Minghua Chen – Suggestions to Graduate Students

I keep a list of advice that I found useful previously as a graduate student and now as a researcher.

How to do well in graduate study and research:

• How to succeed in graduate school? By Marie desJardins. It has a chinese version.

• Does one have to be a genius to do math? By Terry Tao.

• How to have a bad career in research/academia? by David Patterson.

How to read a paper:

• How to read a paper? By Srinivasan Keshav.

How to review a paper:

• In short, the paper-review job is to summarize your professional observations of the paper into four parts: summary, strength, weakness, and detailed comments.

• Writing reviews for systems conferences. By Timothy Roscoe.

• How to Review a Paper. By Hugh Davis.

• How to read and evaluate a scientific paper? By William G. Griswold.

How to write a paper:

• Write A Rapid Prototype First By Terry Tao.

• Ten Simple Rules for Mathematical Writing By Dimitri Bertsekas.

• How to write a great research paper? By Simon Peyton Jones. Here is the corresponding video lecture.

• Writing Technical Articles By Henning Schulzrinne. (A nice guideline)

How to give a talk:

• Small Guide to Giving Presentations by Markus Puschel.

• How to give a good research talk? By Simon L Peyton Jones, John Hughes, and John Launchbury.

• How to give an academic talk? By Paul N. Edwards.

How to prepare a good poster and poster presentation:

• How to make a good poster. By LiLynn Graves.

• A guide to a successful scientific poster presentation. By Susan Koskinen.

• Do’s and Don’ts of Poster Presentation. By Steven M. Block.

• How to make a successful poster?

Some enlightening quotes:

• “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” – Duke Ellington (a jazz legend)

• “I believe that in the search for the answer, lies the answer.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

• “There is nothing more practical than a good theory.” – James Clerk Maxwell

• “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein

• “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein

• “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein

• “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” – Albert Einstein

• “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.” – Hunter S. Thompson

• “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” – William Ernest Henley (from his poem “Invictus”)