Getting to Know your Discipline

Getting to know your discipline involves familiarizing yourself with current scholarship and debates in your field, interdisciplinary developments, and job market trends. Obviously, the coursework you complete during your first years of graduate school is the starting point for learning the debates, methodologies, and history of your discipline. Talk with your professors and other graduate students to find out what the major journals in your discipline are. Then read them, not cover to cover, but selectively in order to pick up on key debates shaping your field. Checking out the major journals in your discipline will also show you how scholars converse with each other and what published research looks like in your discipline. Learn what sub-fields your discipline is divided into and begin to think about which field appeals most to you and why.

Networking

Networking with other scholars at conferences and over email can also be an effective way of learning about your discipline, beginning to participate in its discourse, and building professional connections.

Professional Associations and Organizations

The professional associations and organizations of your discipline are a great place to go to stay current on developments in your field. Many of these organizations also feature conference announcements, calls for papers, and job listings on their websites. Some even offer career resources, including articles on building an academic career in the discipline and going on the job market.

Information about some professional associations and organizations in given fields are available.