It's been two months since I have posted on my blog-- but school begins soon, and so here is some simple advice to doctoral students:

1. You are being trained to do research and participate in a community of scholars. Find a faculty member with whom you can work, at first on their ongoing projects, and link up early. You want someone who "owns" you, who feels responsible for you.
2. Attend research seminars, often. People will notice that you are there. When you have questions, ask them.
3. Start looking at the top five journals in your area of concern or your field. If you have time, look at the last five years of issues.
4. Find peers, in your own department or in allied departments.
5. Start thinking about your future career. Go to meetings in your field, and eventually present at those meetings. It's fine to talk to anyone whose work interests you. Even the most famous of people rarely feel they are being attended to enough--they hunger for attention.
6. Start reading in your field, above and beyond your courses.
7. Look respectable. No flip-flops, no too casual clothes. You really don't want to look like an undergraduate.
8. Prepare for your classes, so that you are able to contribute, to ask questions, etc. If you are shy, you will have to learn to speak up.
9. If you have made a mistake in coming to this university, speak to your advisor early on, and see if something can be done. If nothing can be done, go to another university.
10. Intellectual and cultural life at a research university is usually rich, and you might as well enjoy it--seminars in other departments, visiting big shots, etc.