The Postdoc Help Desk

an assortment of useful information for the postdoctoral professional

[postdoc-help-desk]

Unrelated, but I made two of these “book” boxes of earrings for some close friends - with their names in the “title” and personalized characters on each cover to look like them! 

I designed & made everything myself from start to finish! I tried to use a variety of colors, textures, and shapes so each pair stood out (which is why the Amortentia doesn’t quite match the HP text description).

The earrings were made in tiny bottles & flasks with an assortment of beads, resin, glue, paint, and glitter. The covers are textured so they feel like old-timey books. I also made sure to use fonts & images (or parts of them) that didn’t have restrictions (because no-thank-you legal).

Wicked proud of how they came out!!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Presenting Effectively

Just as writing is an integral part to graduate studies, so too is the oral and visual presentation. In this post, therefore, I will be talking about some of the most important things to know about during the presentation process.

The first and most important point is that you should determine both your presentation topic and objective and who the audience will be comprised of and what their expectations of the presentation will be.

Oftentimes the audience is set ahead of time, whether it is fellow classmates for a course, a group of students and faculty for a seminar, or strictly limited to your research committee members. This makes it easier to understand what their expectations are for your presentation, as well as what information they consider “common knowledge” that you won’t need to introduce at length.

Selecting a topic can be tricky if you have no guidance on it, but this is where talking with your advisor, course professor, or senior groupmates can be exceptionally useful. If your topic is predetermined by a professor or advisor, or specific to your research or a particular concept, then you still need to figure out what the purpose of your talk will be. For instance, will you be giving a general explanation to introduce your audience to the basics, or will you go into more depth by talking about intricate details?

Once you have the topic and purpose for your presentation, the next step is to build an outline and list any material that absolutely needs to be incorporated into it. You’ll refer to this outline throughout the time you spend preparing the full presentation, so make sure you have a consistent message or theme throughout its entirety. The level of detail you put into the outline is of course up to you, but I’ve found that having more at this stage makes it easier to compile the full presentation.

Speaking of the full presentation, the next step you should move into is preparing the body of the presentation based on your outline. This would consist of everything except the introduction and conclusion sections, and should be where you spend the majority of your time when you make it to presentation day. You’ll want to use a variety of methods on your slides to capture and maintain the attention of your audience, so try to incorporate data and facts with relevant quotations from experts, vivid descriptions, and even personal experiences or anecdotes where appropriate.

This is also where the “best practices of slide-making” come into play.

Do, by all means, perform a spellcheck on your slides, and do, please, ask someone else to check it too for spelling and grammatical errors. Similarly, do ensure everything is readable! In its most basic sense, this means that the text and background colors should be chosen to ensure good contrast. This also means checking both the size and font used for text as well as ensuring figures and images are not blurry when appropriately sized or cluttered with irrelevant information. Sometimes this requires re-making them with fewer details or larger text! You also do want to use consistent formatting in your slides, so make sure the slide title doesn’t shift unnecessarily around and that side-by-side images or text are aligned properly. If you choose to incorporate animations, do use them sparingly and only to emphasize points or to guide your audience’s attention. Anything extraneous will end up as more of a distraction that confuses your audience. Do try to use visuals to show concepts rather than relying solely on words to tell them. Not only will this break up the monotony of text-heavy slides, but it will also convey the material better when done properly in conjunction with speaking. And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, do limit each slide to containing only one overarching idea. Unlike with a poster or written work, the audience cannot look back at previous material in oral presentations, nor can they choose to spend extra time on a slide. But you will typically find that unlike the space limitations prescribed to posters or written works, you will not have a comparable limit on the number of slides you use in a presentation. So within reason, do use more slides with fewer concepts on each one!

After the body of the presentation is prepared, you can build the introduction and conclusion to the presentation. This is another time that your outline can be used, because the main concepts of the talk are clearly stated there. You’ll want the introduction to provide the topic and purpose of your talk, as well as to grab the attention of your audience. If you don’t have their attention to start, you’ll find it’s nearly impossible to gain it later. Starting with a series of questions, or an important image, or even an appropriate joke can capture your audience at the beginning. In the conclusion of your presentation, you’ll want to give a summary of the main ideas and key takeaways. Basically, you want to start by informing the audience of what you intend to tell them, then go through the process of actually telling them that material, and finish by reminding them what you told them.

Once you’ve fully built your presentation, you need to move into the practice stage. There are three typical methods for the oral part of the presentation. You can memorize a script to recite, speak off of a series of bullet notes, or read from the full script. There are benefits and drawbacks to each technique, and the best one depends highly on personal preference. Regardless, practicing should ideally be done out loud in front of people, with a little background noise, and in a similar space to the one you’ll be in for the live presentation.

For the day of the presentation, there are some “best practices of presenting” to keep in mind.

You want to make sure you show up early and in appropriate attire, not only because it is professional to do so but also because if there are any issues with the system or compatibility there is time to have them addressed. This also gives you a chance to check that everything is legible both in terms of the room’s lighting and size so that people sitting in the back of the room are less likely to feel excluded. It may sound silly, but you’ll also want to use the restroom so that you don’t end up needing an intermission or racing away before the audience has a chance to ask questions.

During your presentation, you should vary the speed, tone, and volume of your speech to emphasize and draw in your audience. Also, acknowledge it to your audience if you’re feeling anxious. They’ll be more sympathetic towards any discomfort you exhibit, and will understand that it comes from public speaking rather than from uneasiness or annoyance with them. You’ll also want to stay attuned to the audience. If they’re getting shifty or chatting amongst themselves, recognize that you might want to change your tactics to involve the audience more or to further break down ideas into more basic or relatable terms. Also, try not to fidget, as this is highly distracting to the audience. Ways to remedy this are to stand at a podium, use natural hand gestures, and in larger forums, walking across the stage. Try to do whatever is comfortable to you!

Remember, the best way to build your confidence and comfort level in giving a presentation is experience.

[postdoc-help-desk]

Expert Note-Taking

Last post was about how to manage any references you gather during your research, so this time I’m going to focus on another important related factor: keeping track of important information obtained from references. Even though you can do this in multiple ways and preferences will determine what you go for, there is one factor you’ll definitely want to consider before choosing an option.

It all comes down to the question of how long your project will last and how many references you’ll need to collect in order to complete it. For me, these fall into three categories that boil down to the terms small, medium, and large.

◆ Consider small projects as those that are fairly short or not requiring many references. If the project only lasts a few weeks or you need under 10 references, you can probably get away with printing articles before highlighting relevant information and scribbling notes in the margins. If you prefer to keep things digital, these options are also available in most PDF reader applications.

◆ For medium-sized projects with up to 20 references or ones that last up to a semester’s worth of time, you may want to consider transferring that information to a notebook or onto note cards that you can flip through or putting it all into a single word processing document. At the very least, this will reduce each reference to its relevant information instead of having to skip past extraneous information. Since you should have a PDF copy of all your references saved for easy access, you will always have the option to return to the full piece for details you may have missed previously.

◆ And then there’s the large projects. For any projects that require more than 20 references, you will likely want to be able to search and sort information more easily, and this is where software options can be immensely beneficial. Similarly, any projects that last longer than one semester’s worth of time is likely best suited for digital notes so you don’t misplace work and have to do a close rereading of any references. As graduate students, this is where your main research project will definitely end up, though other projects may as well.

Of course, your cutoff point might be different than mine, so don’t feel like you have to stick to these values. If you have a better memory or fewer things to juggle, you may get away with stretching to longer time periods or larger quantities of references. If you’re liable to forget things easily or have a lot of responsibilities, make sure you account for this! You know your own limits better than I do, but do try to err on the cautious side. And by no means should you push yourself to keep everything in your head, because you will definitely forget information or mix up sources and details if you do!

So let me spend the rest of this post talking about what some of the best options are out there for digital academic note-taking. Just like you did in choosing a reference manager, spend a little time testing out your choice to make sure it’s a good fit for you and your style. If you thought the idea of transferring your references from one manager to another halfway through a project was daunting, consider how much worse it would be without the automatic export and import options they offer and you’ll have a sense for what transferring your notes to another platform halfway through a project would be like.

Digital note-taking options have two distinct advantages over paper and print options, which are intertwined. They are the copy and paste function and the search function. ◇ Whether you’re copying a specific quotation into your notes or grabbing a screenshot of a figure or table, this is invaluable next to having to hand-write or draw out anything. Even if you were to underline, highlight, or physically cut out the relevant part of a paper, each of these options are more time-consuming in the long run. Cutting up a physical copy to paste pieces into a notebook is completely absurd and does you no benefit when it comes time to use that information, and neither does underlining or highlighting because you’ll still have to go back to the whole reference. Finding highlighted or underlined phrases after the fact is hugely annoying, if for no other reason than having to flip through countless pages to find the right sentence. But any images you put into your digital notebook will be accessible to copy and paste out of it later on, just as any quotations will be. Searching for information will also take significantly less time and effort, because you won’t have to flip through physical notes to manually identify relevant phrases. Instead, all text in your digital notebook can be searched using the search function in the program if it has one, or CTRL+F if it doesn’t.

Now, I’m a little biased in note-taking options and I’m sure that will come across, so do keep that in mind. For me, there are really only three viable digital options at this time that are well-designed for academic note-taking.

A word processing document: ◇ It’s important to start by recognizing the tried-and-true, long-standing option of a massive document. This can of course be a browser-based document like a Google Doc that you can access anywhere with Internet or it could be application-based like a Microsoft Word document that is saved locally to a hard drive. But no matter how you design and format it, a giant document is the most basic of the digital choices and therefore has the fewest benefits. This means that as long as you include something to identify where any information comes from, it can work but it has distinct limits. However, the more references and information you add to the file, the harder it will become to pick out specifics or draw connections between several references. Consider for a moment the limitation of your monitor screen size. While it may sound silly, remember that if you copy several figures or take a lot of notes on one reference, the space taken up could easily take up more than what you are able to reasonably read on the screen. If you then want to find a key phrase or concept that appears in multiple references, there’s no way to find both that key information and the reference it comes from at the same time, even with a search function. Taking notes for small or medium projects may be feasible with a word processing document, but should definitely not be used with large projects.

Evernote or Microsoft OneNote: ◇ So what if you don’t want to use a word-processing document, or you have a large project to do? Both Evernote and OneNote are great options for you to keep all your notes together. They’re fairly similar, so in large part your decision will come down to personal preference. Evernote is distinctly business-like in its design with a relatively drab color scheme. In contrast, OneNote is a bit more colorful and creative in its design. This may not matter to you, but then again, it may be depressing or distracting for you if you choose the wrong application. The most significant difference between them, however, is the cost. Evernote has several levels to it, including the individual use options of basic and premium. Basic Evernote is free, but comes with the limitation of only being accessible on a computer rather than having the mobile access option that comes with a premium account. It also restricts your account in terms of the number of devices that can be linked to it, which may be problematic if you’re likely to work on multiple computers.For $8 a month, however, you’ll have Premium Evernote and be able to get rid of both of these issues while bumping up your abilities in some other areas, too. It’s also worth noting that a school email address can grant you a full year with a Premium account for free. OneNote, on the other hand, is completely free. No pay levels and no differences between account abilities, just full access. So, what can you do with these softwares? Since both of them are designed specifically to be note-taking software, there are some distinct benefits that mostly appear through organizational features. - While the terminology is different between them, both Evernote and OneNote let you organize your notes very well. Remember back in middle school when you had a different binder for each class, dividers within each binder for different sections of material, and many different pages within those dividers that contained your notes? That’s pretty much what you’ll have again through these applications, but with the added benefit of being digital. Each project can be the binder, while subsections within it will become folders, like the dividers, and all of your notes for each reference will go onto a different page. You can even create subfolders if needed. - Another key organizational feature here is one that I pointed out as a weakness with a word processing document, which is keeping more information on one screen. To continue the metaphor, unlike your middle school binders, you can see the name of each page in a folder without having to flip through them so you can identify and find information more easily. You’ll still have to click through the pages to see the notes, but if you use a search function to find a key word or phrase, you’ll much more easily identify which references have that information in them.

No matter what route you choose, regardless of the project size or duration, keeping track of which source any information comes from is easily the most important thing. By doing this, you will save significant amounts of time in not having to look back through multitudes of documents to find a specific statement or figure in one of them again.

[postdoc-help-desk]

Keeping Track of Articles

There are two key aspects to grad students accumulating a hoard of literature that helps to design their research project. The first is determining which articles are relevant, and the second is through managing their information. Which databases are best for acquiring sources depends heavily on what field of study you're in, but how to manage them once you've located them is an entirely different matter. So in this post I want to talk about references. Not about the field-dependent information on how to get them, but rather the much more useful and generally applied information on how to keep them, sort them, and track them. While I would suggest keeping a PDF file of every reference you read, it’s completely unnecessary to go through each one to pull citation information every time you need to reference them. You are of course able to do this manually, but why waste precious time and energy when you can use one of the many software options available? I'd like to break down the pros and cons of what I and many others consider the top four reference managers.

All of the top reference managers include a few key functions that are invaluable to the graduate student. Even if you choose not to use one of the ones that I’m suggesting here, definitely take some time to investigate your selection to ensure it has the capabilities you want and need. ◆ Storage space is the first thing you’ll want to check. If there’s a limit on anything, whether it’s the total number of references you can have or the number of folders you can sort references into, don’t pick that option! I assure you, there are few things as frustrating to a graduate student as having to move references between different managers at any point. It turns into a waste of time more than anything else, and really shouldn’t be necessary. While actually moving the references might not be so bad, the real time-suck is learning the intricacies of the other reference manager. Once you get used to one, switching can be a hassle. ◆ Cost is another important factor, and there really is no reason for there to be any cost to you as the graduate student. Of the four options I’m talking about in this post, two are completely free and the other two are free to the user as long as the university has a subscription. If you go with the one your university provides access to, do check first to make sure they aren’t considering or planning to switch to a different provider! Mine did this two years into my PhD studies and as I indicated before, switching was quite the debacle. Consider how you’ll want to bring references into the manager. Do you want to have to find and type in all the information? Probably not. A lot of reference databases and journal websites include an option to export the citation information, which you can then import into the reference manager. Some reference managers have a preferred style, but sometimes the database or website messes that up. All of them, whether database, journal site, or reference database, allow RIS imports and exports so I just got used to selecting that option regardless. A few reference managers let you search for new references directly in their software, so they can add the citation information that way as well. ◆ Just as you’ll want to get your references into the manager easily, so too you’ll want to consider how to get them out and into any manuscripts you prepare. Ideally, having the manager take care of any formatting or stylistic concerns when it comes to the citations and bibliography would be best, because this lets your focus stay on writing! Fortunately, all of the reference managers I’m discussing have an option to integrate with the most common word processor, Microsoft Word, with some able to integrate with other word processors. Regardless, the basic idea of each is that you install an addon to the word processor that connects to your personal database of references. As you write, you can quickly and easily select which references you want to cite. When you’re done making any edits, simply choose the reference style of APA, MLA, Chicago, or any of the other options and within a minute, the document will have all the citations prepared according to that style. Additionally, a bibliography of all the cited references will be compiled in the chosen style at the end of the document! If you just want the reference list for your whole database, a specific folder, or just a selection, there’s no need to create a giant list of citations in a document using the addon feature, as the reference manager itself provides this as an option. ◆ Lastly, and this really applies to anything you may use to improve your efficiency, but the feel is a huge factor. So definitely, definitely, test them out before you commit! Even a half hour spent on figuring out which reference manager is easiest for you to navigate and use will pay off in the long run. Will you need to access your personal reference database from multiple computers? Go with one that has a browser version. Will you be working offline often? Choose one that has a downloadable software application. Are you working with a team who will need to share references? Make sure your option offers this feature!

There are few differences between the available options for reference managers, so for the most part they're interchangeable. With that having been said, let’s get into some specifics.

First up is the well-known EndNote. Put out by Clarivate Analytics, EndNote offers both a browser and application version to users. It is restricted to a university license, but since you'll be in an academic setting this shouldn't be problematic. As long as you maintain an active status at your school and they have a license agreement with Clarivate, you should be able to access EndNote for free. EndNote allows references to be imported using a few different file types including those in RIS format. For those collaborating with others, EndNote allows you to share all or part of your reference database. And, it also has an addon that integrates with a number of word processors to automate citations.

If your university doesn't have a license with EndNote, it likely has one with ProQuest’s version, the equally popular Refworks. Again, if your school has a license agreement with the company then you’ll be able to access Refworks for free for as long as you’re a student there. Unlike EndNote, Refworks is a browser-only reference manager, so you will definitely need internet access to interact with it. It allows references to be imported through several different file types including RIS format, and it has its own citation addon for integrating with any of several word processors as well. Need or want to share some of your references with collaborators? You can do that too!

But what if your university doesn’t offer one of these options, or you don’t mesh well with whichever one it does offer, never fret! Two equally useful, but completely free options are also out there. Elsevier’s Mendeley and George Mason University-designed Zotero have most of the same features of the other two. Much like EndNote, both Mendeley and Zotero offer users the option of accessing through a browser or downloaded software application. Even though the databases are saved to your own computer, these reference managers still allow shared libraries across different users so collaboration is an option. As expected, you can import and export references using either RIS format or a few other options. And again, both options also have their own respective citation addons to integrate with your word processor of choice.

In graduate school, and especially as a PhD student, you will read countless articles over the years that you may or may not choose to reference when it comes time to write up your dissertation. Rather than try to keep track of them all in your head, or have to reopen each file or dig through stacks of papers when it comes time to building a bibliography, I would strongly suggest using one of these reference managers. Which one you choose is up to you, but I promise, no matter which one you ultimately go with, you won’t regret it!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Maintaining Motivation

You may have heard the saying, “it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon” at some time in your life. I’m here to tell you, or perhaps remind you, that graduate school, and especially pursuing a doctoral degree, definitely falls under the marathon style of thinking. It’s not just about the time commitment, either. The mentalities for successful completion of each are similar as well!

Starting grad school isn’t something that you should do without thinking about it first, just as you don’t stumble upon a marathon event and decide to join without having prepared mentally or physically first. There are a lot of factors that should go into deciding whether to pursue a PhD including but not limited to finances, time commitment, part-time vs full-time status, working while a student, current responsibilities, and career aspirations. You may also want to consider how your situation might change over the next 2 to 7 years, as this is the range of time a full-time Masters or PhD typically takes.

Somewhere between the midpoint and two-thirds of the way through a marathon, runners experience what is called “hitting the wall” where thoughts of giving up push forward. With the finish line not yet in sight, but feeling drained from the distance they’ve come so far, failure seems imminent. The mental strength that runners exhibit at this point to push through the seemingly endless undertaking of a marathon is something grad students will be called upon as well.

So how can you get through this and keep your motivation pushing you through to the finish line? Remembering the bigger picture while not letting it overwhelm you is a good start. Just like a marathon, grad school is a test of endurance. Sure, there might be some times where things are going smoothly and it seems easy, almost like running downhill. There will also be uphill times when you’re struggling to make any progress and just getting out of bed and showing up takes most of your effort. There may be times you can keep a steady pace, while others may require you to speed up or take on additional responsibilities to hit a milestone. If you keep in mind the anticipated benefits of completing the degree, you’ll have a better chance at staying focused throughout your schooling.

A few other techniques will help as well! I’m going to talk about two major ones that are applicable to most if not all grad students, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there.

One of the most important things you can do is to celebrate victories, however small. Did you get your assignment in on time? Celebrate. Did you eat right and go to bed at a decent hour? Celebrate. Did you pass a big exam? Celebrate. Grad school is a long and arduous process, and if you don’t celebrate the small things just as much as the big ones, you’re going to burn out fast. Think of it this way. Between passing your qualifying exams, which usually happens in your second year, and defending your research shortly before you graduate, there can be years of time! If you don’t enjoy the little accomplishments on a weekly or even daily basis, you will become tired, discouraged, and even depressed. So pat yourself on the back, enjoy a nice meal, or spend some time with friends because you deserve it!

Another great way to keep up your motivation is to have a support network you can rely on, both in and out of the school setting. Think of them as your cheerleaders and fellow runners as you run through the marathon course. Building a network at school should consist of being friendly with your classmates, and especially those in your group of course. If you’re able to all take a lunch break at the same time, do that and socialize! Check in with each other throughout the day and week when you have a few minutes. If you find you have more things in common with them than just being in grad school, try to meet up for activities outside of school every once in a while. Outside of school, you should have friends and family who are supportive of you as well. If they’re local, great! Spend time outside of school with them when you’re able. If they’re not, then set up a regular time to talk with them often. One of the things I personally found most useful while in grad school was to start visiting a therapist who I check in with regularly. Working on a PhD can be very draining, both mentally and physically, so having a professional to talk to about my stressors makes things more manageable without adding pressure to friends or family. In the weeks where I’m just barely getting by, she’s able to remind me to do the basics to take care of myself and with suggestions on how to push forward. Regardless of who you rely on during your education, remember that leaning too hard on one person will stress the relationship, so broaden your network as best you can!

You may have noticed that I never referred to a marathon as a race during this post, and I want to explicitly state that this was an intentional decision. We like to put a competitive edge on most activities, but fundamentally we are testing ourselves. Graduate students, and people in general, should not compare themselves to others. Though situations may seem similar, they are never exactly the same. In graduate school, differences can be even more significant. Having family responsibilities can be dramatically different due to the abilities or commitment from a partner or other family members, as well as the ages of the person that needs to be cared for and the student. The research project and advisor also come into play, as different advisors have different expectations for their students, and these can even change depending on the status of the student. New students might be cut a little more slack in their research progress as they have to juggle classes and sometimes teaching. Students in the middle of their education might be expected to take on extra work to benefit the group, or to make great leaps and bounds in their research. Similarly, some research projects have time constraints, while others may be more loosely restricted. Access to outside resources may place time limitations on progress. Even the number and type of pet someone owns will influence their responsibilities enough to cause big differences!

The most important thing to remember about grad school is that, just like a marathon, there is a definitive end. You may not be able to see it yet, but if you keep heading forward then you’ll make it there.

[postdoc-help-desk]

Teaching Undergrads

Let’s talk about teaching. Many graduate students have their first teaching experience in their first semester of grad school, and this can be intimidating in a lot of ways. A lot of us have only been students up until this point, with very few having opportunities to even being assistants in a lower level course while in undergrad. So it comes as no surprise that many grad students feel like we’re being thrown in the deep end of a pool and expected to stay afloat. Some completely legitimate concerns are with public speaking, being considered an expert on a subject, time management, and how to interact with students as an authority figure, and this only covers a few topics that could be crossing your mind.

Most importantly, it is imperative for you to remember that you are primarily a student. You are not at the school to teach, though you may enjoy teaching or be at the school to learn how to be a teacher. You are there to receive a degree. In other words, you weren’t hired as a faculty member, you were accepted and matriculated into a program of study. So this means that while you should allot time to teaching, your primary responsibility is to your own courses and research. Full teaching assistantships, or TAs, are typically for 18-20 hours per week. Do not spend more than this amount of time in a given week - even if you spent less the previous week! The only time this becomes an exception is if you fall significantly behind in your grading responsibilities and need to catch up. A great way to keep you on track and enthused about teaching is to set a schedule for preparation and work after class ends and to find the parts of the course that you enjoy. If you have the option to influence which courses you teach, try to make them ones directly related to your field. If that fails, go for courses covering topics you’re interested in, and try to avoid teaching courses that are neither.

Confidence goes a long way toward convincing the students you’re someone they need to listen to in the classroom. Whether you’ve got to “fake it ‘till you make it” or you’re feeling good to go, definitely show the students that you know what you’re talking about. But at the same time, don’t lie! If you don’t know something, admit it and let them know you’ll look into their question. If you aren’t feeling completely confident, let them know you’re new to teaching and will work with them to progress, because trying to be someone you’re not can be just as devastating to your classroom as giving the wrong information. You want to be a more confident version of yourself, so if you’re nerdy and crack jokes like me, don’t try to be militaristic when you teach! If you have a group of fellow grad students who are feeling similarly doubtful in their teaching skills, consider practicing your material with them. If not, ask for feedback from your students frequently. Overall, the more you practice in front of your peers and students, the better and more confident you’ll get, so be patient with yourself and understand that there’s a learning curve!

Ethical considerations are also a big concern for grad students, and this tends to play out in one major way. For many it’s the first time that you’re being placed in a position of greater power over others. Definitely, under no circumstances, should you have any relationship with any of your students that is a “more than friends” status. But even the most platonic of relationships can be a bad idea. You may want to befriend your students by spending time with them outside of class, show preference to them in class by spending more time interacting with them over their peers, or connect with them on social networking sites. The first two should be seen as big red flags! There is a power differential between you and your students that can be misinterpreted by you, the student, and outside parties. Students might feel like they are under an obligation to be your friend if you reach out to them because you hold power over their grades. If they reach out to you, be aware that they may seek special treatment because of their status with you, so try to avoid this as well. Social networking sites are a little different, but the appropriateness really depends on the type of website. If it’s purely social, it’s probably not the best idea to connect with them. But if it’s a career-based professional site, then go for it! I do find it’s best to let the student request the connection on these sites though, so I’d encourage you to give your students your professional contact information and let them decide what they want to do with it. The takeaway message here is to set boundaries early and clearly and enforce them across all students instead of on a case-by-case basis.

Another potential issue grad students will face during their teaching assistantships is the student plea for extra credit or a bump in their grades. They can sound like “I need to maintain my scholarship!” or “I can’t stay on the team if I get less than X grade!” and a range of variations. You may even recall making similar requests to your teachers during your own classes! If they were anything like my teachers, they always acknowledged my academic concern but ultimately did not provide the boost I wanted. As a TA, you should do the same because ultimately you need to keep things fair across the course. If you’re not the only TA for the course because there are multiple sections, helping your students with extra credit puts those in other sections at a disadvantage. If you are the only TA, but you only provide the one student who asked with an extra credit assignment, then you’re doing the same thing on a smaller scale. And what about the student’s reliability in their request? A lot of times, students are trying to balance out a lower grade in a different course to maintain their GPA or are making the same plea to all of their teachers! Ultimately, you should follow the grading scheme if one is provided to you, or make one prior to looking at the students’ work if not. If you don’t, you put yourself at risk of losing your teaching assistantship in the future, which could lead to you having to drop out of grad school or taking on debt you didn’t expect!

I always appreciate my time teaching because if nothing else, it gives me a chance to step away from my research and take a breather. I get some mental distance from the project and recovery time so that I can return with fresh eyes and a clear head. Another thing I didn’t expect from teaching was that, since undergrads are new to the topics I’m presenting to them, their enthusiasm and curiosity can rub off on me and reinvigorate me when my motivation is down. So use teaching to benefit you just as much as you’re helping the students!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Imposter Syndrome

So, let’s talk about something that almost every doctoral - in fact, nearly every person will feel at some point: imposter syndrome. As its name suggests, imposter syndrome is the phenomenon of feeling like a fake or a fraud. Self-doubt is the predecessor to imposter syndrome, much like an excess of nervousness can lead to anxiety.

The first thing that I’d like to emphasize here is that it’s perfectly acceptable to feel this way, and can even be motivating for some people. A little doubt in ourselves can help encourage us to improve and make things better because we start by recognizing our shortcomings. But for most of us, this sense of not being cut out for whatever it is we’re doing can quickly spiral out of control and overwhelm us. When it does this, it can be debilitating and undercut any self-esteem or confidence we may have.

This brings us to imposter syndrome. Dr. Valerie Young is the most prominent current expert on the syndrome, having even written one of the first books on the subject! In the book, she identifies five types of feelings imposter syndrome can bring out in a person. These are: the perfectionist, the expert, the natural genius, the soloist, and the superperson. I’d like to spend a few minutes going over the pattern a person feeling each one will exhibit.

The perfectionist sets extremely high goals for themselves, and feels that missing a goal by even the slightest amount is enough to call the attempt a failure. Experts, on the other hand, fear their lack of knowledge will be discovered if they don’t act like they know everything already. As the name suggests, the natural genius expects tasks to be easy for them and questions their skills and knowledge when they have to put in effort. The soloist feels they have to do everything alone, and that asking for help is showing a weakness and fault in themselves. Similarly, the superperson feels like they have to be perfect in all aspects of their life - regardless of whether it’s at home, with friends, or at work. In each case, the person feeling these things call their own competence into question, and set them up for feeling like a failure themselves.

So, which one or ones fit your feelings? Academically, I tend to be a blend of the perfectionist and the natural genius, while in my personal life I fall more into a soloist category. Believe it or not, making this self-assessment this is the first and most important part of dealing with imposter syndrome. Consider a fire burning out of control. If you don’t know what fuels the fire, in trying to fight it you could make it worse! As with most things, you can’t address an issue without first identifying the problem, and that’s no different here. Know the problem, so that you may come up with a strategy to fight it.

But that doesn’t mean you should just stop at knowing which one you are! Push back against those feelings consciously, by yourself or with the aid of others. Here are some ideas on how to do that.

◆ Point out that the thoughts or feelings are coming from imposter syndrome ◇ As I said before, identification is the first and most important step

◆ Reframe the thoughts when you notice them ◇ Think “I did 90% of my to-do list” instead of “I didn’t get to 10%”

◆ Acknowledge small victories and accomplishments ◇ No matter how small, these things add up!

◆ Remember that getting something wrong doesn’t invalidate everything that you know ◇ No one counted to ten the first time correctly, or recited the alphabet. Give yourself a break because mistakes happen and knowledge is built

◆ Open up to friends, peers, family, and mentors ◇ Everyone you share your struggles with likely has felt the same way at some point, and will be able to help in their own way

◆ Stop comparing yourself to others ◇ You are YOU, and no one else!

◆ Point out what you can do instead of what you can’t ◇ Instead of “I can’t do X” say “I can do Y and Z”

◆ Write down nice things others have said about you and refer to it as needed ◇ Keep a notebook, or sticky notes, or texts, or voicemails - anything and everything that points out your strengths when you can’t see them!

◆ Advocate for yourself, in your mind or out loud ◇ At the end of the day, you are your greatest ally or your worst enemy. Choose which one you’ll be.

Imposter syndrome is an issue that should be held onto...long enough to shove away! But like most things, dealing with imposter syndrome is not a one-time fight. Instead, be prepared for it to filter in and out of your life at different times and in different ways. The best way to combat it is to be ready. Make sure you have a strong network of friends, coworkers, family, and mentors that you can rely on to help guide you through periods of self-doubt, and to keep you from the crippling sense that imposter syndrome brings forward. Strengthen your mind by accepting your flaws and weaknesses while also recognizing your strengths and using them to your advantage. And never ever stop celebrating every milestone and success along the way!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Grad Classroom

So you’re headed off to graduate school - congratulations! No matter what field you’ll be studying, you will at least start by taking classes. Whether heading directly out of undergrad or coming back to academia after a break, there are a few things you should know about graduate-level classes.

First, consider the breadth of the classes you’ll be taking. In undergraduate studies, we all had to take a wide array of courses ranging from those deemed important for everyone to the more specialized ones for your major. You got to know all of campus because you were wandering across it repeatedly as you ventured from building to building. You were acquainted with a wide variety of classmates from all different majors. This is the most dramatically different aspect of graduate school. All of your classes will most likely be in a single building because they’re all in a single field, and almost all of the people you interact with will be studying in that general field. The only time this really varies is when your degree is across two fields, or there’s limited space for classes that requires them to be held all over the place, but this is rare at the graduate level. It took me until my third year to venture outside of the track between where I parked my car and the building next to it where my classes were held, and that’s not at all uncommon! I was teaching at the time to cover my tuition, and actually asked my students to help me back to the building if they saw me away from it because I was probably lost!

But I digress. To get back on topic, think of a triangle with the point facing downward broken into three horizontal bands. Undergraduate studies are at the top, where it is the widest but shallowest. This can be equated to the broad range of concepts covered in undergraduate studies. Some depth is associated with the topics in your major, but really you’re just getting acquainted with the material. If you’re able to do research at this level, you may notice that every step is outlined for you with very few deviations allowed. You may even work beside your supervisor or be managed by a graduate or postdoctoral student. In a Master’s degree, you’re in the middle band of the triangle, learning fewer concepts in greater detail. Some research may be performed at this level, but it is still highly directed and managed by a supervisor, though you will be able to work on your own and provide some insights into the project. And finally, you can reach the doctoral level at the bottom where the triangle is narrowest. Here the student learns about the smallest range of topics but becomes exceptionally focused on the details inherent in the material. Doctoral learners progress from being students, where the material is taught to them, to candidates, where they design their studies through primary research. One thing you should notice about this triangle metaphor is that the material covered is the same or less. That is to say, the triangle goes down in a narrowing fashion with all angles being acute, instead of being obtuse where you reach out from the material studied at the undergraduate level. You yourself may move to a different field, as an advisor of mine did in switching from an art history undergraduate major to a chemistry doctoral degree, but if you took undergraduate classes and graduate classes in the same area, you’ll notice that they both cover the same topics. Had she gone back to take some undergraduate courses to brush up on concepts before heading off the grad school, she would have realized that the material was the same!

Okay, so the classes are different. Now let’s talk about your classmates, the teachers, and expectations. Other graduate students will almost always attend classes, and you should follow suit! Oftentimes the teachers won’t take attendance or count it as part of the grade formally, like they do in undergraduate courses. That being said, there are two major differences - one, your classes will have fewer students, so your professors will notice your absence even if they don’t factor it into your grade. And two, remember that you want to be there! Graduate school isn’t nearly as mandatory as undergrad has become, but you put in the time to apply because you wanted to put in the time to work on your education instead of working in industry, and you didn’t have to do that! Use the motivation to go to graduate school to carry you as far into your program as possible - and then use the motivation to finish to get you to graduation!

Your classmates, as I said before, are going to almost always be in your field of study. They may be in different degree programs, but it will be surprising to see anyone outside of your field. Students taking elective courses are rare in graduate programs because the purpose of you being in the program is to study a particular field, not to gain general knowledge. A lot of advisors consider elective courses a waste of time at the graduate level because they take your time away from your program, and will discourage against taking them. Again, however, there are exceptions to this when a student’s understanding of material in their field may be improved or enhanced through taking a course in a different field. Let’s go back to my former advisor and consider a physical chemistry student whose math skills are lacking. Physical chemistry relies heavily on mathematics principles and applications, and an advisor may suggest taking a class in math to supplement that knowledge. These additional courses may be at the graduate or undergraduate level, depending on the abilities of the student and the material the advisor feels is necessary to be reviewed.

Remember that the professors who teach your classes will be experts in their specific fields, and be able to teach material more in depth and at a faster pace than undergraduate courses allow. You’ll be expected to do more work outside of the classroom in reading and applying the material than you were in undergrad, so take notes and ask for copies of the slides, ideally received before class. Some students take notes directly on their copies of the slides, while others prefer notebooks, but either way, note taking is an essential skill. The professors will expect the classes to be more interactive, with students asking questions and providing insights or feedback throughout the course. Rather than strict lectures, the courses will be designed more in a directed discussion format. Some teachers may even have students take over the lecture or lead a discussion for a class time! 

Lastly, interact with everyone in your department as best you can. You don’t know who will be a good connection to network with in the future, or which professor will write a good recommendation for you when you graduate. You may even find that many of them will be instrumental in your research down the road or even on your defense committee when applicable. Making friends or at least being friendly acquaintances with everyone will make your graduate studies a lot more manageable. I know I can go to just about any professor or graduate student in my department, or even some outside of it for advice or help completing a task, and I try to be a resource with others within reasonable expectations. Being friendly to everyone extends to the administrative assistant in your department as well! I have built up a good reputation with the one in my department, and it has made life easier when I need to talk to the department chair or ask questions about who to go to for materials necessary for completing my degree. And while not the intent of me befriending her, it also means I’m one of the first people she thinks of when a new opportunity comes around!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Picking an Advisor / Post-Doc Boss

When it comes to selecting a research advisor, you should consider things like:

  ◆ Do you need a team of advisors, or is one sufficient? ◇ Sometimes multiple advisors can be good because you get different areas of expertise together, and more opinions on how to approach the problem at hand. ◇ Alternatively, you could also get a clashing of personalities that you wouldn’t have with a single advisor so take this into consideration.

◆ Are they experts in the field you’re hoping to do research in? ◇ And, importantly, if they’re not, are they open to becoming more well versed in it with you and ideally, ahead of you? If not, you should probably consider asking a different person to advise you in your research.

◆ What do they bring to your research that made you want them to be your advisor in the first place? ◇ Are you coming in with an idea for your research or expecting them to come up with one for you? The common practice differs depending on your field. ◇ But nevertheless, there should be some aspect of them that made you think “hey, this person will be great to work with for the next four to seven years” beyond “I like them as a professor or person or did well in their class”.

◆ Are they already doing research in that field, and if so, how does your topic fit in? ◇ Is your research part of a larger project or is it more standalone?

◆ What do current (and former) students say about the advisor? ◇ How do you get along with their professional personality?

◆ What is their reputation in the department? ◇ If they’re known for being a jerk or overly particular, don’t think you can be the one student that toughs it out or changes their behavior. If it’s not a good fit, it’s not going to be a pleasant several years working with them.

◆ How big is their research group? ◇ Joining a large group likely means that a project is already underway and you’ll be jumping in at a midway point. You’ll likely get more publications with your name on it this way, but fewer first-authorships. ◇ Small groups, in contrast, usually have projects that stand alone from one another. There will likely be an overarching theme, but each graduate student will work alone in their research. This means fewer publications overall, but more first-authorships.

◆ Will you be working with them directly, or is there a go-between person like a post-doc, senior graduate student, or lab manager who will be overseeing your day-to-day activities? ◇ A post-doc or senior graduate student will have their own research and responsibilities, so this is not ideal for them to be in charge of you. In contrast, some labs use managers whose sole purpose is to keep everyone on track in their research while the advisor checks in periodically.

◆ Does the advisor micromanage their group, or are they more hands-off? ◇ Do they work alongside their students? ◇ Are they available to discuss problems outside of regular meeting times?

◆ How often does your research group meet to discuss progress? ◇ How often will you have to present your progress, if not at every meeting? ◇ Will you be giving formal presentations, or is it a more informal discussion? Some groups have round-table discussions, while others allow for visual presentations.

◆ Are you expected to present your work at conferences outside of the school? ◇ If so, do they have a preference on whether you do poster or oral presentations? Some do, and your comfort level with each may vary, so it’s best to know up front rather than later down the road when it’s too late to do anything about it.

◆ Are there expectations to take on undergraduate researchers? ◇ If so, how far along in your education and research should you be before taking on mentees? ◇ How many undergraduate researchers are appropriate for a graduate student to oversee?

◆ What is their funding situation, and does it align with your goals? ◇ Are you interested in paying out of pocket for tuition and other school expenses? Do you have the opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant with a tuition waiver? If not, you’ll want to make sure they can keep you paid as a Research Assistant throughout your time in school.

◆ How long does it take on average for a PhD student to graduate from the group? ◇ You want to make sure this works with your expectations of how long you’ll be spending in graduate school and what the average is in your field. Is it typically two years after taking the qualifying exams and finishing classes, or more like five? What can you mentally, financially, and physically commit to - and does your potential advisor fit inside these expectations?

◆ What are the expectations in research progress before graduating? ◇ Is there a certain number of articles you’re expected to publish or submit for publication? Do you need to be a first author or is having your name somewhere on the authors list acceptable? ◇ Do you need to hit a certain number of experiments, use a certain number of test subjects, or fulfill other expectations along the way?

◆ Are they going up for tenure or close to retirement? `◇ What will happen to you if they don’t get tenure or if they retire partway through your time in grad school? Will you be transferred to a different advisor and group, or are you expected to follow the advisor to another school?

All of these factors will impact the entirety of your time in grad school, and may even cause you to have to leave prematurely with a different degree than you planned. Make sure you take these things into consideration as you decide on a research advisor.

[ravenclawravings]

“I got this!”

-A Ravenclaw who doesn’t “got this”

[postdoc-help-desk]

Basically every PhD student at some point

[postdoc-help-desk]

Academic Keys: Higher education jobs and university jobs at universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education. Professional

Let's talk about finding a job. Did you know there are several job listing sites specifically aimed at the academic world? My favorite part about this one is that it lets you sign up for an automated email every 1, 2, or 4 weeks with the current postings.

[thewritershandbook]

[postdoc-help-desk]

OMG so for those of you who are looking for postdocs in research related to a specific topic, consider using the “academic family tree” for help! It shows connections based on who advised whom, and many connections have contact / current position information! Each tree is broken by subject, so check yours out!

[postdoc-help-desk]

PostdocJobs.com lists hundreds of postdoctoral positions, research associates, and other jobs that require a doctoral degree as well as postdoctoral scholarships and fellowships.

Looking for a postdoc position? Check out this great database of job postings!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Still working on your dissertation, or want to know how you compare to the rest of your field? Here’s a (fun) graphic displaying average dissertation length across a number of fields!

[postdoc-help-desk]

Not sure how many authors are appropriate for an article? You could refer to this chart and match the average!

[datarep]

Growth of a PhD Thesis