Resources schmesources
Our 18th and 19th book winners are Mrunmayee Lele (prospective PhD student) and Nadia Lana (current PhD student)! Be sure to enter the book giveaway for your chance to win a copy of A Field Guide to Grad School! More details below (at the end of the post). Now, onto the good stuff!
My email is full of links and threads I’ve sent to myself to one day share out in this newsletter. Because I’m a bit bogged down with some pressing responsibilities (and opportunities!), I thought I’d take this time to quickly share what I’ve been saving for future posts. I hope you find some of what I share helpful. And I end with another picture of my dog because that makes me happy (and it’s from when he helped me with a study, serving as an “experimenter”).
PhD Interviews & Advice
Prepping for PhD interviews? Dr. Jin Goh and his students prepared a list of potential interview questions and tips for students, especially those applying to social psychology programs. Julie Cristello shares potential interview questions as well. Finally, recall that I recently wrote on this myself in my post “Interview with a vam-PI.”
Looking for more PhD interview advice? Dr. Arnaldo Díaz Vázquez asked #AcademicTwitter to share out their #1 pieces of advice for candidates interviewing this season.
Interested in pursuing a PhD in a business-related field? Check out Samantha Smith’s site for links to a range of resources that may help you as you navigate the PhD application process.
Finances
Wondering what your stipend might look like at different programs? On this site, you can browse entries from others as well as share your own information.
Where is the money? Use this repository from Johns Hopkins to identify funding opportunities for graduate students.
Research
Having trouble generating ideas? Dr. Jon Jachimovicz shares some of his thoughts on the idea generation process.
How should we go about reading a scientific paper? It’s hard! Dr. Lisa Fazio shared this humorous article by Dr. Adam Ruben as well as this Jordan and Zanna (1999) chapter.
Need help searching for research stuff? Dr. William Soo provides some useful query techniques to help you find what you’re looking for.
Who has cited whom? Get help searching for new papers and monitoring new literature via Research Rabbit.
Presentations
Wanting to make your presentations more interesting and aesthetically pleasing? In this thread, Dr. Jenna Drenten has shared several resources that you can use to elevate the presentation of your work.
Trying to tell a more compelling story? See if Dr. Bruce Kirchoff’s advice can help you give more effective presentations.
Writing
Wondering how to structure academic papers? Check out Mensh and Kording (2017) for how to put together coherent academic papers that highlight your contribution well.
Wanting to simply improve your writing? Here are 10 tips from Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega for improving your writing—both in style and habit.
Trying to get readers excited about your work? Drs. Adam Grant and Timothy Pollock describe how to “set the hook” in a series on publishing in the Academy of Management Journal.
Need to track your writing goals? Use WriteTrack to monitor progress toward your writing goals and build a regular writing habit.
Miscellaneous
Need to tell someone no? Knowing when to forego opportunities is just as important as knowing when to take them on. Dr. Dani Gilbert expertly writes about the benefits of “yes” and “no” committees and the need to have them.
Having difficultly remembering to take breaks? Stretchly is an open-source app that reminds you to take breaks from your computer.
Want to write better for public audiences? Dr. Dave Nussbaum is the expert in communicating behavioral science for public audiences. He and his colleagues have built Psychgeist Media to connect scientists and editors. Subscribe to their newsletter to see their articles and others they find especially interesting.
How to reach me: You are always welcome to email me (letstalkgradschool@gmail.com) or find me on Twitter @tweetsbymidge.
Let’s give away some books: Readers located in the United States and Canada are eligible to enter the book giveaway to receive a copy of A Field Guide to Grad School by Dr. Jessica Calarco. To do so, complete this survey and note that you only have to complete it once to be entered in all subsequent giveaways! I do hope to expand the reach of the giveaway; however, at the moment, the shipping costs are too great to scale. If you’d like to talk about ways your institution could secure an electronic (or hard) copy, please let me know.
Until next time!
Margaret