Research advice

First of all, an academic career may not necessarily be the best¹, and it is good to recognize that there are many other interesting options outside academia. But if you have chosen it or are stuck in it, the following articles may help you.

Topics#

• Productivity
• Time management
• How to study
• Peer review
• Presentation
• Research tools
• Writing
• Academic career, Academic job market
  • Research statement

Books#

• Advice to a Young Scientist
• A Guide to Academia: Getting into and Surviving Grad School, Postdocs and a Research Job by Prosanta Chakrabarty
• The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job
• A Field Guide to Grad School

Collections#

• For the Love of Science by Nicholas Christakis—short videos about the craft of science
• Nature Human Behaviour ‘How to’ Comments — ongoing series of practical ‘How to’ guides
• advice collection by Tao Xie and Yuan Xie
• Career advice by Terrence Tao
• Science Careers
• http://matt.might.net/articles/what-cs-majors-should-know/ - an extensive recommendation
• http://mitcommlab.mit.edu/be/use-the-commkit/ - “The CommKit is a collection of guides to successful scientific communication, written by MIT’s Department of Biological Engineering Communication Fellows”
• The Hidden Curriculum of Academia

General advice#

• You and Your Research by Richard Hamming
• Scientist: Four golden lessons by Steven Weinberg
• The importance of stupidity in scientific research by Martin A
• The Researchers’ Bible by Alan Bundy, Ben du Boulay, Jim Howe and Gordon Plotkin
• PLoS comp. biol.: Ten Simple Rules for Building and Maintaining a Scientific Reputation by Philip E, Virginia Barbour
• How To Choose a Good Scientific Problem by Uri Alon
• 내가 대학원에 들어왔을 때 알았더라면 좋았을 연구 노하우
• How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time by Hal Varian
• Advice to senior grad students and postdocs - http://masonporter.blogspot.com/2014/11/advice-for-young-scholars.html
• The Awesomest 7-Year Postdoc or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tenure-Track Faculty Life by Radhika Nagpal
• David Patterson: “How to Have a Bad Career”
• Principles of Effective Research by Michael Nielsen
• http://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-im-leaving-harvard.html
• http://beki70.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/on-not-leaving-academia/
• Why I’m Staying in Academia

Interdisciplinary research#

• How to survive as an interdisciplinary being

Academia or industry#

• Why I left my academic job by Lada Adamic
• Should You Go To Grad School? by Duncan Watts
• What is it like to be a professor?

Personal website#

• You Need a Website

Computer science#

• Advice on Research and Writing
• What is Research in Computing Science? by Chris Johnson
• Basic Research Skills in Computing Science by Chris Johnson
• How to do good research, get it published in SIGKDD and get it cited!

How to give a talk#

• Presentation

Advice by career stage#

Before the PhD#

• PhD Admissions Advice

PhD#

General#

• A PhD Expectations Guide by Patrik Reizinger — clarifying implicit expectations between students and supervisors
• Reading for graduate students by Matt Might
  • 10 easy ways to fail a Ph.D.
  • 5+5 Ph.D. commandments by Matt Might
• Do you need a PhD? by Matt Welsh
  • getting started as phd student by Matt Welsh
• The Ph.D Experience by Mihir Bellare
• So long, and thanks for the Ph.D. by Ronald T
• Some Modest Advice for Graduate Students by Stephen C
• chronicle:Pursuing a Doctorate on the Job
• nature:education: the PhD factory
• Google tech talks: The Ph.D. Grind: Candid Discussions About Ph.D. Life
• http://blog.vivekhaldar.com/post/25136762019/advice-to-prospective-grad-students
  • What is life like for PhDs in computer science who go into industry?
• PhDs from the Faculty’s Perspective by Jason Hong
• My Advice To My Graduate Students by Murat Demirbas
• Welcome to Graduate School by David Shorter
• How to Be a Successful PhD Student (in Computer Science (in NLP/ML)) by Mark Dredze and Hanna Wallach
• A Survival Guide to a PhD
• What not to do in graduate school by Buddini Karawdeniya

Choosing an advisor#

• How to Pick a Graduate Advisor by Ben A
• Quora: What happens if you get a PhD from a low ranking school?

Choosing and applying to graduate school#

• Talking machines: Machine Learning in Biology and Getting into Grad School - pretty good advices on how to prepare, choose, and apply.
• Choosing the Right Grad School
• Jaan Altosaar:How to apply to grad school

Research planning#

• PhD_planning_template by Richard McElreath

Networking and conferences#

• Networking on the Network: A Guide to Professional Skills for PhD Students
• Attending an academic conference by Michael Ernst

Family#

• Women with PhDs having kids by Lada Adamic

Thesis and defense#

• Academic martial arts: Defending your Ph.D. by Matt Might
  • A thesis proposal is a contract

Postdoctoral positions#

• The future of the postdoc

Academic job market#

The job application season is from September to February (may depend on discipline). Subscribe to the new job postings from the websites listed below. You’ll need a spreadsheet to keep the information about the open positions.

General tips#

• How to be the #1 pick in an R1 faculty search by Wenhao Sun
• Matthew Hahn: I just finished reading >190 job apps, and I have some thoughts and suggestions for applicants.
• How to get a faculty job, Part 1: The application by Matt Welsh
  • How to get a faculty job, part 1b: How to get an interview
• Tips for Computer Science Faculty Applications by Yisong Yue

Finding open positions#

• United States visas
• Matt Might:Academic job search advice
• Getting an academic job by Michael Ernst
• Applying for Jobs: Application Material by Jeff Phillips
  • Applying for Jobs: Sending out Applications
  • Applying for Jobs: Phone Interviews
  • Applying for Jobs: On-Site Interviews
  • Applying for Jobs: the Job Talk
• How to get a faculty job, Part 1: The application by Matt Welsh
  • How to get a faculty job, part 1b: How to get an interview
  • How to get a faculty job, Part 2: The interview
  • How to get a faculty job, Part 3: Negotiating the offer
• “How to get a faculty offer” by MIT’s John Guttag
• https://www.science.org/careers
• https://www.nature.com/naturecareers/
• http://academicjobsonline.org/ajo
• https://jobs.physicstoday.org/
• http://www.higheredjobs.com/
• http://sciences.academickeys.com
• http://www.jobs.ac.uk/ - Jobs in U.K.
• http://www.cra.org/ - jobs in computer science

Also, you may want to visit the website of some prominent universities and look for the job opening announcements. You can find more openings but it’s time consuming (I couldn’t do it much)

Reference letters#

• http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-recommendation-letter/ - a good advice by Matt Might
• How to Ask for a Reference Letter
  • How to Ask for a Reference Letter, Part II: The Template
• Requesting a letter of recommendation by Michael Ernst
• Writing a letter of recommendation by Michael Ernst
• Advice to Graduate School Recommendation Letter Writers by Shriram Krishnamurthi
• Should you waive your rights to see your letters of rec?

Cover letter#

• The Commandments of Cover Letter Creation
• chronicle:The Basics of Cover Letter Writing
• Make your cover letter and CV stand out

Research statement#

see Research statement

Teaching statement#

• Writing the Teaching Statement
• http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Write-a-Statement-of/45133/
• Writing a Reflective Statement of Teaching Philosophy
• WRITING A STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY FOR THE ACADEMIC JOB SEARCH
• Teaching portfolio
  • Teaching Statements, Diversity Statements and Teaching Portfolios
  • THE TEACHING PORTFOLIO AT WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

I’m linking publicly available teaching statements without permission by the authors.

• teaching statement by Scott Aaronson

Diversity statement#

See Diversity statement.

Interview#

• How to Stand Out in a Campus Interview
• Tips on interviewing
• Job-Interviewing Handout by Michael Gamer and Anne K. Krook

• Delivering a Dynamic Job and Chalk Talk

  • http://drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/chalk-talk-cha-cha-cha/
  • http://bluelabcoats.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/unsolicited-advice-job-search-pt-10/

• hibrain:미국 대학 임용 후기 - 생물학

  • 미국대학 임용후기입니다.
  • 미국 공대 임용후기
  • 한마디더
  • 미국 공대 교수 임용
  • 미국 바이오 분야 임용후기 올립니다
  • 미국 중위권 주립대 임용 후기
  • 캐나다 공대 인터뷰

• Programming interview

Negotiation#

• After the Offer, Before the Deal: Negotiating A First Academic Job by Chris M
• 학교에서 오퍼가 왔을때
• Negotiating an Offer
• Negotiating your academic job offer

Industry positions#

• Getting a Gig: A Guide

Faculty#

General advice#

• Everything I did wrong as a professor

Funding#

See Research funding

Teaching#

See Teaching

Mentoring#

• Nature:collections:mentoring
• http://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-do-you-evaluate-your-grad-students.html
• A message for mentors from dissatisfied graduate students

Writing recommendation letters#

• sample letters of recommendation (for graduate school application)
• Sample letters of recommendation

Research group management#

• Hiring
• Nobel success: What makes a great lab?

• PLOS Computational Biology: About My Lab

  • Learning How to Run a Lab: Interviews with Principal Investigators
  • Don’t Wear Your New Shoes (Yet): Taking the Right Steps to Become a Successful Principal Investigator

• Getting Collective Feedback From Your Advisees by Colin Raffel

  • Faculty/Group Assimilation Template

Tenure#

• Nature: Academia: The changing face of tenure
• How to Get Tenure at a Major Research University
• Giving up tenure… and getting happiness in return?
• chronicle: Self-Sabotage in the Academic Career
• How to Get Tenure (If You’re a Woman)

Mid-career moves#

• Mid-Career Moves