Elaine Sanderson is a first year AHRC NWCDTP funded PhD student at Liverpool University. Some of her research interests include: Latin Literature, Latin Imperial Epic (particularly Lucan and Valerius Flaccus), Ancient Rhetoric and Greek Tragedy. In her guest post today, she shares her experience, insight and tips about work in progress seminars. Follow Elaine on Twitter at: @ElainaM42, or send her an email: e.c.sanderson@liverpool.ac.uk. If you would also like to see Elaine’s personal blog (it’s fab – go check it out), here is the link: www.stimulosdeditaemulauirtus.blogspot.co.uk
Just
before Christmas, a fellow Classics and Ancient History PhD student approached
me and asked whether I might consider presenting something in the coming term’s
postgraduate Work in Progress seminar series. These seminars are held every
Thursday lunchtime, and provide a really welcoming, friendly, and accessible
environment for students to share their research with their friends and peers,
and to develop their presentation skills.
The wide variety of topics discussed just this term alone really
reflects the cross-disciplinary research successes of the department as a
whole, and allows students to engage with research beyond the confines of their
own postgraduate studies. Delighted to
have been asked to contribute to this fantastic seminar series, I immediately
agreed, and set about sorting through the research notes, plans, and chapter
drafts I’d been working on since I began my PhD adventures back in October.
There
was just one tiny problem. I hate work
in progress. It’s not that I have an
issue with standing up in front of an audience and sharing my work (although my
presentation skills could probably use some polish and refinement). I’m far too excited about my work, about
Lucan and Latin Literature more broadly, to let nerves or stage fright get in
my way of singing the praises of my research interests in front of a willingly
captive audience. My dislike of ‘work in
progress’ stems from the fact that I’m uncomfortable with unfinished things in
general, and incomplete pieces of academic work in particular. I’ve only just gotten used to sending ‘work
in progress’ to my supervisors, although my hitting ‘send’ is generally
accompanied by the crushing anxiety that they will be disappointed with my
ultimately unfinished writing. The idea
of bringing my half-baked ‘work in progress’ into another arena was therefore
an incredibly daunting task.
I
decided to present some of the work which, at the moment at least, forms part
of the second chapter of my broader PhD thesis, which examines processes of
transformation (both poetic and political) in the Bellum Civile (Civil War), an epic poem composed by the Latin
epicist Lucan in the 1st century AD.
In this chapter, I examine how Lucan uses language and vocabulary traditionally
associated with uncertainty in relation to the landscapes of his internal civil
war universe and the ultimately defeated Republican cause, aspects of the
narrative which form important self-reflexive platforms for Lucan’s poetic and
political agendas. I also discuss
Lucan’s use of transformative language, language used more generally to depict
physical and material transformations, in direct relation to the motions and
processes of the civil war his work portrays.
Once
I actually got down to business, I found the experience of presenting to the
other postgrad students in my department to be not only very rewarding, but
also great fun. Since there are no other
PhD students working on the same Classical texts as me, I can sometimes feel a
bit lonely in my research. However, it
turned out that another student, who focusses on Ancient Drama, was also
looking at similar elements of language using a very similar approach, and so
had plenty of thoughts and suggestions to contribute to my thoughts and
research processes. I also found it
refreshing to receive questions and feedback from postgrads working on other
areas of the Ancient World, who offered different perspectives on my research,
and encouraged me to step beyond my little PhD bubble and consider my research
from the outside.
The
experience of preparing, presenting, and discussing my research (which is still
very much in the early stages of development) helped me put together a list of useful
pointers to help with future formal and friendly presentations:
1)
Prepare Early!
I know that this is a REALLY obvious
one. However, since I finished putting
my presentation together four minutes before I was due to deliver it, resulting
in a very frantic sprint from my office to the presentation venue, it is clear
that I haven’t quite mastered not leaving everything to the last second. It is SO much better to arrive with plenty of
time, with your thoughts and materials organised and gathered (and without a
red face). Had I spent less time
worrying (needlessly) about the fact that I was presenting work which is still
under development (the entire point of these seminars!), I probably would have
spent more time putting together what I was going to say, and thinking about
how I can contextualise this particular section of my research within the
broader scope of my PhD.
2)
Give Background and Context.
Remember that although your research
topics are something you engage with pretty much 365 days a year, not everyone
you are presenting to is an expert in your field. I included a few slides at the beginning of
my presentation giving some details of the authors and texts I would be
examining, along with some broader historical background. It’s always helpful to have the option to
give your audience some grounding in exactly what you’re going to be talking
about. If anything, it’ll allow
non-specialists to engage with and enjoy your talk. If it turns out that everyone you’re
addressing is well-versed in your subject area, you can always skip over these
parts, no harm done.
3)
Choose
Examples Carefully.
As someone doing a very literature heavy
PhD, I’m often faced with the dilemma of how I should show examples to support
my arguments in a presentation setting.
In preparing for this presentation, I found that it’s best to follow a
sort of Goldilocks approach-not too much, not too little. Give an example which is substantial enough
to illustrate your point, and provide a platform for some (brief yet nuanced)
analysis, but not so hefty that you spend more time going through giant
passages of text than you do actually talking about your research. And of course, if like me you do a lot of
work with ancient languages, always provide a translation to accompany your
examples!
4)
Don’t
Be Ashamed!
Looking back over my preparation for
this presentation, it’s pretty clear that my anxiety of not having enough
impressive research to show was the main thing hindering me. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m still
only a few months into the PhD, and that I’m not actually expected to have
produced a huge volume of writing thus far.
Instead of spending time and energy battling the inferiority complexes
which seem to dog postgrad students of all ages, disciplines, and stages of
study, try to see opportunities to present as valuable chances to receive
feedback and input on your work!
For more
details of my Liverpool Work in Progress presentation, ‘In dubio mundo’: Lucan’s World and the Language of Uncertainty,
follow the link below.
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