Guidebooks for Grad Students
Grad school is a long and arduous process, but there are good books to guide your way. First is Gregory Colón Semenza’s
Graduate Study for the Twenty-First Century, which I wish I’d had during the process.
And speaking of long and arduous, Paul Silvia’s
How to Write a Lot has eminently practical advice on taking the mystery out of the writing process.
Sometimes you need to be reminded to clean up your tangled sentences, and I like Christopher Lasch’s
Plain Style for its clarity.
And finally, every grad student should have a copy of Kate Turabian’s
Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Learn her rules for footnote and bibliography style now and save yourself a lot of time later when you’re formatting your dissertation.
