Doctoral juggling: Making time for scholarship

Abstract

An important aspect of pursuing a doctoral degree is committing to developing a portfolio of academic scholarship that will showcase your research interests and demonstrate your capability as a writer. Although many doctoral students may not consider writing time outside of classes to be a priority during their program, it is vital that they allocate time and make use of their available resources to build their skills as scholars. This Writers’ Forum piece will address the importance of engaging in extra–curricular scholarship while pursuing a doctoral degree and provide readers with strategies to effectively pursue scholarship.

One of the most imperative and trepidacious aspects of pursuing a doctoral degree is producing academic scholarship in addition to the work completed in coursework. By definition, pursuing a doctorate degree means that consuming and producing academic scholarship will be a core aspect of the academic work. Unfortunately, some students enter their coursework focusing on only scholarship for the classes undertaken. They do the reading necessary for each course, write the requisite papers, and submit their work without thought to the broader need to make time to practice and hone their academic writing skills. Inasmuch as their faculty advisor may prompt and ask them about their writing time, some see the practice inextricably linked to coursework rather than to the broader landscape of their academic career. Whether drafting academic conference papers or developing research articles for journals, making time for scholarship outside of academic coursework is essential for doctoral students to develop their writing skills. Academic writing is unlike other writing you have done and, done well, is an art where you can find a creative release as well as making sound research assertions. the purpose of this Writer's Forum is to discuss the importance of ‘extra–curricular’ scholarship and provide helpful strategies for writing productivity from getting organized to making time for writing and building a feedback collective of other doctoral students who are also engaged in the research writing process.