Making posters is a lot of work, but is so much fun. When else do you get to put your graphic design skills from grade 8 to use? It is probably the only time in your graduate career when you actually get to be creative. Colors, shapes, its all coming back to me........
But I have definitely seen my fair share of color clashes, ppt slides pasted together to resemble a poster, and graphs persons with color blindness could not read at the last conference I went to. If you need some helpful tips and tricks to a creating a great poster, check out this blog. If you are me and make awesome posters, then go get yourself a coke.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Analytical Essay
We have all done it. I did it this morning. I cleaned the whole house. I emptied the litter box. I took a long breakfast. Anything to avoid having to start writing. While getting in front of the screen to type is hard, it becomes even harder when you don't have any guidelines or know what your superiors want. I have learned that knowing your audience and determining the type of essay that is expected of you is equally as hard as the physical writing.
What type of essay should I write? That should be determined by the kinds of questions that your superior wants you to answer. I kept writing a summary of a meeting for my superior, when in fact she wanted a analytical essay of the meeting. How did I know she wanted an analytical essay? After handing her the second summary, she went down a list of the types of questions she wanted answered. They were:
-What is the motivation?
-What did the meeting tell me?
-Did everyone agree?
-What are the issues?
-What are the open questions?
-What were the key themes?
-What was revealed?
-Was there anything that was not anticipated?
-Did anything new surface?
After getting down the kinds of questions my superior wanted. It was a simple task to determine the type of essay she wanted. I thought that she might want something like an op-ed, where my voice came through and my perspective on the issues were presented. At second glance of the questions and this website, I found that she wanted more towards a analytical essay.
It always helps to have a template to work from when writing. In the case of the analytical essay I choose this one.
What did I learn? When confused about how to do something, go back to the question.
What type of essay should I write? That should be determined by the kinds of questions that your superior wants you to answer. I kept writing a summary of a meeting for my superior, when in fact she wanted a analytical essay of the meeting. How did I know she wanted an analytical essay? After handing her the second summary, she went down a list of the types of questions she wanted answered. They were:
-What is the motivation?
-What did the meeting tell me?
-Did everyone agree?
-What are the issues?
-What are the open questions?
-What were the key themes?
-What was revealed?
-Was there anything that was not anticipated?
-Did anything new surface?
After getting down the kinds of questions my superior wanted. It was a simple task to determine the type of essay she wanted. I thought that she might want something like an op-ed, where my voice came through and my perspective on the issues were presented. At second glance of the questions and this website, I found that she wanted more towards a analytical essay.
It always helps to have a template to work from when writing. In the case of the analytical essay I choose this one.
What did I learn? When confused about how to do something, go back to the question.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
The Meeting Agenda
One thing that apparently propels PhD research is meetings. One way to make sure you are getting everything out of your meeting that you want in an effective manner is to create an agenda. Your agenda should be focused on outcomes or objectives, i.e., consider what a good outcome of your meeting would be.
Do you want a decision?
Do you want to generate ideas?
Are you getting status reports?
Are you communicating something?
Are you making plans?
Be asking these questions and spending a few minutes prioritizing your agenda, you should have a meeting that truly mobilizes your research.
Thanks to mindtools for supplying the important considerations of what a good outcome would be.
Do you want a decision?
Do you want to generate ideas?
Are you getting status reports?
Are you communicating something?
Are you making plans?
Be asking these questions and spending a few minutes prioritizing your agenda, you should have a meeting that truly mobilizes your research.
Thanks to mindtools for supplying the important considerations of what a good outcome would be.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Digitizing my Notes
Google Wave is dead. Too bad, I liked it. In a world where PhD students cannot afford fancy tablet PCs or dictate notes to a assistant, Google Wave offered the next best thing. Once I was done taking meeting notes I could go to the nearest computer and type them into the Wave via web browser where they were stored and could be accessed and edited by my professors (not that they ever did). For a Phd student who took lots of notes and needed them digitized and organized, Google Wave was a great tool.
Luckily, something came along that digitizes and organizes my notes in the same way, Evernote. Evernote does almost everything Google Wave does and it even looks the same; making the learning curve non-existent.
This transition from Google Wave to Evernot does allow me to pause and reflect on how my notetaking might be more efficient and or/ better. The majority of my notes are taken from meetings with my supervisors. So, the requirements for good notetaking at the PhD level for me are:
-notes are originally taken with pen/pencil on paper, for a good article on why NOT to use laptops to take notes read this
-actionable items are made clear and known to all applicable
-notes are indexed
-notes are easily searched
-notes are accessible
-notes are easily exported
-notes can be easily stored with other items (e.g., meeting agenda)
After typing or scanning in the original notes to Evernote, Evernote meets all these requirments. There are other options out there for digitalizing and storing your notes that do not require the typing in parts, but they cost money and do not always work. Examples are Livescribe and Camiapp.
Taking this reflection one step further, how can I take better original notes with pen/pencil on paper? One answer is to buy a notebook that is conductive to the types of notes you wish to take. For me, I make a series of check boxes in the margin of my notebook for items that require action. Turns out, they make a notebook with these things already in place -the Action Day Notebook. I think I will give this notebook a try and see if it helps my meeting notetaking.
RIP Google Wave
Luckily, something came along that digitizes and organizes my notes in the same way, Evernote. Evernote does almost everything Google Wave does and it even looks the same; making the learning curve non-existent.
This transition from Google Wave to Evernot does allow me to pause and reflect on how my notetaking might be more efficient and or/ better. The majority of my notes are taken from meetings with my supervisors. So, the requirements for good notetaking at the PhD level for me are:
-notes are originally taken with pen/pencil on paper, for a good article on why NOT to use laptops to take notes read this
-actionable items are made clear and known to all applicable
-notes are indexed
-notes are easily searched
-notes are accessible
-notes are easily exported
-notes can be easily stored with other items (e.g., meeting agenda)
After typing or scanning in the original notes to Evernote, Evernote meets all these requirments. There are other options out there for digitalizing and storing your notes that do not require the typing in parts, but they cost money and do not always work. Examples are Livescribe and Camiapp.
Taking this reflection one step further, how can I take better original notes with pen/pencil on paper? One answer is to buy a notebook that is conductive to the types of notes you wish to take. For me, I make a series of check boxes in the margin of my notebook for items that require action. Turns out, they make a notebook with these things already in place -the Action Day Notebook. I think I will give this notebook a try and see if it helps my meeting notetaking.
RIP Google Wave
Sunday, January 15, 2012
US or U.S.? U.S. or American?
"US" or "U.S."?
Answer: In everything but scientific writing, "U.S." is preferred.
-About.com
"U.S." or "American"?
For example, "he is from the U.S.", or "he is American"?
Answer: Either
"In modern English, "American" generally refers to the United States, and in the U.S. itself this usage is almost universal, with any other use of the term requiring specification of the subject under discussion."
-Wikipedia
Answer: In everything but scientific writing, "U.S." is preferred.
-About.com
"U.S." or "American"?
For example, "he is from the U.S.", or "he is American"?
Answer: Either
"In modern English, "American" generally refers to the United States, and in the U.S. itself this usage is almost universal, with any other use of the term requiring specification of the subject under discussion."
-Wikipedia
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Beginning a sentence with an abbreviation?
I use the word "carbon" about 150 times a page when writing proposals, so naturally I abbreviate it as "C" (after of course letting the reader know I am doing such). But what happens when I want to begin my sentence with this abbreviation? It surely does not look/sound correct.
"C being stored in lacustrine sediments is...."
I have not found a hard and fast rule on this in the blogosphere. Most posts seem to say something to the effect, "If it sounds wrong, don't write it", or "Do what makes your professor/teacher happy".
Therefore, I am making my own judgement call. NO. That is to say, Tommy, you cannot start a sentence with an abbreviation.
There, I made up my mind.
"C being stored in lacustrine sediments is...."
I have not found a hard and fast rule on this in the blogosphere. Most posts seem to say something to the effect, "If it sounds wrong, don't write it", or "Do what makes your professor/teacher happy".
Therefore, I am making my own judgement call. NO. That is to say, Tommy, you cannot start a sentence with an abbreviation.
There, I made up my mind.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
The Importance of a Detailed Outline
Why use a detailed outline and when should you deploy this seemingly waste of time?
A detailed outline helps you set some bounds on the direction of your writing. Keeping you on the "straight and narrow" so to speak. The proper procedure for writing a proposal usually goes something like this.
Assuming you are writing something similar to a grant proposal, in your rough outline you should have identified several topic sentences based on the questions posed in the funding call. A detailed outline simply adds paragraphs associated with the topic sentences you sketched in your rough outline. Running a detailed outline by your professor for correction/acceptance before moving towards a fully written draft will greatly keep you on course. Here is figure to help illustrate my point.
A detailed outline helps you set some bounds on the direction of your writing. Keeping you on the "straight and narrow" so to speak. The proper procedure for writing a proposal usually goes something like this.
Assuming you are writing something similar to a grant proposal, in your rough outline you should have identified several topic sentences based on the questions posed in the funding call. A detailed outline simply adds paragraphs associated with the topic sentences you sketched in your rough outline. Running a detailed outline by your professor for correction/acceptance before moving towards a fully written draft will greatly keep you on course. Here is figure to help illustrate my point.
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