What is Tacit Knowledge in Academia? – It is what often goes unsaid, or picked up though experience. It’s “the hidden curriculum–networking, professional communication, how to spend each day, which tasks and relationships to prioritize, and how–supports the overt one. Tacit knowledge greases the wheels, and in its absence, the wheels grind and spark and fail. Why not share it up front?”
This page houses links to tacit knowledge and advice philosophy graduate students might be looking for, and others have found useful.
My Own Tacit Knoweldge and Advice
These are documents I’ve put together on topics or issues I get asked about.
Surviving Graduate School
- Finding (or Building) Community in Graduate School
- Five Myths about Mental Health and Well-being in (Philosophy) Grad School
Identity (and Imposter Syndrome) in Academia
- How to Make your Social Space More Welcoming to Shy, Socially Anxious, or Introverted People. Social interaction is hard for many people for many different reasons. These are ways we can all help.
- And related: On Being a Shy Introvert in Academic Philosophy
- Coding “White Trash” in Academia by Holly Genovese discusses her feeling of “in-betweenness, a lack of belonging” both in academia and at home.
- Is Your Department Toxic? A handy guide with gifs.
- The Confidence Gap in Academic Writing by Theresa MacPhail. “…in an effort to make anyone struggling with impostor syndrome feel less isolated, I decided to come out of the confidence gap closet to offer the following concrete tips on how to start writing with less self-doubt”, she also provides a list of points to look through your own writing for. (Related: How to eliminate the verb: To Be from Writing).
- Why Does Feedback Hurt Sometimes? a letter written by “an experienced academic at ANU to her PhD student, who had just presented his research to a review panel and was still licking her wounds”.
- “I’m Sorry I Wasn’t More Clear” Gendered Pitfalls. This post discusses these pitfalls in conferences, and links to other pitfalls:
- “The Top 5 Mistakes Women Make in Academic Settings,”
- “Stop Negotiating Like a Girl” and
- “The Six Ways You’re Acting Like a Grad Student (And how that’s killing you on the job market)”
- These articles are not just for women! It is helpful when males are also more aware of what “women’s behavior” in academia!
Help! I’m Stuck and Can’t Write my Dissertation!
- The No-Fail Secret to Writing a Dissertation. Advice from an NYU Dissertation Writing Coach
- The Difficult Discussion Chapter. While this isn’t necessarily a chapter all philosophy dissertations have, the strategies in here are transferable.
- How To Support Graduate Student Writers without spending any money!
The (Philosophy) Job Market
- The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job by Karen Kelsky. The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job. You can also check out her blog, I’ve also linked to some of my favorite posts below.
- Useful Resources for the Academic Job Market from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Writing a Cover Letter for Academic Jobs at Teaching Institutions by Terry McGlynn.
- Eight Pitfalls to The Teaching Statement by Karen Kelsky.
- How to Write an Effective Diversity Statement for Faculty job applications.
- Rules of the Academic CV by Karen Kelsky.
- Questions You Will be Asked in a Philosophy Job Interview by Dan Hicks.
- A Guide for US Students Applying for UK Jobs. at DailyNous
Odds and Ends
- How to Ask People for Stuff: e-mail edition.
- How to Write a Conference Abstract
- Sexual Harassment 101 from Feminist Philosophers
Alt-Ac
- Guide to Non-Academic Cover Letter for Academics (there is a link on this page to building a resume from an academic CV as well).
- It’s Not “Giving Up”. Extensive discussion on Philosopher’s Cocoon on leaving philosophy for alt-ac jobs.