Nanoseries of social science

02 April 2023 (7 minutes read)

A Brief Story of a Mother Called Syria

Not long after World War I Syria was born, and was an orphan. She was oblivious to the world around her. With the help of Syria’s Brothers, her royal Cousin stepped in and vowed to protect her. They were not ready to take on the responsibility of raising the delicate newborn. But they tried to protect her and provide her with the care she needed as much as they could. They were sincere.

18 August 2022 (2 minutes read)

The fading memories have a lasting effect

Naturally, as time is passing we are growing. But when we are constantly learning we are even growing at a faster rate. At a rate which it feels it is almost impossible to recognize changes occurring in ourselves. You only notice some of these changes when you reflect on your present behavior and how it is different from a recent similar behavior.

23 July 2022 (5 minutes read)

From Rafic Hariri Airport to Reunion in Syria: A Journey of Thoughts and Emotions

It is after midnight. You are traveling by Taxi from Rafic Hariri Airport to the Syrian border, Al-masnaa. Electric is out and darkness is everywhere. Things will get better once I cross the border to my homeland, the first lie you tell yourself.

24 July 2021 (5 minutes read)

What are the odds of landing a PhD position via Email: Numbers and content

For international students it’s not always easy to land a fully funded position for postgraduate positions, or at least that’s been my experience. I was very much detrained on doing a PhD but I wasn’t sure how and I lacked the proper guiding by a someone who went through that. I had little options on how I could pursue that and one of which was getting in touch with potential faculty members through emails. I wasn’t sure it was going to lead to anything but long story short it did. The most interesting thing was..

29 March 2021 (4 minutes read)

Academic examination is an obsolete idea

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear “test” or “exam”? For me, it’s more or less like talking to a beautiful lady; anxiety, sweating, and stress. For me, the more stressed I was before a test the more “important” the test was. For me, exams were grades that either shamed the student or “awarded” the student. For me, exams were the time to study for the purpose of passing that exam with no regard to the learning value.

18 February 2021 (6 minutes read)

Cholinergic urticaria: stupidest of all allergies

Cholinergic urticaria (also known as heat bumps) is the stupidest of all allergies. When it hits you the first time, you’re bewildered and confused. Slowly but surely you start to be irritated and feel itchy. It feels like sworn of insects pinching you in your forehead, down your back, forearms, and eventually all over your body. The more you fight it back the worse it gets. Then, wheals appear, the sign of extreme and horror. You then realize that there’s nothing else to do but surrender. You give up thinking; that’s it, let it consume me. Only then, you feel something has changed, like when an American hero comes out of nowhere to the rescue at the last minute. You finally realize calmness and cooling off are surprisingly effective.

29 December 2020 (10 minutes read)

It was the worst of times it was the best of times, it was 2020: Objective outlook

It was the worst of times it was the best of times, it was 2020. It was the year of despair it was the year of hope, it was the year of riots it was the year of peace, it was the year of ignorance it was the year of science, it was the year loneliness it was the year of family and friends. 2020 was a lot of things but not the worst of all.

12 November 2020 (4 minutes read)

What do social media and Covid-19 have in common? They both suck!

The Social Dilemma, a Netflix recent well-received documentary, is like that YouTube video with the title Everything wrong with that sitcom that ruins your favorite TV show. The documentary is just like that YouTube video shows you everything wrong with all the social media platforms (with no exception). It’s a good watch. The present article, however, is not about the dark side of social media but rather about the combination of social medial and Covid-19 from the point of view of social science. The rest of the article is about the role of social media during the current pandemic and, in return, how the pandemic has been influencing social media.

10 October 2020 (3 minutes read)

Google is overtaking your memory: Cognitive offloading

Not just that we don’t memorize people’s phone numbers anymore but we have trouble remembering our own’s. Technology is shaping our memory. Smartphones save all the phone numbers in the world. The phone reminder rings when it’s time to take a medical pill. Facebook reminds us of birthdays of family members and friends. Google calendar notifies us when a meeting is approaching. TikTok reminds us it’s just a waste of time. So, the next time you turn off your phone you are shutting off part of your memory too.

26 September 2020 (6 minutes read)

Now you can measure your motivation using this scale: Dropout and Self-Determination Theory

The growing interest in defining the motivation elements and their effects on successfully completing a PhD originates from the somewhat unsettling reality in academia. In Canada and the United States, depending on the program and major, the percentage of attrition among PhD students could reach up to 50%1, an alarming rate indeed. Unfraternally, in academia (in a lot of institutes around the world), graduate students are exhausted mentally and monetarily.

23 August 2020 (4 minutes read)

Is motivation your mighty secret recipe for a successful grad school journey?

Graduate school could be very tough for a lot of people. If you are doing a research degree, maybe you find yourself working on a topic alone and that no one can help you with. Or, maybe, you are earning very little and living in a demanding city and have a family to support. Finishing a graduate school, usually a PhD, is not piece of cake and numbers don’t lie. For example, in the US, PhD dropout percentage reaches 25%, a very serios matter

26 July 2020 (6 minutes read)

Books every student should read

Self-motivation is your mighty guidance during graduate and undergraduate time. And it goes without saying that without a solid self-motivation finding a reason to start and finish studies (studies refer to graduate and undergraduate studies though out the article) could be quite challenging.