Choosing what to read: a note to a friend in grad school

Illustration: Casual Polar Bear

I remember one November night in grad school, I was seated in my dorm room questioning my decision to undertake a Masters degree. Everything seemed too difficult to navigate. My first essay had flopped. My professors were reassuring, but it felt more like gaslighting than genuine support. In fact, they claimed I was doing quite well, on average, as most students. If only they knew I once scored the second position in primary school and my mum had asked if the person with the first position had two heads.

There's a ton of research on the struggles international students face adapting to a new academic culture. Getting through jargon-filled textbooks that make you question your sanity and competence! Or the hurdle of trying to understand the academic culture in a new country, the strange logic and values, and the lack of awareness about our own experience, as students that aren’t local to the system and culture.

I hope this notes offers some helpful suggestions on how to choose what to read in a sea of reading materials thrown your way.

I will frame my thoughts in three parts to effectively approach this question. The first part is the hard part. The second part outlines a strategic approach. And the last details a personal productivity hack.

Part 1: The Hard part

I’m sorry. There’s no shortcut. Those long hours spent wrestling with dense texts are crucial. The more quality time you put in, the faster you will grasp complex concepts in the future. But, those texts will try to beat you down as they did to every student that has glanced through their pages. Thousands have cried while reading them, trying to comprehend pages and pages of jargon. The same happened to me and I questioned my decision to undertake a Masters degree. There are no shortcuts to get through this phase. The long road is the only path. This is important because this is how you build familiarity, confidence and competence with the lexis and register of the field. And as you progress you will find that you will need less and less time to grasp the content. Your speed and cognition will improve, and you’ll build the vocabulary and understanding needed for future success. But first you have to put in the work. It is the basis of all that comes next. I still wonder why the academic world has to use such inaccessible words and sentence structures to communicate simple and straightforward ideas. But that’s a concern for another day!

Part 2: The Strategic part

As a grad student you have very limited time and a seemingly unlimited amount of texts to read within those timeframe. It’s a race against the clock. So you have to be very strategic with where you’re devoting your time.

First attain clarity on what you need to learn from a course: the theoretical underpinnings, the concepts you need to wrap your head around, the skillset you need to grasp, what the professor is emphasising in their notes and lectures. Once you have this, use the "essential" readings they recommend to achieve the learning objectives. And when you need to scratch below the surface, go further and consult the long list of recommended texts. Never be comfortable with reading one text, or understanding one approach to a question. After getting the needed ideas in the essentials, go deeper with recommended texts to explore different viewpoints. Go further; always go further by consulting other texts.

That said, my next recommendation will come as no surprise. Go beyond the essential and recommended texts of your professors. Go rogue! Go to Google scholar and see what others are saying or writing about the questions you are considering. What’s their analysis on the concepts. Take note of those theories they deploy to aid their critical analysis. Going rogue like this takes courage and ambition. But it can be risky, as some schools prefer you stick closely to the provided materials. Remember to always stay rooted in the foundations and theories of the course. However, this is a great way to sharpen your critical thinking and develop unique perspectives.

Before I move to the third part, I must add this. Do not get carried away. When you visit the books, chapters or essays. Go for what you want. Get it and leave. The goal is to learn, not to finish the book, chapter or essay!

Part 3: The personal productivity hacks

Here are some productivity hack for a more effective grad school reading journey. I made it even easier by placing them in bullets:

• As you read, become a ruthless highlighter (digital or physical, your choice). Mark sentences that stand-out, the really great arguments, well constructed paragraphs, and anything useful you see. They’ll most likely becomes useful for you when you are writing that essay in the very near future. I know you think you might remember these gems. Trust me, you won’t. Get your highlighter! Add comments and questions to deepen your understanding.

• Download and save the useful essays and books you read. You will need them. If not now, probably when you write your dissertation. Or in a few years, when you get the flash of inspiration to write a piece on an industry trend.

• Test your understanding with your professors or Teaching Assistants. We’re not experts on these subjects, yet. So our grasp may sometimes be less than solid. Better to straighten it out in a conversation in an office or in the lecture hall, than in a submitted essay.

You’ve asked me a simple question and I’ve written a thousand words without care for your time. I apologise for that.

This period, though challenging, is also incredibly rewarding. The skills you're honing now, the ability to critically analyze texts, synthesize complex arguments, and build a robust knowledge base, will stay with you long after graduation. You'll come out of this, not just with a degree, but with the confidence to tackle whatever complex texts or intellectual challenge that comes your way. So keep going my friend. You've got this!

- Henry