How to Publish a Discoverable Journal Article

SAGE connection recently posted a blog on tips for you, the author, on things to do to make sure your article is being cited as much as possible. For example, did you know that you should be using your full name? Google suggests being as verbose a format as possible. Check out the prezi and the rest of the article here.

Vote for me in PhD Comics 2-minute Thesis Competition

I am entered in the PhD Comics' 2-minute thesis competition. If you've got a moment -- well, two minutes -- have a listen and click on "vote".

http://www.phdcomics.com/tv/2minute/#165

If I win I get an animated comic of my thesis done by the illustrator of PhD Comics.

Thank you very much for your vote!

Crowdfunding your Research

While reading the Science of Blogging blog, part of the 17 Must Read Science Blogs by Next Scientist, I managed to find something very interesting, a potential new source of funding! Raising money through crowd funding, Petridish does for struggling scientists what Kickstarter does for struggling artists.  In the process of putting your project up for public funding, you will likely create some interesting media that will help in enhancing your digital footprint while promoting your project to a wider audience.

Writing a literature review?

A very dull and very informative article on how to write a narrative literature review.  Thank you to REM EMRG John Axen for pointing this one out.

Baumeister and Leary, 1997

Need motivation for writing your thesis? Write a blog.

Next Scientist makes creating a science blog easy. Writing a science blog could even save your PhD. Check out the full story here and be sure to checkout the hyperlink on the aforementioned destination document about the 5 Phases of PhD Motivation. You can also find the 5 Phases of PhD Motivation by this absolute link: http://juliopeironcely.com/archives/5-phases-of-phd-motivation-explained-the-roller-coaster-curve.html
Hyperlink definitions:
Hyperlink: a highlighted word or group of words that when clicked on sends the user to another page, website, document, or part of different part of the same document. Synonym: link, HTML link
Destination Page: The page being linked to, i.e. you click a hyperlink in the source page to go to the destination page.
Absolute Link: An absolute link (or "absolute URL link") contains a complete internet address, just the same as if you typed the address into your browser's address bar. It doesn't matter where the source page is in relation to the destination page, the link will always work as long as the destination page exists. Most absolute links begin with "http://".
-Source: Media College

Make sure everyone can see your figures

A popular comment to make when critiquing other people's presentation is, "you know people who are color blind cannot read your figure". One way to quickly avoid this comment is to not use red/green to distinguish between data points on your figure. Another way is to check your figure using Vischeck. Vischeck not only checks for red/green color blindness, but also blue/yellow color blindness (Tritanope) and a less common red/green color blindness (Protanope). If you do not know if you are color blind, google "Ishihara Color Test".

Letter to your Congressperson/Member in Parliment

Every now and then an issue comes along where you need to voice your opinion. A great way to do that is to write your congressperson/member of parliament. One issue that has recently surfaced that I feel the need to voice my opinion is the closure of the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA). Luckily, I didn't have to slave over writing a letter to my congressperson/member of parliament as someone already has. This particular letter I find well crafted because it is simple, includes necessary statistics, and ends with how to proceed with the next necessary action.