Research Workshops Keep Graduate Students Sharp
By Alvin Powell
Contributing Writer
Debi LaPlante fussed with her materials, smiling nervously as about 30
graduate students and faculty trickled into the William James conference
room. They clustered briefly around the sandwich platter and then, lunch
in hand, took seats at the oval table dominating the small room.
Despite record March warmth that had students crowding outdoors all over
campus, attendance was good at the Social Psychology Research Workshop.
The room filled up quickly, latecomers squeezing into seats along the wall.
When all were seated, LaPlante put the first transparency on the overhead
projector and started talking about her experiments with nonverbal communication,
how researchers contrasted content and tone in verbal messages and mixed
and matched facial expressions.
LaPlante finished about 45 minutes later, relieved and pleased. She had
forgotten a thing or two, but the presentation had gone well.
The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Research Workshop program is
intended to help graduate students like LaPlante make steady progress on
dissertations and scholarly papers and prepare them to present their work
before wider audiences.
"I haven't presented the research before," said LaPlante, a
teaching fellow in psychology. "I was very nervous, but I think people
were engaged."
The research workshop program began in 1994 at the urging of Professor
of Government and of Sociology Theda Skocpol, who had seen the workshops'
effectiveness while working at the University of Chicago. Skocpol now chairs
the GSAS Committee on Research Workshops.
Without regular classes to attend, graduate students working on their
theses often complain of being isolated, Skocpol said. And without the discipline
of deadlines, work on a thesis can drag on in fits and starts.
"In huge stretches of the social sciences and humanities, graduate
students can feel it's just them and their thesis," Skocpol said. "The
question is how to create a research-focused community."
The answer is regular workshops where graduate students and faculty members
gather to discuss ideas, circulate drafts of papers, and present their work
for the first time. The workshops provide a relief from isolation, a chance
to gather input on ideas, and the incentive to make steady progress on one's
work.
"The GSAS Research Workshops have become one of the most successful
and enthusiastically supported initiatives in the graduate program,"
said GSAS Administrative Dean Margot Gill, who serves on the GSAS Committee
on Research Workshops. "From the Graduate School's perspective, the
important effect has been to open communication among scholars across departments
and to give graduate students a place to share their research and receive
feedback before the dissertation reaches the final writing stage."
Skocpol acquired a small amount of funding for the workshops from the
Ford Foundation. The GSAS added enough to that money so that workshops can
receive grants of up to $6,000. The money is not a lot, she said, but it
provides for things like refreshments, compensation for one student to act
as a coordinator, and pays for an occasional outside speaker.
The program has spurred the creation of many new research workshops,
but it also has supported several pre-existing workshops.
Though the graduate students are the focus of the workshops, faculty
also benefit, Skocpol said. Each workshop must be sponsored by at least
two faculty members, who can also circulate drafts of scholarly papers and
bounce ideas off workshop members.
The workshops provide another benefit for faculty members, who get a
chance to interact with students outside of a classroom or office setting,
Skocpol said.
"It's just more fun. It can be hard for faculty to work one-on-one
or just meet graduate students in their office," Skocpol said.
The workshops have been well-received since their initiation. There were
35 workshops approved this year, compared to 26 in the first year funding
was offered. All together, 68 workshops have been supported by the program,
involving 200 faculty members and more than 1,000 graduate students.
The workshop topics are varied. Some are narrowly focused, zeroing in
on a particular topic within a discipline, while others take a broader look
at a subject. Topics this year range from nationalism and culture in East
Central Europe to East Asian archaeology to Greek and Roman poetry.
"They're vital to graduate students because they're continually
asked to sell their ideas," said Assistant Professor of Psychology
Karen Ruggiero. "Clearly, if they're going on the job market, the ability
to present their ideas is of great value."
Though the GSAS program has prompted and supported the formation of many
workshops, some existing workshops have joined the program as well. The
social psychology workshop where LaPlante gave her presentation, for example,
has been meeting Tuesdays at noon since before the GSAS program began, according
to Psychology Professor Daniel Gilbert, one of five or six professors who
attend weekly.
"This is a very varied group. This helps us keep in touch,"
Gilbert said. "Mainly the function is for us to get together as a family."
Gilbert said the GSAS support is helping the group maintain its Web page,
letting it bring in a speaker from the University of California at Santa
Barbara and helping with things like refreshments served at the noontime
meetings.
"The funding program has enabled us to do some wonderful things,"
Gilbert said.<
LaPlante said she's been a member of the workshop for about three years,
but this is the first time she's made a presentation. The workshop has been
helpful, she said, because she was able to watch other presentations and
learn from them.
After her debut, LaPlante doesn't think she'll make many changes to the
presentation -- aside from trying to give the whole thing.
"I think there was a bit of nervousness," LaPlante said. "I
don't think I'm going to make a whole lot of changes, other than remembering
to say everything."
Copyright
1998 President and Fellows of Harvard College
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