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Academic blogs

Author: Sarah Lang

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Cold Emailing in Academia (Part 2)

In the first part of this mini series on cold-emailing in academia, I discussed specifically asking about jobs that aren’t advertised (short answer: there are none, why are you even asking?). This post will give a few hints on how to make your (sensible) cold emails potentially more successful and…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Should You Cold Email Potential Employers in Academia? Some Honest Advice (Part 1)

Today’s post will be about whether (and if yes, how) to approach potential employers in a cold email suggesting you’d like to work with them. First of all, I have to say: this is maybe a controversial topic. I don’t know if my opinion will be shared by others. So,…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Be a Colleague, Not a Student: Career Advice for Early-Career Academics

Today I want to contribute another post to my little series on career advice for early-career researchers. I can speak especially well on the situation in the digital humanities, but I think much of my advice applies across the humanities and maybe beyond. This complements earlier series about applications, careers,…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Word counts don’t work as progress trackers for academic writing

I think we have all seen unending amounts of advice on how to write more efficiently. As you know, I have been on a journey to improve my academic writing, and I guess with that also comes writing more efficiently. I’m using AI to help with that to a certain…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

How to be successful in academia (according to statistics)

Recently, for some reason I don’t remember, I happened across a paper on so-called hot streaks in academic careers. This led me down a rabbit hole into research on success in academia, of which there apparently is quite a lot, especially for the sciences. Unfortunately, I haven’t found much on…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

How I use AI for academic writing (while avoiding AI slop)

Because I work in Digital Humanities and part of my job is thinking about the ethics behind AI, I get asked a lot how I use AI for academic writing. Today I finally want to publish a brief post about how I do it. All in all, there are three…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

How to find a good research question and locate secondary literature as a novice academic writer

Academic writing is challenging to teach—especially when you try to explain it to someone who doesn’t yet have a frame of reference. Reflecting on my own experience, many writing tips I heard early on felt meaningless. It was only through practice—writing articles, submitting them, and receiving feedback—that I really learned.…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Breaking the Binge Writing Cycle: News about my project of becoming a better academic writer

Today’s post is a collection of reflections on writing, research habits, and the messy realities of trying to work sustainably. After another deadline sprint, I’m taking a closer look at what’s working (and what isn’t) in my writing routine—from how I manage reading and citing sources to how I handle…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Breaking the Binge Writing Cycle: News about my project of becoming a better academic writer

Today’s post is a collection of reflections on writing, research habits, and the messy realities of trying to work sustainably. After another deadline sprint, I’m taking a closer look at what’s working (and what isn’t) in my writing routine—from how I manage reading and citing sources to how I handle…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

How to teach yourself to become a decent academic writer

Academic writing is a central part of life in Academia, especially when you’re a PhD student. It’s basically the single most important thing that your success is going to depend on. However, at least in the German-speaking context where I did my degree, there was hardly any formal teaching on…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Identify Your Writing Bottlenecks to Become a More Effective Academic Writer

Struggling to finish your academic writing projects? This post explores how identifying and managing writing bottlenecks can help you write more effectively, stay focused, and overcome procrastination. Today, I’m diving into finding and understanding your writing bottlenecks. Even though I’ve made a lot of progress lately, I realized there are…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Three Books That Changed How I Work and Live: Lessons from Essentialism, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, and Make Time

As part of our goal to have more short posts with quick takeaways, today I’m sharing some key insights from a few books that have had a huge impact on my thinking around work, life, and productivity. Here’s a quick roundup of some practical lessons from Essentialism by Greg McKeown…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Getting Writing Done in 15-Minute Increments

In her book on academic writing, Wendy Belcher reminds us how much progress you can make in just 15 minutes. Sitting down for 15 minutes to accomplish something—even a small part of the process—can add up over time. I completely agree, especially for editing in smaller sections. While I do…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Write Often, Write Happy: Academic Writing Lessons from Two Great Books

Today, I’m continuing the reflections I started in my last post. As I revisit my old surf journal from last year, I’m sharing some quick insights from two great books on academic writing, How to Write a Lot and Write No Matter What. If you’re also working on building a…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Back to the Waves, Back to the Academic Writing Project

In today’s post, I’m reflecting a bit on my writing journey over the past year, and what it feels like to revisit old journals and unfinished posts. I’m writing this from my favorite surf spot in Portugal, where I’m also thinking about how much has changed—and stayed the same. If…

Sarah Lang · Epigrammetry

Don’t give them reasons to disqualify you by saying this [Applications in Academia 101, A Survival Guide, Part 6]

The last post offered some advice on better understanding academic CVs. Now I’d like to highlight one critical mistake I’ve made in the past and recently observed in others: handing someone a reason not to fund you. I will discuss the general conundrum and why it happens more often than…