“Things I wish I’d known from Day 1 of my PhD”
Collected by Ya’el Courtney, Twitter @ScienceYael, 2021
Prompt tweet: “Alright science twitter, I need your advice. I just joined a lab and started my thesis work this week! Yay! What is the best advice you have for a new thesis student? Or, what do you wish you knew or had started doing from day 1 of your PhD?”
1. If you can get a handle on the ideas and theory behind what you are doing from the beginning, you will be able to make better decisions as you go along! Reading textbooks and articles – particularly from your own group – is a priority. @DrLEGs1
2. Start writing your thesis early and add references as you go using an automated system like OneNote. Treat yourself often, it’s an exciting but tough journey. *Expect* many scientific failures, and dance with the breakthroughs. @DarylRhysJones
3. Don’t attach your laptop to the back of a rickety bicycle…By which I mean have every single document you write automatically update itself to cloud storage at very regular intervals. @RoyleJoanna
4. Congrats on starting your PhD! I used the first 3 months of my PhD for an intensive literature review. I was able to write a basic introduction to my thesis (which came in very handy 3 years later when I was so tired of writing!) and also knew lab methods I wanted to test. @FiebigAntje
5. Read this book – How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning, and Thinking – for students, academics, and nonfiction book writers. And learn how to use Notion, a truly awesome app to create a 2nd brain. @donpollitt
6. A PhD/thesis diary really helped me. I liked to do it first thing, free writing about the day before. It also helped me to write a to-do list for the day ahead. I was able to see connections I might not have seen, because I could reflect on my research in my own way. @Alices_Films
7. Properly define the question you are trying to answer. But don’t hesitate to revisit (consistently) this question in the light of new work, time, etc. Defining a proper goal is key IMO. Make a lot of draft skeleton manuscripts (just the sections) in order to answer it. @AounYouva
8. Talk to your committee often and enthusiastically if you can. Try to win them over when the stakes are low so your defense in a few years doesn’t feel so starkly different from what you’ve been doing all along. @AndrewScarpelli
9. Don’t fret the weeks when motivation lacking on a Tuesday afternoon shows up on a Friday at 4 pm, just roll with it! When motivation for big tasks is missing in the moment, turn to the small to-do items. @AnneMHartwell
10. Find a citation manager that works for you and use it consistently. For me, @paperpile has made organizing class readings, thesis readings, and comps prep SO much easier. @Alissanneal
11. First of all, congrats! Decide on a way to organize your computer files that makes sense to you. Ask for feedback. It can be tough going from receiving grades semi-regularly to having to be your own compass in assessing whether you’re on the right track. Enjoy the ride ☺ @GuranCNA
12. Something my mentor told me 30 years ago that I share with students and new faculty when they become overwhelmed – papers and grants are the coin of the realm & follow your bliss. Good luck! @ZmudaJoseph
13. I was my supervisor’s first student. My thesis failed – no PhD… make sure you gain and practice real skills – mine have served me well for 30 years. @qqv0310
14. 1. To avoid tears, back up your work (at least weekly). 2. Present your research as many times as possible (to friends, colleagues, or lab mates). They will likely ask questions that will help you. 3. Don’t compare yourself with others. 4. Don’t kill yourself (Enjoy your PhD) @olayinka_saint
15. Take your time – it’s a marathon not a race. Listen and hoover up hand-outs and papers you are told to read. Start doing literature searches on your project and writing your introduction as part of your reading around/learning your field. Write your thesis as you go. @BarbaraGuinn1
16. Read a paper every day and sort out a reference manager now @Montydoggolab 17. Hey, congrats! You can write all your notes about any text in Mendeley, if you don’t use the info at the moment it can be useful later. @osirisglzgalvan
18. Always remember, it gets hard before it gets easy. Surround yourself with people who can support through the lows and celebrate your highs! @Kramayp
19. Impostor syndrome will happen. But you still need to keep your own space without guilt: go to the gym or do something you enjoy several times a week, leave work early specifically for this. No work at home, you’ll be more productive when you’re there ☺ @_EvaMichaud
20. Focus your own research topics and no need to compare your own achievements with your peers. Different research topics take various amounts of time to be studied and published. @DPsychai
21. Read as widely as possible around the subject, see what’s already been done research wise in your topic area. @ValMansell
22. Read lots of reviews and question everything. If protocol X says to use reagent A on substrate B. Why that reagent? What does it do? Why that long? Why that temperature? It is difficult to generate your own ideas if you just blindly do what everyone else tells you to do. @DerekFFleming
23. Don’t pick a project right away. Instead, can you help out some postdoc or senior PhD students with their work for a couple of months? It helps you find what appeals to you and what is actually feasible to accomplish. @JerUpham
24. Learn to dissociate failures of experiments from failures of yourself. A failed experiment does not mean YOU failed! You just did science! @MariRSosa
25. “I’ll remember everything is the biggest lie you can tell yourself” So write every small detail down in your lab book or elsewhere. @NiranjanRamakr4
26. Take notes. Also, citation manager is your best friend. @WojciechlTB 27. Analyse your results as you go and don’t write off anything until you have the full picture! @Dannylasal
28. Don’t forget that your PhD isn’t just 3 years of being a lab rat. Pay attention to the many other skills you’re learning along the way. @EdwardRandviir
29. Read every paper in your field – even the weaker-seeming ones @nitz_douglas
30. Besides the amazing advice from everyone, I would suggest please know that the best networking in academia is with your current peers, not just with already established profs, etc. I hope you will make great friends, because the PhD is made better with a supportive community. @trang_mai_tran
31. Learn grant writing as hard as you are learning research writing @ShalleePage 32. Read…take breaks, and the guilt will always be there. ☺ All the best. @Saydia_Razak 33. First, big congrats from a complete stranger! Second – it might feel like you’re getting
nowhere in the beginning and that is completely okay. When I realized that, so much self-induced pressure lifted and here I am 2+ years later wondering when I had time to accomplish all I did! But as many others have said – treat it as an education and learning process and make use of the immense knowledge you’re surrounded with. @JuliaHoglundBio
34. Take moments to enjoy the journey. @JLFetterman
35. Find a productive, smart, non-angry mentor. @n3sgd1959
36. Focus on what’s doable for your thesis. @EntoMike
37. My advice: don’t read what you write until you finish the whole chapter. Rereading sentences breaks writing flows. It’s easier to edit the content once you have it written. And, there’s no such thing as a perfect thesis so don’t go through too many drafts. Link to blog post “How I wrote a PhD Thesis and had the time of my life”
https://www.talkplant.com/i-wrote-phd-thesis-time-life/ @TalkPlant
38. Remember real science involves failure. Super tough to experience. But this is what progress entails. When things don’t work remember: It’s not you and it happens to everyone. & Learn to love your lab book! You won’t remember the next
day/week/month exactly what you did! (&forgive yourself) The prime gain from doing a PhD is nothing to do with the subject. It is life skills: surviving countless struggles, persisting through difficult times, becoming resourceful problem solver & independent thinker, and knowing when to ask for help. Invaluable for any future role!! @julie4clahrc
a. Couldn’t have said it any better for me. Spot on. Surviving countless struggles and problem solving. Not forgetting patience and persistence. @luciamamorena 39. Organize things systematically from the beginning. If you’ll be using samples/strains/primers/plasmids etc assume you’ll have 100 or more by the end of your PhD. Organizing things systematically now will help you find things later. In a few years, you will thank your past self! @Linder_surprise
40. WRITE IT DOWN! Everything, thoughts, protocols, papers, advice, sunny days, bad days; be a good information giver to future you. @shellie_wall
41. Make a git repository for your codes and log files (and write-ups if you are doing them with Latex or markdown) per project. It helps you track them and have a back-up and more importantly, you can revert if something went wrong. @neuroprinciples
a. Hey I’m the author of @GitJournal_io – a mobile first markdown editor integrated with Git. Maybe it will be useful for you to edit/view your notes on the go. @visheshhanda
42. Tons of good advice, perspectives, and fellow-feeling here. Helped keep me sane: https://thesiswhisperer.com/ @DrRoseJones
43. Know your strength and be confident @SambitBhoi3
44. Your supervisor is supposed to be a source of knowledge, motivation, and help! Go to them with issues, you don’t have to struggle through everything alone. Also, start reading and writing an annotated bibliography. It’ll help when you need to start writing your literature review! @Andi1609
45. Enjoy the ride. @alexhdezgcia
46. Find allies. @Teresa_GB
47. Experiments fail 90% of the time in your first year and 35% of the time towards the end. @AnanyaS1190
48. I’ve never been able to find it again, but I once saw a tweet that just said ‘learn to code and go to therapy’ and I remember wishing I could tell that to my first year self. @gottapatchemall
a. Oh my God this is so true, not learning coding and going to therapy earlier were also my regrets! @trang_mai_tran
49. Have a consistent date/year/name system for all your files and create a master list with a brief description of what the files contain! @ZJAyres
a. Recommend something like ISO8601: YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm eg 2020-07-09 15:45. Easy to read and understand, international standard means it’s easier for collab and for computing. Sorting alphabetically = sorting chronologically.
En.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601 @GentScientist
i. Would avoid using spaces in file names. I’ve had issues with spaces when using such files in coding/programming. But the date/time format is
indeed great, consistency is key. @NinjaaNina
1. Very fair. Depending on the programming language (eg bash
scripting) can be an issue. Proper ISO8601 puts a “T” in that space
for pretty much this reason, I expect. @GentScientist
50. Write three related papers, publish each, and make each a chapter in your five chapter thesis. @DrAdamWarren
51. So 1) CONGRATULATIONS learn to celebrate the victories and 2) take the time off. All of it. The weekends (yes the whole two days), don’t do 12H in the lab every day, and take holidays. Yes, WHOLE WEEKS OFF. I’ll die on that hill. It’s a marathon, pace yourself or it’ll be painful. @lu_debeauchamp
52. My data organization was so fucked up at the start! My best advice to you si to get everything down in clean spreadsheets, and label adequately so you can refer back to it in a few years. What I didn’t know at the start was that I’d wind up doing almost all behavior experiments, and then after that really fall deep into data science kinds of work. I don’t think I could have planned that from the start but perhaps that means it’s best to keep an open mind. Like if your first, or best, or favorite plan doesn’t pan out, that’s a reflection of the state of things rather than a reflection of you. We can influence a lot! But not completely, so try to unburden yourself from taking absolute responsibility to “make” things work. We can still do “good” for a “bad” project, and you still take the credit for good work with you. I hope you take encouragement to heart from all this! And a realistic notion that challenges will present themselves. But you are more than up to the task! @keireton
53. Collaborate if you can & going to meetings helps with this. It’s how I obtained the human microglia cell line which mas meant everything to my research. I try to also make at least one new friend at each conference. @GliaAlzheimers
54. Don’t ever procrastinate genotyping, and second having a good organizational system to keep track of everything! (especially if you generate a lot of tissue for histology) @andreayung3
a. Yes! Organization! When given freezer space, number all of your boxes and keep a spreadsheet where you list what is in each box. Keep this spreadsheet
updated! Digging around the -80 for samples from 4 years ago is no fun.
@krissylyon
55. Set up a thoughtful system/format for recording what you’re doing every day (physical lab notebook, digital notes, etc) and for labelling/storing files and samples NOW instead of later. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and expect to mess up a bunch ☺ @hcmacomber
a. Couldn’t agree with the labelling/storing of files more!! @SophieFarrow2 56. Document everything. Literally everything. I’ve had good luck by keeping an overleaf document open all the time. Every day, I review the previous day and make a brief to-do list. Useful notes, paper summaries, computations, end-of-day report, etc. get added before I go home. When it comes time to write your dissertation, you may well be able to form much of it just by copy-pasting from your notes. @koaleszenz
57. Agree with others on organization and note-taking. But also don’t be too hard on yourself. There will often be someone better than you at a particular thing, but rarely anyone better than you at everything! @asa_barth_maron
58. Keep records of everything that is discussed with your mentor in meetings. Some mentors can be nightmares (hopefully not in your case!) and it’s a good idea to have a paper trail. Others will be forgetful of what they told you to do (they have a lot going on!) @leannakal
59. It’s a Phd. It’s not a PhA+ @HlthyUncert
60. Woohoo, congrats! I wish I knew how to pace myself/find balance. I spent too much time worrying about exceeding everyone’s expectations that I forgot to take care of myself along the way. No experiment, grant, or manuscript is more important than taking care of you! @BrittanyUhlorn
61. This video is really helpful! I wish I had watched it at the start of my thesis work. “Don’t perish! A step by step guide to writing a scientific paper”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmf7vEFxYI&feature=youtu.be @FungalEvoDevo 62. Story board your project early on. It will help you keep track of the thread of your research, identify the best future directions, and easily transitions to an outline for a paper. @krissylyon
63. Take any training offered. Need more? Ask for it. Backup everything. If you have problems tell your supervisor sooner not later. PhDs take longer than you think. Research plans always change. Don’t read the “how to get your PhD” type of books the week before your viva. Enjoy! @DrPetra
a. I would like to second all of this, but especially “backup everything”. My computer started to die on me in the last year of my PhD. @jesskorte
b. These are so true. I wish I had known them too. @trang_mai_tran c. This is a GREAT response. Embrace what you’re there to do and enjoy it. @DavidBarker_PhD
64. Write yourself little cheat-sheets for every new process or programming tool you learn. 3rd year you will thank yourself for not having to re-learn how to rotate those figure labels in ArcMap at 3 am the day before an abstract deadline. Look up bullet journaling – helped me keep my thoughts, meetings, notes, hopes, dreams, phone numbers, sample names, to-do lists, podcast recommendations together without needing 200 different notebooks. @AnnaGlueder
65. Pick a project your lab has a lot of expertise in. Ideally, work closely with a senior grad student or postdoc for a year or two, get some second authorships, then forge your own path. @jbohnslav
66. Read, read, read @DanLevy919
a. I just told that for the Nth time to my trainees today: read, read, read. Papers are like books, every time you read one, there is another layer popping up.
@AdemaRibic
67. Write every single thing down in a single location like a lab notebook! You may think, there’s no way I’ll ever forget that. But then a pandemic may hit and remove you from lab work for 3 months making you forget something you once thought was so trivial. @slspeckhart
68. This excellent article by @LucyATaylor is a goldmine: Twenty things I wish I’d known when I started my PhD https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07332-x @Prokaryota
69. 1. EVERYTHING takes longer than you think. Don’t rush. Focus on the quality of your work rather than at the pace at which other people are working. 2. Don’t be afraid to talk to your colleagues about your struggles. The chances are that they’ve struggled with a similar thing. @EmilySpearing
70. Sit down and really hash out expections with your mentor, theirs & your own, for experiments and for other lab work, writing, professionalism, you mentoring others, etc. Make a timeline for project goals, milestones (exams/proposals, grants), career advancement. READ THEIR GRANTS! @HowardNeuroLab
71. Schedule weekly 1-on-1 meetings. Solicit feedback every chance you get. After your 1- on-1 meetings, send your PI a short written synopsis (bullet points) of what you discussed) @BrumbackLab
72. Back up all important files in two places including one external drive. Document everything and number your notebooks. Don’t panic if something doesn’t go to plan the first time. Enjoy it! @PixAmes
73. Eventually, everything is about perseverance. There will be times you’ll think – why am I doing this? What if I was more suited for something else? There will always be someone, something better out there. The only thing that will bring you joy is commitment no matter what. This reminds me of relationships. There will always be someone more loving, pretty, and accomplished in the world who would have been an objectively better match. But you don’t need what is the best. You just need something that works for you. Questioning what you’re doing is not unhealthy. Rather, it is the sign of an
objective mind, that cares for its own well-being and future rather than putting everything on a pedestal and worshipping it. It can give you perspective, and accepting your doubts makes you enlightened. @Anirudh_Ramesh1
74. Congrats! I agree with @BrittanyUhlorn – I’d have loved to pace myself and find balance. It’s so easy to get caught up in competition in grad school. Remember, everyone’s on their own journey. Make generous interpretations of their (and your) actions. Be gentle with yourself. @RaghavSampangi
a. Exactly – run your own race! So much easier said than done when success in academia is often based on our numerical competition with others (pubs, grants, etc) but stay true to yourself! @BrittanyUhlorn
75. Never trust yourself to remember a small detail that may someday be important. Write it down! Preferably somewhere you know where to look. @RosemaryChicken 76. Last year I was on the panel for a workshop at our university called ’10 tips for new PhD students’. Afterwards I wrote my tip in this article: “Your PhD is a journey – enjoy the ride’ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-phd-journey-enjoy-ride-evelyne-deplazes/ @DepalzesEvlyne
77. No matter how well intentioned and prepared you are, eventually your PhD will feel like walking in the forest and your flashlight goes out. Give yourself some time to adjust rather than beating yourself up for being unprepared. @AnnaGlueder
78. I don’t need ‘fastest/best/most consistent email responder’ to be part of my professional legacy. I may be a student, but still I am human. Other people’s timelines aren’t always my timelines and rarely is anything truly an “academic emergency”. @sjcherak
79. I’m at the end of mine…take notes on literally everything you do. This will be invaluable when you are writing your thesis. Also, check the replies here:
https://twitter.com/RobinMazumder/status/953397393604665344 (around 1000 replies, highly recommend checking this out as well!) @RobinMazumder
80. Write in a book absolutely everything you are doing! Every reference product, every product lot. It will help you avoid some mistakes and save time when you have to put all the data together for a paper. You can’t remember everything after some years of work ☺ @AurelieDobric
81. It always takes longer than you think. Document well everything. Get used to planning all of your experiments from start to finish. Don’t wait with analysis too long. It’s just work, don’t let it take over your life. Reward yourself. @RekaPToth
82. If something is going to take <5 minutes, do it now. Takes way less effort than having to remember to do it later. Label every sample like they’re someone else’s, because future you is someone else. It’s okay not to know things. @KateKennedy
a. Excellent advise from Kate! Also come up with a system for labeling computer files and stick to your system – will make it easier to find things later. Never too early to start writing your thesis – make your figures and write your methods as you go. @Steeltown_Worms
83. Learn about Mendeley. Stay consistent with labeling and note keeping practices. Back up your work regularly. Ask all the questions needed until you understand the purpose
of your experiments. Be honest about your struggles. Find a community/friends. Breathe and have fun. @CaroMaldonado1
84. Please check out all these posts by the wonderful @MollieMarr! She is a huge inspiration. The thread also contains a ton of wonderful advice.
https://twitter.com/MollieMarr/status/1280711793413742593 @BrittGratreak 85. Make sure to do something you love outside of the lab. I played in a wind ensemble throughout my PhD program. It wasn’t always easy, but it was very important for self preservation. @eyedoc333
86. Trust yourself, have faith, you don’t need any advice. I was all worried and anxious when I started my PhD and at the end of the years realized to trust the journey. @Anonymo74045043
87. Figure out a good system for keeping track of what you’ve read and what the main takeaways were. Reference managers are good, but may not be appropriate for this task. @DJWeduwen
a. I think roam research or obsidian are great. Also notion is awesome for projects management. @esl3m7anafy
88. Learn a reference management system. I use latex and bibtex. Keep everything you need for your thesis – notes on your process, papers you think would be helpful. Keep a note of all code you generate for statistics. I can’t tell you how many times that last one has saved me. @cooper__hodges
89. Planning and creating figures of experiments even if I think they don’t work out. Saves so much time later. Start writing from Day 1. Enjoy it ☺ @JessicaL_Davis
90. Don’t get obsessed with learning every technique that seems useful. Good rule of thumb is if you’re going to do it more than 6 times, learn it. Otherwise collaborate. Do find a couple specialty techniques to master. Do every experiment like you’re going to put it in a paper. More neurospecific: Learn matlab (imaging) or Python (omics) right now. learn Opti-patch or similar setup if interested in neurophys. Collaborate with the Greenberg lab if at all possible. @zenobiotic
91. Congrats! Document, document, document. Get a citation manager and put everything in. Record everything you do in lab and make backups. All the backups. Eat 3 balanced meals a day. Get sleep. Get exercise. Don’t give those things up for more lab time, it’s a false economy. Don’t neglect your relationships and take time to build new ones. You need supportive people in your life – they’re the ones who will cheer you on and help you through when you feel like you will never finish. If you’re struggling, don’t wait to ask for help, do it asap. @ashmeads2
92. Read the relevant literature. You probably have decades of research to become familiar with. Network. Do internships. Check in with your advisor often, write in your lab notebook like it’s your diary, backup your files often, and use consistent formatting across your files. @okieokra
93. Read the papers published from the lab you are in going back ~5 years. @gtrubl 94. Just let’s see by yourself 2-3 month. Take time to observe the (wild life) lab. Don’t be shy to ask from postdocs anything. Then you can start and try all the good advices from people if you want but a PhD is kind of a unique experience imho. @AnthonyGuihur
95. That I could have had undergraduate or master’s students helping me in lab and it would have been mutually beneficial. Know your resource pool! @DrCaplin 96. Keep good notes from the start because it’ll make the writing phase so much easier @hsanderson_phd
97. Use Git for version control of your writings (in LaTeX or Markdown) and enable spellcheck. @fredfeng
98. Find a good therapist and set a clear plan and objectives with your supervisor. Don’t be too hard on yourself, you will do great! @ZeinabBakhtiar1
99. @anniegorden
100. Just observe the lab culture for a while. Then slowly adapt to the circumstances and experiment, experiment like the wind! Good luck! @Baldscientist
a. I really like this advice. Lab culture is so very important and deeply affects how each individual will conduct their research. @vinisalazar_
101. Find a way to keep track of what you read – on paper or digital, write out the main ideas, data sets, methods so you can quickly find “that one paper that said X” when you go to write w/out having to rea-read everything (and it’s already in your own words!) @April__Abbott
a. If you go the handwritten route, just remember than there is no ‘ctrl+f’ even if you “swear you have written this factoid that explains your entire dataset somewhere in these 60 pages” @AnnaGlueder
102. Organise a meeting schedule with your supervisors from the start and stick to it, even if some weeks/fortnights you have nothing much to report! @tansybranscombe 103. Treat your PhD as a training, not a degree you need to get to go on to the next stage of
your career. In hindsight, I wish I wasn’t so set on the end goal and soaked up all the possible skills I could. @DrJMatharu
Be kind to yourself. It’ll be so easy to compare yourself to your advisor, labmates, cohorts, and friends. But don’t worry about what they’re doing, worry about what *you’re* doing. You’ll make tons of mistakes, but you’ll be a better scientist for it! Just do the best you can! @neobhm
104. Make super quick “figures” of every experiment you can. No need to get fancy (paste 1-2 images/results in a ppt slide, brief annotation), but this will really help when you go to prep grants, papers, committee meetings, etc. Also, try to establish a solid relationship w/ your PI, including regular meetings. You’ll want that foundation to hold you up during rough patches (scientific and personal). Like others have said: establish your file structure, and make annotating and backing up your data a habit. @KtTots
105. What I wish I knew, and what is still true, is that established scientists are not Gods (not even small g gods!) – challenge, push, poke, prod, follow your curiosity.
@JamesDanckert
106. Most important advice: don’t give up. There will be tough times and that’s the nature of research, but you’ll prosper. If you feel down, take a break and relax for a bit, then get back at the challenge. @farahikia_m
107. Focus on your thesis work and don’t get carried away with side projects @tamtav1 108. Start using a citation manager on day one @vbarber830
109. Get on a schedule that works for you. Take breaks. Buy an external hard drive. Advocate for yourself as needed!!!! @jesstcmpbll
110. Imagine looking back on your data from five years ago – does it make sense to you now? Do you have 15 versions of the same file and they’re all slightly different and you don’t know why? Get organized from the beginning! @KVanVolkom
111. Read as many papers as you can, but don’t sit in an office all day. Get in the lab and talking with people. My best ideas came early in my PhD when I had the opportunity to pursue whatever I wanted to! Most of all, enjoy!! And be proud of yourself <3 @savvy_science
112. Don’t compare yourself to other people! Everyone’s research and rate of publication is different. @brooke_kuei
113. Plan ALL your projects at once and have your committee agree in writing on all project protocols. No playing games this way. Limit any dependencies in designing said protocols, such that they can all be carried out together and there is no waiting. Be scrappy, just do it. @kannamma1234567
114. Have a physical lab notebook and write down everything (protocols, experiments, the date of the experiments) Learn the techniques, and ask for help. Read two articles a
week. Write everyday at least one sentence. Powerpoint for the data and keep it updated! @dr_dania87
115. Do original research that you care about @jackcs99
116. Record incidents of harassment that happen: date, time, witnesses. Don’t allow others to make your workspace unsafe/uncomfortable. Labmates are coworkers, not your friends. Get a good citation manager (Mendeley/Endnote/Zotero). Try to join poster/oral competitions even if you don’t think you have enough results to win. Set weekly or biweekly or monthly meetings with your PI. Collaborate with others as much as you can. Do a term abroad. Your value does NOT equal your progress/success. Period. @jerichobreeze
117. I Wish I knew about the #Notion #app. Use it to document your literature reviews, collect meeting notes, all in one place. The best part about this app is that it works on windows, MacOS, android, and iOS. Whether you are in the shower or in lab, note down your ideas quickly using the fantastic templates that the app offers. @KarthikPN15
118. Now’s the time to set up good habits! Reference management, any new programming languages or software you want to learn – look at what is best right now and go for it. It’s a good investment. Also start writing as much as soon as possible. You can refine later but any papers you read (add some review notes/to a lit review) add even small experiments to methods, add random bits of interpretation to a results/discussion section. All helps. Do other things to supplement your skills for post-PhD employment prospects – attend broad seminars, collaborate on tangential projects, communications work, contribute to local policy papers, organize events. ☺ @HayleyEversKing
119. The thesis work you started this week is not the thesis work you will be graduating with, so don’t get too attached. @SugiuraAyaka
a. So true, especially when you are about to read your supervisors’ comments on your draft. @trang_mai_tran
120. Make a note of every tiny bit of information at every step of the way, even things that seem completely irrelevant. You’ll definitely thank yourself later when it’s time to compile everything and write that thesis up. @susanj13
121. Have a labeling system for your projects and experiments! I’m doing it now in my last year and I wish I had started from day 1. @AbbeLimitless
122. Make time for reading! Might just be me but I got very focused on lab time at the start so dedicating X hours for reading was helpful to keep up with what’s going on. Good luck and enjoy! @Perry__SC
123. Now is the time to start your post PhD planning and positioning: Postdoc -> faculty -> industry, etc. Your plans will likely change but that’s okay. Also invest time in curating a broad library of references with a citation manager. (Jabref, Papers, etc)
@PhysDownUnder
124. Realize that everything in a PhD takes a lot longer than timelines you were used to as a single researcher. Patience! Have a document to save discussion points and topics into from the beginning when mentioned by supervisors in discussion/drafts… good luck! And enjoy ☺ @WoodwicksLianne
125. Yeah…back up everything…always. Keep raw data and analyzed data together, same file. Lastly, think about the controls/experimental design before you run an experiment; it’ll save you tons of time. Allow yourself to make mistakes. @stern_sydney
126. ORGANIZE YOUR FILES. Make lots of subfolders and name files with dates instead of “version”. Organize them as if your advisor is going to one day open up your computer to find something. Your future self will be searching for that one file, and you will thank yourself. @Amandisols
127. 1. Save everything on the cloud. 2. Start your lit review as soon as possible. 3. Get in contact with other researchers @cheagarcia
128. Enjoy the ride. Work hard for yourself and not to impress someone else. Most importantly, always remember that your work is just as important as your neighbor’s no matter what happens. You got this! @elizabethchau
129. Accept that you will only ever do 1/10 of the research in which you are interested during your thesis. You will have to say no to things you are really interested in so you can stay focused. Acknowledge and let these projects go. You can come back once you are a doctor. @MAllyse
130. You may end up throwing away everything you do in the first year. This is OK – the first year is (or can be) for exploration. I completely pivoted at the end of my first year, and my thesis ended up being about something quite different. @jimfinnis
131. Ask all the questions!! You’re here to learn and senior students were first years too. @Roxane_jourdain
132. Spend some actual work time to organize all your files in your PC thinking about that you will need them in 3 years time. Then, read a lot of literature. That’s what I would say to myself during day 1 of my PhD. @AkkindinS
133. I wish that I was more diligent about recording everything in my notebook while I’m running my experiment, even if it’s a generic process I’ve done many times. If makes writing and thinking about my results much easier. @ABAChemE
134. Perform every single experiment in a way that it can be used for publication. Don’t ‘just briefly check quick and dirty’… @genderwoche
135. ORGANIZE YOUR DATA AND LABEL EVERYTHING. That is all. My old mentor from my PhD program said today “Don’t judge your self worth from your CV.” And when you create any figure, for the love of everything, write down what you did, parameters, work flows. SO VITAL. You will thank yourself later. You remake same figure hundreds of times. @SassySeaShellss
136. Complete all data entry/photo uploads as quickly as possible, have a dedicated notebook for everything project related (I have one for notes from all meetings and one for all project notes), and give yourself a lot of grace! @hortmeierclarke
137. Start a running annotated bibliography of everything you read! @GenevieveGoebel 138. Figure out a way to name your files and folders that makes sense and use it! @AmyKeirstead
139. Write write write as you go don’t don’t don’t wait until the end to write it all up @ShariHilding
140. Keep two “lab notebooks” so you can take one (protocols good reagents etc) when you leave cause you *will* forget that ‘one random german company that made the BEST antibody’ @kharris1287
141. Analyze your data as soon as you get them! @Mehrnaz_Mjt
142. 1. Always create at least 2 backup files for data 2. Embrace flexibility 3. The research you end up doing is going to be nothing like the one you had conceived of in your SOPs 4. Maintain an excellent relationship with your guide. @JayantikaChakr1
143. 1. Vent to and with your peers to see everyone struggles sometimes. You’ll learn about resources and you’ll be okay. 2. Backup everything. Then backup again. I lost my original and first backup of all my data at once in my final year. Second backup = why I’m Dr. Nevins. Remember: you got this. @JuliElyHa
144. 1. Learn how to read a paper (the three pass technique) 2. Become a peer reviewer early enough to understand the other side 3. Attend as many seminars in allied areas as possible 4. Do few internships 5. Mentor UG/PG students when you are ready @YusufGupta
145. Loving myself & everyone around me @DrGuilllotWright
146. Read as many papers as possible, try for at least one a week! Write everything down so it makes writing your thesis wayyyy easier. @chelsdoingsci
147. Be aggressive about communicating frequently with your mentor. Schedule frequent meetings with your advisory committee as well so that you can stay on track. It may feel intimidating, but ultimately their job is to help you graduate, so use this resource. Be your own advocate. Also, ask other labs, students, faculty for help with new techniques. @howdy_comrade
148. Maintain an impeccable lab notebook. @Fahdqadir
149. Treat this not only as job, but a hobby! The weirdest but best advice I ever got was – does this keep you up at night? If it does, you will do very well! @DVogtLab 150. Believe in yourself. You’re going to doubt yourself. But turn that around and do what you need to pump yourself up! And most importantly write everything you do down – record it! @science_SRH
151. My thoughts 1) pick the right project (exciting, cutting edge, tangible) 2) learn all you can about your lab members and their work (talk, talk, talk) 3) start doing broad experiments to learn more about the lab @Plasmacellguy
152. Find the senior postdocs and staff scientists that have done your techniques and types of research for more years than anyone likes to admit. Get their gold standard protocols and use them exactly as written… that’ll cut at least 6 months off of your PhD. @anthony_berndt
153. The best advice I received was “write down exactly why you make every decision”. In the moment you will think it is obvious and you will definitely remember. But months/years later it isn’t and you won’t. So my advice: detailed notes. Write down as much as you possibly can. @courtbouch
154. Question everything, do your controls early, and push back if you think your PI is asking too much. Also, have fun, research rocks @Scalebar
155. Have fun and never give up @anaslaaa
156. Take organized notes on all the papers you read! Will come in super handy when preparing manuscripts and your thesis down the line (advice I was given) @jamietcard 157. Follow @EricTopol @nickisnpdx
158. Manage literature in a way that will make it easy for you to cite it when writing manuscripts. Here’s my favorite method by @SteMcQuilliam and I wish I had known it sooner: https://twitter.com/SteMcQuilliam/status/1252241904810557448?s=20. @Spring_Cyclone
159. Definitely try to plan in advance professional development in areas other than technical science. E.g. communication, managing up, developing a holistic portfolio of experiences and learning that prepares for academia and industry And a mentor (not your supervisors) @HossaiGul
160. My suggestions are minor and more operational: pick a knowledge management approach early, learn it and stick with it (incl ref management); have at least two ongoing, separate, and non-deletion propagating backups; and think about writing habits e.g. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/06/16/book-review-air-light time-space-how-successful-academics-write-by-helen-sword/ @ben_hr
a. Yes! That book is a fav, and Helen is running online writing workshops atm. At the start even simply writing your critical reflections of literature that you are reading is a good way to learn and get into writing habits. @HossaiGul
b. I hesitate to mention it, as it’s not for everyone, but thinking about a zettelkasten forces one to consider knowledge management in general @ben_hr c. I didn’t know what a zettelkasten was until just now! But I’ve had an annotated knowledge management system with a search function using evernote the whole time. Plus systematic reviews kind of force you to get used to it! @HossaiGul d. Yeah I jumped ship from Evernote to @zettler last year ☺ @ben_hr
e. Oooo a non-techie markdown editor! Might spend time on weekend checking it out. Thank you Ben! @HossaiGul
161. Unionize your program or risk having your funding/benefits cut during a pandemic. @sydewolfe
162. Best advice, let it go, this shit messes with your brain. @ratherhanan