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Teaching While Learning
Reality often means teaching before you are ready. We get emails about Teaching Assistantships and feel that is maybe what we should do alongside classwork or writing. I was never a TA, but I had experience teaching for the Honors College at my University as an employee. I get wanting to be a TA, and… →
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Why Workshops Matter
Welcome to July! This month’s theme is Teaching Innovation (Workshops, Creativity, Pedagogy). I’ll cover why you should do workshops, how to design them, teaching while you are still learning, and creative teaching techniques. As you can tell, I’m a planner. When I first started this blog post, I called it ‘Why Do Workshops.’ Then I… →
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Read to Create Your Voice
When you write, you have decisions to make. First, find your voice. Developing a strong narrative voice takes time and practice. As you read, notice how writers influence you and help shape your scholarly identity. If you are reading to find gaps in the literature, you are already doing this, introducing an additional layer you… →
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How to Read Your Semester Like a Story
The end of a semester always feels a little blurry. Finals are over, grades are posted, and suddenly everything that made you stress slips away. Before you shake it all off, pause. Look back and read the semester as if it were a story. See what the highlights were and what the lowlights were, so… →
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How Historians Turn Facts into Stories
Narrative Craft Historians are storytellers; they tell the past. They take facts and turn them into meaning. Historians interpret evidence in order to explain ideas, power, and people. Investigating the past is not easy, as you know, because it was written by the victors, but Historians keep digging. That’s not enough. We start with evidence,… →
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Start Simple
OR Go Back the Basics: a review of Several Short Sentences About Writing I wanted to create a space for ideas and resources in academia. I finished my PhD in December 2025 and had so much to share! I’ve also spent the past 10+ years as a director at a university honors college. I chose… →
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All Writing is Writing
It may not look the same, but it’s words to paper! Most of my weekly writing never ends up in essays, conference papers, or chapters. Half the time, it isn’t even academic; it consists of journal entries, long texts to friends, emails, teaching notes, and postcards or letters sent each Sunday as part of the… →
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Writing with AI
Without Losing Your Voice AI is a hot topic at universities and colleges everywhere. In the past six months, I’ve heard a history professor say, “AI is evil,” while a sociology professor said she loved that her students could use it. Both are right. AI can take over your voice, and it’s very obvious when… →
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How to Organize Your Essay Writing
An Undergraduate Guide. Writing is challenging. It does not matter who you are or what you do. Skilled writers can feel overwhelmed! As an undergraduate, you can’t always be perfect, but you can set yourself up for success. Writing can be hard. Frustration can stem from multiple classes, unclear instructions, procrastination, or perfectionism. And that’s… →
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Build a Sustainable Writing Routine
Routines are hard to establish, so creating a writing routine isn’t something you can decide to do one day and expect it to work instantly. Academic life is demanding and pulls you in different directions every day. Your writing routine needs to fit within that push-and-pull. For example, if today is Wednesday and you decide… →
Wendi Kavanaugh 