I refereed two papers this week. I think that between the commentary we wrote for our meeting session and the research paper I have in press, I got integrated into the publishers' systems, and associated with certain keywords; neither paper was passed to me by my adviser, rather I was asked to review directly by the subject editors.
In contrast to my earlier experiences as a reviewer, these went really well. Both papers were fairly straight forward and right up my alley, with nothing that I felt was outside my expertise. I think that the growth I attained through writing my dissertation made me feel much more equipped to critically read these papers. Moreover, both papers were really good. The combination of nice manuscripts with my defense-enhanced confidence made doing the reviews something of a pleasure instead of the anxiety-filled example of impostor syndrome that I felt when writing reviews in the past.
That's nice.
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Infrequent
Today I set a goal, and I achieved it! I planned to read and take notes on six boring methods papers and stay until at least 6 pm. I finished the last paper at 5:50. I was totally exhausted at that point but it was okay because the traffic was great! SAVOR IT.
I have one last "experiment" to do for my thesis research. It's small, but it will make the fourth data chapter. Part of the method is my bread-and-butter lab work that I can knock out in a matter of days. That will be followed, however, by something newish. I am sort of familiar with the kind of thing I want to do, as it's an auxiliary technique for us. But, we've already decided that I will do something a little different with this study. Thus, I have to decide on exactly which approach I want to use out of a suite of related methods. I've been reading all sorts of reviews and comparison papers and the emerging theme seems to be, "all the methods suck". Some comparisons suggest that method X is really good but method Y is useless while others say that method Y is better. Then a review will say they are both terrible, but method Z works great . And another one will say that Y is good in situation A but only mediocre in situation B...you get the point. I think it will come down to a gut feeling that will probably turn into a well reasoned argument after some rumination. I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to support whatever decision I make because there is such variety in the literature -- there is support for almost anything I want to say! But right now, I'm frustrated with trying to sort out what to do and bored with all these dry papers.
I met my goal for today, but there is more of the same waiting for me tomorrow. At least I get to look at my garden at lunch time!
I have one last "experiment" to do for my thesis research. It's small, but it will make the fourth data chapter. Part of the method is my bread-and-butter lab work that I can knock out in a matter of days. That will be followed, however, by something newish. I am sort of familiar with the kind of thing I want to do, as it's an auxiliary technique for us. But, we've already decided that I will do something a little different with this study. Thus, I have to decide on exactly which approach I want to use out of a suite of related methods. I've been reading all sorts of reviews and comparison papers and the emerging theme seems to be, "all the methods suck". Some comparisons suggest that method X is really good but method Y is useless while others say that method Y is better. Then a review will say they are both terrible, but method Z works great . And another one will say that Y is good in situation A but only mediocre in situation B...you get the point. I think it will come down to a gut feeling that will probably turn into a well reasoned argument after some rumination. I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to support whatever decision I make because there is such variety in the literature -- there is support for almost anything I want to say! But right now, I'm frustrated with trying to sort out what to do and bored with all these dry papers.
I met my goal for today, but there is more of the same waiting for me tomorrow. At least I get to look at my garden at lunch time!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
The trouble with novels
I am ashamed to admit that I am the kind of person who can abandon a novel before I reach the ending. For example, I started Catch-22 at least three times, once getting more than half-way, but never finished it. On the other hand, once I'm engaged, I have to simply give up on whatever else I have going on because I get totally enchanted by a good story.
Today I spent about 7 hours engulfed in The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which I acquired at a book exchange at work. I started it a few days ago and today I gave in to the decadence of spending the whole day curled up on the couch, not even showering until I was through. Now I'm still stuck in a fog from the story and my inner monologue has taken on the voice of the narrator, as it usually does when I read fiction.
So much for InaDWriMo progress.
There was an interview with the author at the end of the volume. Apparently she used to be an academic specializing in French literature. I thought this question/answer was particularly interesting given how much time I spend reading blogs about balance:
You were an academic before becoming an author. What promoted the change in careers?
British universities are not very happy places for their staff currently, and I gave up academic life for the same reasons as many other do and would like to do. In particular the erosion of my private reading time made me unhappy -- if I cannot escape for an hour or two every day by reading for pleasure, then small problems seem to grow large, and I begin to feel enormously burdened. After five years in the profession I was plagued by the feeling that by some absurd mistake I was leading someone else's life, and was desperate to find a path back to my own. I had always wanted to be a writer, but was impeded by the belief that to be a writer one had to extraordinary, and I knew I wasn't. By the time I was ready to give up my academic career I had realized that while books are extraordinary, writers themselves are no more or less special than anyone else.
Today I spent about 7 hours engulfed in The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, which I acquired at a book exchange at work. I started it a few days ago and today I gave in to the decadence of spending the whole day curled up on the couch, not even showering until I was through. Now I'm still stuck in a fog from the story and my inner monologue has taken on the voice of the narrator, as it usually does when I read fiction.
So much for InaDWriMo progress.
There was an interview with the author at the end of the volume. Apparently she used to be an academic specializing in French literature. I thought this question/answer was particularly interesting given how much time I spend reading blogs about balance:
You were an academic before becoming an author. What promoted the change in careers?
British universities are not very happy places for their staff currently, and I gave up academic life for the same reasons as many other do and would like to do. In particular the erosion of my private reading time made me unhappy -- if I cannot escape for an hour or two every day by reading for pleasure, then small problems seem to grow large, and I begin to feel enormously burdened. After five years in the profession I was plagued by the feeling that by some absurd mistake I was leading someone else's life, and was desperate to find a path back to my own. I had always wanted to be a writer, but was impeded by the belief that to be a writer one had to extraordinary, and I knew I wasn't. By the time I was ready to give up my academic career I had realized that while books are extraordinary, writers themselves are no more or less special than anyone else.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Read that paper and then you can have your dinner
I think reading papers goes into the important-but-not-urgent category. Reading lots of papers gets you really immersed in the literature and that, I believe, a good scientist makes. Reading before it's urgent (like for a proposal deadline) means that you ruminate on the ideas and assimilate them into your own work over time.
But it's just so difficult to read papers regularly and well.
To combat this problem and help relieve some guilt, EGM and I decided we're going to read together every night. He's about to go on a whole bunch of travel, so we'll probably start when the fall semester begins. We don't have details worked out -- I think we'll read for an hour an night or something -- but we'll keep each other accountable. Science can't happen on an island. Unless it's funded by the Dharma Initiative.
I used to worry that I might make a poor PI because I get so bogged down with reading and writing. I love lab work. I really enjoy thinking about and discussing science, and I often find it delightful to listen to research summarized in a talk. But reading papers is a chore. I sometimes fret that I'm doomed to be a Ph.D. Technician. However, in another example of how much this blogging community rocks, reading other blogs written by people who seem to be awesome scientists has made me realize that many people have a hard time reading as much as they should. And many people procrastinate, feel inadequate about, or actually dislike writing. So maybe I'm not doomed to failure after all. Thanks, guys.
But it's just so difficult to read papers regularly and well.
To combat this problem and help relieve some guilt, EGM and I decided we're going to read together every night. He's about to go on a whole bunch of travel, so we'll probably start when the fall semester begins. We don't have details worked out -- I think we'll read for an hour an night or something -- but we'll keep each other accountable. Science can't happen on an island. Unless it's funded by the Dharma Initiative.
I used to worry that I might make a poor PI because I get so bogged down with reading and writing. I love lab work. I really enjoy thinking about and discussing science, and I often find it delightful to listen to research summarized in a talk. But reading papers is a chore. I sometimes fret that I'm doomed to be a Ph.D. Technician. However, in another example of how much this blogging community rocks, reading other blogs written by people who seem to be awesome scientists has made me realize that many people have a hard time reading as much as they should. And many people procrastinate, feel inadequate about, or actually dislike writing. So maybe I'm not doomed to failure after all. Thanks, guys.
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