I'm often confronted with the question what a PhD actually is: is it going to school or is it having a research job? Explaining people that it is somewhere in between both seems to be a rather unsatisfying answer, while…
For the report which holds all my experimental data, I've started to add the chapter title (that is, the specimen name in my case) to the header.If you use header 1, 2,... for your titles, there is a quick and…
Has it happened to you that at a large family gathering, your relatives ask what you are actually working on, and you end up mumbling some code language? Or that you tried to explain a friend what your research is…
Previously, I've described which system I use to keep track of what needs to be done per week and per month.Up to now, I haven't gone into detail of how I try to keep the ultimate goal (The Defense) in…
Last Wednesday, I gave a presentation about my research. Usually, I follow the same consecutive steps in my presentation (overview - background/ literature review - experiments - results - conclusions), just as I would build up a paper.This time, however,…
This post is inspired by this, stating:Recently on Twitter, PhD2Published posed the question “What is your academic discipline and what are your top 5 recommended high impact journals?” For my PhD research, I've mostly been reading papers from these five…
For 2012, I only have one resolution: to simplify, wherever and whatever I can. After the years, I've accumulated tons of random stuff, memories, habits and processes, digital data and they've resulted in a certain set of constraints (or boundary…
During my recent holidays, I realized that I am not absorbing much of all the information that the internet constantly pours over me. Usually, I have several tabs open (mailboxes, news, social media sites, blogs,..) which continuously pour out information…
Even though blogging is becoming more and more popular among scientists and researchers, I still notice some doubts and hesitation among my peers when it comes to blogging.Some people react by saying "Who am I to speak up?", some think…
I've written this post for students who will give a research presentation for the first time, pointing out how slides can help you through your talk. In fact, I was recently reflecting on how my style of presenting has changed…
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