
https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-
busy-trap/
McCabe, J. M. (2016). Connecting in college: How friendship networks matter for
academic and social success. University of Chicago Press.
Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2014). Subjective career success: A meta-analytic
review. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85(2), 169-179.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological
processes. Harvard University Press.
CHAPTER 7

Coping with Crises

The past few chapters have covered relatively positive topics, which were geared towards
helping graduate students to develop effective study routines, identify their personal
research, teaching, and professional interests, and also build and manage relationships
with a variety of individuals. Although many people’s graduate school experiences are
overwhelmingly positive (and frequently even fun!), unfortunately, there are also
situations which have the capacity to induce stress, anxiety, and a range of other
negative emotions (Swanson et al., 2022). In fact, research has shown that most
students are likely to experience a mix of such negative emotions at multiple points in
time during the span of their graduate studies. Sadly, most programs do not overtly
address these issues during graduate student orientations or during other training
activities (Mousavi et al., 2018). You, too, have likely heard the generic statement from
various peers and friends that graduate school is stressful. That being said, beyond this
relatively vague statement, the specific challenges and stressors themselves (apart from
an increased workload) may be somewhat unclear to you. However, this can be
problematic for new and incoming students, primarily because (a) they may not have
any idea of what to expect, and therefore, (b) they may not be prepared to deal with
certain situations if/when they arise.
Because of this, in the current chapter we address the important topic of coping
with crises that may arise during the span of graduate school. Although there are a
number of crises that you might experience during your programs, we discuss specific
challenges that many graduate students are likely to face, beginning with how being a
graduate student has the capacity to put strain on personal relationships. Next, we

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Coping with Crises. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most
of graduate school: A practical guidebook for students in applied linguistics, education, and TESOL
(pp. 73-85). Applied Linguistics Press.
74

discuss the issue of how managing finances during graduate school can be a difficult
endeavor. At the end of the chapter, we address two additional interrelated topics. These
include the issue of how an unexpected personal crisis may occur over the course of a
multi-year program, and lastly, how you can learn to expect the unexpected challenge,
particularly when it comes to your teaching- and research-related activities.

How Being a Graduate Student Can Put Stress on Relationships

Relationships are diverse, and cultural expectations vary widely, but it is important to
consider how graduate school can put stress on your personal relationships in advance.
This allows you to set expectations with those in your life, monitor changes over time,
and communicate with those around you if any problems emerge. Our intention in this
section is not to overstep and provide any sort of relationship advice, but rather, to raise
awareness of the types of stressors to look out for in advance.
Graduate school is widely understood to be stressful, as we have discussed in
many previous chapters. Research into the relationships of work-related stress and
family relationships has documented both positive and negative interactions between
the two variables (Repetti & Wang, 2017). Family can be an invaluable source of support
and assistance during stressful and busy times, but stress can also be redirected towards
those at home. Therefore, it is not necessarily the case that a stressed graduate student
will be a burden to those in their inner circles, but it is beneficial for graduate students
to monitor themselves and the way they interact with those closest to them. As the
aforementioned research has found, some people are able to compartmentalize their
stress from their family members rather well, some are able to destress through their
family relationships, and others tend to redirect their stresses towards their family. Of
course, stress is not something that is exclusive to graduate school. It is a part of
everyone’s life and may increase with the more responsibilities you have, but persistent
levels of stress can be damaging to relationships if not properly managed.
Another important consideration is time, which is in short supply for graduate
students. This can mean that it may be difficult to make plans or spend time with friends
and family, which over time can lead to conflicts as those in inner circles feel neglected
or find new ways of spending their own time. In this regard, communication is
important, and we stress that it is worthwhile to find time for those in your inner circles.
For many, friends and family form a natural support system in free time, but for those
who prefer unwinding on their own, it may require additional concerted effort.
For example, during his MA program, one of Elliott’s close friends surprised him
towards the end of summer by offering a long-term ‘goodbye’, explaining that he
expected Elliott would not make time to see him at all during the coming school year.
 75

This led to a memorable conversation where Elliott’s friend called him selfish for
investing so much of himself in his studies; however, it also created a space for Elliott to
talk about the efforts he was making to spend time with his friend and how much he
valued that time, infrequent as it was during the school year. The friendship survived
and grew, but the point here is that friends and family may react to and interpret your
investment in your graduate studies in different ways. Communication can be an
important means of staying on the same page. Of course, even if we make time for our
friends and family during graduate school, there is another common complaint.
Sometimes graduate students invest themselves completely in academia and graduate
work, as we discussed in previous chapters, which can make them rather one-
dimensional conversation partners.
On the topic of time, it is obvious that those in longer-term partnerships and/or
with children have the challenge of balancing family duties with their graduate studies.
For example, Crawford and Windsor (2021) argue that the reality for many parents,
“especially mothers, is that the work-life balance is a myth” (p. 91), although they do
provide research-backed best practices from experienced PhD-holding parents. Some of
the major takeaways from their survey study include the individual nature of long-term
relationships, the difficulty of managing high-demand identities simultaneously, and
stigmas that exist in academia towards those with children. As with all matters related
to time, planning is key. Another dimension of family-related stress is financial in
nature, which is the topic of the next section more broadly.

How Managing Finances Can Be a Difficult Endeavor

For many in graduate school, financial obstacles can be significant. With the broader
economic and class-based disparities of graduate school left aside, in this section, we
discuss the challenges that those with no funding and those who depend on graduate
school stipends may face. If paying your own way, graduate school can provide
considerable stress in terms of student loans and limited time to work outside of class.
And those graduate students who are fortunate enough to receive funding with a stipend
are often torn between feeling grateful for the overall tuition waiver and stipend
package, and the recognition that the stipend itself is usually not that much income. In
this section, we do not offer financial advice, but we do offer some insights from our own
experiences.
To those without funding, it is important to note that many universities (some
more than others) have assistantships that are available to students across disciplines.
At both our master’s and doctoral universities, as well as at our current institutions,
each term there are a small number of positions that are typically open to all students.
76

These are often housed at centralized offices or in units that do not have their own
graduate students, and in many institutions, open positions may be advertised and even
hosted through the Graduate School. There can be opportunities that students can
negotiate for themselves, and in fact, we both found our own internal funding during the
first year of our MA programs. Although we recommend being vigilant when it comes to
searching for and seeking out funding opportunities, we recommend against sending out
mass generic emails to chairs/directors of all units on campus, as some students tend to
do. And while more competitive, external fellowships and funding sources do exist!
To all students who face economic stress during graduate school, summers
represent a major opportunity to earn income. Many universities hire graduate students
to teach classes, grant-funded scholars may hire research assistants, and other
opportunities often arise from time-to-time. This is especially important for students
who are not working, but rather depending on stipends which are paid monthly during
the academic year. In this regard, it is not uncommon for graduate students to live
‘summer to summer’ rather than ‘paycheck to paycheck.’ For example, we both took
advantage of summer opportunities during our master’s and doctoral years to teach
courses and take on paid research work (both in the US and abroad), and Elliott and his
partner in particular depended on this work, as they were simultaneously enrolled in
doctoral programs. Our experiences underscore the importance of learning about the
various programs, community partnerships, and research centers or projects your
department may have to offer. Importantly, these programs may not come looking for
you, but opportunities may exist if these programs and administrators know you are
interested and are a good fit. Additionally, sometimes shorter summer projects can turn
into longer term opportunities, assistantships, or even full-time jobs post-graduation. It
is also worthwhile to check for summer adjunct pools at nearby universities and to
monitor local community colleges or technical schools for summer term opportunities.
These can be meaningful opportunities to gain teaching experience (also see Chapter 4
for a related discussion).
It is also possible that you find yourself financially stable in graduate school, but
disadvantaged when it comes to opportunities for conference travel, computers, and
research supplies. Candidly, we are often surprised by the number of students across
universities who are not aware of department or college travel funding for students.
While not all universities have funds available, and not all available funding is
significant (e.g., perhaps only enough to cover a conference registration fee), it is not
uncommon for graduate programs or departments to have some limited funding
available for graduate (and especially doctoral) students for conference travel if they are
 77

presenting. This can be a major opportunity, and it can often be combined with other
college or university-wide funds that may be available via application.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Heri, from Indonesia

PhD Student in Applied Linguistics

After completing my undergraduate degree in English in the early 2000s, I chose to

pursue a professional path as a university instructor in Indonesia. In order to meet
the qualifications required for becoming a nationally certified university instructor
in a Department of English, I had to enroll in and complete graduate school in one of
the following fields: TESOL, linguistics, or cultural studies. I decided to pursue my
master’s and doctoral degrees in Applied Linguistics, and I utilized a study abroad
scholarship for Indonesian university instructors. A notable challenge emerging
from these academic pursuits was my sole reliance on the financial support from the
scholarship. This funding was used not only to cover the expenses of my
study abroad but also to support my wife and three children, whom I had left back
home. As a result, in the initial stage of my PhD studies, I experienced stress in
relation to managing finances due to a lack of personal funds and additional sources
of income.

The grants which I received for my doctoral studies from a scholarship were
sufficient to cover my educational expenses. However, since I could only depend on
the monthly stipends from this scholarship for both my living costs and family, I
used to have a hard time making stress-free financial decisions for my basic needs.
In my first year, I decided to live in on-campus accommodation for safety and
convenience. As soon as I realized that I spent more than 50% of my monthly stipend
on housing, I became obsessed with the idea that I could have saved more. I could
not stop blaming myself for the decision. Then I began to blame the situation. All I
could think was that if only I had been awarded a scholarship with a bigger
allowance, if only I had a relative or friend who could provide me with a loan, if I
only had more money… All these financial-related hypothetical scenarios only
served to exacerbate my anxiety and made me feel even more stressed.

However, after one year, I saw that I had been worrying too much. The university
provides grants and scholarships for PhD students in Applied Linguistics, and I am
pleased to share that I have availed myself of these opportunities to supplement my
one and only financial resource.
78

Particularly when it comes to attending conferences, graduate students on tight

budgets can typically make limited funding go a long way by prioritizing conferences
that are in accessible locations (i.e., within driving distance). Additionally, funds can be
saved by coordinating with peers or family members to save on hotel fares, and by
volunteering or applying for conference awards. In Applied Linguistics and TESOL, for
instance, many conferences will waive registration fees (or refund them) for graduate
students who volunteer. These volunteer experiences can be fun networking
opportunities as well (trust us, we did them!). To the issue of research supplies and
computers, this can be much more complicated to resolve. However, we still recommend
talking with your advisors or others in the department. We have both helped peers and
students find older (or extra) equipment to meet their needs, and university libraries
often have technology available for long-term loans.
Graduate school requires an economic commitment that is not possible for
everyone, and relying on a stipend can be a struggle, particularly at universities where
health insurance is not subsidized. The path through school often depends on the
department, university, and city, but knowledge of the region and communication
within the university can help make the financial issues easier to manage. In some cases,
a solution may be as simple as living in a rural area and commuting, while in others, it
may require summer teaching.

How an Unexpected Personal Crisis May Occur Over the Course of a Multi-
Year Program
As mentioned, the strains that you might experience in terms of personal relationships
and finances represent two major issues that you should be prepared for (both mentally
and strategically). However, for many students, occasionally there are also unexpected
personal crises that may pop up during the span of their studies. After all, whether you
are pursuing a master’s or a doctoral degree, such programs are typically multi-year
endeavors, which means that there is a distinct possibility that something unexpected
might occur.
According to a survey of earned doctorates conducted by the National Center for
Science and Engineering Statistics (2021), the median age of those who completed their
doctorates was approximately 34 years old, and those who graduated with degrees in
education tended to be even older, with a median age of approximately 38. A sizable
percentage of these graduate students are either married or have a romantic partner,
and many students have children as well (either when entering their programs or during
them). In terms of how these data relate to crises, oftentimes, this means that apart
from the possibility of you falling ill, there is also the likelihood that your partner and/or
 79

child may suffer from illness at multiple points during the span of your studies. Of
course, sickness is to be expected. Yet, in most cases, the timing or the duration of the
illness is unexpected and may be less than ideal. For instance, you or a family member
may become ill during a time when you are scheduled to teach a class, to write an
important term paper, or something else.
Additionally, because many graduate students tend to be in their early-to-mid
30s, unfortunately, this also means that they may have elderly grandparents or perhaps
even parents who are older and in poor health. When we were graduate students, we
personally experienced losses in our own families. We know of multiple graduate
student peers who did as well. Similarly, as faculty now, we have seen some of our own
graduate students have to deal with the challenges of losing their parents, grandparents,
and sadly, even friends in rare cases. Although death is ultimately a part of life, such
occurrences have a tendency to be sudden, unexpected, and upsetting.
Broadly speaking, because there is a possibility that an unexpected personal crisis
might occur during your graduate studies, it is important to have a contingency plan in
place. By this, we mean that if you are serving as a TA and you are the sole instructor for
that course, you should seek out the support of a peer (or two) in advance. Specifically,
you might consider asking them: “In case of an emergency this semester, would you be
willing to cover my class?” You might also offer to return the favor in case they ever need
support. Additionally, apart from planning ahead in terms of covering your TA- or GA-
ship duties, this is also why it is vital to be proactive and to avoid procrastinating. We
have seen multiple students wait until the last moment to do something important such
as writing a term paper or parts of their dissertations, only to unexpectedly fall ill. Then,
they were put in the uncomfortable position of having to ask for an extension, which
sometimes was or was not granted based on the nature of the assignment.
Of course, even with planning and contingencies, the suddenness and severity of
many crises can leave graduate students in difficult positions. It is understandable for
sudden personal matters to take precedence over academic duties, but if possible, it is
generally better if you can take the time to notify your professors and supervisors. In
these cases, it can be difficult for some students to ask for extensions or time away.
However, in most cases, this type of accommodation is routinely provided for students.
It may be frantic, but there are ways of covering a class or research obligation at the last
minute. That being said, we note that covering responsibilities in the short-term is often
easier than getting back on-track later on. Graduate students can find that their courses
and peers have advanced, that they are behind the goals they have set for themselves
and with their advisors, and that it is hard to get back into the rhythm and pace of
80

graduate work. Thus, we recall a tip we offered earlier in Chapter 2 of this book: keep in
mind that everyone has their own path.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Sarah, from United Arab Emirates

MA student in Linguistics and English as a Second Language

There are a lot of challenges that come with being a graduate student. It is a
balancing act to make time for academics, teaching, and your personal life, and
sometimes, the latter may intrude on your scholarly journey in unexpected and
unpleasant ways.

During my first semester in my MA program, I was gripped by a sudden and

unexpected crisis: a bout of homesickness. I would wake up with a vague sort of
sadness that persisted during my day. I felt isolated and alone. My surroundings
and the people around me – the campus, my classmates, and instructors – all felt
strange and unfamiliar. I missed my hometown and felt out of place. Mentally, I was
not in a happy space, which trickled into my academic life. My classes, which were
usually engaging and intellectually stimulating, felt lackluster. It was difficult to find
motivation to read for courses or work on my assignments.

That being said, there were things that helped. Slowly, I began to talk to fellow
classmates and people in my program, which helped me make connections in this
new space I was learning to occupy. I made time to speak to all the people I missed
from my home country – my parents and friends – and having them support my
journey made the distance easier to bear. Spending time doing something enjoyable,
both on and off-campus, such as going to an event held by a student organization, or
trying a new restaurant, made a new city feel more welcoming.

Aside from having a support system, the final key that helped me was time. By
taking everything one day at a time, I learned to move on from the homesickness
and build a niche for myself in a new community.

Learning to Expect the Unexpected Challenge, Especially with Teaching and

Research
As alluded to in the previous section, one of the best things that you can do is to prepare
yourself mentally by planning ahead and by learning that an unexpected crisis is
possible. This is true when it comes to personal issues involving illness, finances, and
 81

family-related matters. However, this is also something that applies more broadly to
your teaching- and research-related activities.
In terms of teaching, for many new students, being awarded a TA-ship may be
the first opportunity that they have had to serve as the lead instructor of a university-
level course. Unquestionably, this assignment may evoke a mixed set of emotions,
including being both excited and terrified at the same time (see Richards, 2022).
However, something that many new teachers are not prepared for are some of the
unexpected challenges that will inevitably arise during their first year of teaching. For
instance, some of these challenges may consist of struggling to learn the subject matter,
in addition to learning how to handle difficult questions that you do not know the
answer to (see Tip #4 at the end of this chapter for more).
Apart from these issues, another relatively common challenge that many new
teachers face pertains to timing out their lessons. That is, many novice teachers struggle
with lesson planning and judging how long certain activities will take in the classroom
since they do not have experience with the target learner population. Sometimes, this
leads to a class period that is significantly shorter than they expected. We note here that
although occasionally letting students out early is (typically) okay, it is not something
that you want to get in the habit of doing. Thus, during your first year of teaching, you
should always be prepared by having a backup activity ready-to-go or by planning a
flexible activity that can scale up for the final part of class. By expecting this type of issue
in advance, it can alleviate some of your anxiety in the event that a lesson unexpectedly
runs short.
In addition to teaching, conducting research can also present its own distinct
challenges. Importantly, if you have ever read any research studies that were published
in academic journals or books, then you may have the impression that such studies went
well and according to the researchers’ original plans. In most cases, however, this is far
from the reality. In fact, research in the real world is often messy and fraught with a
number of obstacles. Scholars who work in numerous disciplines such as education and
applied linguistics have documented some of the challenges that researchers are likely to
face when pursuing different topics (e.g., Drew et al., 2008; Kessler & Polio, 2024), and
so it should come as no surprise to you that such challenges are often experienced by
those in doctoral programs as well (also see Golde & Gallagher, 1999). For instance,
although you may come up with an exciting new research proposal, you may
subsequently find yourself struggling to execute your plan. This may be due to a lack of
available funds for your project, a smaller number of consenting participants than
82

originally expected, or other issues such as your data being messier and more difficult to
interpret than you had anticipated.
The point here is: When it comes to research- and teaching-related challenges,
you should learn to expect an unexpected issue to emerge occasionally. Or rather, you
should avoid expecting things to run smoothly. Although it may seem like a crisis in the
moment it is happening, you should also know that in most cases, what you are
experiencing is not new. If you are experiencing something, it is highly likely that
another graduate student – and even a faculty member – has experienced it as well.
Therefore, try your best to stay calm. Ask for help and guidance, and also know that
there is likely a solution at-hand.

Conclusion
Graduate school is a multi-year commitment, and over such a span, it may be expected
that you change, that people in your life change, and that difficulties emerge. This
chapter covered some of the characteristics of graduate school, such as the time
demands and limited compensation that may put stress on you and those around you. In
this chapter, we also discussed ways of dealing with unexpected occurrences in your
personal life that may occur during your studies. Communication goes a long way
towards setting expectations, working through difficulties, and managing relationships.
In this regard, we encourage you to seek support from within your personal and
professional networks, and we hope that emerging difficulties are not insurmountable.
However, we also note that sometimes, events and factors in our lives lead to changes in
our personal goals. Thus, it is important to keep an open mind and recognize that
changes in timelines and plans are not necessarily failures.

Tips for Coping with Crises

Tip #1: Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Professional Counseling Services If/When

You Need Them.

Clearly, there are a number of crises that may emerge during the span of one’s graduate
studies, which have a tendency to induce stress, anxiety, and a range of other negative
emotions. Of course, although you can prepare for some of these crises and combat
them by trialing some of the strategies and tips we discuss in this chapter, there may be
instances in which a certain situation – either program-related or personal – becomes
overly difficult psychologically or emotionally. In such an event, your fellow peers and
faculty may not be equipped to help you. If you ever feel that this is the case, you should
not hesitate to seek professional guidance or counseling services. In fact, most
 83

universities often have free and confidential services that are available to their students.
Such resources can be of tremendous help, and we strongly encourage you to take a few
minutes to familiarize yourself with the types of services that are offered –(Right now!
Seriously. Do it!). If you are unfamiliar with the services at your own institution,
typically, you can locate this information through a quick Google search using the terms
“counseling” or “student health and wellness” + your university’s name.

Tip #2: Try Not to Over-Commit Yourself and Be Honest With Friends and
Family.

We advised you earlier to pay attention to relationships that you value during your
graduate work. As part of that, we encouraged you to make efforts to spend time with
friends and family when possible. The other side of this is that you need to be realistic
about what you can and cannot do. We have all overcommitted socially at some point in
our lives, and during graduate school, it is important to weigh the time commitments of
socializing with the demands of work. Most importantly, when you find that you have
promised your free time but need that time back, it is usually acceptable to let your
friends and family know what you are feeling. It often helps if you follow up with new
plans and follow through when they come. Overall, once you get a feeling for your own
schedule, it is a good idea to be realistic with yourself and realistic with your friends and
family. Of course, this tip applies to socializing, rather than any duties involving child or
family care.

Tip #3: Do Your Best to Keep Your Interests and Hobbies, if Only in Spirit.

In this chapter, we made a passing comment about how frustrating it can be for the
friends and family of graduate students who find themselves fully invested in academic
work. Our third tip is to work hard to keep your interests and hobbies alive, particularly
those you share with friends and/or family. This is not just important for your own
health and well-being, but also for the health and well-being of your relationships!
Sadly, most of what you do may be uninteresting to those outside of academia (or even
outside of your program), and your friends and family will likely want to enjoy the
things that they miss doing and discussing with you when they do get to see you, rather
than talking about your research and teaching the entire time. At the same time, it can
be a tremendous benefit to have friends outside of academia to keep you from focusing
on school-related stressors and dwelling on work. If you do not have time to participate
in your hobby, at least try to stay up to date with it, if possible.
84

Tip #4: Have Strategies in Place for Addressing Challenging Teaching-

Related Questions.

Earlier, we mentioned that one major challenge novice teachers face is learning the
subject matter, and in turn, with the crisis of knowing how to respond to questions they
do not know the answer to. For anybody who has taught before, they have experienced
this phenomenon (which, in the moment, truly does feel like a crisis!). If you are
someone who is a language teacher as well, then you will likely be asked all sorts of
interesting grammar-related questions that you have never considered. While it is
perfectly acceptable to respond to such an inquiry by being honest and saying “I don’t
know (but will find out!),” you also must be careful of saying this too many times.
Otherwise, your students may lose faith in you. As such, it is important to have multiple
strategies to address difficult questions. For instance, in some cases, students may ask
something that is unrelated to the topic being discussed. If this happens, it is simply
appropriate to say That’s a good question. However, it’s a bit off topic, so we will
discuss it in a future class. In other cases, if the question is relevant but you do not
know the answer, you can try to redirect the question back to your class and ask who
knows. Oftentimes, one of the students in your class will know! Finally, another strategy
that Matt has used in the past is to keep a ‘Question Box.’ With this strategy, when a
student asks a challenging question, you might try to stall by saying We will actually get
to that in a little bit. Then, you can write down the student’s question in a small
‘Question Box’ in the corner of your blackboard to show your student that you will
address the question. Later in class, while students are working on another activity, you
can look up the student’s question and learn the answer for yourself.

Tip #5: Have a Backup Plan in the Event That Parts of Your Research Plan
Fail.

The final tip in this chapter pertains to your research activities, and specifically,
knowing that there is a good probability that your research proposal and plan will likely
not turn out exactly as you had intended. For most research studies, changes need to be
made (sometimes minor, and sometimes major). For example, you may not end up
recruiting as many participants as you initially had thought, or one of your instruments
may not work as well as you had hoped it would. Because of this, you should enter into
each and every research project mentally prepared for something to go wrong. You
should also consider what your backup plans are in case something falls through. If you
are having trouble thinking about what could go wrong, then ask your advisor to play
devil’s advocate and to ask you: If X happens (or doesn’t happen), what will you do?
 85

The point here is: you should not enter into any research project assuming that it will go
100% according to plan. Be prepared to roll with the punches.

References
Crawford, K. F., & Windsor, L. C. (2021). The PhD parenthood trap: Caught between
work and family in academia. Georgetown University Press.
Drew, C. J., Hardman, M. L., & Hosp, J. L. (2008). Designing and conducting research
in education. Sage.
Golde, C. M., & Gallagher, H. A. (1999). The challenges of conducting interdisciplinary
research in traditional doctoral programs. Ecosystems, 2(4), 281-285.
Kessler, M., & Polio, C. (Eds.). (2024). Conducting genre-based research in applied
linguistics: A methodological guide. Routledge.
Mousavi, M. P. S., Sohrabpour, Z., Anderson, E. L., Stemig-Vindedahl, A., Golden, D.,
Christenson, G., Lust, K., & Bühlmann, P. (2018). Stress and mental health in
graduate school: How student empowerment creates lasting change. Journal of
Chemical Education, 95(11), 1939-1946.
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. (2021). Survey of earned
doctorates. Retrieved from: https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf23300/
Richards, J. C. (2022). Exploring emotions in language teaching. RELC Journal, 53(1),
225-239.
Repetti, R., & Wang, S. (2017). Effects of job stress on family relationships. Current
Opinion in Psychology, 13, 15-18.
Swanson, H. L., Pierre-Louis, C., Monjaras-Gaytan, L. Y., Zinter, K. E., McGarity-
Palmer, R., & Clark Withington, M. H. (2022). Graduate student workload:
Pandemic challenges and recommendations for accommodations. Journal of
Community Psychology, 50(5), 2225-2242.
CHAPTER 8

Dealing with Failure and

Rejection
This final content chapter prior to the conclusion covers a topic that is particularly
relevant to the graduate student experience, and it also speaks to the broader academic
experience in higher education as well. This topic is dealing with failure and rejection.
Many new and incoming graduate students may find this to be a rather strange topic for
an entire book chapter about succeeding in graduate school. After all, we imagine that if
you were admitted to graduate school, this means you have likely experienced a
moderate-to-considerable amount of academic success. This may have come in multiple
forms, such as receiving a high grade-point average, receiving an award or scholarship,
and perhaps even achieving high test scores on standardized tests such as the GRE,
TOEFL, or IELTS, among others. Such successful experiences, too, may extend well
beyond your undergraduate studies into your high school years.
That being said, most new graduate students are often surprised and
overwhelmed by the amount of failure and rejection that they encounter during their
graduate studies. Typically, incoming students are accustomed to being among the
highest performers in their previous classes, only to suddenly find themselves struggling
during their first year of graduate school to understand aspects of the subject matter and
concepts they encounter. Along these lines, research has suggested that prior academic
success – and specifically, academic achievement in the form of test scores – may not be
a strong predictor of one’s subsequent success in graduate school programs (e.g.,

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Dealing with Failure and Rejection. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal,
Making the most of graduate school: A practical guidebook for students in applied linguistics,
education, and TESOL (pp. 86-98). Applied Linguistics Press.
 87

Moneta-Koehler, 2017). Thus, as mentioned in Chapter 2, this lack of success, especially

early on, can lead to a host of issues such as anxiety and feeling like an imposter. The
good news is: You will not be alone in experiencing such negative thoughts and
emotions, and there are things that you can do to combat these feelings. Conversely, the
bad news is: You are likely going to experience different forms of failure and rejection
along your journey through (and beyond) graduate school.
In this chapter, we address the topic of dealing with failure and rejection,
including various issues that you are likely to encounter during your programs. First, we
discuss the important topic of taking and accepting feedback, even if sometimes, that
feedback is delivered harshly. Apart from taking feedback in stride, the second issue that
we discuss concerns recognizing and getting over your ego. This, indeed, is often a
challenging thing to identify, but it is ultimately important to your success, particularly
in terms of unduly causing others to experience a sense of failure and rejection. Finally,
before presenting a series of tips for dealing with these issues, we discuss the topic of
knowing when it is simply time to move on from an endeavor.

Taking Feedback in Stride (Even if It Is Harshly Delivered)

As part of Elliott’s doctoral dissertation work (Casal, 2020), he redesigned a cross-
disciplinary academic writing course for second language English doctoral students at
his institution and sought to analyze their development as writers through a variety of
means. While students demonstrated growth in confidence and an overall improvement
in rhetorical, cohesive, and argumentative writing, Elliott noted an unexpected finding.
This was, in spite of the positive feedback that students received in this writing course
and from other professors, and even though Elliott never asked about their advisors, for
most students in the course, the sole measure of improvement was positive feedback
from their doctoral advisor. This was true even for students who had volunteered the
information that their advisors were invested and supportive. The point is that feedback
– even when it is designed to support learning and improve a paper – has consequences
that extend beyond pedagogy and improvement. In this section, we provide some
recommendations for how to take feedback in stride and keep it in perspective, even if it
is delivered in a less than ideal manner.
Most of the time the feedback received in graduate school is written feedback on
writing. In conversations with peers and mentors, both of us have heard time and time
again that two useful steps for properly navigating feedback are to (1) read it carefully
and (2) step away before responding or revising. Step one largely speaks for itself, but a
few points are worth discussing. For instance, reading carefully means to move beyond
the overall tone and topic of the feedback (as well as the density or number of
88

comments) to examine the details and determine the point that is being made by the
instructor or mentor. Admittedly, it can sometimes be difficult to avoid reading
feedback as a personal evaluation, even if the feedback is delivered in a supportive
manner, and the uncertainty at an initial read may mean that it is challenging to attend
to the particulars when you are trying to see the overall impression. We both admit here
that there is still a slight flutter in our heartbeats when reading reviews and feedback –
even when attached to a rather positive review – as though the next line might say: “By
the way, I hate you and your work.” That would truly represent horrendous feedback,
and yet, the subtle anxiety is there. It may take a couple reads to get a clear idea of what
the reviewer thinks.
Perhaps even more importantly, it is generally important to avoid responding to
or revising for a short period of time. Of course, it is acceptable to thank an advisor or
peer for feedback when you receive it, but we both recommend moving on to other tasks
or activities before acting on reviews. There are two reasons for this. First, and
particularly for negative reviews, it can be difficult to avoid taking it personally (see the
ego section below). You may initially feel embarrassed, sad, offended, or angry.
Sometimes these feelings may be in response to a legitimate provocation, but in most
cases, a fresh read after a break often reveals that the mistakes were not so dire, the
review was not so harsh, or the tone was not quite so harsh. The second reason why we
recommend waiting before acting on feedback is that more often than not, a new
perspective will help you understand the reviewer’s intentions and perhaps even see that
they were right. It is lovely when your work is accepted as is, but that usually means that
the writing is low-stakes or perhaps was even not read carefully. In most cases, the
constructive comments of peers, mentors, or reviewers leads to an improved final
product (and even some learning). We have both had experiences – separately and
together – where we traded initial skepticism upon receiving reviews. However, after
stepping away from the feedback and returning to it later on, we agreed that the
reviewer ‘had a good point’ and that the feedback truly did improve the paper.
More broadly, it is important to keep in mind that while feedback is often
presented alongside an evaluation or decision, the overarching goal of the feedback is to
improve work, provide direction for future endeavors, or provoke learning in
pedagogical or mentor-mentee relationships. To this end, it is important to look past the
difficulty of setbacks or critiques and critically evaluate the basis for the feedback you
are receiving and how you can use it to move forward. Feedback is valuable, and it is
embedded within many academic systems such that careful attention can be essential
for growth and academic success. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that
 89

advisors, conference proposal reviewers, and journal reviewers are generally providing
this useful feedback when they can fit it into their busy schedules. Thus, in many cases, a
direct tone is the product of time pressure and a need for expediency, rather than malice
or contempt. With this in mind, we recommend starting your response to feedback by
thanking the person who took the time to provide it. Even negative reviews are
beneficial in the long run if they are principled and fair.
Unfortunately, feedback does sometimes take on a dismissive or hostile tone, and
navigating these situations can be a challenge. If this takes place within a peer-to-peer
setting, we advise you to simply avoid seeking assistance from those who are not
constructive and supportive. Of course, this is not an option when one is receiving
feedback from a professor or advisor, or when submitting work to a conference or
journal. If the harsh feedback is part of a journal review, the best path forward is to
respond to their arguments, but not their tone. We have both received strongly worded
or non-constructive feedback from time to time, and in many cases, responding
sincerely to the arguments – through revision or reasoning – without adopting a
combative tone has helped to keep things moving forward. If you find that a professor,
mentor, or advisor who is part of your educational experience is providing feedback that
is difficult to learn from or is overly sharp in tone, it can be productive to ask for an
office hour visit and ask polite follow-up questions. In some cases, it may be easy to
share how the feedback impacted you by acknowledging the ways in which the feedback
was useful for learning while also highlighting elements that may have made it hard. On
the other hand, not everyone is open to such discussions, but it is particularly important
in an advisor-advisee relationship that expectations are aligned. In fact, in an analysis of
graduate student satisfaction, success, and advisor relationships, psychosocial support
such as demonstrating “feelings of respect for [a student] as an individual” (Tenenbaum
et al., 2001, p. 331) were strong contributors. That said, you should keep in mind that
while feedback can be difficult to read, it should never be hurtful or abusive.
You will receive many kinds of feedback from numerous sources over the course
of your graduate work, and you will increasingly find yourself giving feedback to others.
We stress that regardless of whether you are offering or receiving feedback, it is
beneficial to keep a collaborative, supportive, and growth-oriented approach. This can
help maximize the benefits of the built-in mechanisms for feedback in academia, and it
can also help you avoid or reduce conflicts. If student evaluations are telling you that
your teaching is not meeting their needs, or if a conference reviewer thinks your abstract
is not clear, keep in mind that those are real people with those opinions! And of course,
we wrote this section with the aim of helping contextualize negative feedback into a
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larger trajectory of growth and success, but it is also important to learn from and ask
about your successes. You may be tempted to gloss over a positive comment, but you can
learn as much from your successes as you can from your shortcomings.

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Philip, from the United States

PhD student in Second Language Studies

In my doctoral program, we have two qualifying research papers (QRPs) as a form

of comprehensive exam. Both are full-length research articles that are adjudicated
by faculty members in our program, with the intention that they would be submitted
for publication after officially passing that internal milestone. I submitted my first
QRP to a reputable international journal, hoping that it would become my first solo-
authored article. It was desk rejected. I revamped it to fit another journal, only to
receive the same news. I was simply at a loss, unsure what I was doing wrong. After
all, I had passed the QRP! Shouldn’t that mean my work is publishable? Had my
program failed to prepare me for this? Or had I failed to learn some essential step in
the formidable process of designing, conducting, writing up, and revising a research
study?

I requested feedback explaining the reject decision, and the editor generously
responded with a list of the numerous ways the manuscript did not meet his
expectations. The one line that stuck out to me was, “even for me, publishing is very
challenging.” I printed that email and put it on my wall, re-reading it every so often,
reminding myself that this is not an easy undertaking. Who am I to expect to publish
my first piece on the first go?

Through this experience, I have come to see publishing research as an endurance

sport. A year later, that first paper is still making its way to a home in print, but
rather than cursing its existence or my inability to learn the tricks of the trade, I
have begun to see that project with a sense of gratitude and grace. It has been a
vehicle which has helped me practice my skills, strengthen muscles I didn’t know I
needed, and thicken my skin. A rejection letter is a gift: rich feedback for the
emerging scholar, full of signals about new things to try, and pitfalls to avoid next
time. And for that experience, I am grateful.
 91

Recognizing and Getting Over Your Ego

Like all people, those within academia have egos – a psychological construct that is
often regarded as an essential part of one’s identity – in which people perceive
themselves as having self-worth and value (Kroger, 2014). As you are aware, people’s
egos can range from strong-to-weak in nature. Such variation is often attributed to
different psychological, environmental, and social factors that influence individuals’
identities over time. As Swanson et al. (2011) have noted, such experiences may also
cause some individuals to be more (or less) resilient in the face of feedback and
criticism, as well as to experience varying levels of academic success. Because of this, it
is important to have some basic level of ego and to see yourself as having value and
purpose. However, it is also vital that you be able to recognize your own ego and to not
let it become too large or negatively impact those around you, while also maintaining a
balance with self-esteem and self-efficacy.
As noted in the previous section, during graduate school and beyond, you will
undoubtedly receive an abundance of feedback. Some of that feedback will be
constructive, but unfortunately, some of that feedback may be delivered rather harshly,
either from a faculty member, a peer, or from a reviewer when you are attempting to
present or publish your research. As such, for many students, achieving some form of
success (e.g., receiving positive comments from faculty, or publishing an article or book
chapter) can provide a tremendous boost to their egos. This increased sense of self-
worth can be positive in nature, giving you the increased confidence that you need to
truly feel as if you have the capacity to succeed in your field. Conversely, this success
may also give some students an overabundance of confidence and self-worth, causing
their egos to grow in ways that may negatively impact those around them.
The biggest challenge here is to recognize when your ego may have become too
large, as it then has the capacity to negatively affect those around you. For instance, as a
graduate student, Matt vividly recalls a story in which he met a graduate student from
another university at a conference. Both Matt and this student were volunteering at the
conference, and when they arrived for their shifts, they introduced themselves to each
other. Matt provided his name and the university he was from. Interestingly, the other
student responded by introducing their name, and then proceeded to say: “You know, I
actually got into your university as well! But, I decided not to go because I felt I’d
ultimately get a much better education at XXX university.” This may seem like an
absurd thing to say to someone else (because, after all, it is). However, you would be
shocked at how many times interactions like these happen, between both strangers and
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peers. As this story illustrates, this student’s ego was a driving force in their interactions,
such that they postured in place of engaging in small talk when meeting new peers.
What should you take away from this, though? Specifically, although it is
instrumental that you develop some form of a positive ego, you must also keep your ego
in check. This means that you should not openly brag or boast about your
accomplishments, especially if no one prompted you to do so. This also means that you
should avoid presenting yourself as superior to or more knowledgeable than others.
Even if it may be true in some rare cases, in general, it is best to avoid letting your ego
speak for you. This is because when you do so, there is a possible unintended side effect
of making those around you experience a sense of failure and rejection. Of course, it is
perfectly fine for you to be excited about and proud of your accomplishments (as you
should be!). Yet, you should be aware that bragging about an achievement can be
perceived negatively by your peers, and it can even make them feel bad about their own
accomplishments. We return to this topic in Tip #4 at the end of this chapter.

Knowing When It Is Simply Time to Move on From an Endeavor

When it comes to dealing with failure and rejection, the final subtopic that we address
here pertains to the challenge of knowing when it is time to move on. This subtopic may
pertain to a host of issues, including (but not limited to) research and publishing, or
even attending graduate school itself. As Brown (2022) has noted, throughout the
course of one’s life, we all must make many tough decisions. And sometimes, those
tough decisions include both knowing when and learning how to let things go, even if we
have invested a significant amount of time and energy into them. This may include
letting go of our perfectionism (i.e., realizing it is not possible to make things perfect in
many instances), letting go of comparing ourselves to others, and relatedly, letting go of
caring what other people think.
Beginning with research and publishing, particularly when it comes to doctoral
programs, conducting research and attempting to publish one’s work is a foundational
part of many programs. Your graduate coursework likely will reflect this as well, with
many classes designed to give students the opportunity to propose (and sometimes even
execute) a research project. However, during your early years in graduate school, it is
oftentimes the case that the research you produce will not be of the highest quality. That
is, because you may be fairly new to aspects of your particular field, your methods
and/or analyses may not be sound, and your writing may be relatively weak. We note
here that although journal acceptance rates do vary considerably based on discipline
and a number of other factors (Sugimoto et al., 2013), you still may find it extremely
difficult to publish your work, as you are constantly rejected by journal after journal.
 93

You should know that this is something that happens to many students and even faculty
as well (including us!).
Therefore, after a certain amount of time (e.g., a couple years of trying), it is
important that you have an honest conversation with yourself. This may consist of
taking stock of the feedback that you have received from journal reviewers in the past,
and subsequently asking yourself: Are these criticisms unfair? Can I actually address
their comments and improve my work? Does the quality of my work/methods
resemble recent studies published in the journals in my field? If the answers to these
questions are ‘no,’ then it may be time for you to move on from your project. Although it
can be extremely difficult, you should take this as a learning opportunity and chance for
growth. Perhaps even consider devoting your newly acquired knowledge (and time) to
work on something new.
Apart from research and publishing, we cannot proceed onward with this chapter
without addressing the elephant in the room. This is the fact that graduate school is not
for everyone. In particular, although students are admitted to graduate school programs
based on their expressed interest, past performance, and future promise, of course, this
does not mean that everyone finishes their programs. In fact, as Cassuto and Weisbuch
(2021) have noted, a significant percentage of students – particularly at the PhD level –
do not go on to obtain their degrees. For many, this is because their own personal
priorities change over time. For example, while some students originally may have had a
strong desire to pursue their degree, new developments in their family life may get in
the way or may take precedence. For instance, some people may have children during
graduate school and then ultimately decide that they would prefer to find a job and
spend more time with their family. Meanwhile, for other students, after one or two years
in their program, they may simply realize that they are not as interested in research
and/or teaching as they originally had thought.
If you are one of these people, you should know that you are not alone.
Importantly, you should also know that graduate school itself may be one of those
endeavors that you may need to decide to move on from. If your heart is truly not in it, it
can be incredibly difficult (and painful) to make it through your program. Thus,
although leaving your program can be an incredibly difficult decision, it is something
that you ultimately may need to consider.
94

Personal Reflections: Stories From Current Graduate Students

Mike, from China

PhD student in Applied Linguistics

Stepping into an AI Ethics class the second semester of my PhD program, I felt like I
was trying to read a book upside down in a different language. Here I was, a
language nerd, suddenly thrown into the deep end with philosophers and computer
scientists. The reading list was massive, packed with theories that twisted my brain
into knots.

In class, I was the quiet one, not out of choice, but because every time I tried to chime
in, the words just wouldn’t come out right. I was that student who always looked a
bit lost, and honestly, I was. I spent nights glued to the screen, pouring over endless
resources, hoping something would click. Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

The moment of truth hit when I finally spilled my guts to the professor. I was
expecting a lecture, but instead, he got where I was coming from. He was cool about
it and gave me a lifeline to explore AI ethics in a way that made sense to me –
through the lens of language learning.

That chat changed everything. It turned AI ethics from this monster of a subject into
a puzzle I actually enjoyed piecing together. I started to see how these big, scary
concepts could play out in the real world of language learning. Suddenly, I wasn’t
just keeping up; I was adding something new to the conversations.

So yeah, it was rough at first, but that whole ordeal taught me something pretty
useful. In some cases, knowing when it is time to move on might simply mean not
trying to force yourself to fit into a mold. In my case, I was really close to deciding to
move on, but I was able to make the mold fit me.

Conclusion
In this chapter, we addressed the important topic of dealing with failure and rejection in
graduate school. This included discussions of feedback, managing your ego, and
deciding when it is time to move on. Importantly, we have discussed failure and
rejection at times as though they are the same thing, but clearly, this is not the case.
Rejection is common in academic endeavors, particularly in job hunts, conference
proposals, journal article submissions, and grant applications. It is clear when your
work has been rejected because others will tell you so. However, failure is a more
 95

personal concept that is related to your disposition, values, and goals. Whether a project
or endeavor has failed is often a matter of perspective, and while it is important to
reflect on when it may be time to move on, it is also important to accept setbacks and
reframe them into growth opportunities. As such, we close this chapter with some
practical tips to help you deal with such challenges.

Tips for Dealing with Failure and Rejection

Tip #1: Think of Feedback as a Conversation.

As discussed in this chapter, feedback can be a challenging thing for us to read, but it is
a meaningful resource for growth that is built into many academic structures. At the
same time, it is time-consuming to provide. Our tip is that you read and think of
feedback as a conversation. At a superficial level, we mean this literally! If you are
receiving feedback from a friend, classmate, professor, or advisor that you know well,
read it as though they were saying it to you. Just like with text messages, a large number
of misunderstandings can be resolved this way. A doctoral student in the program that
Elliott works in recently shared a piece of direct and challenging feedback from their
advisor and said “If anyone else would have given me that feedback, I would have died
of shame.” Their point was that they knew what the advisor meant based on their
relationship and imagined the advisor saying it with a smile on their face late at night –
(the feedback came after-hours). We also mean this more abstractly; feedback can be
seen as an invitation to a conversation. If you do not understand or want to learn more,
you are almost always free to ask.

Tip #2: Monitor Your Feedback Over Time.

It may seem obvious to some of you, but we strongly recommend that you take the
chance to reflect on the feedback you are receiving on your work over time! Whether you
decide to save feedback you receive in various forms or take notes on major elements, it
is important to document how the feedback you are receiving is changing (or not
changing) over time. If you are receiving the same concerns from students about your
teaching each term, from professors about your writing each term, or similar sounding
rejection letters when submitting your work, it is likely time to take some of the
feedback to heart. Hopefully, the feedback you are receiving will paint a satisfying line of
growth and development, with new feedback highlighting new obstacles that have
emerged in your academic career over time (and were subsequently overcome). For
example, both of our MA supervisors used to occasionally attend the classes we taught
96

and then provide detailed written observations. We recall reading them alongside our
teaching evaluations at the start of each term as a means of setting goals for
development.

Tip #3: Give Feedback as You Would Want to Receive It.

No, we do not mean that you should tell everyone their work is perfect and accept it as
is! Good feedback is friendly, supportive, collaborative, specific, and clear, and it is
directed towards the future and the work, rather than the past and the person. Not-so-
good feedback is the opposite of these things. When you are asked to provide feedback,
we recommend that you appreciate the work that may have gone into what you are
reviewing and respect the person that you are providing feedback to. Tone and clarity
are essential considerations. In particular, when providing feedback to your students, it
is helpful to be transparent about how you hope they will interpret your feedback and
also in how they will apply it. For example, writing question marks in the margin of a
document can be difficult to turn into action. And in general, it is best to consider
feedback as a collaboration rather than a chance to show off or demonstrate your
expertise. In a conversation where you provide feedback, you will likely highlight
strengths along with weaknesses, and it is important to adopt this perspective in written
feedback as well.

Tip #4: Keep Your Ego in Check Through Engaging in Reflective Practices
and Seeking Peer Support.

As discussed in this chapter, although it is important to form a positive ego in order to

develop a sense of personal value and self-worth, it is also crucial that you keep your ego
in check and not let it negatively impact those around you. How can you do this? One
way to tackle this issue is by engaging in reflective practices. Reflective practice has long
been advocated for by those in education and TESOL, and it refers to the act of engaging
in critical self-reflection and interrogating one’s own actions and beliefs (see Farrell,
2022). Although reflective practice is often discussed in terms of teaching, it can also be
applied to your daily activities and thought processes. Specifically, you should
occasionally take stock of your own beliefs concerning your sense of self-worth and
positions. This might be accomplished by candidly asking yourself: Are my feelings
justified in this specific situation? Should I truly feel as positive/negative or
(un)confident about my own position and actions in response to this situation? We
have privately asked ourselves such questions at many points in time, and doing so has
been helpful. Yet, apart from engaging in individual introspective questioning, it can
 97

also be helpful to find a peer who can help you keep your ego in check. This is another
reason that it is important to find a close confidant (see Chapter 6 on building
relationships), since a close peer may be more likely to speak to you candidly. That is to
say, sometimes an outside perspective may be required. Not only can a peer provide a
different vantage point on the difficult questions posed here, but they can also let you
know if your ego is getting too large.

Tip #5: Keep in Mind That Moving on Doesn’t Necessarily Mean It’s Over
Forever.

The final tip in this chapter expands on the topic of recognizing when it is time to move
on from an endeavor. In particular, we discussed that as a graduate student, you
eventually might need to make some tough decisions. This includes deciding whether to
move on from trying to publish a research project, or in some cases, even deciding
whether to leave your graduate program altogether. We note here that simply because
you have decided to let something go, this does not necessarily mean it has to be the
end. That is, it is entirely possible that an opportunity might present itself later. For
instance, although you may decide to stop trying to publish your research at the
moment, it may be the case that in the future, you can take aspects of your study (e.g.,
data) and combine them into a new project. In terms of leaving graduate school as well,
for some students, they might decide that they need to step away for an extended period
(e.g., to raise a child). However, we know of people who have decided to resume their
studies years later. Of course, it may be the case that you are 100% certain that you are
done with whatever the situation may be. But, in case you do have some hesitancy, you
should also know that moving on now does not mean that you can never revisit it later.

References
Brown, B. (2022). The gifts of imperfection: Let go of who you think you’re supposed to
be and embrace who you are. Hazelden Publishing.
Casal, J. E. (2020). An integrated corpus and genre analysis approach to writing
research and pedagogy: Development of graduate student genre knowledge.
[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The Pennsylvania State University.
Cassuto, L., & Weisbuch, R. (2021). The new PhD: How to build a better graduate
education. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Farrell, T. S. C. (2022). Doing reflective practice in English language teaching: 120
activities for effective classroom management, lesson planning, and
professional development. Routledge.
Kroger, J. (Ed.). (2014). Discussions on ego identity. Psychology Press.
Moneta-Koehler, L., Brown, A. M., Petrie, K. A., Evans, B. J., & Chalkley, R. (2017). The
limitations of the GRE in predicting success in biomedical graduate school. PLOS
One, 12(1), e0166742.
98

Sugimoto, C. R., Laivière, V., Ni, C., & Cronin, B. (2013). Journal acceptance rates: A
cross-disciplinary analysis of variability and relationships with journal measures.
Journal of Informetrics, 7(4), 897-906.
Swanson, J., Valiente, C., Lemery-Chalfant, K., & O’Brien, T. C. (2011). Predicting early
adolescents’ academic achievement, social competence, and physical health from
parenting, ego resilience, and engagement coping. The Journal of Early
Adolescence, 31(4), 548-576.
Tenenbaum, H. R., Crosby, F. J., & Gliner, M. D. (2001). Mentoring relationships in
graduate school. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59, 326-341.
CHAPTER 9

Conclusion
We now come to the final chapter of this book, the conclusion. Up to this point, we have
covered numerous topics that are of importance to graduate student success, including
many issues that cut across both the master’s and doctoral levels. These topics consisted
of dealing with imposter syndrome (Chapter 2), developing your study routine,
strategies, while making time for yourself (Chapter 3), carving out your research,
teaching, and professional interests (Chapter 4), working with your advisor (Chapter 5),
networking (Chapter 6), coping with crises (Chapter 7), and dealing with failure and
rejection (Chapter 8). As mentioned earlier, there are numerous books and edited
volumes that aim to help graduate students succeed in the later stages of their programs
in areas such as becoming better academic readers and writers (e.g., Shore, 2016; Swales
& Feak, 2012), working on the dissertation (e.g., Casanave, 2014, 2020), and
transitioning from graduate student to faculty member (e.g., Plonsky, 2020). This book,
however, was written with the goal of helping you succeed in the day-to-day activities of
being a graduate student, particularly as you enter your program and engage in various
activities during the first year. Throughout the chapters of this book, in addition to
relaying our own stories and advice, we also integrated the stories and perspectives of
multiple other graduate students from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of
interests. Notably, this was done as a means of providing a diversity of perspectives on
the issues being discussed, but also, for the purposes of highlighting the commonality of
encountering such issues during one’s studies.
In this final chapter, we conclude our discussion of how to make the most of
graduate school by covering what is perhaps one of the most vital keys to success: being

Kessler, M., & Casal, J. E. (2024). Conclusion. In M. Kessler & J. E. Casal, Making the most of
graduate school: A practical guidebook for students in applied linguistics, education, and TESOL
(pp. 99-104). Applied Linguistics Press.
100

kind to others. Although this may seem like a rather simple (and obvious)
recommendation, we discuss why in some cases, it may be anything but. Thus, we open
our discussion of this topic with addressing the important role that kindness plays in
helping you achieve any general form of success, followed by how kindness might
manifest in the different activities and interactions you have during your graduate
school career. Of course, for us and for others, it is also the right thing to do! Discussed
are subtopics such as taking time out of your busy schedule to help others with their
work, along with being kind to everyone who crosses your path. Following this
discussion on the importance of kindness, we wrap up the book by providing some brief,
concluding remarks.

The Important Role of Kindness in Achieving Success

As mentioned in the introduction, devoting an entire section of this book to the topic of
kindness may seem somewhat peculiar to many readers; however, we cannot underscore
enough the role that the kindness plays in helping you achieve success currently (while
in graduate school) and in the future (in your careers).
To begin, ‘kindness’ has been written about and studied rather extensively in
other domains of scholarly inquiry, including fields such as business, education, and
psychology, to name a few. To help foreground our discussion, we highlight some of
these studies here. For instance, since many graduate student readers of this book likely
will serve as educators in the future (i.e., as a career post-graduation) or perhaps even
currently (e.g., in a TA role), being kind to one’s students is particularly vital. Studies
such as Datu et al. (2022), for example, have shown that in educational domains in
which teachers interact with learners, being kind has been shown to impact students’
mental health, feelings of well-being, and their general sense of belonging at school.
That is, even though you may occasionally have a student who is disruptive and poses
distinct challenges, rather than taking it personally, giving students the benefit of the
doubt is oftentimes a better solution. This does not imply that you cannot or should not
be firm and assertive about what the rules of the classroom are and what must (or must
not) be done in certain instances, particularly regarding the way students treat each
other. However, you can be assertive while still maintaining a certain basic level of
kindness and respect for your students. It is also true that many student behaviors that
educators deem problematic are the result of challenges or difficulties that students are
facing. Initiating dialogue and showing compassion is often essential for creating a path
forward and reaching learning outcomes.
Even for those graduate students who may not be interested in becoming
classroom teachers or educators in the future, kindness can also play an important role
 101

in fostering your own mental health and well-being. For example, studies have
suggested that as a byproduct of being kind to others, the mere act of doing so has the
capacity to make you feel more motivated, and even feel more grateful and happier
about your own life (see Otake et al., 2006). Thus, even in certain cases where it may be
considerably difficult to be kind, if not for others’ sake, then you should attempt to do so
for yourself. Kindness is important for building relationships, contributing to healthy
working and learning environments, and ensuring that others feel the respect that they
and their contributions deserve. This includes your students, faculty, staff, and peers.
Clearly, being kind can be important for promoting others’ and your own mental
health and well-being, but what role does it play in your graduate school endeavors and
future success? For one, kindness is important for being perceived as a valued co-worker
and potential leader. Researchers in business and other fields have demonstrated that
typically, people both want and seek co-workers and leaders that they perceive as kind
(e.g., Haskins et al., 2018). When it comes to having a colleague, people want someone
who not only cares about their own work, but also someone who cares about those
around them. Thus, during your graduate studies, it stands to reason that if you are
someone who is perceived as kind by your peers and faculty, then you are more likely to
be invited to participate in various activities during graduate school. In many cases, this
includes being invited to social opportunities (e.g., dinners and events), but it also
includes being invited to participate in important academic and career-building
opportunities involving teaching and research.
Conversely, if you are someone who is perceived as being unkind or as someone
who consistently engages in rude or uncivil behaviors, then there may be negative
consequences. What are these behaviors? Common examples include belittling or
insulting others, taking credit for others’ efforts, not listening, blaming others for your
mistakes, in addition to actions such as retaliating for things you perceive as unfair
(Bunk et al., 2011; Porath & Pearson, 2009). Of course, all of us are human. So, in rare
instances, if you engage in such behavior, it is best to apologize. However, if you are
someone who routinely engages in these behaviors, then there may be a significant cost
to pay. This cost is something that may be felt by your peers (e.g., dreading working with
or even engaging with you), but it is also something that you may not become aware of
(ever!) or until it is too late. We return to this topic in the next section with our
discussion of how kindness manifests during graduate school.

How Kindness Manifests During Graduate School

Apart from attempting to avoid those negative behaviors described in the previous
section, what can you do as a student to express kindness during your graduate studies?
102

In this section, we highlight two primary actions that you can take, which include
making efforts to help others with their work and being kind to those who cross your
path.
The first action that you can take involves helping others with their work. As
discussed in Chapter 3, during your first year, you will likely find it relatively challenging
to manage the increased workload and will thus need to experiment with different
organizational and study strategies. Although you will undoubtedly be busy, during your
first year and beyond, there will also be numerous instances in which either you and/or
your peers will need help from each other. For example, such requests may directly
pertain to coursework, in which you need assistance with a class project, or perhaps
because you or a peer are struggling with an aspect of the course and need additional
scaffolding and support. Such requests for help might also pertain to other activities,
including your teaching or research. For instance, you may find yourself in need of a
peer to fill in for your class, or for a peer to assist you with part of your data analysis.
Thus, even though you will be busy, when a peer needs help, assuming that the request
is a reasonable one, you should do your very best to be kind and to help them. Not only
will they appreciate your efforts – (after all, they will also be busy and recognize the
effort that it took you) – but in turn, they also may be willing to help you if and when
you need support in the future. Of course, you do want to be wary of how others can take
advantage of your kindness and willingness to help, so this is something to be cognizant
of as well.
In addition to showing kindness by helping your peers and cohort members with
their various endeavors, the second thing we stress here is that, to the extent possible,
you should strive to be kind to everyone who crosses your path during your graduate
studies. What do we mean by this? In addition to your peers, you should make an
exerted effort to be kind to your faculty, university and program staff, and of course, to
your own students (if you are teaching). This can be as simple as saying ‘hello’ and
smiling when you pass people in the hallway. However, it also applies to more personal
and effortful interactions, such as congratulating and being excited for your peers when
they have a new accomplishment (e.g., being accepted to present at a conference or
when they receive an award).
On the flip side, this also means that you should not publicly disparage those you
disagree with, nor should you openly put down the work that others are doing. For one,
as mentioned in the previous section, being perceived as rude or uncivil can negatively
impact the opportunities that you receive as a graduate student. Such examples include
not being offered opportunities for GA-, RA-, or TA-ships. These negative behaviors can
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also cause you to miss out on some of the more fun, social aspects of being a graduate
student, including forging important bonds with your peers and faculty beyond the
classroom. Also, there are many roles in a university that are essential to successful
operation and smooth functioning, and it is important to show respect to all who work
and learn within them.
Related to the previous point, and perhaps most importantly, even if you disagree
with someone’s work or how they approach certain tasks, we stress here that in most
cases, you should probably keep it to yourself. This is because you never know when
you will see or need someone’s help again. One illustrative example is: We know of
people who have served on hiring committees and encountered applications from
people they previously interacted with during graduate school. We will leave the
description relatively vague by not providing too many details; however, we will state
here that in the past, these applicants were frequently rude. As students, they expressed
that they felt their work was superior, and that the work others were doing was of little
value. Thus, years later, when these people’s applications came up for review and
discussion among the committee members, it made rendering the decision of ‘no’ rather
quick and easy. We point out here that this is more common than you might think. That
is: When hiring, committees are not simply looking for someone who is qualified. They
are also looking for someone who is respectful of other people’s opinions, easy to get
along with, and quite simply, someone who is kind.
Thus, as much as possible, we strongly encourage you to choose kindness, even
when a situation may be particularly challenging. This does not mean that you should
never express any negative sentiments or vent your frustrations (see a related discussion
in Chapter 6, in which we address the importance of finding a close confidant).
However, building bridges is generally better than burning them.

Concluding Remarks
We have now reached the final section and end of this book. As mentioned in the
introduction, when we were graduate students, we wished that there was a guidebook
that offered helpful advice, relatable stories, and tips on how to deal with different
situations that are likely to arise during the first year of most graduate school programs.
As such, we constructed this book in large part based on our own experiences and those
of our peers, who studied (and now work) in applied linguistics, education, TESOL, and
related disciplines. Thus, we acknowledge here that this book may fully not address each
and every situation that will arise during your particular journey into and through
graduate school. However, we do hope that this book has made you more conscious of
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some of the major challenges that you are likely to face, in addition to considering how
you might respond to such challenges if or when they arise.
Finally, we wish to highlight here that one of the major themes that ran
throughout this book is the idea that many graduate students often perceive the
challenges that they encounter as being unique, and in some cases, overly stressful and
insurmountable. In many cases though, this is not the case. As Mark Twain is purported
to have said: “History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.” This same sentiment
applies here as well. That is, the challenges (and successes!) that you experience have
often been experienced by those around you. Thus, we strongly encourage you to
consider your own graduate school experience not as a solo endeavor, but as a shared
experience that can be made more manageable and fun by adopting certain mindsets
and strategies. In closing, we hope that you found this book useful, and that you will use
it as a tool for making the most of your graduate school experience.

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