Why grad schools should suppress public scholarship (opinion)

If you’ve been to graduate school, you probably have a list of things you wish your program could do better—or at least differently. Some of them may have been visible when you were there, while others may have appeared years later.

Bottom line: It’s only now, as a full professor, that I see how important it is that graduate programs require students to publish at least one piece, preferably one related to their research, in a respected national news outlet that is aimed at the general public. the audience. During my doctoral program, I had no way of knowing how important that would be. In fact, some people welcome this proposal, especially since it is outside the traditional configuration of how graduate school proceeds. However there are many positives, and I will explain seven important reasons why.

1. It is important to know how to effectively translate ideas for wider application. Anything worth researching and learning about is worth sharing and passing on in digestible ways for other people to gain insight and inspiration. And it says “Who cares?” the most important feature. Readers need and want—and deserve—to know why they should care about what you write. They need to understand why it matters.

For example, how can your research on the water crisis impact public policy? Or, how can you make your expertise in the matter of tourism to both company managers to open the case for responsible development and average citizens who like to travel and want to do so responsibly? Or, how does poetry affect people’s ability to learn effectively? Furthermore, how does overreliance on family caregivers affect the physical and mental health and strength of the family?

2. Writing for a general audience will change your writing for the better. If you are writing for a large audience, you should avoid jargon and communicate in a way that others can understand and appreciate without prior knowledge about your specific field. We have to talk about that when we teach, and it’s an important lesson to know how to do that in writing, too. Publishing in non-academic outlets improves your repertoire, flexibility and fluency. Don’t be surprised if it helps you express ideas better when you teach, too.
3. Writing for the national press will reshape and improve your writing process and practice. Most outlets want pithy, snappy, big pieces that run between 600 and 1,000 words for a newspaper op-ed and 1,000 to 1,500 for articles in magazines or elsewhere. Learning to write short but strong pieces that are full of important information, that are richly mixed and layered, and that invite readers to analyze them can be very challenging but also very rewarding.

When I was in college and grad school, I had two bad tendencies: I wrote over everything, and I procrastinated. All the papers I submitted were longer than they needed to be, and I was one of those annoying people who checked font limits and margins. The tyranny of perfectionism weighed heavily on me, and as I see it now, some of my waiting until the last minute was a twisted way to deal with fear and delusion. If I didn’t do as well as I knew I could at something, I would justify not devoting endless time to it. I know I am not alone as an academic who has struggled with those two situations at the same time. Procrastination and long writing are basic love languages ​​in academics. But they don’t work well for us.

Years later, when I started wanting to write for a much larger audience with national media, those habits had to change. I became comfortable with the rhythm of writing in a more organized way, saying things more clearly and yet, without a doubt, more beautifully and artistically. And now I meet deadlines much more easily.

4. Submitting work to a national news outlet is a good practice for developing a thick skin. In order to maintain the momentum of writing and publishing, you must be able to deal with rejection and criticism. If you submit an article for publication to a popular news site and they want to publish it, someone there may get back to you within hours or weeks. It is often a much easier process than submitting work to scholarly journals for example.

That fast pace is beneficial for several reasons. First, knowing quickly where things stand puts you in a better position to get your work out on time or to know quickly that you should try to send it elsewhere. Second, you learn to face failure and continue to put your work into practice no matter what, and the act of doing so can help you value and protect your work. Finally, such a fast turnaround time for adoption also means that planners want changes quickly. That can motivate you to meet the deadline and help you stay a little more attached to all your words and ideas. The key is to keep your work moving along the assembly line you created for yourself.

Not only do you have to deal with a direct response from an editor, but having your work available to many other people who see it means that many people may criticize you. While a scholarly article may gain zero to 100 lifetime reads, a single article in the popular media can attract thousands or even millions of viewers a day. That can be exciting or terrifying, depending on your perspective. But, in general, writing and publishing involves you in a larger conversation, and the possibility that so many people share your ideas is a good thing. It requires letting go of perfectionism and embracing progressive ideas.

5. Publishing in a well-read space can transform your career. Vibrance and life come from designing short pieces for a wide and very diverse audience. The power of ideas on those topics can spark curiosity and connections that lead students to reach out. Writing for a national news outlet can give you exposure to new audiences, expand your networks and reveal opportunities for scholarship, teaching and service that you never imagined. One of the most fulfilling aspects of writing for a large audience is hearing from people all over the world with comments, questions and invitations. I received emails from academics, senior administrators at other colleges and universities, average citizens, and everyone in between.

As a result of writing for the general public, I have been invited to speak, conduct workshops, serve on research committees, participate in webinars and conferences organized by several foreign institutions, and author chapters in anthologies. I have been interviewed on television, radio and podcasts. The book ambassador even offered to represent me because he liked the article I was writing.

6. Community scholarship and mentoring reinforce each other. Whether by choice or circumstance, many people leave school and do not enter academic careers, and many others drop out of academia to pursue other lines of work. It therefore makes sense for graduate students to have preparation and experience writing for general audiences.

Of course, for that to happen, senior faculty will need to know the ropes of how to best navigate this unique writing field, so they can advise graduate students to do this successfully. While some may think it is too easy to write and publish for a general audience, a good number of faculty members would find themselves surprised by the number of different challenges involved. It would be a positive step to see funding and other institutional support flow in the form of professional development for these efforts.

7. Publishing outside of traditional constructs and academic boundaries can ultimately benefit higher education. At a time when institutions of higher education are constantly under scrutiny and attack, and when the public is questioning whether there is anything of importance, value and practical application that is happening within these institutions, it makes sense for faculty members to reach out to the larger circle and write. for the best. We also need to teach and encourage graduate students to do this regularly. Best of all, engaging in community scholarship helps build bridges and foster trust between colleges and universities and their communities.