Young & Hungry Academic

You can find me drinking coffee and reading peer reviewed articles.

[procne]

what is a student. a miserable little pile of emails.

[youngandhungry-academic]

COVID-19 transparency

My PI requested a meeting to go over the work from home progress I have made since two weeks ago when we talked last. I am fortunate enough to have a great supervisor, so even though I am a new student to him, I told him honestly that I haven’t done any work. I said that I have been struggling with my mental health with working from home and not being with my family during these times. It felt great to be honest with him, and it forced me to give myself a goal of making a schedule this week in order to prepare for a check-in meeting next week. 

[youngandhungry-academic]

Ten Simple Rules to becoming a principal investigator

[thorffour-deactivated20190920]

[professionalstudentthings]

Oh I like this idea. I think I will use it. 

[bone-of-contention]

This is brilliant

[pragnificent]

I’M GOING TO DO THIS!!!!

[metaphoricalicecream]

this is a super cool.

and from a teacher’s perspective, it would also be helpful to have this info from the students, because sometimes the teacher thinks “these 5 things are the most important things for my students to master,” but if the students don’t get that message from the way the teacher is teaching, the teacher needs to know that something needs to change. And knowing what students think is important and helpful in understanding how your students think and learn.

[youngandhungry-academic]

Absolutely love this for the students and for the reflection on teaching.

[amoebasisters]

Some cell junction functions!

[adrenaline]

via wehearti

[jynersq]

prof: you’ll have to remember your biochem for this

me, a simple girl who never took biochem:

[cancerbiophd]

omg same same idk how i was able to get away without taking biochem ever in my life and during my grad school courses whenever the profs would say: “as you all remember from biochem–” i’d just be like

[youngandhungry-academic]

Apparently, the previous student who did similar graduate work to my own did not keep updated lab notebooks. Because the work got repetitive. So that’s fun.

[velociraptorstudies]

Genome structure! :)

[adhdpie]

‘am i Having A Brain Problem or Being a Shithead’: a short procrastination checklist

aka why tf am i procrastinating on The Thing (more like a flowchart, actually)

lots of people who have executive function difficulties worry about whether they’re procrastinating on a task out of laziness/simply wanting to be a jerk or mental struggles. this checklist might help you figure out which it is at any given time! (hint: it’s almost never laziness or being a jerk.) (obligatory disclaimer: this is just what works for me! something different might work better for you.)

1) do I honestly intend to start the task despite my lack of success?

yes: it’s a Brain Problem. next question

no: it’s shitty to say one thing & do another. better be honest with myself & anyone expecting me to do the task.

2) am I fed, watered, well-rested, medicated properly, etc?

yes: next question

no: guess what? this is the real next task

3) does the idea of starting the task make me feel scared or anxious?

yes: Anxiety Brain. identify what’s scaring me first.

no: next question

4) do I know how to start the task?

yes: next question

no: ADHD Brain. time to make an order of operations list.

5) do I have everything I need to start the task?

yes: next question

no: ADHD Brain lying to me about the steps again, dangit. first task is ‘gather the materials’.

6) why am i having a hard time switching from my current task to this new task?

i’m having fun doing what i’m doing: it’s okay to have fun doing a thing! if task is time-sensitive, go to next question.

i have to finish doing what i’m doing: might be ADHD brain. can I actually finish the current task or will I get trapped in a cycle? does this task really need to be finished?

the next task will be boring/boring-er than the current task: ADHD brain. re-think the next task. what would make it exciting? what am I looking forward to?

I might not have enough time to complete the task: ADHD brain wants to finish everything it starts. (if task is time-sensitive, go to next question)

i just want to make the person who asked me to do it angry: sounds like anxiety brain trying to punish itself, because I know I’ll be miserable if someone is angry at me. why do i think I deserve punishment?

no, I seriously want to piss them off: okay, i’m being a shithead

7) have I already procrastinated so badly that I now cannot finish the task in time?

yes: ADHD brain is probably caught in a guilt-perfection cycle. since I can’t have the task done on time, i don’t even want to start.

reality check: having part of a thing done is almost always better than none of a thing done. if I can get an extension, having part of it done will help me keep from stalling out until the extension deadline. i’ll feel better if I at least try to finish it.

no, there’s still a chance to finish on time: ADHD brain thinks that I have all the time in the world, but the truth is I don’t. 

reality check: if i’m having fun doing what I’m doing, I can keep doing it, but I should probably set a timer & ask someone to check on me to make sure I start doing the task later today.

8) I’ve completed the checklist and still don’t know what’s wrong!

probably wasn’t honest enough with myself. take one more look.

if I’m still mystified, ask a friend to help me talk it out.

hope this helps some of you! YOU’RE DOING GREAT SWEETIE DON’T GIVE UP ON YOU

[youngandhungry-academic]

Okay love this. Following this next time I’m not doing the thing

[youngandhungry-academic]

Write That PhD on Twitter

“How to critique or critically review qualitative & quantitative research: a framework for novice nursing & health students https://

Critical thinking board for reviewing articles.

[cancerbiophd]

me, a few days ago, while writing with a pen that was being difficult despite having lots of ink: ugh! c’mon pen don’t make me centrifuge you

my lab mate, today:

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

tfw when the DNA won’t amplify

[one-lost-at-sea]

Molecular work is black magic.

Make sure you've made your sacrifices to the proper God before pipetting. The PCR gods are very picky.

[vampireapologist-archive-deacti]

I GAVE them their primers what MORE do they WANT

[twerksylvania]

me @ my samples when they aren’t amplifying and i don’t know for certain if it’s because i fucked up the recipe or if the gene i’m looking for isn’t actually there

[youngandhungry-academic]

Elisabeth Bik on Twitter

“For those of you who did not get an NIH RO1 grant around 2005, this is where that money was spent on instead 😢”

See if you can spot the critical error in this figure! Read the replies to find out...

[studyquill]

Notetaking

Sound Note - take notes while you record audio

Evernote - notetaking that syncs across platforms

Paper 53 - minimal notetaking that syncs

Microsoft OneNote - collaboration and syncing, best for Office users

Google Keep - jot things down, best for Google suite users

Notability - take notes and annotate PDFs

Mindly - create mind maps

Day One - a digital journal

Flash Cards

Quizlet - the quintessential flash card app

StudyBlue - another commonly used app

Cram - best for its “cram mode”

Eidetic - uses spaced repetition for effective memorization

Planner 

My Study Life - schedules, tasks, reminders, and more

StudyCal - keeps track of tasks, exams, and grades

24me - automated reminders and event planning

iStudiez - schedule and prioritized task list

Google Calendar - a calendar, best for Google users

Glass Planner - a calendar and to do list with incredible functionality

To Do List

Clear - organized to-do and reminders

MinimaList - simple to-do and focus timer

Trello - collaborative project organizer

Todoist - clean and functional task manager

Default notes app on your phone

Time Management

Forest - plant trees by staying focused

Pomotodo - pomodoro timer with to-do list

Timeglass - custom timers

Tide - pomodoro with white noise

Alarmy - forces you out of bed 

Pillow - smart alarm that tracks sleep cycles

Productivity

Workflow - automate tasks

Habitica - turn your habits into an RPG

Continuo - simple, colorful activity tracking

Freedom - block distracting apps

Free Learning

Coursera - free MOOCs

TED - listen to Ted Talks

Duolingo - language learning

Memrise - spaced repetition language vocabulary

Khan Academy - free video lessons

Ambient Noise

8tracks - curated playlists

Spotify - online music streaming

Coffitivity - cafe ambience

Noisli - background sound generator

Rain Rain - rain sounds

Binaural - binaural beats

Health

Rockin Ramen - recipes based on ramen

MealBoard - meal planning

Lifesum - healthy eating

Stop Breath And Think - mindfulness meditation

Pacifica - mental health management

Sworkit - personalized video workouts

Waterlogged - hydration tracker

Reference

WolframAlpha - Google on steroids

Oxford Dictionary - all of English at your fingertips

RefMe - citation generator

PhotoMath - solve math problems by taking a photo

Mathway - step by step math help

Desmos - free graphing calculator

Wikipedia - not the best source, but it’s handy

Miscellaneous 

Companion - stay safe when walking alone

Mint - money management

Toshl - finance manager

Tiny Scanner - scan documents

[viinnttaaggee]

You’re busy doubting yourself while so many people are intimidated by your potential

[powerfulwizard]

im not gonna self deprecatingly call myself stupid anymore, if you cant tell im stupid right there from talking to me then you dont deserve to know

[powerfulwizard]

if i’ve tricked you into thinking i’m a genius i’m just gonna let you believe that, you can wash off that clown makeup on your own when you figure it out

[youngandhungry-academic]

If this isn’t academia I don’t know what is