Introduction

While there are numerous "how-to" books aimed at academics in general--examples include The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career , The Academic Job Search Handbook , and Overseas Research: A Practical Guide 1 --few of these titles specifically target the political science market. When I typed "how-to books for political scientists" into Google, I was directed to links like "Best Sellers in Political Science" and "New Books in Political Science." In contrast, the phrase "how-to books for historians" yielded "Getting Published by a University Press" and "How to Become a Historian." The implication seems to be that political scientists become, and remain, political scientists by doing rather than by reading about doing. When it comes to field research, professional socialization, and teaching, there seems to be an unspoken code that assumes that the way to learn is to wholly immerse oneself into the field. But even the most stoical among us can recognize the value of good advice. Navigating the Profession isn't concerned with MOOCs, precarity, student debt, funding cuts, or any of the other myriad challenges facing the social sciences and, more generally, higher education. Nor does it address perennial questions such as inequality, conflict, security, or policy making. This virtual issue's remit is rather more limited--to bring together useful material from PS: Political Science & Politics that can lend support to the actual work of our discipline. As longtime APSA administrator Rob Hauck noted in a recent e-mail, "mentoring the profession has been and should continue to be one of the most important missions of PS ." Since its inaugural issue, in 1968, the house journal of political science has published dozens, if not hundreds, of articles that tackle practical questions facing students of politics. As the journal approaches its first half-century of publication, this seems like a propitious moment to collect some of the most thoughtful contributions into a single volume.