#academicsofinstagram

A bit more of a chill day today so I thought I'd pop on here and say hello. . Last night I finally managed to pull together all the different chapters, case studies, and additional pages into one cohesive thesis draft, and sent it off to my supervisors for what I sincerely hope is the final round of feedback. So I will still have one more round of editing to do once I hear back, and will be working on things like formatting this week which is always sightly frustrating... But this morning I decided to sleep in, then take my cup of tea out with me and wander down to our local bakery for a snack. Will be back to work this afternoon but enjoying taking a few breaths this morning! . How is everyone else doing today? . #PhD #phdlife #AcademicsOfInstagram #archaeologist #archaeology #ArchaeologyLife #ThesisLife #TeaDay #CuppaTea #MorningOff #FinalCountdown https://www.instagram.com/p/Co650aAr5Ir/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Some desk snaps this #WorkspaceWednesday as I enter the last month of my PhD contract. Equally scary and exciting! . For those who are unaware, I am doing what is referred to as an 'articles based' PhD, rather than the more traditional path of a 'monograph' PhD. For the latter, you spend the four years doing research and writing it all up into one big book, which you then submit and are assessed on. For my assessment, I still need to submit a book, but it will consist of four peer-reviewed articles that have either been published or submitted to academic journals. . Especially in the more science-focused subjects, it's becoming more normalised to go this route, and some benefits of it is that you (hopefully) already have work published by the time you finish your PhD, and because you've been publishing as you go, most of the research side of the project is already done and dusted by the time you get to the end. A disadvantage is that you're less flexible in changing your research focus as you progress, because you really need to start pushing out articles in the first half of your PhD. . Of course, the final book that you submit still needs to be one cohesive thesis, and so the papers have to be linked together and book-ended with an introduction and discussion chapter. These two chapters are what I'm currently working on, after having received feedback from my supervisors last week. Once these edits are done, then it's submission time! Very very scary... . What are you working on today? . #PhD #PhdLife #AcademicsOfInstagram #archaeologist #archaeology #ArchaeologyLife #writing #HumpDay #TheLeveragedPhd #editing #FinalCountdown https://www.instagram.com/p/CoHlww4KvJV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

It's the final countdown! Unfortunately I don't really have anything very aesthetic to show this #WorkspaceWednesday as I'm just editing drafts of my final PhD chapters (that's right - the final chapters! 😱) . I thought instead I'd share some of my exciting plans for my online platforms for the coming year. Some of them are still very vague, some of them might be delayed or adapted, and some of them I can't share because they involve other people and we still need to discuss the details, but in general here are the headlines: . 1. Tea-break Time Travel podcast might be released more regularly, and I'll be reviving the #TeaDay videos to go along with new episodes . 2. Educational content related to archaeological theory (whoop whoop) will be expanded, possibly via YouTube, and maybe with the chance to have private tutoring sessions . 3. The amazing @archaeobookclub will be developed further along with our lovely community . 4. A new podcast will be released... More details to come, but it might involve dragons... 🐉 . 5. Revival of my crafting activities! . There are of course many other things outside of this platform that I'm hoping to do as well, and I'll make sure to share those updates with you too as things progress. But for now I'm curious, which of the plans above are you most excited to hear more about? . #phdlife #AcademicsOfInstagram #Archaeology #archaeologist #ArchaeologistsOfInstagram #ArchaeologyLife #NewPlans #podcaster #SciComm #ArchaeologicalTheory https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm_foAPrzAW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Just a short post this #WorkspaceWednesday with some snaps from my desk. . Today's job is working through the reviewer comments on my latest PhD article all about Paleo-Inuit art. I've talked in a previous post about the process of peer reviews, but actually this one went a lot better than expected! Major revisions are still required, but all of the reviewers were polite and positive in their comments, which is definitely not always the case. And they all had similar comments, which means that my "to do" list of changes in my notebook is actually pretty short. . My biggest problem in these situations is to be ruthless with my own creation. I guess all writers have that issue of being reluctant to delete paragraphs and lines that had been so carefully crafted. However, this time I'm determined, so have been slashing huge swathes through the discussion. Of course, that now means that I have to go back through and link it all together nicely again, but hopefully it will result in a cleaner and better article. . One thing that I have improved on during this PhD is being able to remove my feelings from the review process. I've always been quite a sensitive person, which I see as a good thing most of the time, but it does mean that I'm not great in conflict situations and can take criticism a bit too personally. However, having to constantly submit my work for peer review has trained me to look at the resulting comments through a protective shield of professionalism. I accept not that it's nothing to do with me, it's just an impersonal reference to what the reviewer has interpreted. Of course, sometimes frustration still seeps through, but in general I'm much more calm than at the beginning of this PhD. . How do you react to review/criticism? Are you a "take in on the nose" kind of person or a "take it to heart" one? . #phd #phdlife #archaeologist #academicsofinstagram #researchlife #peerreview #theleveragedphd #workingfromhome #homeoffice #reviewercomments #academia https://www.instagram.com/p/CXgInRqKvev/?utm_medium=tumblr

It's #SewingSunday and yes, the red sofa leather strikes again! . For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, the gorgeous red leather used in this picture comes from an old sofa scheduled for disposal. I have already used it in so many projects (see story for links) and I still have so much left! . Today’s project was to make a little case for my new gadget. This week I treated myself to a Rode Wireless Go II (not sponsored by the way), which includes a mini receiver and two mini transmitters. The best part is that each transmitter can be used as a standalone audio recorder that can fit in your pocket. . “Why would I need an audio recorder?” I hear you ask. Well, I love writing, but I find that especially for my academic articles or longer pieces I struggle to remain concise and consequently it takes me a long time to get into the flow of things. However, when speaking, I’m always able to explain myself clearly. I therefore started using a dictation software called Dragon (not sponsored) last year, which is a great way to get my initial thoughts down on paper without getting all caught up in the wording. Dragon works best with a good quality microphone, which I already had on my desk thanks to podcasting. However, since the little one has arrived, I am less keen to sit at my desk all day writing. What I really needed was a good quality portable microphone that I could take with me on walks for example, and then I could run the audio file through my Dragon once i got home in order to transcribe it. It’s also means less time sitting in front of a screen, which to me is a big plus. . It’s one of those things that feels really weird when you start, because it’s not considered the “normal” way to write, but we are all different in lots of other ways and so I think it’s important for us to find a system that works for our own skill set. I’m still getting used to it, but it is amazing how much more productive I am if I can just say the words rather than having to type them. . Do you have what might be a considered a “different” way of working? . #PhD #phdlife #academicsofinstagram #academia #archaeologist #dictation #theleveragedphd @rodemic https://www.instagram.com/the_archaeologists_teacup/p/CXYKQYcrgTy/?utm_medium=tumblr

Definitely running behind on #inktober posts. This one's from a few days ago but I was so pleased with it that I wanted to share it before I forgot. It's also a pretty appropriate theme alongside the current rebrand of Stone Age Monkey into The Archaeologist's Teacup. . I assume that the prompt - "archaeology is a brand" - was inspired by a book of the same name, which I've actually featured in an earlier post. The central message of the book is that archaeologists should embrace the stereotypes associated with archaeology - aka the publically perceived "brand" of archaeology - and use them to share correct information and therefore hopefully mould the brand into something that is more representative of what archaeology really is. . I agree with the author's point to a degree, but there are some stereotypes that to me are just too incorrect to humour, even for a long term benefit. For example, that we study dinosaurs, or that we're like Indiana Jones. Archaeology might also involve the excavation of old bones, but that is where the link with palaeontology ends, as we are focused on researching the human past, which as much as I would wish to believe the Flintstones, doesn't include dinosaurs! And, as much as I love the Indy films, I have never swung from whips while avoiding bullets during fieldwork, and certainly don't want to steal revered artefacts that allegedly "belong in a museum". . In reality, archaeology is an incredibly diverse field. Speak to someone who calls themselves an archaeologist, and they may indeed dig sites at excavations, but they might also do microscopic analysis post-excavation, or do drone surveys pre-excavation, or be specialised in illustrating the finds, or interested in the theory behind the site. The list goes on... . So the next time you're speaking to someone and they say they're an archaeologist, why not impress them and ask what kind of archaeologist they are. (Although be prepared to sit there while they enthuse about their specialisation!) . #archaeology #archaeologist #brand #academicsofinstagram #archaeologylife #prehistory #indianajones #scicomm #drawing #painting #archink #archaeologydrawing #rebrand #prehistoric #dino https://www.instagram.com/p/CVDM9pYKj3q/?utm_medium=tumblr

Look what arrived today! A very exciting delivery from @sidestonepress which includes the first paper published as part of my PhD. . Now that it's been published (and it's open access so available from the Sidestone website!), I can share a bit more about what I was researching. I was looking at the bone, ivory, and antler tools from three different Tuniit Culture (app. 800BC-1300AD) sites located in the Foxe Basin. There were two northern sites, and one southern site approximately 800km apart. What's interesting is that Tuniit didn't have dog-pulled sleds, and then didn't have large sea-going vessels, but in spite of this the tools found at these northern and southern sites are topologically identical. That was always one of the main points made about Tuniit objects: they show a "remarkable level of uniformity". . Now to me, this seemed very unlikely, so I wanted to see whether, even if the tools looked identical, they might have been made or used in different ways at the different sites. So, I used microwear analysis to look at a range of harpoon heads and needles from all three sites, and saw that indeed there did seem to be differences in manufacture and use between the two northern sites versus the southern site. I don't have space to go into a full discussion here, bit it was a very interesting result! . If you'd like to find out more, I can send you the PDF, or it's also available on the Sidestone website. . One thing I was very happy about was that @sidestonepress let me add an abstract in Inuktitut (the local Inuit language of the region I was studying) as my foot foreign language abstract. Great for increasing accessibility to Inuit readers! . #phd #phdlife #academicsofinstagram #theleveragedphd #archaeology #archaeologylife #archaeologist #bonetools #antler #bone #ivory #microwear #microwearanalysis https://www.instagram.com/p/CTkQbDxqaZP/?utm_medium=tumblr