in this issue

DECEMBER 2016

Report: ANZSSA and ISANA conferencesHugh Milligan outlines our recent attendance at ANZSSA and ISANA in New Zealand.

Report: 2016 Annual DinnerThe winners of SOYA/HOYA/OTOYA, and plenty of pictures from the night!

Better than Donald: How to Argue Like a ProArguing well is a key academic skill. Thesis Whisperer Inger Mewburn has some pointers.

National Student Survey of Sexual AssaultThis anonymous survey will help Australian universities become safer for all students.

Handy Academic AppsFind My Professor, Seminar Yelp, Postdoc Tinder and Undergrad Translator. (If only.)

Contact UsThere are tons of ways you can get in touch with us, and here they are!

Our new website!NUPSA’s new site is now live! Find out about the current features, and those in the works.

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You Can’t Go Backwards When You Go BackReturning home for the holidays? Kellie Cathcart has some excellent advice.

monthly newsletter

From the PresidentParting words (and fierce advocacy to the end)from this year’s President, Andi Deane.

Dealing with StressAs a postgrad, what are your hobbies for de-stressing? James Pinkerton describes his own.

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Hello and seasons greetings.

This will be my last ever newsletter as a NUPSA Executive member and President. I’ve been with NUPSA for just over three years now and, I have to say, I have enjoyed (almost) every minute. The things I’ve loved the most have been meeting different students from a range of backgrounds and advocating on your behalf.

Next year the current Vice President, James Pinkerton, will be taking over as President, and I wish him and the entire NUPSA team the very best for 2017. James is a competent leader and has been involved throughout 2016, so he will hit the ground running in 2017 and ensure your voice is heard thought the University.

We’ve successfully applied for SSAF funding for 2017 and will continue to deliver workshops, seminars and social activities for you next year. Our office team is about to expand to two full-time staff members (our new recruit begins in January) and 2017 is set to be the most productive year for NUPSA ever.

Now for one last bit of student advocacy before I leave…

Those of you at our annual dinner would have heard me talk about a proposal before senate to introduce an ‘out of time’ fee of several thousand dollars for HDR students at the end of their fourth year. You’d also have heard me remark that, for whatever reason, the University has seen fit not to even consult NUPSA.

The University still hasn’t spoken to NUPSA about this issue. They have, however, contacted me to express disappointment that I’d spoken about it, inferring I had misled people in my speech.

As the University seems not to want to

speak with NUPSA about this, I’d like to put on record why NUPSA objects to the proposed introduction of a $5000 ‘out of time’ fee for HDR students not completing within four years.

• Data from ABS shows HDR students are responsible for 57% of Australia’s research output, and OLT data shows that HDR students feel undervalued. How can a fee possibly improve the morale of a very productive component of the research community?

• No HDR student really wants their studies to take more than four years – more often than not, this happens due to problems during candidature. Charging poor students because they have had problems is utterly unjustified.

• After four years, HDR students will typically receive no more scholarships and will be in a financially vulnerable position, literally struggling to buy food and keep a roof over their heads. To hit these hard working, vulnerable students with a large bill will likely force them to quit, something I’m sure the wider university doesn’t want.

• Data taken from the House of Representatives House Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation inquiry into Australia’s international research collaboration showed the national average PhD completion time in Australia is 5.4 years. One of their recommendations was for all ‘[federal] postgraduate awards with stipends for PhD students to be three and a half years (full-time equivalent) with the option of two six-month extensions.’ Why would the University suggest four years as a cut-off point when national data clearly demonstrates PhDs take longer than that?

• A RHD is more than just a thesis. Tight RHD course durations were shown to negatively impact students’ ability to pursue anything other than the thesis topic itself, the ability of students to broaden their disciplinary

knowledge, gain a deep acquisition of generic skills, disseminate their results via publications and gain industry or international experience (4.12 UQ submission to inquiry into Australia’s international research collaboration).

A university that doesn’t consult widely with its students will become a dysfunctional one, and I very much hope that the University listens to the strong opposition to this proposal and either abandons the idea, or works with students (including those at NUPSA) to come to a mutual position on the matter. The ball is now in the University’s court. They can choose to engage with students or not. NUPSA’s door is open, our emails will be responded to, and phones will be answered.

I have been requested by the University to clarify that this fee isn’t policy yet – but the idea is there, so it’s important we all vocally express our views on it. If you have any comments, please feel free to email them to me – your feedback and input are always important. Also, rest assured James and his new team are ready to take up any advocacy issue on behalf of students in 2017.

Now I will leave you to enjoy the rest of 2016 in peace, and wish you all the very best in your studies and in the future.

Andi Deaneandrew.deane@newcastle.edu.au

From the PresidentAndi Deane

Andi DeaneNUPSA President

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Stress affects us all in different ways, but is particularly prevalent amongst postgraduate students. A 2014 study on postgrads at the University of California found that approximately 50% felt stressed, anxious or irritable. Assuming this trend is the same in Australia, this means that postgraduate students are twice as likely to suffer from some form of stress as the rest of the population.

There could be any number of reasons that stress disproportionately affects postgraduate students – difficulty in maintaining a work/life balance, a poor student-supervisor relationship, or (for international students) simply trying to adapt to living in a new country.

A lot of my own stress as a postgrad student relates to the uncertainty of my work. Will my experiment work? Have I collected my tissues appropriately? Do I have enough data to write this paper? Can I get this abstract written in time? Will my thesis have enough material to be accepted?

All these things contribute to increased stress levels for me. And they can carry over and affect other areas of my life. So, what have my strange comments about the NBA got to do with my own personal stress?

It all comes down to basketball. I absolutely love basketball in all forms. Watching it on TV, playing it in

competitions, playing casually with others or just by myself (and of course, playing 2K). It’s really important for me as a means to relieve my stress. I find that basketball helps clear my mind and improve my focus, which has positive carry-on effects for my PhD. And it helps me sleep, which is very important for keeping stress at bay.

Of course, what works for me will probably not work for others. But it’s important to recognise when you are stressed and find ways to better deal with those stress levels.

If you feel like stress is starting to get the better of you, remember that the University has a brilliant Counselling Service you can get in touch with anytime. To find out more about the support they can offer you, check out their website by clicking here.

You can also make an appointment to see a counsellor on campus here, email them atcounselling@newcastle.edu.au or give them a call:Callaghan: 02 4921 6622Ourimbah: 02 4348 4060Sydney: 02 8262 6413Port Macquarie: 02 6581 6200

James Pinkerton is NUPSA’s Vice President, and a PhD student at UON. He is also an extremely enthusiastic (albeit terrible) basketball player.

The NBA season is upon us again and I for one am very excited. Will the Cavs repeat? Will the Warriors beat their amazing 73-win total? How will all the Australians in the league perform?

I guess you’re all probably asking yourself, ‘Where is he going with this? And what has this got to with anything related to my study here at Newcastle?’ Funnily enough, it all relates to stress. And, specifically, how I deal with my own stress.

Stress is the natural response to any demand or threat in your life. Stress results in the release of a number of stress-associated hormones that increase your heart rate, tighten your muscles, quicken your breathing and, most importantly, sharpen your senses (which is really helpful when you’re being chased by large bears, for example).

Like most things in life, of course, too much stress is not a good thing. Chronic stress can have an extremely negative impact on the human body and has been shown to increase the risk of a number of diseases, as well as stroke and heart attack. It may even contribute to faster aging. Most importantly, chronic stress can seriously affect mental health.

Dealing with StressJames Pinkerton, NUPSA Vice President

James PinkertonNUPSA Vice-President

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and personal, deeply emotional stories, reminding us of the enormous power of education to foster community, a sense of belonging and a sense of self.

Two of the most inspirational keynotes were delivered by Dr Kathie Irwin and Dr Welby Ing. Kathie opened the conference with a presentation on ‘Maori success in tertiary education’, chronicling more than a century of gradual gains made by indigenous New Zealanders as they brought greater intercultural understanding to the university sector. This was woven into the far more intimate narrative of Kathie’s own family, four generations of Maori women who fought to achieve increasing academic recognition and success over a hundred years.

Welby’s presentation took the form of five stories from his childhood and early life, in which his teachers helped him through dark periods, built his sense of self-worth and encouraged him to realise his potential. These were all enormously moving; the whole room

was powerfully silent as he spoke softly through his microphone.

Welby’s experiences helped shape his philosophy of teaching – that marking scales, standardised tests and rating systems only alienate students and bring them to unrealistic assessments of their own value and skills. Worse, they marginalise and punish those don’t fit pre-determined academic moulds, and reinforce feelings of uselessness and low self-esteem.

His message to the educators and student service providers in attendance was to engage students always with heart and humanity – to support them in discovering their own skills, strengths and identity, and not rely so heavily to conventional metrics of academic success.

Presentations such as these were truly affirming, and a reminder of why student services are so vital in the education system. But what insights, you may ask, did NUPSA’s delegates gain on behalf of postgraduate students at UON? What did we learn that will help us serve you better in the future?

The ‘Innovate’ of ANZSSA’s theme came from keynote speakers such as Dr Shelton Chang and Eric Stoller, whose presentations were concerned with the digital space – social media, website presence, student feedback channels, and finding ways to engage with students on the online platforms they most enjoy using.

These were supplemented by ‘soundbite’ presentations from Anne-Marie Singh and Amy Cleasby, who spoke about the theory of cognitive load in designing smarter websites, and how to use features such as Facebook Live to communicate with students in more direct and exciting ways.

Last week, I and two other delegates – NUPSA’s President and Vice President, Andi Deane and James Pinkerton – attended the annual Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association (ANZSSA) and International Education Services Association (ISANA) conferences, held in Auckland and Wellington respectively.

ANZSSA – Auckland

ANZSSA is the peak professional organisation for staff in tertiary education, and its 2016 conference drew a diverse collection of education and student service providers from several countries (not just Australia and New Zealand, as the name implies). It was hosted by the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), at its ultra-modern City Campus in the heart of Auckland.

The theme was ‘Inspire, Innovate, Involve.’ This meant a balance between the future and the past; between contemporary, evidence-based practice

ANZSSA and ISANA Conferences 2016Hugh Milligan, NUPSA Project Officer

Auckland University of Technology (AUT), host of the ANZSSA conference.

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ISANA – Wellington

As one conference came to a close, another was just getting started; we flew post-haste to Wellington, on the south side of New Zealand’s north island. Following some flight complications (which are part of the charm of flying, really) and a very gusty landing, we quickly checked in at our hotel and made our way to ISANA’s annual dinner, which ran almost symmetrically on the first night of the conference.

ISANA is the peak body for international student educators and service providers. Its 2016 conference took place at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and the theme of its dinner (appropriately) was the film ‘Night at the Museum’. Delegates were dressed as cowboys and dinosaurs, Cleopatra and Sacagawea; one woman was dressed rather elaborately as an octopus – was there an octopus in that movie? It’s been years since I saw it.

Among a lot of hilarious joke-telling, LEGO construction and trivia quizzes, we had the opportunity to connect with the other delegates. It was fantastic to see not only international student service staff in attendance, but a lot of actual students as well, many of them postgraduates. This, we would discover, was reflected in the conference’s panels and plenary sessions, which gave admirable weight to postgraduate study in their content.

The theme this year was ‘Evidence-Based Practice in International Student Services’, which invited speakers from diverse universities to showcase the programs and practices they had found to be demonstrably successful. And as with ANZSSA’s focus on technology, there were plenty of examples: the University of Tasmania’s human library, for instance, was so well received on campus that it attracted national media attention, and now the university sends participating international students to local primary schools and aged care

The examples were numerous. A number of universities have given online students campus tours during orientation using Snapchat and Periscope; others are using Yik Yak (an anonymous texting app that allows you to chat with people in your vicinity) during counselling and sexual health workshops, so that students can ask more personal questions without identifying themselves.

The aforementioned Facebook Live has been tremendously successful at La Trobe university in Melbourne, where Amy Cleasby and her student team host live Q&A sessions that anyone can watch and respond to in real-time.

The overriding message to student service staff? Don’t fear social media, apps and the online space. Don’t dismiss them, or treat posting updates as a menial and necessary chore. Inject your own personality into them – be fun, be vulnerable, and find ways to integrate the latest popular apps and trends into the way you speak to students. Let them speak to you through the digital media they actually use, and be innovative in how you respond.

NUPSA has already taken steps this year to renovate our online presence – our new website, for example (nupsa.edu.au), and our new and more interactive newsletter. But listening to these speakers made us hungry to do more, and be more creative. Stay tuned in 2017 for more platforms, more video and real-time content, and a more inclusive digital space for all our online and satellite students.

We ended our ANZSSA conference experience with its annual dinner, which was a jubilant celebration of Maori culture: every delegate wore colourful leis, the menu featured modern adaptations of traditional Maori dishes, and we enjoyed a booming, vibrant and (at times) interactive performance by Kuki Airani.

UON delegates at the ANZSSA dinner. From left to right: James Pinkerton (NUPSA Vice President), Andi Deane (NUPSA President), Claire Swan (Health Promotion Coordinator), Jackie Cobbold (Student Support Unit).

ANZSSA’s student panel session, on the first morning of the conference.

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The ISANA conference, more broadly, gave us a wider snapshot of the international education sector. Speakers such as Professor Paul Spoonley and Dr Wendy Larner discussed radically shifting immigration and demographic trends, and gave us a projection of the sorts of changes we can soon expect in our universities. This is all valuable information to a student service

provider like NUPSA; we want to ensure that we continue offering support services that are relevant and helpful to you in the future.

The conference ended with its strongest session – the student panel. All the panelists were international postgraduate students, and the delegates – Andi and James included – asked for their thoughts on a range of topics. ‘What do your universities do well or badly in responding to the student voice?’ ‘What skills and training do you need to effectively communicate issues back to your institutions?’ ‘How can universities improve their methods of getting student feedback?’

The answers were just as varied. Students spoke of how their university courted them and valued them during recruitment, but largely neglected them once they’d actually paid, enrolled and arrived on campus. They spoke of how many students want to have their voices heard but need safe spaces in which to do so; of how most international students want to make more local friends, but often don’t have the time and aren’t given enough opportunities to do so.

centres to tell their stories, talk about their countries and build intercultural understanding amongst the community.

Deakin University, meanwhile, outlined a host of excellent weekly programs from its English Language Institute, DUELI. Between their leadership and volunteer programs for student-led content, their walking tours, cooking classes, conversation clubs, professional development workshops and cultural expos, there was a wealth of ideas for NUPSA to draw upon to expand our event schedule even further in 2017.

Another standout from the conference was the presentation by Shireen Chua, founder of Third Culture Solutions. Shireen specialises in Cultural Intelligence (CQ), a formal system for improving one’s ‘capability to function effectively across various cultural contexts.’ CQ training provides and exceptional toolkit for anyone working between ethnic and organisational cultures, in academia and business; we’re now hoping to roll out CQ training for our future Executive members and staff, and hopefully to other students that would like to enhance their intercultural expertise.

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, host of the ISANA conference.

Delegates during the welcome and opening plenary session at ISANA.

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international education sector. Speakers such as Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley and Dr Wendy Larner discussed radically shifting immigration and demographic trends, and gave us a projection of the sorts of changes we can soon expect in our universities. This is all valuable information to a student service provider like NUPSA; we want to ensure that we continue offering support services that are relevant and helpful to you in the future.

The conference ended with its strongest session – the student panel. All the panelists were international postgraduate students, and the delegates – Andi and James included – asked for their thoughts on a range of topics. ‘What do your universities do well or badly in responding to the student voice?’ ‘What skills and training do you need to effectively communicate

issues back to your institutions?’ ‘How can universities improve their methods of getting student feedback?’

The answers were just as varied. Students spoke of how their university courted them and valued them during recruitment, but largely neglected them once they’d actually paid, enrolled and arrived on campus. They spoke of how many students want to have their voices heard but need safe spaces in which to do so; of how most international students want to make more local friends, but often don’t have the time and aren’t given enough opportunities to do so.

The delegates listened closely. So did we. This panel session was easily one of the most valuable we attended all week, and – as with the presentations on digital engagement – a fierce reminder that we must work constantly to give you all the platforms you need for feedback, and to create safe spaces, online and on campus, where you can make your voices heard. That’s how NUPSA can best support and advocate for you moving forward.

This was my first conference experience, and I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend. Above all else, the exchange of ideas and strategies was extremely energising, and I can’t wait to start integrating all of these concepts into our services for you all next year.

Hugh Milligan is NUPSA’s Project Officer. You can contact him athugh.milligan@nupsa.edu.au.

centres to tell their stories, talk about their countries and build intercultural understanding amongst the community.

Deakin University, meanwhile, outlined a host of excellent weekly programs from its English Language Institute, DUELI. Between their leadership and volunteer programs for student-led content, their walking tours, cooking classes, conversation clubs, professional development workshops and cultural expos, there was a wealth of ideas for NUPSA to draw upon to expand our event schedule even further in 2017.

Another standout from the conference was the presentation by Shireen Chua, founder of Third Culture Solutions. Shireen specialises in Cultural Intelligence (CQ), a formal system for improving one’s ‘capability to function effectively across various cultural contexts.’ CQ training provides and exceptional toolkit for anyone working between ethnic and organisational cultures, in academia and business; we’re now hoping to roll out CQ training for our future Executive members and staff, and hopefully to other students that would like to enhance their intercultural expertise.

The ISANA conference, more broadly, gave us a wider snapshot of the

UTASLife’s Dona Leach, speaking about their brilliant human library program.

Distinguished Professor Paul Spoonley discusses shifting immigration trends.

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who attended, and congratulations to all those who received awards from their faculty. We especially congratulate the winners of SOYA, HOYA and OTOYA:

• Dr Lesley MacDonald-Wicks (Supervisor of the Year)

On Friday, December 2nd, NUPSA held its 20th Annual Dinner!

The Annual Dinner is the largest event of our social calendar. It’s an important opportunity to recognise the many achievements of postgrad students at UON, and to thank everyone who has helped us in our advocacy and support services throughout the year.

More importantly, it’s a time for staff and students alike to come together for a night of celebration, fine dining and frivolity.

This year’s dinner was held at Custom’s House. The food was amazing, the company more so, and the night ended with a bang – we brought in a DJ, and guests were able to show off some dance moves as epic as their research portfolios.

Thank you so much to everyone

NUPSA 2016 Annual Dinner

Members of NUPSA’s Executive and staff. Left to right: Marina Ilicic (Equity Representative), Anish Saini (Interna-tional Representative), Faria Quoreshi (Coursework Representative), Andi Deane (President), Ashleigh McIntyre (Research Representative), James Pinkerton (Vice President). Below: Hugh Milligan (Project Officer).

• Ruth Talbot-Stokes (Helper of the Year)

• Dr Jean Harkins (Online Teacher of the Year)

2016 has been a terrific year for NUPSA and postgraduate students – here’s to next year!

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Our new website!It’s here! After months of planning, NUPSA’s new website is finally live.

Here are some features to check out.

Calendar of workshops/eventsNUPSA’s workshops and social events are our bread and butter. They’re our biggest method of engagement with students each day, each week, each month.

Now, you’ll no longer have to wait until the next email update or newsletter to see what’s coming up on campus (even though newsletters are objectively awesome, like this one); you can jump on our website any time and see a complete chronological list of every workshop and event we’re running, generally about a month in advance.

And soon, it won’t be just our workshops and events! We’re working with teams across the University (such as the Centre for Teaching and Learning) to build the calendar so that it includes all events on campus that are of interest to postgraduate students.

You’ll find the calendar here: http://nupsa.edu.au/workshops-events/

ExecutivememberprofilesWho are those handsome devils? Our new website gives the NUPSA Executive a far more visual presence; they’re the face of the association and the voice of postgraduate students, after all.

These profile pages allow you to contact individual representatives with a single click, so if your question or issue relates specifically to your identity as a research student, an international student or an LGBTI student, for example, you’ll know

who to get the best and most specific advice from.

The profiles also describe the roles themselves, and identify which are currently vacant, so if you’re considering joining the Executive yourself, they’re a great place to get further information.

You’ll find the Executive profiles here: http://nupsa.edu.au/our-executive/

(Bear in mind that certain profiles are not entirely up-to-date; these will be updated once the results of our general election are officially declared.)

Directory of clubs and societiesStudent clubs provide a vital social outlet for postgraduate students. They allow you to make new friends, build social networks, take a break from your studies, and (hopefully) achieve a much-needed work/life balance.

When postgraduate student clubs and societies affiliate themselves with NUPSA, we support them by funding their meetings and events, helping them book a range of venues across all campuses, providing optional governance training and promoting their activities to other students.

In short, we love student clubs! And we want to make the process of joining them, and starting them, even easier for you. Our new website includes a complete and current Directory of Clubs, which lists every postgraduate club or society alphabetically, tells you a little about the aims and activities of

each, and gives contact details for its convener.

So if you have a great idea for a club, check the directory first! Here it is:nupsa.edu.au/directory-of-clubs/

See if there’s an existing club in that area you can join – and if there isn’t, you’ll find all the information you need to get your own club going here:http://nupsa.edu.au/starting-a-club/

Upcoming featuresThough we’ve now officially launched our new website, its development is far from over. There are so many new features we’re still working on, and hope to add shortly – and even more, I’m certain, based on your own ideas and feedback.

Soon, we’ll be adding a series of comprehensive student guides to our Resources menu, covering everything from accommodation, financials, on- and off-campus health care, student support resources at UON, and local cafes/landmarks/nightlife/tourist spots.

We have other resources in the works as well: slides and handouts, meeting minutes, policy documents, workshop recordings, and so on. We want this site to be a one-stop destination for all postgraduate students, where you can see every workshop and event that interests you, every area of advocacy that concerns you, and every support resource that’s available to you. So stay tuned!

nupsa.edu.au

Our new logo, a hybrid of Steffan Broxtermann and Nikki Mooney’s contest-winning entries. What do you think?

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When you first arrive abroad to study for an extended period of time, you expect that you will miss home. You figure that, over time, you will get used to the differences, and that you will be so busy with new experiences that this feeling will pass quickly. For most people it usually does.

What you don’t expect, though, are the mixed emotions that you experience when you are leaving your temporary home and returning home. Now that I think of it, these feelings are not just limited to international travel, but they can apply equally for interstate or just an hour or two. Settling into a new community or leaving one behind can be harder than you think.

If you stay focused on the practical side of things, it becomes about visas, passport, travel arrangements, packing your suit case or cleaning up. There are certain rituals like booking tickets, cleaning out your fridge and making arrangements for your flight that you can do with no problem, but when you go to say goodbye to friends or places which have some importance to you, the emotions can come flooding to you and seem overwhelming.

You start thinking about all the good times, the people you have met along the way that you’re not sure when you will see next, or the new food you have discovered that you can’t get back at home. Of course I’m talking about Vegemite! Some things you will take home with you – mementos, photos and, fortunately, due to rapidly growing access to technology, the ability to stay in touch with new friends.Again, you start to prepare yourself for the losses that you will feel, and start to make plans to incorporate some of your new skills, knowledge, attitudes or cooking skills into your old life back home.

But what about that old life back home? People often make the mistake of assuming that while they have been gone, nothing has changed much. Whilst they have kept in touch with friends and family to learn the big news, the little day-to-day life activities may have changed, the things that weren’t newsworthy and therefore not communicated in e-mail or via Skype.

If you’re going back to a workplace, there may be new policies, new procedures and new staff to consider. Or if you are going home, there might be some changes around the house in terms of decoration or who uses the bathroom at what times now. Taking time before you leave to consider what might have changed, and being open in your approach when you go home might just help avoid conflict, both with others and within yourself.

When you get past leaving us behind, you may start to feel the euphoria of going home. You may have increased cravings for a particular food you have missed while you have been gone, or you may be looking forward to giving your parents an actual hug or visiting your favourite park.

This can last for a while after you return, but don’t be surprised if it starts to fade and you find yourself getting irritated or critical of your culture in comparison to what you have been living whilst in Australia. Remember that you felt like that when you first left home also, and the feelings did pass over time. It will take time to settle into new routines, and to take your new skills, attitudes and values and assimilate them with your home and culture.

If it’s a little bit of a struggle, then there are a few things you can do to help yourself find your new rhythm. Keep busy, make sure you try new things,

take opportunities, stay social and try and concentrate on your relationships. Reach out to those people you miss back in Australia and share your feelings and experiences with those who are in a similar position. Even if it’s a different culture and country, some of the friends you made when you were gone are probably experiencing the same mixed emotions at returning home. Also, try and stay active and get involved in your local community.

Change, no matter what direction, can always be challenging. The experiences you had while you were away have allowed you to grow. It’s impossible when you grow to reverse the effects, so embrace the new parts of you and push forward. You will find your new rhythm at home soon enough.

You can’t go backwards when you go backby Kellie Cathcart, Online Counsellor

Kellie Cathcart is one of UoN’s Online Counsellors.

You can contact UON’s Online Counselling Service via Skype at a drop-in time (username: UoNonlinecounsellor) or via e-mail to make an appointment:

onlinecounselling@newcastle.edu.au

Skype drop-in times are:

Monday: 1.00 - 2.00pmTuesday: 8.00 - 9.00pmThursday: 2.30 - 3.30pm and 8.00 - 9.00pmFriday: 10.00 - 11.00am

You can also call the Counselling Service at each campus:

Callaghan: 02 4921 6622Ourimbah: 02 4348 4060Sydney: 02 8262 6413Port Macquarie: 02 6581 6200

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This post was originally published on the blog of Inger Mewburn, the Thesis Whisperer, on November 9, 2016.

As I write, The USA has one more sleep till election day – and the world will breathe out. It’s been rough watching Donald and Hillary juke it out. Just to be clear, US based readers – I am not judging you by the level of discourse amongst your politicians. Australia had an election in July, which was a pretty unedifying spectacle too. It’s painful watching politics because I’m an academic and I argue for a living. I may not always be an expert at exactly how an argument works, but I can certainly recognise a bad one when I hear it, so I yell at the news.

A lot.

Arguments have come to dominate the way we make knowledge in universities because of, well – colonisation and stuff (if you’re interested, I wrote a post about this a really long time ago). Arguing well is a key academic skill. Learning to argue like an academic is developed all through undergraduate study, but most especially during a PhD. In fact, it’s probably the most subtle and difficult part of the research degree learning process.

Unless you did a full Arts Degree with a major in Philosophy, it’s unlikely you’ve been formally taught how to argue. I spent my undergraduate years in design school, which has very peculiar ways of making arguments, so I struggle to find my way through the swamp of my own arguments. I’m always looking for help to build and clarify my arguments and one of my most useful tools is the humble diagram.

You can use diagrams to construct arguments for any paper or chapter. I picked up the method I outline here

from The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education, which I reviewed some months ago. I’ve tested this on both humanities and science students, so I am reasonably confident it translates across disciplines. Diagrams are shortcuts to writing, so I often teach them in our Bootcamp program.

The best way to show you how it works is via a worked example. Let’s say I want to write a paper about why academics get ‘stuck’ with their writing. We’ve all had these moments, right? Where we just can’t make progress on your writing work no matter how much we try. Why does it happen?

I posed this question to the participants in the translational photosynthesis bootcamp I am running today. They came up with a good list of reasons: feeling like you weren’t ‘finished’, other things to do, interruptions, lack of knowledge, lack of enthusiasm, guilt, fear of the enormity of the task, fear of judgement, wanting to avoid hard work, self conciousness and not having anything new to say.

This is the important brainstorming part of building an argument: writing down all the reasons you can think of without judgement. We then tried to categorise the thoughts using a spider diagram, like so (click for larger version):

I’ve written about the spider diagram often because it’s such a flexible tool for thought. It’s useful for making discussion chapters and organising your literature amongst other things. I’ve put together a handout which describes the process here.

This spider diagram helped us make

Better than Donald: How to Argue Like a Profrom The Thesis Whisperer

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some tentative conclusions and explanations about our question. From this diagram we selected two possible conclusions for why people get ‘stuck’ with their writing:

1. Because they are lazy.

2. Because the university system and processes makes it hard to write.

We can make these conclusions into proper arguments by using the ‘Beardsley-Freeman’ method of argument mapping (a full explanation of this technique can be found in the Palgrave handbook of critical thinking in Higher Education, Chapter 13 by Harrell and Wetzel).

The Beardsley-Freeman map consists of two kinds of statement: a premise and a conclusion. A premise is simply a proposition or ‘truth statement’ that supports a conclusion. You can have many premises and conclusions – the argument bit comes in how you arrange them.

The most simple form of argument, which I am going to call the ‘Donald’ in honour of the US election, ispremise conclusion.

(Click for larger version.)

The Donald argument feels a bit thin, doesn’t it? Our diagram shows there

isn’t much meat on those argument bones. We could try to beef it up with a convergent diagram: more than one premise leading to a conclusion. To do this, we need a more complex argument diagram, which I will call ‘The Hillary’, for obvious reasons. Pulling in another premise from our list, the Donald argument could now look like this:

(Click for larger version.)

When we try to make the Donald into a Hillary we start to see there are fundamental flaws in logic. How does guilt lead to laziness? Nothing on our list will provide the bridge. While Donald would probably be happy sticking with that simple argument form, I prefer Hillary – the more satisfying, robust and therefore convincing argument.

To make a Hilary, let’s start with, ‘People get stuck with their writing because the university system and processes makes it hard to write.’ Starting with a convergent diagram (more than one premise pointing to a conclusion) we could come up with something like this:

(Click for larger version.)

Better – I can see a complexity emerging, but I still don’t buy it. Neither premise, on their own, logically connects to my conclusion. Although it’s more complex than a Donald, it’s only half a Hillary. Luckily there are a couple of other Beardsley-Freeman argument map diagrams I can try.

Let’s choose a serial arrangement: one premise leads to another premise and then the conclusion. Tackling the right hand side of the diagram, I could a serial argument map like this:

(Click for larger version.)

That’s good, I can see a connection between ‘always so much other work to do’ to ‘interuptions’ to ‘systems and processes getting in the way’. How about the premise on the other side – ‘fear’? I could add in a linked argument map to make this premise more valid. A linked argument is when one premise depends on another to be valid, like so:

(Click for larger version.)

be stressful and demoralising. To make matters worse, conventional journals cannot absorb the extra papers and articles, leading to a constant stream of rejections. Under these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that some academics develop fear and avoidance behaviours which stifle their productivity.’

Contrast this with the writing that comes from the Donald:

‘People get stuck in their writing because they avoid work, which means they are lazy.’

Donald or Hilary? I know which I prefer!

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In this argument map, ‘pressure to be productive’ is linked with ‘constant judgement and rejection’ which leads to an atmosphere of fear that can provide an explanation for getting stuck. Let’s put that together in an argument map I will call ‘The Full Hilary’:

(Click for larger Version.)

Once you have a Full Hilary, the thinking has been done and writing can just flow from that. Here’s a paragraph that took me 30 seconds to write:

‘The nature of the university itself, in particular its systems and processes, slows down or even stops people writing. In a large, complex bureaucracy like a university, there is always a constant stream of ‘other’ work an academic must do. This work imposes a series of deadlines and therefore has the potential to lead to constant interuptions of writing – a factor known to slow down writing productivity. Universities are subject to broader systems pressures, like ranking tables which put demands on academics to be constantly productive – subjecting their articles to peer review which can

Over the past year we have heard a great deal about sexual assault and sexual harassment experienced by students at Australian universities. This issue affects all Australian university students regardless of their gender, ethnicity or the university at which they are studying. The Vice-Chancellors of all 39 Australian universities have asked the Australian Human Rights Commission to investigate the nature and scale of this problem.An important part of this work is a national survey of university students, conducted for the Commission by Roy Morgan Research. The survey is a critical part of the university sector’s Respect. Now. Always. campaign that aims to prevent and address these unacceptable behaviours and keep university students safe. UON is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all students, the results of

the survey will be used to develop best practice policies and procedures at UON and in the wider University sector. It is important that students are aware that this survey is independent (i.e. not run by UON). All responses to the survey will be confidential and the privacy of everyone invited to take part in the survey will be protected.We emphasise that UON will never know whether an individual student has participated in the survey or what they said, and the Commission and Roy Morgan Research will not know the identity of those who complete the survey.

Who can participateA sample of UON students have been randomly selected to participate in the survey. These students have already received invitation and reminder emails requesting their participation.It is a voluntary survey, however we

strongly urge those students invited to complete the survey to ensure the views and experience of all students are represented, whether or not they have experienced sexual harassment or assault at university. Students who aren’t selected can still have their say by going towww.humanrights.gov.au/universitysubmissions Support is available for anyone who may feel distress at any time during or after participating in this survey, by calling 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or find University services including counselling here.

Find out moreYou can find out more about this project on the Universities Australia website:https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/uni-participation-quality/students/Student-safety#.V_Rajfl96Uk.

The National University Student Surveyof Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault

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