Announcing – We have a YouTube Channel!
[Video below!!] When I started this website and blog, I wrote traditional text posts like all of the blogs I followed. I preferred reading text to watching a video, and any time there was an option to pick text, I always did. Didn’t everyone? It turns out, no, not everyone does. It started small, […]
The basics you must know to write your introduction
Hello all, and happy February! It seems like everyone is using 2020 to dig in and get some papers going, which is great to hear! In all that paper bustle, though, I’ve had several requests for some posts on introductions. Mainly: -how to keep it interesting -how to keep it focused and concise -how on […]
4 tips to make your to-do list work for you this year!
Happy new year, everyone! First, thanks to all for making through another trip around the sun with me! I am so thankful for all of you and your support over this past year, and can’t wait to see what 2020 brings us! Sending you joy and love in this new year! From my heart to […]
How I am inventing time this month by realigning my focus
This month I learned how to invent time and actually make progress towards long-term goals. I feel so productive already in November, and I still have over a week left! Deeply thinking about my long-term goals and setting priorities accordingly has hopefully permanently changed my work balance. The hope with this post is that if […]
Join me! Why November is the ultimate month to find your writing mojo
I have a secret, guys. After grant season, I am WAY behind on…well, literally everything. There was so much work in Aug/Sept, that I had no time to do much else, and unfortunately, my dedicated writing time was one of the first casualties. The even bigger issue now is that one month after my crazy […]
10 repeat mistakes from this year’s fellowships…avoid them for a killer application
Phew, Marie Curie postdoc fellowship applications were finally submitted almost two weeks ago now, and I just now feel like I am catching my breath! I had more applications to work on this year than ever before, so a lot of the repeating patterns really stood out…which means I get to tell you guys my […]
Does Your Manuscript Title Include These Three Key Components?
At a recent workshop on manuscript writing, I was very surprised at how many attendees (>25%) said that composing the title was the most difficult or stressful part of writing their manuscript draft. It’s a bit crazy that 15 words, less than 1% of most manuscripts, can cause so much stress. Though it definitely makes […]
Most papers make this conclusion mistake. How to finish strong!
here is one giant underused opportunity I see in a large majority of the papers I work with, which comes in the conclusion and final paragraph of the paper. To see what this mistake stems from, lets first look again at the overall outline of a paper based on the paper scope (discussed in more […]
Results need context, too! How to maintain interest in the details.
Many scientists realize that to attract readers, the abstract and introduction need to capture attention and peak interest in a manuscript. To make your manuscript stick out in reader’s minds though, which is key to building your citations, that interest needs to be maintained throughout the paper. Unfortunately, the next section a reader gets to […]
The 6 key parts in a powerful discussion section
The discussion can be a sticking point for many manuscript writers because it seems to be a free for all with no easy pattern for composing it – but there are actually 6 key parts that need to be included! While it is true that each research project is different – meaning that different parts […]