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That is why conference attendance, even when you are just starting out, can be so important. Find out whether your university offers travel grants to help graduate students defray the costs of going to academic conferences. Keep an eye out for conferences happening near your institution. Many of the major scholarly societies have regional chapters, and attending those sessions is a good starting point.

Here is part of the last entry: “Grad school demands that we unlearn many things, but I never imagined that writing would be one of them. As I write this here, at the end of these thousands of words, I still feel like I just started writing. My hand cramps. I worry. I don’t flow with copious rigor.”