baby's first referee report

Ah, the life of a budding academic...

There are all these 'firsts' that have happened in my fieldwork. Some of them I expected: first formal interview; first presentation based on my own data; first time I really, really botched an encounter in 'the field' with someone important, etc. (That last part just keeps on coming...) Others have been surprises: the first time someone said the word 'post-doc' and my heart leapt; the first time someone suggested I apply for a particular 'real' job for which he/she considered me qualified based in part on my research.

This weekend I've been working on another 'first': the first time I've been asked to review an article for publication. I don't know how this ended up on my plate; I suspect an advisor may have had a hand in it. Either way, it's been exciting to get to know a new genre (the referee report) and to confirm that other scholars struggle to make their ideas and arguments coherent, too. And it's fun to participate in these things while still 'in the field'.

Admittedly, I may be playing 'junior scholar' too much. I wrapped up a draft of my referee report in time to go to lunch with an undergrad from the US who's here for the semester and who had asked for my feedback on a questionnaire she's developing for her research on micro-finance. But who makes these rules about what one should be doing while one is 'in the field', anyway? It makes me more comfortable, at least, to track back and forth between spheres in which I know a lot and spheres in which I know a little. And I still managed to get in an interview this morning, so that seems to me like a pretty balanced diet.