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.

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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.

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!