Useful Information and Links
In progress. More coming soon.
Some random information for students:
A handy citation guide from the UI Librarians.
A generic but useful grading rubric. Want to know how the professor assigns a grade? This will help you understand.
The BA is the new high school diploma. According to Jacobe in Making It (Academe, 2011), one reason college faculty can’t deliver the mythical ticket to middle-class transformation is because the majority of faculty members themselves are struggling to survive. One wonders what to do as our country lets it once magnificent educational system fall into (and even below) third world status. This doesn't bode well for anyone in America.
The Chronicle of Higher Education has recommendations about your grad school application essay.
The Chronicle of Higher Education also has very good advice for grad students on writing grants.
and ten tips on Writing less bad by Mike Munger
Some advice from the ASA on giving
conference presentations.
Some thoughts on
time management and writing your thesis
from University Affairs magazine. Just remember, none of this stuff
really matters; it is a job, not a life or death task. Remember da
Vinci? Sure. But give me the names of two or three of the academics from
his era. (So remember, one of those artists across campus may have a
much bigger impact on the world than anyone else on campus! Don’t let
that deflate you, but it should help you keep it in perspective.)
Some advice on
publishing from Inside Higher
Education.
Notice how political science does
Pondering a career outside of Academia?
Interested in becoming a lobbyist?
Advice from Anayat Durrani
What can you do with a political science degree?
See the APSA’s information on
jobs in political
science. Better yet, see
UNCW’s page, Jennifer
Batchelder’s
page, and a very thorough page by the
Canadian Political Science Association.
Whitten’s John Whitten’s review of Marc Bousquet’s book,
How the University Works,
NYU Press, 2008.
Thinking of leaving the Ivory Enclave
after the PhD, maybe even before? See
Sally Hikel’s blog on
the beauty of the nonacademic life or
Beyond Academe for
helpful tools and inspiration including how to convert your CV into a
resume. And look at
UWO’s
advice to students on entering the real world.
Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius wrote a wonderful book on the
subject called “So what are you going to do with that?” Although
they left early, there are many stories in the book about veteran
academics rediscovering life in the real world as well. And the
Ivory Doghouse offers
advice and complaints. In a recent survey, over 97% of PhD’s who have
worked in both arenas find the nonacademic life much more rewarding, and
93% of tenured faculty who left academia say they are much happier. It
is easy to forget that there is a real world. Academia is “special” (and
yes, you can read that both ways). See the Chronicle’s
“Happy
Question” and “Paycheck
Reality Check.” Or read
“Conference Confidential” and
“Leaving the Village.”
Think there is no life outside of academia?
What happens after you leave an academic job?
Here are a few famous PhD’s who abandoned academic work for bright
futures.
When interns must be paid.
Is your internship unpaid? Should it be?
Good advice in article from the Chronicle that mainly is meant for faculty, but graduate students might learn from it too. Changing the way we socialize doctoral students.
Claire Potter has advice for faculty who might do (or see) teaching evaluations.
Internships and Independent Study:
NOTE: Until further notice I am leaving internship and independent study in political science to the faculty who are full time in that department and thus free to undertake such work. Please see one of them.
I will, however, sponsor students with whom I have had a good prior working relationship (you know who you are) as a personal favor. I also will take on advanced students whose research interests closely correspond with one of my current projects, especially those willing to work on those projects as part of their internship or independent study.
I also will
Information about the University of Illinois:
Human Dimensions of
Environmental Systems.
A program at the University of Illinois for graduate students and
faculty who study the way physical environment influences human
attitudes and behaviors.
Civic Engagement Programs
at the University of Illinois. An excellent program that integrates
students into civic and corporate life. This is a university wide
program, open to students and faculty, that puts university expertise to
use in applied and community settings. The public learns how
university courses and research are important to them. Students
and other participants make important contacts with business,
government, and community leaders.
Public Leadership
Program
and the interdisciplinary leadership certificate. Recognized as
one of the finest leadership programs in the nation. Graduates are
in high demand by prospective employers in business and government
agencies. This is a campus-wide program designed to create future
leaders in the corporate and governmental spheres.
Center on Democracy in Multiracial
Societies.
An exciting new center examining democracy in heterogeneous societies.
University of Illinois
Library
homepage from which you may search holdings at the UI and elsewhere, use
on-line reserves, read on-line journals (from uiuc or by secure login
using your netid), and check out books.
University rules on academic integrity, plagiarism, and library use.
(Article
1, Part 4
of the Student Code.) Click here for
Code homepage and
here for the entire code as a
pdf
file. Please don't cheat! It isn't honest, it isn’t smart, and
the penalties can range from failing a class to dismissal from the
university
with a prominent notice on your transcript that you were dismissed for
cheating. (The
latter is the penalty usually recommended.) The holders of the copyright
to materials that are plagiarized also will be notified
so that they may consider filing criminal and civil charges
in addition
to penalties imposed by the University.
Problems with the law, your roommate, other students?
Visit the Office of
Conflict Resolution. This is a very important free service
offered by the University. The Committee on Student Discipline, on
which I also serve, is found here as well.
McKinley Student Health
Center.
Provides free health services for students without other coverage.
The University
of Illinois Academic Calendar.
Find out when school ends, spring break starts, etc.
Miscellaneous and random bits of information that may be of interest.
A surplus of College Grads hit China, a problem of which the US only dreams.
Is grade inflation bad? Should we care, and should we fight it? What if everybody got an A?
The Geography of Gun Deaths, by Richard Florida, Atlantic, January 2011.
Homepages for major professional associations to which I belong, and
which students may find informative:
Environment and Behavior
Contextual Studies Society
City and Community
American Sociological Association.
ASA Contexts Specialty Group
and Magazine Page.
National Social Science Association
Southwest Social Science
Association.
International Network for Social
Network Analysis.
Human Dimensions of
Environmental Systems.
Political Studies Association of the UK.
Social Forces. Journal and
Association.
Political Behavior.
American Association of Political
Consultants.
American Association for Public Opinion
Research.
European Society for the Study of Civic Engagement in Democracy.
Midwest Political Behavior Workgroup
American Political Science
Association.
Midwest Political Science
Association.
Western Political Science
Association.
Royal
Commission for Poundbury.
Southern Political Science
Association
School of Social Ecology (which
studies context theory, not environmental theory).
The Royal Commission for Poundbury.
The International Association of
Political Consultants
The American Association of Political
Consultants
Links to Miscellaneous Information.
Most
secretive Presidency in history. Everything now is classified,
making research (and democracy) harder.
Economic Statistics
on the US if they were computed the way they used to be (the way they
are elsewhere).
The Century Institute.
A summer program on real world politics.
Project SmartVote.
(candidate information)
Voting Machines.
Information on the machines mandated by the “Help America Vote Act.”
Open Secrets.
Information on where candidates get their money.
Local Victory,
A guide on winning a local election.
Information on Malta’s electoral
system.
Politics Links.
A page of links to sites about liberal and conservative, domestic and
international politics. (Coming soon.)
Political Science Links.
Unfortunately, political science often has little to do with politics.
The links on this here are to political science resources, data, people,
and programs. (Coming soon.)
Polls and Surveys.
Gallup
polls
Roper
center polls
Los Angeles
Times
poll
Pew Center
for People and the Press polls
Field Poll
(California)
The Polling Report
magazine
Eurobarometer
from the European Commission
Zogby International
polls
Marist Institute
for Public Opinion