Impact Factors

Deciding on which academic journal to submit your research to can be tough.  Several influences can play into this decision.
A good series of questions to when considering a journal might be as follows:
-How much does it cost to publish?
-Does your paper have color figures?  If so, does this cost more?
-Do they provide open access?
-Do you know any of the editors? Does your professor know/is an editor?
-Are they a predatory publisher?
-Likely the most important question to be asking yourself is what journal Impact Factor (IF) will you be going for? This is a question that I think you should have as a discussion with your supervisors. So you don't come to the discussion empty handed I would suggest creating a list like to the one below for your field. Make sure to include the journals that your supervisors publish in.  Short list a few, discuss further, and pick a winner.

List of Suitable Journals for Paleolimnology with Impact Factors (IFs) (5 year average when available)

-Journal of Paleolimnology (IF: 1.89)

-Environmental Reviews (IF: 3.77)

-Canadian Journal of Forest Research (IF: 1.95)

-Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (IF: 3.021)

-Canadian Journal of Earth Science (IF: 1.16)

-Boreas (IF: 1.91)

-Geology (IF: 4.03)

-The Holocene (IF: 2.56)

-Quaternary Research (IF: 2.58)

-Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology (IF: 2.99)

-Climate of the Past (IF: 2.82)

-Conservation Biology (IF: 3.90)

-Journal of Quaternary Science (IF: 2.31)
-Conservation Letters (IF: 4.08)
-Landscape Ecology (IF: 3.06)
-Ecography (IF: 4.188)
-Nature Geoscience (IF: 8.115)
-Ecosystems (IF: 3.50)

-Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (IF: 2.213)

Remembering Daily Oral Language (DOL)

I recently stumbled on an article that took me back to the days of Elementary School.  Remembering back to 4th grade where my biggest daily fear took place.  Not the rope in gym class, the dreaded Daily Oral Language or DOL.  At the beginning of every English class we would take out our journals and stare into the overhead at we memorized and were tested on some aspect of grammar.  I hated it.

While I hated DOL, it has been shown to be an effective way to teach grammar rules.  Since I graduated Elementary School some teachers have had the notion that grammar can be taught as a co-benefit in teaching other Elementary School English subjects like vocabulary, sentence structure, or style. Not the case, teaching grammar rules explicitly like in my hated DOL past has been shown to be the best approach for grammar knowledge overtime. So, thank you Miss. Johnson.  I owe you what foundational grammar knowledge I have.  I still hate the gym rope.

Read the article here.

I have informed you thusly. Merry Xmas.

Sheldon is a character on the hit TV show "The Big Bang Theory" and upon being proved right in a episode he exalted, "I have informed you thusly", instead of the usual, "I told you so" (buy the T-Shirt here). The word "thusly" protrudes from this exhalation like a sore thumb. Is thusly even a word?  Turns out, thusly is a word, just a superfluous one. Thusly stands out as one of those words that gets circled in your 100-level undergraduate essay with the marking,  "non-standard" or "colloquial".  If your teacher has marked your essay in this way because they believe thusly not to be a word, then they are perpetuating a semantic misconception.  Thusly is not the only example of this.  Funnest is perhaps the most funnest of the semantic misconceptions.  There are more, along with a a host of common English usage misconceptions found in this well constructed Wikipedia page.  The page even explains the misconception, "Xmas" is a secular plan to take the Christ out of Christmas.

Science and the English Language

A good reminder about writing and communication skills from political writer George Orwell distilled by blogger Lewis Spurgin.

-Skip to the end for list

The Art of Memo Writing

Your relationship with your PhD supervisor is not likely one just based on yearly reviews, rather bi-weekly or monthly supervisory meetings (aka progress reports) and memos.  Memos are meant to update your supervisor with your work and allow him or her to provide direction on a particular issue you might be having.

 Recently, supervisor Mark Jaccard in another research group (EMRG) in my department, had these 6 guidelines on memos.

Good memos share similar characteristics in that they:
1) are short and to the point
2) remind the advisor of what you are working on
3) identify the specific issue
4) present some pros and cons on the issue
5) present a recommendation (while identifying uncertainty)
6) use excellent tables/figures where applicable.

Following these guidelines will help ensure that your professor is making efficient use of their time, while continuing to to make sure that you have enough direction and support to make timely progress on your research.

Shut up and Write!

An interesting idea I saw recently on The Thesis Whisperer blog is the shut up and write concept.  Basically, it turns what usually is a solo activity into a group event.  Check it out, maybe writing by yourself in a group setting is what can work for you.

15 Grammatical Errors that Make you Look Silly

A great infographic from copyblogger.

This can also be found here. A lot of grammar goofs that I have covered in recent posts and some new ones.