Making Sense Of Academic Conferences

Based on practical experiences and empirical research, Making Sense of Academic Conferences offers an introduction to the world of academic conferences. This accessible text also includes material to support researchers who are organising conferences. Offering guidance about presenting at, participating in, and planning a conference, it uncovers the purpose of conferences; their role in supporting researcher development; steps involved in selecting and travelling to a conference; routine practices and terminology; strategies for making the most out of conferences. Suitable for doctoral students and early career researchers, this book engages with all aspects of academic conferences, recognising that attending conferences is as much about presenting papers as discos and not spilling your tea on the keynote speaker. The book is ideally suited for graduate researchers and early career researchers, particularly those who may be going to their first conference, or travelling to their first international conference, and for more experienced academics who are working with novice conference attendees. The 'Insider Guides to Success in Academia' offers support and practical advice to doctoral students and early-career researchers. Covering the topics that really matter, but which often get overlooked, this indispensable series provides practical and realistic guidance to address many of the needs and challenges of trying to operate, and remain, in academia. These neat pocket guides fill specific and significant gaps in current literature. Each book offers insider perspectives on the often implicit rules of the game -- the things you need to know but usually aren't told by institutional postgraduate support, researcher development units, or supervisors -- and will address a practical topic that is key to career progression. They are essential reading for doctoral students, early-career researchers, supervisors, mentors, or anyone looking to launch or maintain their career in academia.

In today’s educational field, to ensure students are prepared to make the transition from education to the workforce, students must develop skills that support them in the working world. Further research on these skills is required to assist learners moving forward. Preparing Students From the Academic World to Career Paths: A Comprehensive Guide provides a comprehensive guide to preparing minority and first-generation students to transition from the academic world into their chosen career path. The book also provides post-secondary educators and student support staff with suggestions to incorporate the recognition and development of transferrable skills in curriculum and advising. Covering key topics such as career readiness, minority students, and student success, this reference work is ideal for administrators, principals, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

In Making Sense, David Crystal confronts the foe of many: grammar. Once taught relentlessly to all students in the English-speaking world, grammar disappeared from most school curricula, so that terms such as "preposition" and "conjunction" now often confound children and adults alike. Explaining the nuts and bolts of grammar presents a special challenge, because - far more than is the case with spelling and punctuation - the subject is burdened with a centuries-old history of educational practice that many will recall as anything but glamorous. One of the world's foremost authorities on the English language, Crystal sets out to rid grammar of its undeserved reputation as a dry and intimidating subject, pointing out how essential grammar is to clear and effective speech and writing. He moves briskly through the stages by which children acquire grammar, along the way demystifying grammar's rules and irregularities and showing us how to navigate its snares and pitfalls. He offers the fascinating history of grammar, explaining how it has evolved from the first grammarians in ancient Greece to our 21st century digital environment of blogging, emailing, and texting. Many find grammar to be a daunting subject, but in this breezy, entertaining book, Crystal proves that grammar doesn't need to make us uneasy-we can all make sense of how we make sense.

In the last three decades, Somalia has been associated with such horrible terms as 'state collapse', 'civil wars', 'foreign intervention', 'warlordism', 'famine', 'piracy' and 'terrorism'. This depiction was in contradiction to its earlier images as the cradle of the human race, the kernel of ancient civilizations, the land of Punt, a homogeneous nation-state and the first democratic state in Africa. So how did things fall apart in the country? This Volume 1 of a two-volume narrative, Dr. Abdullahi explores the history of the people of Somali peninsula since ancient times, the advent of Islam and colonialism, the rise and fall of Somali nationalism and the perspectives of the Somali state collapse. The book uses a unique thematic approach and analysis to make sense of Somali history by emphasizing the responsibility of Somali political elites in creating and perpetuating the disastrous conditions in their country.

Graduate school is an important and confusing time, filled with many questions about the inner-workings of academia and decisions students must make about their futures. The Graduate Student Guidebook: From Orientation to Tenure Track offers an overview of this experience, featuring expert advice on the many different steps and challenges encountered in master’s and doctoral programs. In the current academic climate, initial decisions—like choosing an advisor—critically shape future opportunities. Students need a consistent, reliable, and up-to-date resource. In this authoritative guide, faculty from various universities, positions, and backgrounds offer sage advice, responding to concerns identified by graduate student members themselves. Moving through the text, readers learn about the transition from undergrad to graduate-level expectations, special considerations for students of marginalized groups, graduate assistantships, the importance of key decisions, comprehensive exams, writing the thesis or dissertation, publishing, conferences, navigating the job search, and making a career in a tenure track position.

If you are involved in academia, policy-making, or are simply curious about the complex features of internationalisation in the Global South, this work is your roadmap to deeper, more critical reflections on the internationalisation of higher education.

This book helps academics to become players rather than pawns in the process of change. To do so it raises issues that might inform thinking about - and therefore reactions to - academics' experiences of their changing roles in changing universities. In universities, the tradition is to change. The author looks at the big picture of change in higher education, and in academics' work and work environments. The focus is on the emergent educational role of academics, and the relationship between academics and their institutions. In these times, the strategy of working harder will not work. Unlike books written about how universities might be better managed, this book explores issues of self-interested self-management for academics. It suggests new ways of thinking about the nature and future of academic work, particularly in terms of the relationship between academic and institutional values, priorities and practices.

Ken and Yetta Goodman’s professional work has been a lifelong collaboration, informed by shared philosophical strands. An overarching goal has been to provide access for all children to literacy and learning and to inform and improve teaching and learning. Each also is recognized for specific areas of focus and is known for particular concepts. This volume brings together a thoughtfully crafted selection of their key writings, organized around five central themes: research and theory on the reading process and written language development; teaching; curriculum and evaluation; the role of language; advocacy and the political nature of schooling. In the World Library of Educationalists, international scholars themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and/practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands of their work and see their contribution to the development of a field, as well as the development of the field itself.