The Philosophers' Cocoon

Tailoring cover letters to schools

In the comments section of our "Ask a search-committee member" thread, Tom writes:

This question is for those folks who care to see ye olde `I want to be at your specific school because X' thing in the cover letter.

Do you care where in the letter it happens? Should it be first? Right after the stuff about my research but before stuff about teaching? Last? Have I completely misunderstood what a cover letter should look like?

I will be curious to hear what other search-committee members think. Having served on three search committees at a liberal arts university, my sense is that at schools like doesn't matter precisely where you tailor a cover letter to the school. What matters is that you do it and how you do it. Let me explain.

Relationship-status and the market

In the comments section of our "Ask a Search-Committee Member" thread, Anon writes:

Suppose a candidate has a partner who is finishing their PhD and won't be on the market for a couple of years. Would knowing this about the candidate make you worry about whether they might become a flight risk? Should candidates in this situation, and relevantly similar ones, just not talk about their relationship status until after a contract is signed? What do you infer if candidates aren't mentioning anything about having a partner (e.g. on a visit, where multiple faculty members keep bringing up their partners in conversation.)?

My sense is that search committees may indeed worry about flight-risk in cases like this. I would advise most candidates to avoid talking about their relationship status. I don't think people are likely to infer anything from candidates not mentioning their partners. Remember, you are applying and interviewing for a job. Search committee members are not permitted to ask questions about things like these, nor should they expect you to volunteer any personal information. Fortunately, in my experience, they don't! The only time I'm inclined to think it could be wise for a candidate to volunteer any information like that might be if their partner's status might provide the committee reasons to think the candidate will not be a flight risk (such as in cases where one's partner has family in the area).

But these are just my thoughts. I'll be curious to hear what other search committee members think.

Published or unpublished writing samples?

In the comments sections of our 'Ask a search-committee member' thread, ED writes:

Assuming all else equal, do search committees prefer an unpublished paper as a writing sample to a very recently published or forthcoming paper being used as a writing sample?

Assuming so, and now assuming that one thing is not equal - namely, that the unpublished paper still has some minor kinks to be ironed out (because it's unpublished!), would search committees still prefer to read the unpublished thing over the more polished recently published or forthcoming one?

Or is all of this just terribly nit-picky and not worth worrying about?

Good questions. I honestly don't know the answers! I've heard conflicting things. I recall hearing before that some think published pieces look more professional. But I also recall others suggesting it may be best to submit an unpublished piece, as it suggests your best work is still to come. Personally, I'm inclined to say one should just submit one's best work, whatever it may be--as my sense is that what matters most is the quality of what you submit.

What do all of the search-committee members out there think?

Success stories - what you love about academic philosophy and why you decided to stay put

The exploitation of academics in precarious positions, particularly adjuncts but also graduate students, has given rise to a remarkable literary non-fiction subgenre: the quit lit.

Quit lit are heartfelt pieces where academics vent their frustration. I find these pieces very useful. They help us critically evaluate some of the assumptions academics make, such as that a PhD is required to be a good philosopher (this piece by Rachel Williams argues it isn't). This piece by Eugene Sun Park, on why he quit his PhD programme, challenges the homogeneity in academic philosophy and lack of viewpoints outside of the western canon. And this classic piece by Rebecca Schuman  (not a philosopher but a German scholar) advises against graduate school.

I'm on board with all of that but sometimes it is also useful to share stories of success, particularly by people who didn't go to prestigious schools, who struggled and who succeeded. Who in spite of the odds stacked so heavily against them still thought academia is worth it and derive joy from being an academic philosopher. I believe those stories have their place too (hence our long job market journeys feature a while back), and I'd be interested to hear readers' stories about (either in comments or send to us). Such stories can help people in difficult situations see that it does sometimes pay off to stay--although of course, there is a risk in doing so--and for busy people who feel a bit overwhelmed by it all why they are academics in the first place.

So with that in mind I want to hear stories about: 

• you staying in academia, and ending up not regretting it
• accomplishments you got in spite of difficulties (including e.g., health issues, poverty)
• what you enjoy about academic philosophy

You  can comment anonymously but we need a real email address (which we won't reveal).

Search committees: do additional pedagogical training and research matter?

In the comments section of our "Ask a search committee member", Postduck writes:

How does it look to have pedagogical training from one's institution (e.g. teaching certificates, courses, etc.)? And is it worth doing more than one of these things?

'junior faculty' then added:

Related to the previous comment (re: pedagogical training), what about pedagogical research? Sometimes I get the sense that some view the scholarship of teaching and learning as not 'real' research, so I wonder how search committees respond if they see a candidate who has a research program in pedagogy. To be clear, this would be research related to teaching philosophy (even if it has wider implications).

Lauren offered up one answer:

Re: pedagogical training, it would count in your favor as far as I'm concerned. But how much depends a lot on what it is, how significant it is, etc. One workshop isn't worth much; a substantial course, on the other hand, is stronger. Earning a teaching certificate very much depends on what is required, and I tend to be skeptical about how much those are worth unless the candidate gives me reason to believe otherwise--my own PhD institution originally had a "certificate" but it could be achieved simply by attending a certain number of 1 hour teaching sessions. If your training was more substantive than that, you should indicate that in some way.

My answer is different. Having worked at and hired three times at a "teaching" school--a mid-sized liberal arts university that takes teaching very seriously, as well as research--my sense is that every little thing here helps.

Ask a search-committee member

Now that the job-market is in full-swing, and a lot of application deadlines are coming up on November 1st, I thought it might be good to have a thread for any last-minute questions job-candidates have for search committee members. Is there anything you are dying for the "inside scoop" on, such as:

• What looks good or bad in particular dossier materials (cover letters, research statements, teaching portfolios, etc.)?
• How decisions are made about who to interview (e.g. do publications matter most?, etc.)
• What to include or not include?
• How to interview well?
• How the search process works?
• Etc.

If you have a question, just pose it below and (assuming it's within the blog's mission) I'll start a new thread on it for search committees to answer!

Query on framing one's research

In the comments section of our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, 'junior faculty' writes:

I am curious about strategies for illustrating 'research promise' (either in a cover letter or research statement). How do people try to communicate their future research ability?

Here are some thoughts I have so far:

1. Mentioning existing publications indicates an ability to publish - so past success is some evidence of the potential for future success.

2. Mentioning works in progress indicates very near future publications (or, ideally, should, but obviously if it gets rejected a lot maybe it will be awhile). The issue here is that, hypothetically, if a paper is under review when you submit your application for a job, it would be accepted for publication prior to starting the job. And so does not seem to clearly indicate anything about what you will do once in the position. Except insofar as it is evidence that you work (much like 

3. Mentioning areas of research. Here the area is reasonably large (big question or some particular subfield) and you of course place your previous work and current work within it, but the hope is that by indicating the more general area you are (implicitly) indicating you can and will do future research, although you are not clearly indicating what that will be.

4. Mentioning future plans. This seems like the most directly relevant, but the issue seems to be that this will often be quite vague or 'promissory'. "In the future, I intend to explore the such and so question" or something like that. Maybe this is less problematic if it fits with previous and current work.

So I see various methods of indicating research promise, but all seem to have issues. But I am just wondering what other people do and what search committees respond to with regard to this issue.

Query on diversity statements

In the comments section of our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, S writes:

Would it be possible to have a post about how to write diversity statements[?]

One recent ad says: "A diversity statement discussing your experience in working with students from many different backgrounds."

Another says to include "a Statement of Diversity and Inclusion describing past experience and contributions to diversity and inclusion efforts, and a description of how you will demonstrate a commitment in these areas in teaching, research, and/or service."

I've heard quite a few people ask about this before, and have to confess that I'm not entirely sure what a 'good' statement looks like. 

Offhand, I guess I'm inclined to say that a strong statement might show how one's research and teaching engage with diverse perspectives--such as one's selection of philosophical topics, authors and readings, engagement with different philosophical traditions, etc. I suppose it might also help if one could illustrate particular classroom practices (for instance, an in-class group assignment) that require students to engage with diverse perspectives. I expect it might also be helpful to explain extracurricular ways one reaches out to diverse students (viz. involvement with student clubs, such as an undergraduate philosophy club). For example, the faculty member who heads up our philosophy club has focused the club's bi-weekly meetings on philosophical discussions of the #MeToo movement and Childish Gambino's 'Feels Like Summer.' 

But these are just a few quick thoughts. Anyone who has served on search committees care to weigh in?

Writing service

Pendaran Roberts (Warwick) writes in:

I saw that one blog post about the student asking for help with their writing sample and another blog post about non-native English speakers. I was thinking that my skills and experience could be of service to people. Maybe you could share the below with your readers? I’d be a good resource and could provide a personalized experience. I was thinking of trying to do this kind of work part-time to help people. 

_____________________

I am offering a service where I help philosophers develop their writing samples and perfect their writing more generally. I have a PhD in Philosophy from a UK university but know both US and UK English. I have a dozen academic publications, many in top 20 journals (https://philpeople.org/profiles/pendaran-roberts). I can help you to achieve your academic writing goals to get into a PhD program or to get your ideas published. 

Please just email me at [email protected]. We can discuss what help exactly you need and agree on a fee. My help can range from merely proofreading your work to in-depth coaching to develop your academic writing ability.

If you are a non-native speaker, I am also happy to be of service. I am not an English teacher but can read through work, correct English mistakes, and help with the overall feel of your writing. 

Misleading job-market materials?

In the comments section of our job-market discussion thread, Dr. X writes [note: comment edited to preserve anonymity]:

There should be a discussion of the types of misleading information to avoid putting on one's CV.

An example that everyone should know by now to be deceitful: listing something under review as a "publication". JUST. STOP.

A more underhanded example: claiming that PhilPeople metrics declares you as being, say, "top  [X] for citations (past five years) for [Y]", without also noting the extremely narrow criterion for entry into PhilPeople's data pool...

Good query. I wasn't aware of the PhilPeople issue, but I hear about similar things every job season. What other kinds of misleading things should candidates take care to avoid? 

Query on resources to improve writing

In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:

I recently graduated with a MA and applied to very few PhD programs during fall of 2017. I didn't get in any of them. I didn't expect to because I kind of had a feeling that my writing sample was weak. Very weak. However, I'm trying again this time around, but with a better sample (hopefully). So, i was wondering whether anybody on here knew of good resources for someone like me to get better at writing. Groups people who can help etc. Or, if there are workshops anywhere in the country that help with writing for PhD admission. Any resource, guide or advice will be very helpful. I'm more or less on my own since I'm no longer in school and my professors from my previous school have their hands full with their current students. So, anything will be helpful. Thanks.

I'm not personally aware of particular resources, but am curious whether readers do. The only real advice I have is to write, and write a lot--and to get feedback from anyone who's willing to take the time to read your stuff. Writing, like anything else, takes a ton of practice. I've rewritten particular papers from scratch upwards of a dozen times. I also draft up papers that I go on to do nothing with. To me, doing these things isn't a waste of time. It's practice! My experience, at any rate, is that the more one writes, the more one's writing skills are likely to improve. 

Still, I know this doesn't really answer the reader's particular query. So, what do you all think? Do you know of any good resources for improving one's writing--particularly as it pertains to putting together a good writing sample for PhD programs?

Publishing as a non-native speaker

A reader writes in:

[My query] concerns publications in the English speaking press. An early career researcher needs to publish in English journals, which are almost the only journals internationally recognised. Nonetheless, a non-native speaker may encounter some linguistic barriers: first, the impossibility of paying someone to edit her writing; second, explicit comments from the reviewers about the paper's style; and third, and maybe more important, implicit biases from the reviewers who may doubt of the quality of the paper because of its grammar or style. I do not know if there are empirical data in some journal about rejections made to native English speakers and non-native English speakers, but I intuitively suspect that non-native speakers may receive more rejections than native ones. 

This is a great query. I don't know of any empirical data about this. However, I do think it's important to ensure that non-native speakers are not unfairly discriminated against in the reviewing process. What can be done to better ensure this?

Reader query: why not an R&R?

In the comment section of our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, Amanda writes:

I need to vent about something: I just got a journal rejection. The journal had 3 referees. All 3 recommended a revise and resubmit. Yet the editor straight out rejected it with no reasons.(at least they didn't hide the reviews from me, which has happened before.) I can't stand this stuff. I mean it is so hard to get 3 referees to recommend revision, and when that happens I still don't get a chance. Days like this make me really wonder why I write all day. Anyway, can we please hurry up and get the new journal system in place, because this one seems to get worse everyday. (And I know, I know, this happens to everyone...even famous people. But that seems part of the problem.)

I empathize. Rejections like these can be particularly tough. At the same time, without knowing the details of Amanda's case, I think I can imagine a few possible scenarios where an editor might reasonably make such a call.

Reader query on handling idea-theft

A reader writes in: "what should a student or early career researcher do when someone with a permanent position and recognition steals some of her unpublished ideas (for example, ideas from her thesis) without literally plagiarizing them?"

Great question. I've heard multiple stories of this happening to early-career people. In fact, I saw someone report such a story on social media just the other day. In that case, it was a senior member of the profession reporting what happened to them earlier in their career, noting that they felt powerless to do anything about it and how it negatively affected their career prospects (evidently, the person and the person who stole their ideas both published on the topic, but the person who stole the idea has reaped nearly all of the credit for it). 

Given that I have heard more than a few stories about this sort of thing, it seems like an important issue to address. What can an early-career person do in cases like this? And what, if anything, should they do? Also, what if it happens to a non-early career person? Is how they should handle it relevantly different?

Longitudinal TT job data?

A reader writes in:

I was just looking through your stats about 2017 job postings here.  Very helpful!

I'm wondering if you also have some longitudinal information about how the number of job ads has shifted over, say, the last five years or so.  I'm guessing the number of advertised TT jobs has gone down, but I can't seem to find that info on your site or on DN, etc.  I did see other posting from you about the 2016 and 2015 market, but some of those stats included info about August postings and some did not, so I found it hard to compare over time.

I don't have longitudinal data myself, but seem to recall coming across some graphs before indicating the philosophy TT job-market has declined steadily since the 2007-8 financial crisis. Does anyone know where those graphs or data is to be found? Thanks!

A solution to four problems with peer-review?

Matt McKeever (Assistant Editor, Inquiry) has an interesting post on Medium suggesting a simple reform to peer-review that he thinks might solve several problems. McKeever writes:

Here are three [sic] problems with peer review:

(1) It’s a (mild) hassle to submit a paper, requiring the navigation of (mostly) poorly designed online systems, the writing of otiose cover letters, and so on. Since most papers don’t get accepted at the first place they’re sent, this mild hassle is multiplied several times.

(2) Once the editor has received a paper, they are deprived of a very important piece of information about the paper, namely whether and by whom it’s been reviewed before and, if so, what the reviewers thought and how the author responded.

(3) A referee’s work is often in vain: people will submit, a referee will work hard to point out problems with the paper, the paper will get rejected, and the author will submit again elsewhere relatively confident that the referee will not review it again.

(4) It is hard to find referees.

I think a system aimed at solving (1), the least serious problem, could help with the other three problems: in brief, the proposal is a journal-neutral submission system (call it JNSS), a single front-end from which authors can submit and resubmit a given paper to different journals without having to navigate individual sites or redundantly enter the same information numerous times. Onto this front-end an editorial backside could be added, that contains information about the paper’s history and is accessible to only and all journal editors, enabling them to see who has already reviewed the paper and what those reviewers thought of it.

Query: what if one can't count on a letter-writer?

An anonymous reader writes in:

[W]hat should a prospective candidate to the job market do when she cannot count with a recommendation letter of her previous supervisor? I imagine some PhD students do not have a good relation with their ex supervisors, and thus this bad relation may create two possible scenarios: in some cases a supervisor may refuse doing a recommendation letter (for ex, by not answering a mail), or in other cases, the content of the recommendation letter may be more harmful than beneficial for the prospective candidate. This may be an important obstacle for getting a job. 

Great query. My first immediate thought is that the clear thing to do is to move on and get outside letters. However, this doesn't address the problem that not having a letter from one's previous supervisor might seem like a red flag to search committees. And unfortunately, I'm not sure I know what to say about dealing with this issue.

Anyone have any helpful tips here? 

Translations for ESL students?

Mark Zelcer (SUNY-Oswego) writes in:

Like most of us, I often have students for whom English is not their first language. I wonder if there is, or we can put together, a repository of some of the famous bits of philosophy that have been translated into other languages. I would guess that almost every dialogue of Plato has been translated into many languages. I would also guess that many of the other famous philosophy papers that are used in Intro classes have been translated often as well. So if I wanted to find Nagel's bat paper in Korean, or Searle's Chinese Room paper in Spanish, it would be nice. Most of the essays I assign in intro courses, and even in many advanced course requires just getting the basic idea of an article, which I suspect is preserved in most translations. Is there a drop box or facebook group where we can find these papers? I would love to be able to give these out to students who are struggling with Intro to Philosophy (or whatever) to make it less difficult. Are these resources available?

Great query. Does anyone know of any such resources? If they don't currently exist, I think it would be a great project to pursue!

Ethics & Legal Studies at Wharton (UPenn)

Robert Hughes (University of Pennsylvania) writes in:

I am writing to ask if you would be willing to include a post in The Philosophers’ Cocoon about the Ph.D. in Ethics & Legal Studies at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. This is an opportunity for aspiring academic ethicists that some talented candidates may not know about.

Our Ph.D. program is housed in a business school, and it is intended for students who plan to seek tenure-track positions at business schools or law schools. Though the program is interdisciplinary, philosophical normative business ethics is a major focus of the program.

The department includes six tenured or tenure-track philosophers, all of whom specialize in moral, political, or legal philosophy. Our faculty have published in top tier philosophy journals including Ethics, Philosophy & Public Affairs, Journal of Political Philosophy, Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, Analysis, and Mind, in addition to top business ethics and applied ethics journals including Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Economics and Philosophy, Bioethics, and Journal of Applied Philosophy.

Query about tailoring cover letters

In the comments section of our "Ask a search-committee member" post from several months ago, GE asks:

I'm a graduate student entering the job market for the first time, and I'm finding it a little bit baffling to develop a cover letter. The advice on Philosopher's Cocoon and a few other online sources is all pretty consistent: you have an introductory paragraph, a current research paragraph, a publication/presentation/future research paragraph, and a fit paragraph. But a lot of jobs specifically ask that you highlight particular things in your cover letter. Often this overlaps with things that you're already putting in a cover letter, or it can be added in the fit paragraph, but it's hard for me to believe that if a search committee specifically asked for you to speak to your experiences advocating for diversity and inclusion, for instance, that they want to read through a whole bunch of stuff about your research before you get there. In those cases, should I rearrange my cover letter to highlight that stuff sooner? Or should I *only* be addressing the requested topics in my cover letter in those cases?

Good questions. I'll be curious to hear what other search committee members think.

Query on junior scholars writing books

In the comments section of our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, Amanda writes:

So what are everyone's thoughts on writing a book as a Junior (non-tenured) scholar, particularly when you are not from somewhere fancy? So here are some things I have either seen or heard:

• If you do write a book, even if it is very good and published with a very good press, or even the top press, it is likely to be ignored.
• If you are searching for research jobs, then *maybe* a book with Oxford, Cambridge, or Routledge might help, but other presses likely not. And even with the aforementioned presses great articles are probably better.
• For tenure at a research place, books with the above presses can help but you better have had great article publications as well.
• For teaching schools books are more competitive with articles? Maybe? I am really less sure on this.

Good questions - I'll be curious to hear what readers think! Here are a few of my thoughts.

Tips for inside candidates?

In the comments section of our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, 'Inside Hire' writes:

The department in which I am currently a postdoc is conducting a job search in one of my areas of specialization. While I have heard of all sorts of “inside hires” for which the job search was merely a formality, nothing about this job search is in any way tailored to me. I simply more or less fit the bill reasonably well. I am not a perfect fit for the job ad, and so am far certain I can expect to get the job.

Since learning about this job, I have a few questions for the readers of this blog:

First, I wonder how I should conduct myself in the coming months. Should I consider myself from now until then as being in interview mode? This could go on for several months. 

Second, since the odds are that I will not get a job offer, I should expect either not to get an interview, not to get a “flyout”, or not to get the offer. But what should I expect from people around the department? I know I would appreciate a genuine face to face ‘sorry, you just aren’t what we are looking for’ from my experience on the job market that might never come. Would me applying end up sour my relationship with my colleagues for the remainder of the postdoc?

Lastly, despite not being a case of an intentional inside higher [sic], I do enjoy familiarity with everyone on the search committee. What can and should I do to best take advantage of this fact, if at all?

Great questions! I'll be curious to hear what readers think. Because I was an inside candidate for TT jobs on two different occasions--once at the University of British Columbia (where I did not get the job) and once at my current university (where I did)--allow me to share a few thoughts before opening things up for discussion.