If you don’t write it down, you may as well have not done it.

Photo by Dean Ricciardi on Unsplash

Overview: When it comes to research, if you don’t write it down, you may as well have not done it.  Recording is a required component of becoming a researcher and staying a researcher. 

 

Because writing is a staple of formal education since the earliest levels, it can seem like a waste of time to reflect on how to create written artifacts documenting your research process.  But we are here to implore you to focus on this practice as you enter 2023.  Recording research is a process that is distinct from all other writing you have done.  It goes beyond those notes you scribbled during inorganic chemistry labs, requiring you to document the justification for your experimental designs, concerns you have about prior results, etc. 

 

This blog post was cowritten with my colleagues Drs. Joshua Alper and Ulf Schiller.  Our fingers are crossed that our lived experience can help you identify changes, big and small, in your writing process that can lead to fruitful research gains this year.    

 

Post Contributor(s): Marian Kennedy,Ulf Schiller, and Joshua Alper

 

Taming your email inbox during graduate school

Overview: We hope that you find this post helpful to tame your email inboxes so that you can concentrate on the important component of graduate school- deep thinking.  This post highlights the tips and strategies used by practitioners of the productivity methodology “Getting Things Done” (GTD) for email. 

Photo by Jay Zhang on Unsplash

We have each found GTD to be useful as we lead academic research laboratories, teach classes, and take part in service for our scientific communities. While Dr. Kennedy just started implementing these techniques in 2022, David Drake has been using GTD since 2003 to run his research group at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry.  Dr. Drake first came to Dr. Kennedy’s attention through his guest appearance on the “Getting Things Done” podcast this January (2023) and he graciously responded to her plea to add his thoughts to this blog post.

Post Contributor(s): Drs. Marian Kennedy and David Drake