Dear Student,
I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Trudie, your friendly teaching assistant, and I’m here to help. Sure, you might think, what does a TA have to offer in the world of advice? Well, I’ve seen quite a bit in my time. And believe it or not, I was once just like you. That is, before I went to graduate school. As the great Marge Simpson once remarked, “Graduate Students aren’t bad people. They just made bad life choices.” Sage words, Marge. So I’m trying to pass on my life lessons to you. Ask me questions, challenge me, whatever it is. Because, frankly, I’d rather be doing this than grading your papers. To kick things off this week, I thought I’d offer a few words of advice on social media: a hornet’s nest of potential traps – and potential opportunities – to make an impression on your TA.
Here are my top five tips…
Number 1: “Dearest Trudie…”
OK. This is just an old-school email one.
First things first: there is likely a generational divide between you and your TA. Many of us were born during the Reagan administration. We did not have email accounts until high school (and maybe even college). A fundamental point to bear in mind, therefore, is that we do not speak text, are wont to misinterpret acronyms and are generally less likely to look favorably upon messages like: “Hey, forgot 2 turn in my hmwrk 2day – itz attached. Thx.” Most of us are all about salutations and full sentences. A simple “Dear Trudie” is the way to go here. “Hello” at a stretch.
(TAs are also easily flattered, so an accidental “Dear Professor” here and there does not go amiss. We will act humbled and embarrassed, but be secretly thrilled…)
Number 2: Do not friend them on Facebook
Do not, I repeat, do not request your TA as a friend on Facebook. This is more for your benefit than theirs. Entering their Facebook world will likely give you more than you would wish to know about their lives and graduate school. Frankly, it will depress you — and possibly deter you from seeking an advanced degree. You will, for example, see an inordinate number of postings to places like PhDComics.com with associated tragi-comic “likes.” Click on their photo albums and you might feel strangely deflated. Yep. That’s your TA at last year’s grad student Halloween party. Why is no one in costume, you might ask? You don’t see them? They’re “ironic.” Oh. And that person who looks better dressed than the others is actually in costume as “a U.Va. undergrad.” Always a classic.
*Note: Trudie recognizes that the occasional TA might Facebook friend you. This is not Trudie’s style, but perhaps something she may consider in future columns…
Number 3: Wiki-power
Now we know we’ve got your attention. Using Wikipedia for research is like masturbation, or eating cheese in the middle of the night. It’s something that everyone does, but no one talks about. You should never draw attention to it, never copy directly from it, and never — I repeat, never — cite it in a paper! The trick is to conceal your Wiki-ways artfully. You can start there and get a sense of your subject. But Wikipedia entries are like a roadmap that can lead you to useful and stuffier websites or papers (ever checked out the footnotes?)
For example, let’s look at an entry close to Trudie’s heart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teaching_assistantey.
Doesn’t Footnote 1 look interesting?
Butler, D.D et. al. (1993). “A content analysis of pedagogical and policy information used in
training graduate teaching assistants”. Journal for Higher Education Management, 9 1: 27–37.
You’re darn right it does! Bingo! We have ourselves a legit paper to look at. And boy is it a
page-turner. Result: Your TA is impressed.
Number 4: Gender-Specific Tip
Find a way to drop into conversation with your female TA that you really like the meme “Feminist Ryan Gosling.” She’ll give you a knowing look and have newfound respect for your character and depth. I’m afraid I can’t speak for the male species of TA on this one, but I imagine that mentioning your disdain for “The Notebook” couldn’t hurt. In the future, I’ll sometimes be inviting my friend Trevor to weigh in, so let me know if you need a male perspective on anything. So that’s it for now. I look forward to your questions!
P.S. Number 5. One more thing (we promised you five). Don’t read this in class.
Got questions you think Trudie the TA can answer? Email trudie@virginia.edu.
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