CCE Resources Database
Search the database for online and print resources to help you with your communication needs.
Sources include websites, articles, quick tips, interactive tutorials, videos, guides and
books covering topics from how to write a lit review or organize your thesis to graduate
school survival tips and crafting materials for the job market.
Results:
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Ten Rules of Academic Writing | An article outlining ten general rules to follow for academic writing, including how much to read, how to write (or begin writing) a book, what to do if you get stuck, and why editing is so important. |
| Theory and Method in Social Science Research | An article that provides distinctions between methodological theory and substantive theory and their importance in research methods and theory generation. Also outlines the connections between research questions and the methods of your research and unfolding of the research questions in the methods' design and data. |
| Shorter, Better, Faster, Free: Blogging changes the nature of academic research, not just how it is communicated | A blog that outlines the benefits of blogging about academic research. Includes description of different types of blogs, an argument for their cross-disciplinary value, and description of how blogs' "take aways" communicate bottom-line results. |
| The examiner-perspective lens for doctoral editing | A set of questions for revising your dissertation that could also be used in preparing for your defense. It approaches the topic by helping you consider committee questions about your dissertation |
| How to respond to reviewers | An excellent blog post from an experienced author/editor in the sciences featuring a detailed set of guidelines for managing your responses to reviews and demystifying the revise & resubmit process. |
| Step 5: Writing Well Developed Questions | A document on how to write research questions including worksheets to help you develop your own research questions Developing a Researchable Question Writing a Question to Reflect Your Design & Analysis: Terminology Directional/Nondirectional questions |
| 10 ways to make sure your journal article never gets read, or worse, cited | A blog post of 10 things to do to NOT get read or cited Useful reverse tips for getting your research/journal articles read covers titles abstracts publicity choosing a journal language stance/certainty and more |
| A guide to choosing journals for academic publication | A detailed practical & insightful post on choosing a journal for your academic research article. Includes sections on fit & status How to choose a journal impact factors fit journal as conversation |
| 10 Ways To Successfully Defend Your PhD | A clear detailed list of how to a successful final oral exam / thesis or dissertation defense. Includes preparation, practice, organization tips and more. |
| How to peer review | A comprehensive post with step by step advice for graduate student completing their first peer review for a journal but also useful for more experienced reviewers. Covers decision fatigue, recognizing conflict of interest, steps for reading & reviewing, peer review reviewing articles This blog has many other useful articles |
| Responding to peer review | a blog post with five steps and general principles for writing rebuttals to peer reviews Very practical & detailed with examples Writing the cover letter on a revise and resubmit responding to article peer reviews |
| Advice I give to my PhD students | Based on things the author wishes people had told him as a grad student, thing viewable or downloadable document includes a variety of elaborated pieces of advice for graduate students to help them succeed. Communication Publishing Organization & Time management Identity Independence Includes a list of links to advice blogs, job search advice, impostor syndrome articles for scientists & researchers |
| Laying the Groundwork for the Thesis and Dissertation | A guide to establishing a solid foundation to a dissertation or thesis. |
| The Chicago Manual of Style Online | The complete Chicago Manual of Style online. It provides recommendations on editorial style and publishing practices for the digital age. |
| English with Jennifer | A series of videos that covers a range of English instruction for English Language Learners. |
| National Public Radio (NPR) | This is a link to NPR, which has news stories and interesting stories you can listen to for free. |
| Grant Writers' Workbook: Any Other Agency | The grant applications of most agencies contain basically the same sections – only the specific names for the sections and the order in which they appear in the application are different. In addition, the principles and fundamentals of good proposal writing – good grantsmanship – are fully transposable across agencies. Given those two facts, we have written a generic, any-agency version of The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook. It can be used to write a proposal to any grantor, either federal or non-federal, other than NIH, NSF, or USDA-NIFA. We have written specific workbooks for those agencies. |
| Hacking the Academic Job Cover Letter | ‘Tis the season of the academic job search. Thousands of job candidates are putting together applications, hoping to make an impression on search committees. While ProfHacker has covered two important components of a typical job application—CVs and recommendation letters—we have, surprisingly, given the cover letter short shrift. |
| Cambridge American Academic Content DIctionary | A dictionary of academic English. Users can click to hear a word pronounced. |
| Academic Word Suggestion Machine | This unique web-based application allows you you choose a section of a research article and particular rhetorical move the author is accomplishing and provides you suggestions for commonly used academic word pairings as you type specific words into the search box. It also allows you to search the authentic context of the provided results. "How to" instructions for using the guide are provided here: https://youtu.be/kngTcM-0MiE |
| Writing in Anthropology | Presents strategies for writing anthropologically about the world, as well as sentence-level style tips for effective prose. Brings in examples from across all subdisciplines in anthropology. Balances practical models with important theoretical and methodological discussion. Accessible enough to be used in introductory anthropology courses yet robust enough to serve upper-level undergraduates (and even early graduate students). |
| Writing in Nursing | The aim of Writing in Nursing: A Brief Guide is to provide nursing students with a practical guide to writing, with clear instructions and concrete examples from students and professionals. It emphasizes that writing like a professional nurse requires thinking like one, which includes an understanding of translational science and evidence-based practice. Adapting conventional rhetorical concepts, this book guides novice writers in clear, persuasive writing by paying attention to their credibility, care, and competence. |
| Writing in Political Science | Writing in Political Science: A Brief Guide applies the key concepts of rhetoric and composition--audience, purpose, genre, and credibility--to examples based in political science. It is part of a series of brief, discipline-specific writing guides from Oxford University Press designed for today's writing-intensive college courses. |
| Writing in Sociology | Writing in Sociology: A Brief Guide shows students how to write research reports, literature reviews, internship reports, and other genres often assigned in sociology classes with extensive real-world examples and attention to principles of audience, purpose, genre, and credibility. It is part of a series of brief, discipline-specific writing guides from Oxford University Press designed for today's writing-intensive college courses. |
| College Writing Skills | College Writing Skills helps students continue to develop their writing skills through the following features: varied essay writing, writing process, timed writings, grammar usage and punctuation, peer review, sample essays, research, readings, critical thinking |
| Tech Tip: How to find DOIs for Multiple Articles at one Time | This tech tip will teach you how to find the DOI for multiple articles at one time using CrossRef. |
| What Recruiters Want to See on a PhD Resume | A blog post that provides helpful suggestions for how to structure a PhD, or any, resume/CV when going on the job market. It describes what recruiters want and gives suggestions for how to connect with recruiters. career; job; recruiter; resume; CV |
| How to write a blogpost from your journal article | A detailed practical post on how to convert your academic research writing to a blog post for a public audience writing a blog post on research writing |
| Step 6: Writing Your Hypotheses | A document outlining types of hypotheses and how to form your own. Includes examples & a worksheet to work through developing your research hypothesis. |
| Ten Steps for Conceptualizing and Conducting Qualitative Research Studies in a Pragmatically Curious Manner | An article with 10 steps to conceive and conduct qualitative research projects as they relate to research goals qualitative research mixed methods research pragmatic qualitative research |
| What To Do When Your Academic Advisor Mistreats You | A blog post on how to deal with a bad advisor or if someone in academia is treating you poorly Includes suggestions for dealing with it and making your situation better |
| The 4 Hour Workweek Guide To PhD Motivation | A practical article on motivation and productivity during your PhD Applies concepts form 'the 4-hour workweek' to the PhD measurable goals efficient vs effective nervousness 80/20 law batching tasks avoiding interruptions aiming high outsourcing to do lists & not to do lists Links at the end to other useful posts, especially for those in science phds |
| 10 tips to finishing your PhD faster What they don’t always tell you before you sign up for graduate school | A set of 10 practical tips and insights for graduate students covering the following immersive writing & funding finding a mentor feedback & criticism finding a dissertation chair efficient use of course projects dissertation topic choice finishing focus research design promotion & networking |
| Making Sense of the Diversity Statement | This resource provides ideas for how to write a new part of many job applications: the diversity statement. |
| Self-Help for PhDs by PhDs | Provides straightforward suggestions for finding self-help materials on how to deal with life as a PhD student. |
| Resource Library: Author Aid | A resource repository with links to articles, blogs, videos, and sites providing suggestions for researchers in academic communication. Topics range from how to give a science flash talk to how to prepare research proposals. |
| How to Survive Your PhD: Everything you need to know on one page | A short summary of basic tips on how to survive your PhD program. |
| Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to plan, draft, write, and finish a doctoral dissertation | A book that gives ideas and recommendations for helping PhD candidates cope with intellectual issues and practical struggles organizing their work effectively. |
| Science Communication: Tools to demystify your writing | A slideshow giving basic tips for how to engage in the research writing process. Includes suggestions for both professional and personal life as a writer. |
| Thesis Prison | A blog post with practical tips for surviving and managing the later parts of thesis/dissertation writing when you need to finish up and feel trapped. |
| Seven upgrade strategies for a problematic article or chapter | A very practical post of revising and fixing up your work when you're stuck writing & revising, dissertation chapter to article, Do one thing well. Flatten the structure. Say it once, say it right. Try paragraph re-planning. Make the motivation clearer. Strengthen the argument tokens. Improve the data and exhibits. |
| DEMYSTIFY YOUR THESIS | A downloadable document on the PhD process includes Getting most out of supervisor relationship being an independent researcher what is athesis developing a research question Literature Review Finding Your Voice architecture of a thesis controlling your chapters what examiners look for |
| A GUIDE TO ACADEMIC AND SCHOLARLY WRITING | A guide that aims to "to aid graduate students in understanding the distinctions between academic and scholarly writing and • to provide professionals with a resource for maintaining and improving their skills in crafting scholarly discourse. " Covers structure/planning revision coherence cohesion clarity of language quotations editing sentences - fragments run ons punctuation quotes capitalization formatting plagiarism citations academic language, english language |
| When They Watch You Eat | Tips for on campus interviews for academic jobs, especially during the unofficial aspects of the interview such as meals. academic interviews on campus interviews |
| Refereeing a Journal Article. Part 1: Reading | A post about how to begin reviewing an article for a journal includes reading, conflict of interest, 12 questions to ask & guide you as you review |
| Designing ‘attention points’ in academic work Four principles for improving how you display tables, graphs, charts and diagrams | A detailed post on crafting visuals for academic/scholarly communications and presentations how to make graphs how to focus viewer attention messages in visuals designing visuals, graphs, figures |
| Writing in the company of others; ‘Shut up and write!’, AcWriMo, boot camps, writing retreats and other fun activities. | A blog post about making progress and finding motivation by writing in groups Includes links to and explanations of a number of writing productivity and group writing set ups writing marathons, AcWriMo, Bootcamps, Shut up & write, meetups, writing retreats, |
| Writing and Speaking Guidelines for Engineering and Science | A site of advice and models for different writing & speaking tasks for engineering and science students. |
| How to Maintain Your Digital Identity As An Academic | A very practical article on how to manage your public digital identity as an academic Considers search results, web pages, social networks, branding, etc. |
| Starting to Publish Academic Research as a Doctoral Student | An article about publishing as a phd student with some suggestions for taking work you are doing and getting it published selecting a journal being a reviewer writing a book review publishing from coursework publishing an article based on a conference paper writing as a research assistant writing from doctoral dissertation writing articles based on lit reviews social aspects social opportunities for improving writing |
| Online Study Resources- Introductions | A webpage on writing research article introductions including the main goalsof the section Includes downloadable pdf of these goals and info & a number of downloadable pdf examples from specific fields (biology, education, engineering) engineering introduction biology introduction education introduction research article introduction examples of introductions, introduction examples |
| How To Improve The Presentation Skills Of PhD Students | An archived version of an article from Next Scientist about improving your presentation and public speaking skills for Phd students. Includes information on: research presentations, giving presentations, presentation skills, using visuals in presentations, preparing presentations, learning from others, preparing/creating presentation slides, title page, tips for better slides, using pictures, summarizing, creating slides faster, becoming a confident presenter, practicing your talk, giving the talk, body language, handling question and answer, after the talk |
| Trello | Project management and task management app |
| Finishing your PhD thesis: 15 top tips from those in the know | An article outlining 15 tips to getting your PhD done. Includes requirements, apps, perspective, accountability, defense, feedback, timelines, & more |
| Applying for a postdoc job? Here are 18 tips for a successful application | A UK article with practical tips for applying to postdocs most tips could be applied to applying for jobs after your phd in general job market, applications, post doc, post doc applications, finding funding, finding opportunities, finding a job, finding a postdoc |
| The Completion Agenda, Part 2: The Best Defense | An article with tips for preparing for your dissertation defense. |
| How to apply for research funding: 10 tips for academics | "Grant writing is time-consuming, tedious and the success rates are depressing. How can researchers make the process less stressful?" An article with advice for grant writing compiled from a number of researchers and academics. |
| How to Succeed in Graduate School - Part 1 | Part 1 of a 2 part blog post on how to succeed in graduate school. This post includes -publishing -role of advisor -qualifiers -presentations -side projects -social media & more From Canada, focused for sciences |
| How to Succeed in Graduate School - Part 2 | Second part of a 2 part post on succeeding in graduate school. This half of the post focuses on elements of graduate school planning including scope, timeline and mental state. |
| How to write/present science: BABY-WEREWOLF-SILVER BULLET | A blog post explaining simple, easy to remember 3 component method for peaking audience interest and framing your work. |
| Writing a response to reviewer comments | A blog post on writing your response to reviewer comments. |
| The Lost Art of the Response to Reviewers | A blog post framing advice for writing a response to reviewers in terms of things you might be missing to highlight the how to and format. |
| don’t be a BAW – Badly-behaved Academic Writer | A blog post on bad behavior of academic writers in publishing research Specifically, this post deals with the norms and expectations of publishing and getting published by highlighting unethical, bad, & potentially stigmatizing behaviors academics might intentionally or accidentally engage in. Post also includes links to other sources on ethics in publishing. writing for publication, what not to do, mistakes, |
| Reviewing a Journal Article | This source provides useful tips how to deal with the "Jekyll vs. Hyde" tension we feel -- being a collegial respondent who praises the work or being the ruthless critic who harshly critiques the work-- when reviewing a journal article. Suggestions are provided for how to consider specific strengths of the article and how to highlight weak areas the author could improve. |
| Writing Academic Book Reviews | An article that gives graduate students reasons and practical suggestions for writing book reviews. It provides recommendations for how to structure your review and the content to include, as well as how to get the review published. book review; critique; publish |
| Speak English Like an American | A book and CD set that overviews over 300 of the most-used American English language phrases. Definitions, contextualized examples, and exercises are provided to help guide the reader's understanding of American English idioms and expressions. Primary audience is English language learners. American English; pronunciation; speaking |
| A Very Rough Guide for PhD Students in Mathematics | An article by several professors in the UK that provides some information on what you may expect when entering into a graduate program in Mathematics. Particularly relevant are sections on your role and your supervisor's role, writing as a continuous process, working hours, and life after graduation. Mathematics; PhD; expectations; program of study |
| PhD Life: A blog about the PhD student experience | A blog by PhD students at the University of Warwick in the UK that offers helpful tips on how to manage your personal and academic life as a graduate student. Blog posts range from how to maintain a healthy balance between work and person life to how to manage time to how to design posters and beyond PhD; experience; success |
| The Art of Dissecting Journal Articles | A blog post that provides a step-by-step breakdown of how to approach critique of academic journal articles. It includes specific questions to ask of each section of the research article that help focus your analysis of the article submission. evaluation; journal review; feedback |
| The Twilight Zone: After the PhD, Before the Academic Job | A blog post that tackles concerns of the recently graduated PhD student. The author gives recommendations for transitioning from the PhD program to early-career researcher, such as taking on non-academic work, establishing professional affiliations, and accessing career search resources. PhD; graduation; career; academia |
| Writing a Conference Paper | A fairly comprehensive outline form PDF about different stages of preparing a conference paper (from UK) including information, recommendations, strategies and worksheets. Sections: Values of Orally Presenting Research Selecting an Appropriate Conference Writing & Submitting Your Title & Abstract Writing the Paper General Preparation:Beyond Writing includes how to select a conference, call for papers, how to write a conference abstract, preparing slides for a conference presentation, preparing a conference presentation, handling questions after a presentation, writing a conference paper, etc. |
| How to get published in high-impact journals: Big research and better writing | A blog article focusing on advice for getting your research published in high-impact journals from Macmillan & Nature editors with emphasis on the need for clear communication research as story knowing your audience short, clean and clear language use of figures |
| 30 tips for successful academic research and writing | A blog article of 30 tips for academic research & writing covering these topics: Planning your research schedule Making a start (Getting started with your research & writing) Getting the most out of your writing Connect for inspiration (networking, online presence, etc.) |
| Doctoral Writing SIG | "DoctoralWritingSIG is a forum where people who are interested in doctoral writing can come together to share information, resources, ideas, dreams (perhaps even nightmares!) in a spirit of building knowledge and skills around higher degree research writing." A blog covering a number of topics including motivation, writing, book reviews, coauthoring,conferences, creative arts research, feedback, publishing, voice, dissertation, etc. & a list of recommended resources (books) for doctoral writers. |
| 10 easy ways to make sure you have no publication record when you finish your PhD and forever after | A blog post listing 10 things to do if you do NOT want to get published, thus highlighting tips for new research writers |
| Dealing With PhD Stress The Right Way: Advice From 3 PhD Graduates | A detailed post on dealing in professional and personal ways with stress in various stages of the PhD process. |
| How to Review a Scientific Paper | A brief document with reminders and checklist giving an overview of the peer review process. This document walks through some of the major components in being a peer reviewer for a journal. |
| Thesis writing tips | A page of useful writing tips for thesis writers Covers the following: Structure your ideas, Write as you go, Be aware of examiner expectations, Provide evidence for personal experience, Learn from others, Check for logic and clarity, Ask for feedback, Proofread your work |
| 1. Thesis Preparation | A webpage with tips for preparing for your thesis or dissertation defense. Includes: Preparing for the Thesis Examination Process, Formatting your thesis, Alternate thesis formats, Including publications in your thesis, Language and writing, Preliminary pages, Plagiarism and iThenticate, Nominating thesis examiners, Requesting a confidential examination, Resources and training See also Section 3 on the Thesis examination: https://my.uq.edu.au/information-and-services/higher-degree-research/my-thesis/3-thesis-examination |
| Using Clustering as a Tool: Mixed Methods in Qualitative Data Analysis | An article on how to use cluster analysis in mixed methods and qualitative research. researcher methods qualitative data mixed methods research |
| the ten habits of highly unsuccessful research bid writers | As the title implies the blog post lists and explains a set of 10 thing that research bids, grant or proposals typically do wrong resulting in being unsuccessful. What not to do research grants grant writing proposal writing |
| Remind 2 Me - Send Future Reminders to Yourself | A short post about an app that allows you to send letters or reminders to yourself in the future. |
| Some Thoughts on Dissertation Proposal Writing | A practical outline for writing a dissertation program, especially in education. |
| A thesis proposal is a contract | A practical post detailing the purpose of a thesis/dissertation proposal and how to use it wisely thesis proposal dissertation proposal proposal as contract linking proposal and defense |
| 10 easy ways to fail a Ph.D. | As the title says this is a blog post detailing 10 easy ways to fail a PhD so you can avoid those things in pursuing your PhD |
| Writing informative abstracts for journal articles | A post about abstract writing, issues with abstracts and how to make them better includes a list of ways to improve abstracts |
| How to write 10,000 words a day | Tips to help you write 10,000 words in a day includes links throughout to other writing productivity and writing management posts/articles/resources |
| Purpose Statement - TAKEN FROM EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CRESWELL (2012) – Chapter 4 | A document outlining how to write a quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods purpose statement for a study/your research. statement of purpose purpose of the study types of studies |
| Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation | A guide to different stages of writing and presenting thesis or dissertation research Linked Table of Contents provided. Some topics covered: Thinking about it stage Preparing the Proposal & choosing committee Writing the Thesis or Dissertation Thesis or Dissertation Defense available in Spanish, Portuguese & Arabic; online, downloadable, printable |
| How to write a good scientific review | A short post on conducting and writing peer reviews for a journal outlines 4 points and how to make reviews constructive includes short bibliography |
| BITE Recipes for Remarkable Research | An online book.pdf about research with 'recipes' and case studies for research habits and approaches. working on your own working in collaboration case studies academic papers working environments |
| How to Publish in Top Journals | This brief manual provides some useful suggestions for today’s authors. If most authors acquired the basic skills mentioned here, they would then be competing in terms of the truth, goodness, and beauty of their ideas, not in terms of cosmetic skills. Topics include: General publication strategies, Writing strategies, Preparation and submission, Rejection and revision, Being a good referee, Questions and answers. |
| What is paragraph re-planning? Also called "reverse outlining" | A post detailing revising strategies that can work for helping you to understand what you've written and improve organization and flow paragraph revising reverse outlining organization |
| Top ten questions for the PhD oral exam | A useful post on common area and questions asked during a PhD final oral exam. questions on phd defense dissertation defense final oral exam preparing for defense |
| Writing Conference, Thesis, and Dissertation Proposals | A workshop handout from the Penn State Graduate Writing Center about writing conference, thesis and dissertation proposals overcoming anxiety parts of a proposal strategies goals for proposals practical tips for writing proposals & each section grammar for proposals includes examples |
| The Revise and Resubmit Series, Part 3: Techniques for Easier and Faster Revisions | A post on composing revisions for a revise and resubmit organizing revisions revising |
| The Revise and Resubmit Series, Part 2: Deciphering Reviewer Comments | A post in a 3 part series on the revise and resubmit process This post focuses on understanding what reviewer comments by categorizing common confusing reviewer responses |
| Youglish.com | This website is a video-based dictionary, which shows several videos where a search word is pronounced in context. |
| Defending Your Dissertation | Advice on dissertation defense and its three distinct components: the preparation, the defense, and follow-up. |
| Phonetics App: Sound of American English | Known as the "Number 1 phonetics website," Sounds of Speech has now become a mobile application. Users say it is a "one of a kind teaching tool," it is "highly satisfying," and is the "best App for non-English speakers." |
| American Political Science Association - Guide to APSA Style Basics | This resource covers American Political Science Association (APSA) citation and reference list format. The main features of this resource are information about formatting the references list and reference citations in text. |
| American English Pronunciation Practice | A playlist of videos for pronunciation practice. Includes: pronunciation of "L", pronunciation of "R", pronunciation of "P", vowel minimal pairs, common 2-syllable names, common 2-syllable words |
| Voices of America (VOA) Learning English | A website designed to be listened to, but also has text and pictures. Contains news and other feature stories. Content is divided into levels of reading difficulty. There are tabs for video and podcasts as well. |
| Randall Davis ESL Listening | General listening quizzes! Listen to everyday conversations with adults' and children's voices. Easy, Medium and difficult choices available. |
| Developing a Winning Grant Proposal | In a world of tightening budgets and increased competition for grant money, Developing a Winning Grant Proposal provides the guidelines, strategies, plans, and techniques to craft a fundable grant proposal. A user-friendly, engaging, and up-to-date guide, this book covers the entire process from the inception of a good idea, to the formulation of a strong proposal, to the next steps once a proposal is funded. |
| Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing and Writing Successful Proposals | A step-by-step resource that prompts organizations and individuals to ask the right questions in order to position themselves for successful grant-writing. |
| Successful Grant Writing | Obtaining research funding is central to the research process. However many (clinician-) scientists receive little, or no, training in the process of writing a successful grant application. In an era of reductions in research budgets and application success rates, the ability to construct a well presented, clear, articulate proposal is becoming more important than ever. Obtaining grants is a method to achieve your long term research goals. If you are able to formulate these long term goals, it is relevant to explore the market and investigate all potential grant opportunities. Finally, we will provide an outline of key elements of successful research grants |
| The Art of Getting Funded: How scientists adapt to their funding conditions | Shrinking university budgets make university researchers more and more dependent on external funds. As a response, they develop specific strategies for selecting external funds and for adapting their research. In a comparative interview-based study of experimental physicists working at Australian and German universities, connections between their funding conditions and adaptation strategies were analysed. Strategies differ between scientists in the two countries because of different funding conditions; and they differ between top scientists and others. The adaptation affects the content of research, for instance, its quality and innovativeness. The findings can be generalized to resource-intensive fields that underwent a shift from recurrent to external funding. |
| Grant writing: tips and pointers from a personal perspective | Progress in the science and practice of medicine requires leveraging financial resources to pursue ideas, achieve new goals, and extend professional objectives. These resources are generally allocated through agencies that function through peer review. The need to convince a reviewing body, funding agency, or philanthropic foundation that these collective plans merit support is, therefore, a rate-limiting step. Herein I outline perspectives gained over years of writing and reviewing grants, and suggest themes to incorporate and traps to avoid in navigating this process. I focus the discussion on federal grant applications—specifically, independent investigator-initiated (R01) applications—commenting where relevant on mentored-type (K) award applications. The commonalities among these applications serves as a focal point. |
| Grants Resources: Proposal Writing and Info | These resources can connect you to websites with information on grants and grant writing. Before beginning any project with non-government foundations, please check with the ISU Foundation. They can give you lots of help and information about specific foundations in which you might be interested. |
| Writing scientific research articles : strategy and steps | The book uses analysis of the scientific article genre to provide clear processes for writing each section of a manuscript, starting with clear ‘story’ construction and packaging of results. Each learning step uses practical exercises to develop writing and data presentation skills based on reader analysis of well-written example papers. Strategies are presented for responding to referee comments, and for developing discipline-specific English language skills for manuscript writing and polishing. |
| How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 7th Edition | This resource provides scientific writers with practical advice on writing about their work and getting published. This book guides readers through the processes involved in publishing for scientific journals |
| The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students. | This resource outlines practical strategies for reading and note taking, and guides the reader on how to conduct a systematic search of the available literature, and uses cases and examples throughout to demonstrate best practice in writing and presenting the review. |
| Writing your journal article in 12 weeks : a guide to academic publishing success | This book allows academic authors to overcome their anxieties and produce the publications that are essential to succeeding in their fields. Each week, readers learn a particular feature of strong articles and work on revising theirs accordingly. This resource focuses specifically on publishing humanities and social science journal articles. |
| iThenticate | This web-based software allows you to check your work for segments that could potentially be considered to be plagiarized, an important step before sending an article to an editor for publication. The software is intended to detect plagiarism in scholarly theses, dissertations, journal articles, and grant proposals that students have authored or co-authored. [iThenticate should not be used to check other people’s documents.] If you are interested in accessing the software, please carefully read information on Vice President for Research website prior to requesting access: https://www.vpresearch.iastate.edu/plagiarism-checker-software/ |
| The Research Writing Tutor | The Research Writing Tutor (RWT) is a web-based tool that analyzes research writing and offers field specific feedback. It also houses a database of exemplary academic writing as a reference for research writers. The development of RWT was supported by the ISU Computation Advisory Committee, the Graduate College, the College of Engineering, and the English department. |
| Web of Science | Want to search forward from a key article by seeing who has cited it? Web of Science is a comprehensive journal database and search engine which is connected with the Iowa State University library system. In it you can use cited reference searching to ensure your understanding of current research is up to date. |
| Purdue Online Writing Lab | This resource contains formatting and style guides for MLA, APA, and Chicago 16th Ed. |
| Case Study Research: Design and Methods (Applied Social Research Methods) | This resource offers comprehensive coverage of the design and use of the case study method as a valid research tool. The book offers a clear definition of the case study method as well as discussion of design and analysis techniques. This book includes exemplary case studies drawn from a wide variety of academic fields. |
| A Primer of Mathematical Writing: Being a Disquisition on Having Your Ideas Recorded, Typeset, Published, Read & Appreciated | This resource is about writing in the professional mathematical environment. While the book is nominally about writing, it's also about how to function in the mathematical profession. |
| Reporting Research in Psychology: How to Meet Journal Article Reporting Standards | This resource provides practical guidance on understanding and implementing journal article reporting standards (JARS) and meta-analyses reporting standards (MARS). It includes examples from articles published in APA journals that illustrate how JARS and MARS can be incorporated into various types of research studies. |
| Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words | This resource provides an assessment of scientific writing and research, surveying unspoken dogma, unwritten rules, and the complexities of article structure. |
| R for Everyone: Advanced Analytics and Graphics (Addison-Wesley Data and Analytics) | Using the open source R language, this resource explains how readers can build powerful statistical models to answer most challenging questions. |
| Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers | Advice on writing research papers in biomedical fields. Includes tips on paper organization, composing individual sections, organizing references, and sentence structure. Two editions are available. |
| Guide to Rapid Revision (8th Edition) | This resource uses real-life examples to guide readers to solve their writing problems. This book gives readers instant access to information relevant to the problem at hand and helps them learn the principles of the English language so they do not repeat the same mistakes. |
| Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference | In addition to addressing topics of experimental and quasi-experimental designs, this resource also discusses issues of validity and causal inference. |
| A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Eighth Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) | This resource is is a manual for writers of scientific papers. The book is broken into the following three parts: (1) overview of the steps in the research and writing process, (2) overview of citation practices with detailed information on the two main scholarly citation styles (notes-bibliography and author-date), and (3) an overview of all matters of editorial style, with advice on punctuation, capitalization, spelling, abbreviations, table formatting, and the use of quotations. |
| How to Conduct Surveys: A Step-by-Step Guide | This resource guides readers through the process of developing their own rigorous surveys and evaluating the credibility of surveys created by others. The book offers practical, step-by-step advice on choosing the appropriate type of survey, writing survey questions and responses, formatting the survey, deciding on the characteristics and numbers of respondents to include, determining the frequency of surveying respondents, and analyzing and reporting the results. |
| The Art of Scientific Writing: From Student Reports to Professional Publications in Chemistry and Related Fields | This resource emphasizes writing techniques, accurate expression, adherence to accepted standards, clarity, communication technology, and organizational as well as ethical aspects of science. |
| Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article: Second Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) | This resource assists readers to conquer the pressures of writing. The author emphasizes that in order to learn how to write, individuals need to take a deep breath and then begin writing. Revise. Repeat. |
| Writing the NIH Grant Proposal: A Step-by-Step Guide, Third Edition | Writing the NIH Grant Proposal, Third Edition offers hands-on advice that simplifies, demystifies, and takes the fear out of writing a federal grant application. Acting as a virtual mentor, this book provides systematic guidance for every step of the NIH application process, including the administrative details, developing and managing collaborative relationships, budgeting, and building a research team. Helpful hints along the way provide tips from researchers who have received grants themselves and coverage of the updated electronic NIH process and new scoring system is included. View a preview of Chapter 5, WRITING THE APPLICATION, PART I: Scientific Content and Writing Strategies here: https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/86188_book_item_86188.pdf |
| How To Prepare A Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education & the Social and Behavioral Sciences | This resource includes three extensively annotated proposals of former students which as examples to provide readers with guidance. Topics include qualitative studies: (sectioned into case studies, philosophical, and historical investigations); quantitative studies: (sectioned into experimental, causal modeling, and meta-analysis studies); and mixed-method studies: (sectioned into: sample survey, evaluation, development, and demonstration and action projects). |
| Advanced Statistics in Research: Reading, Understanding, and Writing Up Data Analysis Results | This resource is a simple, nontechnical introduction to the most complex multivariate statistics presented in empirical research articles. Some topics include: multiple regression, logistic regression, discriminant analysis, ANOVA, ANCOVA, MANOVA, factor analysis, path analysis, structural equation modeling,and meta-analysis. |
| Grant Seeking in Higher Education: Strategies and Tools for College Faculty | This resource shows readers how to identify and sort through potential sponsors, tap into campus support that is already in place, and prepare to write a targeted grant proposal that can generate results. The book outlines keys to writing a winning proposal, including an effective proposal narrative, thorough budget, and readable proposal package. |
| The Dissertation Desk Reference: The Doctoral Student's Manual to Writing the Dissertation | This resource highlights components that consistently appear in dissertations, with a separate entry for each component. Each entry includes a comprehensive example taken directly from a high-quality dissertation accompanied by a note describing what the researcher did. This book is user-friendly for doctoral students and their faculty advisors. |
| Getting Science Grants: Effective Strategies for Funding Success | This resource provides readers with a step-by-step process for writing grants to support research projects. |
| Writing Math Research Papers: A Guide for Students and Instructors | This resource serves both as a text for students and as a resource for instructors and administrators. It systematically describes the steps involved in creating a mathematics research paper and an oral presentation. The chapters offer tips on technical writing, formatting, and preparing visual aids. For instructors and administrators, the book covers the logistics necessary in setting up a mathematics research program in a high school setting. |
| Successful scientific writing: A step by step guide for the biological and medical sciences | Practical, step-by-step guide to scientific writing in the medical and biological fields. Includes examples of good and bad approaches to tasks. |
| A brief guide to writing in Chemistry | Short collection of tips for writing student papers in Chemistry. Includes discussion of sections and language use. |
| Grant Proposal Info | This handout will help you write and revise grant proposals for research funding in all academic disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts). It’s targeted primarily to graduate students and faculty, although it will also be helpful to undergraduate students who are seeking funding for research (e.g. for a senior thesis). |
| National Science Foundation Funding | The Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) provides guidance for the preparation and submission of proposals to NSF. Contact with NSF program personnel prior to proposal preparation is encouraged. Some NSF programs have program solicitations that modify the general provisions of this Guide, and, in such cases, the guidelines provided in the solicitation must be followed. (See Section C.4 below for further information on NSF program solicitations.) The Foundation considers proposals submitted by organizations on behalf of individuals or groups for support in most fields of research. Interdisciplinary proposals also are eligible for consideration. |
| Writing in Civil Engineering | A short collection of web pages and presentations to help with civil engineering technical writing. Includes tips on word choice, proofreading, and sentence structure. |
| AAAS Science Communication Toolkit | Excellent public engagement with science builds on a foundation of clear, concise communication. This section provides guidance and tips to improve your communication skills. AAAS also offers workshops on communicating about science. |
| Don't be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style | In 1997, marine biologist Olson recognized that scientists needed better communications skills to address a growing backlash against "rational data-based science." Inspired by the "power of video," Olson gave up a tenured professorship and went to Hollywood to reach a broader audience through filmmaking. The crucial lesson he learned was how to tell a good story, a largely absent concern for scientists, who focus on accuracy rather than audience engagement. It was a lesson Olson learned the hard way, after his intelligent design documentary, Flock of Dodos, flopped for lack of a lively story line. By "starting with a quirky little tidbit" about his mother and the intelligent design lawyer she lives next to, Olson found the hook he was missing. Olson values motivation over education, looking to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth ("the most important and best-made piece of environmental media in history") for a hugely successful example of his principles in action. As if to prove all he's learned, Olson packs this highly entertaining book with more good stories than good advice, spurring readers to rethink their personal communication styles rather than ape Olson's example. |
| Writing for Computer Science | Discussions of writing style, editing, graphs and figures, mathematics and algorithms, literature reviews, refereeing papers, presentations, posters, technical documents. |
| Engineering Your Report: From Start to Finish | Resource on fundamentals of writing technical reports. Includes treatment of the introduction, literature search, methods, figures, results, and conclusion. |
| Presentations, Demos, and Training Sessions | This is the first book ever for non-native speakers on how to conduct technical demos and training sessions. This book is designed to help both those who have never done presentations before, as well as those whose English is already good but who want to improve their presentation skills. The focus is on language, rather than on the creation of slides from a technical/artistic point of view. |
| Professional communication in Engineering | Tips for writing specifications and requirements documents, engineering proposals, executive summaries and other documents in an aerospace engineering context. |
| Interrogating Texts Six Reading Habits to Develop in Your First Year at Harvard | How to develop good critical reading strategies |
| Interactive APA Practice Exercises: | A website dedicated to preparation for citing sources in APA Style. Contains a large number of exercises aimed at improving citation skills. |
| Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors | This resource provides a concise and practical introduction to tutoring. |
| Oral Exams: Preparing For and Passing Candidacy, Qualifying, and Graduate Defenses | This resource discusses the supervisory committee, preparing the seminar, arranging content, mental preparation, question framing, and the types of questions to expect. |
| A Scientific Approach to Writing for Engineers and Scientists | This resource is well suited for the growing number of scientists and engineers in the U.S. and elsewhere who speak English as a second language, as well as for anyone else who just wants to be understood. |
| Introduction to Econometrics, 4th ed. | This book gives an approach to modern econometrics theory and practice through engaging applications. Previous edition available in Parks Library. |
| The Purdue OWL: Mechanical Engineering Writing Enhancement Program | Contains resources on memo writing, report writing, and semicolon use. |
| Writing and speaking in the technology professions: a practical guide. | Advice on professional writing and presentation in engineering disciplines. Focus is on non-academic settings, with some content on technical articles. |
| Advice for approaching writing in the discipline of Art History | Introductory advice on writing in art history for undergraduates. |
| Academic Writing: A Guide for Management Students and Researchers | A guide to research writing in the business discipline. Includes discussion of the conceptual framework of business research. |
| Business and Technical Communication: An Annotated Guide to Sources, Skills, and Samples (No. 13). | Comprehensive compilation of most communication types in business. Includes samples from more than 20 communication genres. |
| Writing Center at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Online resource treating multiple writing genres, including scholarly articles, business letters, CVs, theses, and others. Also includes discipline specific advice. |
| Writing Papers in Psychology: Proposals, Research Papers, Literature Reviews, Poster Presentations and Concise Reports | Report and literature review writing manual for psychology undergraduates. |
| Writing a Psychology Literature Review | Advice for both the writing of the Literature Review and the compiling of sources. |
| Graduate Study for the Twenty-First Century: How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities | A treatise on a graduate student's career. Includes sections on time management, career expectations, the graduate seminar, teaching, exams, dissertation, conferences, service, and the job market. |
| Planning, proposing and presenting science effectively: A guide for graduate students and researchers in the behavioral sciences and biology | A guide to surviving the early years of graduate school in behavioral science and biology. Includes general writing tips, how to prepare conferences and posters, how to obtain funding, and how to prepare for a career in the field. |
| Scientific Papers and Presentations | A collection of tips on academic writing, including articles and dissertations, together with publishing advice and overall graduate school survival strategies. |
| Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Online | Dictionary with detailed definitions tailored to the needs of non-native speakers. Users can click to hear a word's pronunciation. Users may also be interested in subscribing to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary premium, Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English, Oxford Collocations Dictionary. |
| Britannica Dictionary | This dictionary provides definitions that emphasize the needs of non-native speakers. Users can click to hear a word's pronunciation. Formerly the Merriam Webster Learner's Dictionary. |
| Babylon Software | Babylon translation software helps you understand the world. You can instantly translate any word that appears on your screen, while also receiving dictionary and Wikipedia results, with only the click of a button. Our Premium version allows you to translate paragraphs, and entire documents, text to speech, making Babylon an indispensable tool for both school, and home. |
| Merriam Webster Mobile Apps | A collection of applications for various mobile devices. Examples include Scrabble Dictionary, dictionary voice search, and Word of the Day. |
| Learning English Activities for Learners | Collection of online activities for English grammar, listening, pronunciation, reading, speaking, vocabulary, and writing. Activities available for Basic, Independent, and Proficient learner levels. |
| Constructing a Good Dissertation: A Practical Guide to Finishing a Master | Selected chapters from a book on how to write theses and dissertations. Topics include the academic advisor, the literature review, and editing. |
| How to get into graduate school | Blog post on how to maximize chances to get into graduate school and how to do well while in graduate school |
| The User-friendly Classroom | The User-friendly Classroom video training series was created specifically for teaching assistants for whom English is a second language and the USA a second culture by A.C. Kemp, a lecturer in MIT Global Studies and Languages (GSL). These videos focus on developing international teaching assistants' strategies for successful, student-centered communication in the interactive American classroom. These videos demonstrate best practices through authentic examples of successful teaching scenarios, interviews with undergraduates and advice from international teaching assistants. |
| How to Write Successful Business and Management Essays | A systematic guide to successfully producing written work for business and management degrees. The authors address the all-too-common pitfalls of essay assignments, as well as providing readers with a step-by-step programme to approach essay questions, both in coursework and exam contexts. |
| Developing Effective Research Proposals | This is your step-by-step guide to success with your research proposal. This new edition covers every section of the proposal, telling you all you need to know on how to structure it, bring rigour to your methods section, impress your readers and get your proposal accepted. |
| Writing your Thesis, third edition | Fully up-to-date with current HEFCE/other EU requirements, the book sets out a template for you to follow, including planning and preparation, theoretical perspectives, publishing preliminary findings, and preparing for the viva. |
| Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation: A step-by-step guide, fourth edition | Writing your master's thesis or doctoral dissertation can be a daunting task. This newly updated edition of a highly popular text demystifies the experience, taking you through the process one step at a time! Used in its first two editions by tens of thousands of students, this reader-friendly resource provides specific models and examples that break down the process into easily understood components with clear directions, from beginning to end. |
| Internet Research Skills, third edition | Internet Research Skills is a clear, concise guide to effective online research for social science and humanities students. The first half of the book deals with publications online, devoting separate chapters to academic articles, books, official publications and news sources, which form the core secondary sources for social science research. The second half of the book deals with the open web, a vast and confusing realm of materials, many of which have no direct print counterpart. |
| Doing your Literature Review: Traditional and systematic techniques | The literature review is a compulsory part of research and, increasingly, may form the whole of a student research project. This highly accessible book guides students through the production of either a traditional or a systematic literature review, clearly explaining the difference between the two types of review, the advantages and disadvantages of both, and the skills needed. It gives practical advice on reading and organizing relevant literature and critically assessing the reviewed field. |
| Story Collider | The Story Collider was founded in 2010 by Ben Lillie and Brian Wecht, two physicists who met at a storytelling show in Queens and quickly realized that they could do that too. Since then, The Story Collider has been bringing true, personal stories about science to life both through our many live shows as well as our weekly podcast, and we've used what we've learned about science and stories to teach scientists to use narrative in our university and corporate workshop program. |
| The Visual Display of Quantitative Information | The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ratio. Time-series, relational graphics, data maps, multivariate designs. Detection of graphical deception: design variation vs. data variation. Sources of deception. Aesthetics and data graphical displays. This is the second edition of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Recently published, this new edition provides excellent color reproductions of the many graphics of William Playfair, adds color to other images, and includes all the changes and corrections accumulated during 17 printings of the first edition. Graphical practice -- Graphical excellence -- Graphical integrity -- Sources of graphical integrity and sophistication -- Theory of data graphics -- Data-ink and graphical redesign -- Chartjunk: vibrations, grids, and ducks -- Data-ink maximization and graphical design -- Multifunctioning graphical elements -- Data density and small multiples -- Aesthetics and technique in data graphical design -- Epilogue: Designs for the display of information. |
| Envisioning Information | This book celebrates escapes from the flatlands of both paper and computer screen, showing superb displays of high-dimensional complex data. The most design-oriented of Edward Tufte's books, Envisioning Information shows maps, charts, scientific presentations, diagrams, computer interfaces, statistical graphics and tables, stereo photographs, guidebooks, courtroom exhibits, timetables, use of color, a pop-up, and many other wonderful displays of information. |
| Show me the Numbers: Designing tables and graphs to enlighten | Information, no matter how important, cannot speak for itself. To tell its story, it relies on us to give it a clear voice. No information is more critical than quantitative data ... numbers that reveal what's happening, how our organizations are performing, and opportunities to do better. Numbers are usually presented in tables and graphs, but few are properly designed, resulting not only in poor communication, but at times in miscommunication. This is a travesty, because the skills needed to present quantitative information effectively are simple to learn. Good communication doesn't just happen; it is the result of good design. |
| Visualize This: The FlowingData guide to design, visualization, and statistics | A book by Nathan Yau who writes for FlowingData, Visualize This is a practical guide on visualization and how to approach real-world data. The book is published by Wiley and is available on Amazon and other major online booksellers. |
| Visual Thinking for Information Design, 2nd ed. | Visual Thinking brings the science of perception to the art of design. Designers increasingly need to present information in ways that aid their audience’s thinking process. Fortunately, results from the relatively new science of human visual perception provide valuable guidance. |
| Information Visualization: Perception for design | Most designers know that yellow text presented against a blue background reads clearly and easily, but how many can explain why, and what really are the best ways to help others and ourselves clearly see key patterns in a bunch of data? When we use software, access a website, or view business or scientific graphics, our understanding is greatly enhanced or impeded by the way the information is presented. |
| The Effective Diversity Statement | Tanya Golash-Boza gives faculty job applicants eight tips for writing a stellar diversity statement that stands out to search committees. |
| ggplot2 | ggplot2 is a plotting system for R, based on the grammar of graphics, which tries to take the good parts of base and lattice graphics and none of the bad parts. It takes care of many of the fiddly details that make plotting a hassle (like drawing legends) as well as providing a powerful model of graphics that makes it easy to produce complex multi-layered graphics. |
| An Introduction to Statistical Learning with Applications in R | An Introduction to Statistical Learning provides an accessible overview of the field of statistical learning, an essential toolset for making sense of the vast and complex data sets that have emerged in fields ranging from biology to finance to marketing to astrophysics in the past twenty years. This book presents some of the most important modeling and prediction techniques, along with relevant applications. Topics include linear regression, classification, resampling methods, shrinkage approaches, tree-based methods, support vector machines, clustering, and more. |
| Research statements for faculty job applications | The purpose of a research statement Timeline/getting started with your research statement |
| ISU Templates | Below you will find templates that you can download and use: Research posters Brochure Flyer Report Cover Invitation Presentation |
| MATLAB Plot Gallery | The MATLAB plot gallery provides examples of many ways to display data graphically in MATLAB. You can view and download source code for each plot, and use it in your own MATLAB project. |
| Foundation Proposal Sample | This site is intended to enhance your use of Proposal Writing: Effective Grantsmanship for Funding 5th Edition, by Soraya M. Coley and Cynthia A. Scheinberg. The authors invite you to share your comments or questions about the book. You can reach them at: proposalwriting5thed@gmail.com. |
| Writing a Research Statement | A research statement is a one to three page document that may be required to apply for an academic job or (less frequently) graduate school. The purpose of a research statement is to describe the trajectory of your research to a selection/search committee. |
| The Dreaded Teaching Statement: Eight Pitfalls | Blog post about teaching statements and some common problems scholars have with them. |
| Engineering Communication Program Online Handbook | In this section of the site, you'll find writing resources separated into five categories. |
| The Complete Guide to 2018 Artist Grants and Opportunities | Making art can be an expensive and, at times, unpredictable living. Securing grants can not only give you an extra line or two on your CV, it can provide the stability and resources you need to be your most creative self. To help you get started, we’ve rounded up some amazing grants to apply for in 2018, with details like amounts, deadlines, and specific artist fields included. |
| ISU Library Guides | This is a guide to help graduate students successfully find, evaluate, and manage resources for a literature review. |
| Common Student Questions | Resources for professors and teaching assistants |
| Writing the Background Chapters of Your Thesis | An annotated bibliography on the best research-based guidance for thesis writing in various disciplines. |
| Publishing | If you are looking for general publication help, check out these downloadable handouts about book proposals and publication. |
| Philip's notes on the tenure-track assistant professor job search | Throughout a five-month period in 2012–2013, I applied for tenure-track assistant professor positions in computer science departments throughout the United States. This document contains a mix of my personal reflections and advice on the job search process. Although it’s most useful for job applicants, Professors on hiring committees might also like to read the perspective of a recent (very naive!) applicant. |
| Foreign to Familiar | Foreign to Familiar is a splendidly written, well-researched work on cultures. Anyone traveling abroad should not leave home without this valuable resource! |
| Lexicarry | Learn vocabulary the active way talking about pictures. Over 4500 everyday words and expressions in contexts that make conversation and interactive learning easy. |
| Communicating Science: An introductory guide for conveying scientific information to academic and public audiences | Communicating Science may be used as the primary resource in a technical communication course, as a resource for multiple courses when communication skills are taught throughout the curriculum, as a resource for students engaged in undergraduate research, as an introduction to discipline-specific style guides for graduate students and research scientists, and as a reference throughout one’s career. Communicating Science is not discipline specific: it presents common features of all technical communication and is designed so that students can smoothly transition to more advanced and specialized style guides in graduate school and their scientific careers. |
| The CommKit | The CommKit is a collection of guides to successful scientific communication, written by MIT's Department of Biological Engineering Communication Fellows. |
| ProFellow | Find your dream fellowship. Search more than 1,000 professional and academic fellowship programs. |
| Intercultural Learning Hub | With the support of CILMAR, we developed a Hub for promoting intercultural learning, as well as providing opportunities and resources for engaging with, adapting to, and bridging across cultural difference. We mentor intercultural leaders, support innovative scholarship, and encourage best practices in teaching and learning. |
| Write Online | WriteOnline provides post-secondary students with practical guidance on how to write a variety of academic papers. WriteOnline is a collaborative initiative between the University of Waterloo, University of Guelph and Wilfrid Laurier University and was developed for the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) as part of the Ontario Online initiative. The goal of this initiative is to extend high quality online learning opportunities to students in the province and beyond. |
| The Research Framing & Justification Canvas | Plan, design, write, and publish better research. |
| Working with Graduate Student Writers: Faculty Guide | The purpose of this guide is to aid faculty across the university in supporting graduate students as writers. |
| On the Dissertation: How to Write the Introduction | What makes a good introduction for a dissertation? Graduate students practice critiquing one another’s thesis chapters, but they rarely read the introductions — usually because those are written to meet a defense deadline. Which is why when you need to write one, you can find yourself with neither experience nor models. |
| Defining Success for Grad Students Online and on Campus | Tips, Ideas, and Advice for Making the Most of Graduate School |
| Graduate Students and the FAFSA: What you need to know | Navigating financial aid with ease and expertise at the grad level |
| Data Science Central | The online resource for big data practitioners |
| The Data Incubator | The Data Incubator is a data science training organization. They offer bootcamps and online classes in data science; scholarships to attend these events; an online knowledge center with infographics, ebooks, and other resources; and an online blog covering data science topics. |
| Giving Academic Presentations, Second Edition | Giving Academic Presentations provides guidance on academic-style presentations for university students. A goal of the text is to make presenters aware that giving an effective academic presentation requires mastery of a broad range of skills. -- Previous edition available at Parks Library. |
| How to: Defend your Dissertation (like a Superstar) in 10 Easy Steps | Of all the academic things I turned out to be good at, defending my dissertation is perhaps the most surprising. I was not awesome (to put it mildly) at the oral defence portion of my comprehensive exams, and I’ve had at least one job interview where I bumbled questions like a nervous wreck. But I KILLED my dissertation defence. Best people ever saw-level killed it. And now that it’s been six months and I’ve got some perspective on it, it’s time to share my pearls of wisdom so that you too can have the snake fight of your life. |
| The Science of Scientific Writing | If the reader is to grasp what the writer means, the writer must understand what the reader needs. |
| Academic Job Market Support Network | This group is for those who would like to share resources related to the academic job market (and, perhaps, the alt-ac market). It is a collegial, supportive community driven by hope and pragmatism. The “site” is where we host blog posts about the job market and instructions on uploading materials. Sample application materials are hosted under “files”. |
| Teacher Portfolio & Preparation Series (TiPPS) | The Teacher Portfolio & Preparation Series (TiPPS) is designed to help future educators (specifically graduate students in language or literature departments at the University of Hawai?i at M?noa) prepare for the job market they will face upon graduation. |
| Teaching Philosophy & Statement | The teaching philosophy (or teaching statement) is becoming a more common part of academic life for both faculty and graduate students. Graduate students report that colleges and universities often request statements from applicants for faculty positions. Faculty at an increasing number of institutions must develop a teaching statement as they approach tenure and promotion. Instructors at all levels find that writing their statement helps them develop as teachers, since it entails making their implicit views on teaching and student learning explicit and comparing those views to actual teaching practice. |
| The Teaching Portfolio | A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions |
| Preparing for Promotion, Tenure, and Annual Review: A Faculty Guide, 2nd Edition | This guide to helping faculty prepare for professional review, whether an annual event or at a key moment in their career, will help make this often stressful and confusing experience less challenging and provide faculty a sense of mastery over the process. It shows faculty how to plan ahead by learning the rules, getting organized, developing a line of research, collecting baseline data, and fostering interpersonal relationships. It then gives practical advice and examples on documenting one’s work in all areas of teaching and scholarship. |
| How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome | Pathologized for a reason, "impostor syndrome" runs thick in the veins of academics, from newly arrived graduate students to those nearing retirement (yes, really). It seems to be such a deep part of the ecosystem of the academy that it is hard to imagine faculty life without it. At the same time, it can be deeply painful and damaging, almost paralyzing. |
| Social Communication | Social Communication is a site dedicated to helping people improve their ability to communicate with others. We hope to provide straight talk about talk, tone, and other ways humans form and maintain social relationships, for people with social communication challenges. |
| Choosing Between a Thesis or Non-thesis Master's Degree | As of 2015, approximately 25.4 million Americans held advanced degrees, with more citizens joining these ranks each year. As studies continue to show the career advancement and salary benefits of completing a master's degree, more and more students elect to pursue advanced educations. When considering their options, many question whether to enroll in a master's requiring a thesis or not. The following guide examines some of the reasons degree seekers may want to write a thesis while also highlighting why they might not. Students on the fence about this important decision can find expert advice, actionable tips, and relevant guidance to help them make an informed choice in the guide that follows. |
| How to do a literature review: Citation tracing, concept saturation and results' mind-mapping | There is a number of academics (and coaches and consultants) who have both a strong presence online and do a marvellous job of writing excellent blog posts as guidance for undergraduate, graduate students and early career professors. Recently, I was asked to write about how I do literature reviews. I could simply point you to Ben and Aurelie’s blogs, but I figured I could contribute something to the list of posts on academic workflow techniques. |
| Graduate School Scientific Writing Resource | Writing is the most common form of scientific communication, yet scientists have a reputation for being poor writers. Why? One reason could be that writing is never really taught to scientists. Better writing will benefit your science career in several ways. Within the scientific community, improved communication leads to improved collaboration, easier access to cross-disciplinary knowledge, and faster, less painful training. Besides this, you will be able to communicate better not only with other researchers, but with the public, who funds your research. If scientists were better writers, the gap between the public and academy would shrink. |
| The A-Z of the PhD Trajectory: A Practical Guide for a Successful Journey | Chapter book providing detailed guidance for 12 skills |
| PLOS Peer Review Center | A collection of free training and resources for peer reviewers of PLOS journals—and for the peer review community at large, drawn from research and interviews with staff editors, editorial board members, and experienced reviewers. |
| Referencing and Citation | A citation guide on APA style and Harvard referencing |
| Selecting a Research Topic: A Framework for Doctoral Students | Journal Article on how to select a research topic for your dissertation This article provides an explanation of the process for selecting a research topic. The article uses Kuhn’s classic work on scientific revolutions to delineate the steps in developing theoretical research within an area. The paper provides methods for preparing to develop a research topic, steps for approaching a research problem, as well as methods for problem theoretical development. We end the article with pitfalls that can occur when selecting a research topic as well as bright spots with regard to doctoral students beginning research in an area. Our hope is that this research will help beginning doctoral students start the process of developing a research topic by providing assistance with the overall process. |
| Ethnographic fieldwork: a beginner's guide | An online but downloadable document covering a quick intro to ethnography & pre/during/post fieldwork. Qualitative methods |
| Getting a PhD? You'll want to save (and share) this email... | An archived email with links to a number of graduate student related links: 10 ways to make your PhD experience easier and more enjoyable 10 tips to finishing your PhD faster Publishing Campus provides free online skills training for researchers Shattering the myth: Raising kids is a stumbling block to pursuing a PhD 11 steps to structuring a science paper editors will take seriously |
| Step 1: Identifying Your Topic and Ensuring it is a Researchable Idea | A document to help researcher identify a researchable topic includes worksheet |
| How to Choose Your Chair | An article with a number of questions to ask when considering who to choose for your chair on your POS committee. Choosing your major professor |
| Wordly Writing Journal - Time Tracking Diary App For The Writer, Author & Student | Basic iOS app for iPhone & iPad that helps you time and track you writing. exportable graphs of writing speed, words, time spent. |
| Random Reflections on Getting Published | An archived version of an article from Chronicle Vitae reflecting on some aspects of getting published in academic journals. Includes: importance of submission dates, journal selection, challenging decisions, expected reciprocation/service |
| Doing quicker literature reviews Four ways to better exploit digital era capabilities | A blog post about literature reviews and basics for using digital tools includes a discussion of narrative and systematic reviews using Google organizing sources |
| “The Universal Recipe, Or How To Get Your Manuscript Accepted By Persnickety Editors” | A Document describing the major sections of a research paper |
| Presenting Your Research A Guide for Speakers | a downloadable paper on preparing and giving research presentations full of practical things to consider includes tips for creating visuals speaking/presenting conference presentations reference list included |
| 7 Hazards of the Campus Interview | An article that outlines potential issues of on campus interviews and things to think about. job market on campus interview |
| A Tool to Assist Postgraduate Research Students and their Supervisors in Selecting a Dissertation Topic | A short pdf focused on helping PhD students choose a thesis/dissertation topic Outlines topics and areas of interest that might be viable as topics for a dissertation and the consequences of each choice proposal dissertation thesis topic choosing a research area |
| 7 Advantages PhDs Have Over Other Job Candidates | A blog post about the advantages a PhD has when applying to or working in industry jobs |
| 5 Hacks To Submit A Scientific Paper In 4 Weeks | A post with practical ideas to help you move forward on your writing projects, especially submitting journal articles. writing management, time management, how to write more, how to submit a journal article faster |
| 12 Habits To Reclaim Your Life When Writing A Dissertation | A post with tips for surviving crunch time of finishing up your thesis/dissertation |
| 12 Tips To Overcome Writer’s Block For PhD Students (#6 was a game changer for me) | A post about overcoming writer's block as a phd student |
| 10 ways to make the most of your time as a PhD student | An article outlining ways to make the most of your time as a phd student Practical advice & links social media, who to follow on twitter, conferences, networking, funding, outreach, events, experience note- UK, some terminology or credentials may be unfamiliar to US students |
| PhD students: What to do if you don't work well with your supervisor | An article on dealing with difficult phd supervisors with advice for managing common issues |
| Tips for surviving the academic job search season | An article with a list of ideas to help PhD students & others cope with the academic job search process job market, academic job search, |
| Topical Academic Hashtags | A post listing twitter #hashtags for PhD students & academics Chats for help with writing, tags for commiserating about the grad student experience, finding help, discipline specific and more. |
| The Completion Agenda, Part 1 | An article about some of the struggles with completing the dissertation and guidance in framing the scope to get it done. |
| Comparison of reference management software | A wikipedia series of tables comparing features across a number of reference management programs. |
| Say Yes to the Reference Manager | An article written by a graduate student briefly comparing a few reference managers: Mendeley, ReadCube, Zotero, EndNote, Papers, RefWorks links to reference managers sites included. |
| 3 Academic Advisors Who Will Ruin Your PhD Career | A blog post with anecdotes of particularly bad PhD advisors, a set of examples to watch out for and suggestions for how to deal with them. |
| Scientists offer advice on how best to respond to reviewers | An article about some advice on how to respond to reviewers comments during the article submission process. Refers to a few other posts on the subject. "Top tips include getting reviewers to be your advocates, and not caving in to rudeness." |
| How to be a reviewer/editor | A broad article on being a reviewer/editor for a journal. |
| Where to submit your paper. Or “If at first you don’t succeed, fail fail again … then try open access” | A blog post from an experienced researcher/academic/author/editor on general advice for where to submit papers for publication. |
| Co-publishing: Are PhD students expected to include supervisors as co-authors? | A post based on a panel discussion on co-publishing at the 2015 ANZAM MId-Year Doctoral/ECA Workshop discussing some common parameters for when including your major professor / advisor on your publications may be expected. co-authoring, co-publishing, coauthor, coauthoring |
| Writing a PhD Thesis in 10 Minutes per Day | A short article that gives some practical suggestions for how to complete your PhD dissertation/thesis, including the advice to "write before you're ready," engage continually in the writing process, and set goals for yourself. thesis; dissertation; motivation; goals |
| Digital Research and Education Guides | A collection of help guides on topics related to digital resources for research and education. Examples include: Digital Pedagogy Toolkit, Research Data Management Tools, Principles of Good Assessment and Feedback |
| A Realistic Summer Writing Schedule | A short article on how to make a realistic summer writing schedule with goals you can accomplish & strategies to achieve them |
| Resume writing tips for academics | A short article on tips for academics writing non-academic resumes industry resume nonacademic resume resume writing tips |
| Writing Spaces- Readings on Writing Volume 1 | A pdf of an edited volume of writings on writing "composed for students by teachers in the field". Targeted towards college & undergraduate writing. Topics include academic writing writing assignments inspiration rhetorical analysis writing development planning first person use college writing first year writing using wikipedia writing an anthology online collaboration & group work genres |
| Google Scholar Button | "Lookup scholarly articles as you browse the web. This extension adds a browser button for easy access to Google Scholar from any web page. Click the Scholar button to:" - Find full text on the web or in your university library. - Transfer your query from web search to Scholar. - Format references in widely used citation styles. |
| Top 10 Tips on Making the Transition from PhD to Whatever Comes Next | Ten tips for transitioning after the PhD including getting support looking beyond academia identifying your strengths exploring careers job searching managing fear, risks, uncertainty & more Includes links for follow up throughout |
| Incorporating Tables, Figures, Statistics and Equations Effectively Into Your Writing | A pdf with recommendations for using figures and tables in your research writing. Includes examples. |
| Ready, set, speak! Tips for effectively communicating your science with public audiences | A post on communicating scientific research to a public audience why communicate your science know your audience principles of effective communication |
| Improving your academic writing: My top 10 tips | An expanded top ten post on academic/research writing covering discipline for writing tools for writing feedback reading and writing writing for an audience writing & interruptions taking care of yourself practicing your writing |
| why is this reading so hard? | A post on why reading for the PhD or research in general is difficult and some ideas for making it more productive. |
| Demystifing Research: A Primer for Novice Researchers | An online book/pdf about research literature review conceptualizing and framing a research study research approaches: comparing quantitative & quantitative approaches research proposals |
| Disseminate your Research: Style Does Matter | A set of presentation slides about presenting research. Covers: style vs content; typography of a research article - dos and don'ts; visual display of quantitative information; online presence; going further. |
| 21 Alternate Ways to Sabotage Your Dissertation | A list of ways to sabotage your dissertation Things you should not to, thus highlighting things to be aware of dissertation planning, scope, writing |
| 20 Tips for Top Academic Presentations | A list of tips for giving an academic presentations including a bibliography approaching the presentation/content to cover preparing the presentation delivering the presentation dealing with questions |
| The Revise and Resubmit Series, Part 1: Coping with Criticism | Part 1 of a 3 part series on the revise/resubmit process and peer review Includes tips for coping with criticism |
| To Resubmit or Not To Resubmit? | A post on revising and resubmitting (or not) a grant proposal/grant application grant writing responses to review of grant revising grant application |
| Get Funded | A post on applying for grants timeline funding agencies strategies, policies, expectations |
| Rejection and Its Discontents | An article on the reasons grant proposals get rejected and ways you can improve based on those types of rejection grant application grant rejection grant proposal writing grant writing grant revising |
| Getting published in the life sciences | This book makes it a bit easier for scientific writers to write about their results and get their manuscripts accepted by journals in the biological/life/natural sciences. It covers each step throughout the submission process, from organizing and outlining the manuscript and presenting statistical data and results to what happens during the in-house manuscript review process and what to do if an article is initially rejected. |
| The handbook of scholarly writing and publishing | This resource offers scholars from many disciplines a comprehensive review of the essential elements needed to craft scholarly papers and other writing suitable for submission to academic journals. The authors discuss the components of different types of manuscripts, explain the submission process, and offer readers suggestions for working with editors and coauthors, dealing with rejection, and rewriting and resubmitting their work. They include advice for developing quality writing skills, outline the fundamentals of a good review, and offer guidance for becoming an excellent manuscript reviewer. |
| From Research to Manuscript: A Guide to Scientific Writing | This resource highlights many aspects of research writing. Topics range from specific details of style to manuscript publication and practices of peer-review, The author provides an overview of the research-science report process for both first-time science research authors and seasoned professionals. |
| Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published | This resource targets those who write serious or scholarly nonfiction but hope to reach a wide audience. The book explains in detail why authors must do research and present balanced arguments in their writing and why they must also have tangible credibility but write with a sense of narrative to appeal to a wider audience |
| Digital Repository for Graduate Students, ISU Library | Explore works in 479 disciplines at ISU. |
| The Dissertation Calculator | Here, you can enter the expected completion date for your dissertation and the Dissertation Calculator will estimate dates for each of the stages in the dissertation process as well as providing information and tips on each of the stages. Although this resource is based on deadlines for the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, the Dissertation Calculator can be used to help ISU students plan out their dissertation timeline. |
| Resources for Proposal Writers, Technical Writers, and Students | This professor's university biography page contains links to several "Resources for Proposal Writers" and "Resources for Technical Writers and Students" |
| Effective Abstracts | This resource explains what the components of a strong abstract are. It also provides tips on how to write a good abstract. |
| Guidelines for Contributors | This resource provides readers with guidelines for publishing articles in scholarly journals devoted to humanities and social sciences. |
| When to Paraphrase | This resource highlights when to quote and when to paraphrase. |
| Synthesizing Your Research Findings | This resource provides readers with tips on how to synthesize research findings. |
| Connecting Source Material to Claims | This resource highlights how connecting claims to source materials can help structure a strong argument. |
| Peter Elbow: On Writing | In this video resource, Peter Elbow talks directly to students about the process of writing. He provides insights into how one can work through writing problems and highlights specific skills which can aid in writing. |
| Aspects of article introductions | This resource provides readers with aspects to include in their writing to have strong introduction sections. |
| Concise Rules of APA Style (APA 6th Edition) | This resource offers essential writing and formatting standards for individuals in the social and behavioral sciences. This guide provides complete guidance on the rules of style that are critical for clear communication. Topics include choosing the appropriate format for statistics, figures, and tables; how to credit sources and avoid charges of plagiarism; and how to construct a reference list through a wide variety of examples and sources. |
| Demystifying Dissertation Writing: A Streamlined Process from Choice of Topic to Final Text | This resource is meant to assist students through the rocky road of dissertation writing. Topics include: habits of fluent writing, reading interactively, taking citeable notes, outlining, and writing and revising their dissertations |
| Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing | This resource provides information about editing techniques, grammar, and usage for every writer from the student to the published author. |
| Engineering Your Writing Success | This resource shows the nuts and bolts of starting and finishing engineering writing projects--reports, proposals, memos, letters, data sheets, and procedures. |
| Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations | This resource covers areas of scientific communication that a scientist needs to know and to master in order to successfully promote his or her research and career. This book discusses basics of scientific writing style and composition and then applies these principles to writing research papers, review articles, grant proposals, research statements, and résumés and to preparing academic presentations and posters. |
| A PhD Is Not Enough!: A Guide to Survival in Science | This resource provides readers with advice on selecting a thesis or postdoctoral adviser; choosing among research jobs in academia, government laboratories, and industry; preparing for an employment interview; and defining a research program. |
| Thinking and Writing in the Humanities | This resource guides students through the process of planning, drafting, revising, and editing analytical and argument essays and research papers in the humanities. |
| The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers | This resource demystifies the qualitative coding process with a comprehensive assessment of different coding types, examples and exercises. |
| Proposals That Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals | Previous editions of this book have helped well over 100,000 students and professionals write effective proposals for dissertations and grants. Covering all aspects of the proposal process, from the most basic questions about form and style to the task of seeking funding, Proposals That Work offers clear advice backed up with excellent examples. In the fifth edition, the authors have included a discussion of the effects of new technologies and the Internet on the proposal process, with URLs listed where appropriate. |
| Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences | This resource covers topics ranging from writing a technical paper or talk to choosing the right journal in which to publish in within the mathematical sciences. |
| Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination (SAGE Study Skills Series) | This resource provides readers with important factors to include in their literature review. |
| Having Success with NSF: A Practical Guide | This book is designed to help researchers achieve success in funding their National Science Foundation (NSF) research proposals. The book discusses aspects of the proposal submission and review process that are not typically communicated to the research community. |
| Academic Writing for International Students of Business | This book explains the academic writing process from start to finish, and practises all the key writing skills in the context of Business |
| Creating a Proposal | Website that provides links and resources for writing proposals and grants. |
| Academic Phrasebank | Online general resource for academic writers--provides examples of academic phrasing. |
| Getting Published in Academic Journals | The aim of this guide is to clarify the process and offer advice. Getting Published in Academic Journals is written for graduate students and newly graduated PhDs who want to publish their research in peer-reviewed academic journals. |
| How to Write a Nomination or Reference Letter | Outline for a nomination letter or letter of reference. Tips to make sure your letter both serves as an example of your positive experience with the person as well as an example of a great letter. |
| An Introduction to Research, Analysis, and Writing: Practical skills for social science students | This accessible guide walks readers through the process of completing a social science research project. Written specifically to meet the needs of undergraduate research classes, it introduces students to a complete skill set, including: planning, design, analysis, argumentation, criticizing theories, building theories, modeling theories, choosing methods, gathering data, presenting evidence, and writing the final product. Students can use this text as a practical resource to navigate through each stage of the process, including choices between more advanced research techniques. |
| Writing Successful Reports and Dissertations | In this handy little book, you’ll find expert guidance to enable you to produce a successful report or dissertation. With a focus on developing an effective writing style and argument, this book shows you, step-by-step, how to plan and deliver a perfect piece of writing to gain top marks. |
| Surviving Your Dissertation:A comprehensive guide to content and process | In the fully updated Fourth Edition of their best-selling guide, Surviving Your Dissertation, Kjell Erik Rudestam and Rae R. Newton answer questions concerning every stage of the dissertation process, including selecting a suitable topic, conducting a literature review, developing a research question, understanding the role of theory, selecting an appropriate methodology and research design, analyzing data, and interpreting and presenting results. |
| The Action Research Dissertation: A guide for students and faculty | The first edition of this book was a first-of-its-kind reference, distilling the authors’ decades of action research experience into a handy guide for graduate students. The Second Edition continues to provide an accessible roadmap that honors the complexity of action research, while providing an overview of how action research is defined, its traditions and history, and the rationale for using it. The authors demonstrate that action research is not only appropriate for a dissertation, but also is a deeply rewarding experience for both the researcher and participants. This practical book demonstrates how action research dissertations are different from more traditional dissertations and prepares students and their committees for the unique dilemmas they may face, such as validity, positionality, design, write-up, ethics, and dissertation defense. |
| Writing your Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A proven map to success | James and Slater identify the key places and challenges that create extra stress during the dissertation process, and offer effective strategies and tools to address those challenges and ensure academic success. |
| How to Design, Write, and Present a Successful Dissertation Proposal | This concise, hands-on book by author Elizabeth A. Wentz is essential reading for any graduate student entering the dissertation process in the social or behavioral sciences. The book addresses the importance of ethical scientific research, developing your curriculum vitae, effective reading and writing, completing a literature review, conceptualizing your research idea, and translating that idea into a realistic research proposal using research methods. |
| Presenting Data Effectively: Communicating your findings for maximum impact | This is a step-by-step guide to making the research results presented in reports, slideshows, posters, and data visualizations more interesting. Written in an easy, accessible manner, Presenting Data Effectively provides guiding principles for designing data presentations so that they are more likely to be heard, remembered, and used. The guidance in the book stems from the author’s extensive study of research reporting, a solid review of the literature in graphic design and related fields, and the input of a panel of graphic design experts. Those concepts are then translated into language relevant to students, researchers, evaluators, and non-profit workers—anyone in a position to have to report on data to an outside audience. The book guides the reader through design choices related to four primary areas: graphics, type, color, and arrangement. As a result, readers can present data more effectively, with the clarity and professionalism that best represents their work. |
| How to Write a Master's Thesis, 3rd edition | Yvonne N. Bui's How to Write a Master's Thesis is a step-by-step guidebook that demystifies a process that can often prove to be overwhelming and confusing to graduate students. The tone and format of this applied book is reader-friendly and includes practical suggestions that go beyond informing what "should" be done. It is chock full of detailed explanations, examples, and supplemental materials that have been used successfully in advising students in completing their master's theses. -- Previous edition available in Parks Library |
| Doing your Master's Dissertation: From start to finish | Just starting your Master's? Worried about your dissertation? This book is an indispensible guide to writing a successful Master's dissertation. The book begins by addressing issues you'll face in the early stages of writing a dissertation, such as deciding on what to research, planning your project and searching for literature online. It then guides you through different aspects of carrying out your research and writing up. |
| Conducting Educational Research: Guide to completing a major project | Designed to be used during the research process, Conducting Educational Research walks readers through each step of a research project or thesis, including developing a research question, performing a literature search, developing a research plan, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and sharing the conclusions with others. Throughout the book, Daniel J. Boudah covers all types of research (including experimental, descriptive, qualitative, group designs, and single subject designs) and helps readers link research questions to designs, designs to data sources, and data sources to appropriate analyses. |
| Marking Mate | A free web-based academic writing application called 'Marking Mate'. It allows users to input texts, such as essays or reports, and receive instant evaluative and formative feedback on many aspects of their writing. Marking Mate analyses statistical data from inputted texts, as well as searching for grammar problems and common stylistic issues for English language learners. |
| mindmeister | A web-based, collaborative mind mapping tool |
| bubbl.us | A web-based, collaborative mind mapping tool |
| Lucidchart | A web-based, collaborative flowchart tool |
| popplet | mobile-optimized mind-mapping and note-taking application |
| Author and reviewer tutorials | Tutorials featuring interactive quizzes with great advice and detailed learning materials to help you write, submit, and publish your manuscript; become a peer reviewer; and learn about open access. |
| Beautiful Visualization | Visualization is the graphic presentation of data -- portrayals meant to reveal complex information at a glance. Think of the familiar map of the New York City subway system, or a diagram of the human brain. Successful visualizations are beautiful not only for their aesthetic design, but also for elegant layers of detail that efficiently generate insight and new understanding. |
| The Accidental Analyst: Show your data who's boss | Are you drowning in a sea of data? Would you like to take control of your data and analysis to quickly answer your business questions and make critical decisions? Do you want to confidently present results and solutions to managers, colleagues, clients and the public? |
| Gnuplot in Action | Gnuplot in Action is the first comprehensive introduction to gnuplot—from the basics to the power features and beyond. Besides providing a tutorial on gnuplot itself, it demonstrates how to apply and use gnuplot to extract intelligence from data. Particular attention is paid to tricky or poorly-explained areas. You will learn how to apply gnuplot to actual data analysis problems. This book looks at different types of graphs that can be generated with gnuplot and will discuss when and how to use them to extract actual information from data. |
| Consortium on Graduate Communication | The Consortium on Graduate Communication is an international association whose members provide professional development in written, oral, and multimodal communication to students before and during their (post-)graduate academic and professional programs. CGC members work with graduate students in their first and second/additional languages. |
| The 10 Best Data Visualization Articles of 2016 (and Why They Were Awesome) | 2016 was an astounding year for insightful, informative data visualization articles?—?here were the top 10 I saw all year (in no particular order), in each case including a representative quote from the piece and a brief note of why it was at the top of my must-read list: |
| Circos | Circos is a software package for visualizing data and information. It visualizes data in a circular layout — this makes Circos ideal for exploring relationships between objects or positions. There are other reasons why a circular layout is advantageous, not the least being the fact that it is attractive. |
| Science: Beautiful | With some very smart people, I work on problems in data visualization applied to cancer research and genome analysis. Previously I was involved in fingerprint mapping, system administration, computer security, fashion photography, medical imaging and LHC particle physics. My work is guided by a need to rationalize, make things pretty, combine science with art, mince words, find good questions and help make connections between ideas. All while exercising snark. |
| An Introduction to Writing Grant Proposals | Professor Sally Lechlitner Lusk provides advice on writing grant proposals for research funding. She stresses choosing the theoretical framework prior to planning the project, as well as including a variety of people on the research team to offer a wide variety of expertise. |
| Writing the Proposal for a Qualitative Research Methodology Project | Writing the proposal for a qualitative research methodology study is a double challenge because of the emergent nature of qualitative research design and because a methodology study entails describing a process to produce a process. How the authors addressed this challenge is shown in the annotated text of the grant proposal—“Analytic Techniques for Qualitative Metasynthesis”—funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research. Appealing qualitative research proposals adhere to principles that engage writers and readers in an informative and mutually respectful interaction. |
| The Nuts and Bolts of Grant Writing | Interview with Joseph McNicholas, M.B.A., PhD., Director of the Loyola Marymount Office for Research and Sponsored Projects |
| How to Turn Researchers into Research Managers | Let’s deal with the bad news about becoming a research manager first. Research management is hampered by the old-fashioned approaches taken by many universities, great researchers don’t necessarily translate into great manages, and there’s not a lot of outside resources to help prospective managers excel. But there is hope! |
| Politeness and Reviewers' Reports | This chapter considers the reports in terms of theories of politeness. While the use of indirect speech acts is a strategy writers might use to save the face of an author who is being criticized for their work, there are many other strategies reviewers might use to achieve this purpose, such as apologizing (‘I am sorry to have to’) and impersonalizing an issue (‘It is generally not acceptable to’). Examples of these (and other) politeness strategies are examined in this chapter. |
| Writing a Research Plan | Nearly every applicant for a tenure-track faculty job is expected to include a research plan. Exceptions are rare. Just as rare are programs designed to help doctoral students and postdocs learn how to create a research plan. Which is too bad: Writing an effective research plan is tricky. And until now, there was little advice to be found. |
| The Writing Mentor | The app is a Google Docs Add-On that provides writing feedback. Yay! It is intended to help college students and adult learners improve their writing skill. The app uses natural language processing (NLP) to automatically provide feedback about the writing quality of a document. |
| The Stress of Academic Publishing | The adage is "publish or perish" but everyone knows the odds aren’t even. For most academics who submit a manuscript to a desirable publisher or journal, the painful reality is that perishing is the far more likely outcome. |
| Creating a Good Cover Letter | Cover letters are the bridge from your résumé to the job for which you are applying. They allow you as an applicant to show why you think you are a good candidate for the job and demonstrate your fit for the advertised position. |
| Flax Interactive Language Learning | FLAX (Flexible Language Acquisition) aims to automate the production and delivery of interactive digital language collections. Simple interfaces, designed for learners and teachers, are combined with powerful language analysis tools. Exercise material comes from digital libraries for a virtually endless supply of authentic language learning in context.(All software produced by this project is open source, issued under the GNU General Public License.) |
| Successful Scientific Writing: Step by Step | Summary of steps involved in research article writing and publishing |
| Better Posters | A Resource for Improving Poster Presentations |
| Aggregate and amplify - enhancing the value and use of theses and dissertations | Theses and dissertations (TDs) form a core part of the research outputs of an academic institution. However, they do not usually get the same attention as journal published research. Universities are doing more to make this category of research outputs more easily discoverable to a growing global community of scholars. In this way they increase visibility for the institution and individual by amplifying the reach to the wider scholarly community. The paper looks at the value to the author, the institution and the global research community. It analyses the particular value that TD specific aggregations offer in terms of enhancing discovery, text and data mining, making historical works more discoverable through digitisation and preservation. It addresses the contentious issue of embargoes and open access. The paper presents the case for an aggregated, amplified, global and digitised approach to TDs. |
| Learning from the Lived Experiences of Graduate Student Writers | Learning from the Lived Experiences of Graduate Student Writers is a timely resource for understanding and resolving some of the issues graduate students face, particularly as higher education begins to pay more critical attention to graduate student success. Offering diverse approaches for assisting this demographic, the book bridges the gap between theory and practice through structured examination of graduate students’ narratives about their development as writers, as well as researched approaches for enabling these students to cultivate their craft. |
| Mentorship 2.0 How to Find the Mentor You Need | A slidedoc on how to find a mentor, set expectations, etc with quick tips towards the end of the document. |
| Mastering the American Accent | A book and CD set that instructs in ways non-native speakers of English can diminish their accents. Exercises focus on enunciating vowel and consonant sounds, using correct syllable and word stress, and appropriately pronouncing and using contractions. pronunciation; accent; American English |
| Some Modest Advice for Graduate Students | A list of practical insights for graduate students Covers the following areas preparing for the worst importance of your work psychological issues choosing classes proposal writing interacting with advisors types of theses publishing ma thesis in passing |
| How to Survive an Academic Job Interview | A lengthy article about an academic job interview, especially in the sciences. Includes an 'academic interview checklist' at the end of the article job market, interview skills, academic job, academic interview, on campus interview, |
| Keys to Success in PhD Research | Pdf of presentation slides covering 10 keys to success for the PhD & 3 keys to success as an engineer Focused for electrical engineering audience but much of it is applicable beyond this. Note this is for Australian university students so some aspects may not apply to you. Covers visuals paper stuctures timelines motivation writing planning & management lit reviews analysis supervisors technical skills communication & much more. Many examples of analysis & figures. |
| Academic Skills Youtube Page | A collection of videos to help you develop your academic skills, including: academic writing, editing, reading strategies, digital study tools, collaboration, poster presentations, and English practice |
| From Procrastination Into Action: Make paper writing easier by asking yourself 3 questions | A short, but helpful article that provides three simple questions that may help prompt grad students and post docs to initiate the writing up of their research. |
| SF Edit's Knowledge Center | A repository of helpful articles on how to get started on different portions of your research paper. Contains advice on such subjects as how to select a journal, how to develop an effective titles, and how to write effective conclusions. |
| Infographic: Tips for Designing Better Research Posters | An informative and visually descriptive article giving basics dos and don'ts of preparing posters for conferences. Includes suggestions on how the poster can be concise, clear, and attractive. |
| Patter | A very helpful blog with posts covering an array of writing & academic topics such as thesis writing, writing for journals, & academic writing. Written by professor of education & director of the center for advanced studies at the University of Nottingham includes a number of articles & links to external sources |
| Snagit Software | Snagit lets you quickly capture your screen and camera, add additional context, and share images, GIFs, or videos across your preferred platforms. GIF; screencast; recording; visual |
| Perfecting your English Pronunciation | A book and DVD set that focuses on articulation of English language sounds. Illustrations showing mouth formations and tongue positions are included for readers to gain practice enunciating sounds. Primary audiences for the book are English language learners. accent; pronunciation; oral English; speaking |
| Writing a Successful Cover Letter | A clear 'how to' document detailing critical parts of what to do and not to do in an academic job search cover letter in the arts and sciences with sample letters from English (literature), Music, Engineering, Biology, and Classics. How to write a cover letter Example Cover Letters Biology Cover Letter English Literature Cover Letter Engineering Cover Letter Academic Cover Letter |
| doing a literature review | A Guide to doing a literature review for research articles and dissertation including what is a literature review where do i put the literature review the aim of a literature review relationship between literature review and research question the structure & content and how to organize it how to collect literature to include things to avoid |
| Academic martial arts: Defending your Ph.D. | A practical post on defending your PhD. It include a clear perspective on the defense and tips for defending. PhD defense, dissertation defense |
| Pronuncian - American English Pronunciation | This website offers free access to hundreds of pronunciation lessons and thousands of American English sounds. |
| What is Critical Reading | Critical reading is an important precursor to critical writing. This Study Guide explains why critical reading is important, and gives some ideas about how to become a more critical reader. |
| Writing up your PhD (Qualitative Research) Independent Study version | A guide and independent study material for improving writing in qualitative research. |
| The Method Chapter - Describing Your Research Plan | This chapter provides a clear and complete description of the specific steps needed in a methods section. The material in this chapter is divided into two major sections, one that focuses primarily on the quantitative methods and one that focuses on the qualitative methods. |
| Writing the Conclusion Chapter: The Good, The Bad and The Missing | Information and steps on writing a good conclusion chapter of a research thesis. |
| Authentic American Pronunciation | This website is replete with instructions and helpful tips about pronunciation. What makes this source truly unique is that the instructions are written, but you can also click for audio, allowing the user to check or practice pronunciation. |
| American Sociological Association style format | This resource covers American Sociological Association (ASA) style and includes information about manuscript formatting, in-text citations, formatting the references page, and accepted manuscript writing style. |
| The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information | The ACS Style Guide is an established and definitive source within and beyond the chemistry community, educating researchers on how to effectively communicate scientific information. |
| Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers | The authoritative reference for authors, editors, publishers, students, and translators in all areas of science and related fields. |
| IEEE Editorial Style Manual | This style manual provides general editing guidelines for IEEE Transactions, Journals, and Letters. |
| Sounds of English | Pronunciation guide. Has written descriptions, diagrams on tongue and lip placement when pronouncing, and video/audio examples. |
| Speech Accent Archive | The speech accent archive uniformly presents a large set of speech samples from a variety of language backgrounds. Native and non-native speakers of English read the same paragraph and are carefully transcribed. The archive is used by people who wish to compare and analyze the accents of different English speakers |
| British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) | A website for news and features from around the world. Free access. Video, audio, and alphabetic text versions of many stories available. |
| ABC News | A free website containing news and features from around the world. |
| Australian National University Resources for Research Writing Database | A searchable database for resources on almost anything related to research writing: statistical methodology, Relationship management, Productivity, Writing |
| Classroom and Intervention Practices | This guide presents strategies that classroom teachers and specialists can use to increase the reading ability of adolescent students. The recommendations aim to help students gain more from their reading tasks, improve their motivation for and engagement in the learning process, and assist struggling readers who may need intensive and individualized attention. |
| Dave's ESL Cafe | The internet's meeting place for ESL and EFL teachers and students from around the world. |
| The Grant Application Writer's Workbook: National Science Foundation | Principles and fundamentals of good proposal writing are emphasized, together with tips and strategies that kept the authors continuously funded throughout their research careers. The Workbook is interactive in the sense that examples are provided, after which the reader is asked to make a comparable response in his/her area of research interest. As each such response is made, the first draft of the application evolves. |
| Publishing Journal Articles | This resource answers practical questions which pertain to publishing journal articles. Topic in the book range from "How do I go about writing a journal article?" to "How to cope with writer's block ?" to "How to cope with rejection?" |
| English for Writing Research Papers | Easy to follow rules and tips on how to write and present research papers. |
| Science Research Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English | This book is designed to help non-native speakers of English write science research papers for publication in English; however, it can also be used by graduate students (both native and non-native speakers) who need to write a thesis or a dissertation. |
| ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors, 2nd Edition | This resource offers readers suggestions and strategies for guiding ESL writers. These tips are based on experience, research, and theory. |
| Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association | This resource is the style manual of choice for writers in the social and behavioral sciences. It offers guidance on choosing the headings, tables, figures, and tone that will result in strong, simple, and elegant scientific communication. |
| The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide To Turning Your Ph.D. Into a Job | This resource provides readers with advice on how to use their PhDs most effectively. Topics include: publishing, grant-writing, CV, and job talks. |
| Grant Writing For Dummies, 5th Edition | Topics covered in this resource include: how to navigate federal grant databases, find the most current public and private sector grant opportunities, develop strong statements of need, and submit applications that meet funders’ expectations |
| Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation: A Road Map From Beginning to End | This resource offers guidance and practical tools for navigating each step in the qualitative dissertation journey, including the planning, research, and writing phases. |
| Write like a chemist: A guide and resource | A thorough reference to academic writing in the chemistry field. Discusses many scientific writing topics, including section-specific advice and language tips. |
| How to Write an Exceptional Thesis or Dissertation: A Step-By-Step Guide from Proposal to Successful Defense | This resource guides students on how to write a thesis or dissertation. This book will walk you through the entire process step-by-step, teaching you how to structure a planning and writing schedule that will keep the process manageable and not overwhelming. You will learn how to locate and recognize a topic that is appropriate for your thesis or dissertation, and you will discover how to expand on the subject matter to ensure it s unique and distinct from any other research out there. |
| Presenting Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Tables | This resource provides guidance on the proper table format for a wide range of statistical analyses in an engaging and accessible format. |
| Merriam-Webster's Guide to Punctuation and Style | This resource provides readers with easy-to-understand answers to the questions questions relating to: How to punctuate a sentence; when to capitalize, italicize, or use quotation marks; how to form plurals, possessives, and compound words; when to use abbreviations; the right way to present numbers; how to handle common usage problems; and how to write footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies. |
| Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis | Using field-tested strategies, this resource assists the student through the entire thesis-writing process, offering advice on choosing a topic and an advisor, on disciplining one's self to work at least fifteen minutes each day; setting short-term deadlines, on revising and defing the thesis, and on life and publication after the dissertation. Bolker makes writing the dissertation an enjoyable challenge |
| Displaying Your Findings: A Practical Guide for Creating Figures, Posters, and Presentations | This resource offers guidance on creating figures that effectively present their findings. Figure examples have been updated to reflect reporting standards and graphics presentation outlined in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Included in this revised edition are tips and tricks for designing figures as well as numerous examples of figures that accompany fictional studies. |
| Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook | This resource offers readers fundamentals of research design and data management is followed by five distinct methods of analysis: exploring, describing, ordering, explaining, and predicting. |
| How to Get Research Published in Journals | This resource explains how to overcome obstacles and create publishable papers for journals most likely to publish them. |
| The Craft of Research, Third Edition | This resource explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, “So what?”. |
| ISU College of Business Graduate Services | Graduate Business Career Services’ two major dimensions of service are: Comprehensive career management services to graduate business students enrolled in the MBA and the specialized master’s degree programs. Partnership with hiring managers and employment recruiters to facilitate recruitment and hiring of our outstanding graduates and internship candidates |
| ISU Design College Career Services | Design Career Services provides career development support to students, alumni and academic programs of the College of Design. The emphasis is on the individual's personal quest for career success, utilizing internships as a vehicle for career development, and providing career-related educational programming. Career Services also coordinates employment opportunities available to design students, graduates and alumni through CyHire, Iowa State University's online career management system. |
| ISU Engineering Career Services | Welcome to Engineering Career Services at Iowa State University. Our objectives are to help ISU engineering students and alumni plan, prepare for, and launch successful careers. Additionally, we help employers connect with ISU’s great engineering talent. We are dedicated to equal employment opportunity and follow the guidelines established by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Use the dropdown menus on the website to find the information that interests you. |
| ISU College of Human Sciences Career Services | The College of Human Sciences Career Services Office is dedicated to providing career development support to students, alumni, and academic programs in the College of Human Sciences. Career Services staff assists job seekers in all aspects of career development from researching careers, creating a resume, drafting personal statements for graduate and professional schools, interviewing, connecting with companies of interest, resources for identifying internships and careers, as well as negotiation skills. Our website provides information for Students, Employers, Alumni, Faculty and Staff, and Family members. |
| Professional Communications: A Handbook for Civil Engineers | A reference on technical writing for civil engineers. Includes sections on different types of technical reports, emails, presentations and other forms of communication, as well as tips and pitfalls in each area. |
| LAS Career Services | LAS Career Services provides career development education from your first year of college through graduation - and beyond. Whether you'll be transitioning from college to a career in a few years, or you're job searching now, we are here to help. |
| Purdue OWL: Academic Cover Letters | When you're applying for a faculty position with a college or university, the cover letter is your first chance to make a strong impression as a promising researcher and teacher. Below you'll find some strategies for presenting your qualifications effectively in an academic context. |
| Essay on Writing Cover Letters | By Cheryl E. Ball Recently, on a listserv in my field known for being welcoming to outsiders and newcomers but also for being rife with discussions that quickly turn ridiculous, a thread on cover letters followed the usual pattern: A new grad student asks what seems to be an innocuous question, a few professors offer semi-helpful responses without getting too sucked into the time-sink, the rogue academic contributes some tongue-in-cheek humor, a few more grad students take the jokes seriously and panic, the list erupts in false information and rumors. (See, e.g., the incident in writing studies that will henceforth be known as Godwin's Eternal Bedbugs). |
| Resumes, Cover Letters, and Online Profiles | An entire page of links to helpful tips and instructions on how to write cover letters, CVs, and online profiles |
| Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded | This resource discusses aspects of successful science writing, from the overall structure of a paper or proposal to individual sections, paragraphs, sentences, and words. It begins by building core arguments, analyzing why some stories are engaging and memorable while others are quickly forgotten, and proceeds to the elements of story structure, showing how the structures scientists and researchers use in papers and proposals fit into classical models. |
| Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences, Fourth Edition | This resource provides step-by-step guidance for new and experienced interviewers to develop, shape, and reflect on interviewing as a qualitative research process. Using concrete examples of interviewing techniques to illustrate the issues under discussion, this classic text helps readers to understand the complexities of interviewing and its connections to broader issues of qualitative research. The text includes principles and methods that can be adapted to a range of interviewing approaches. |
| How the NIH Can Help You Get Funded: An Insider's Guide to Grant Strategy | This resource advises readers on developing each component of the grant application in order of the components' influence on the final impact score. Individual funding mechanisms are reviewed along with grantsmanship tips specific to each. Readers learn the importance of reviewer-friendly formatting and organization of the text.Topics include: how the Nih operates at the corporate level, as well as the culture and policies of individual institutes and centers; how the Nih budget evolves over the course of a fiscal year and why the timing is important; how to customize Nih Web site searches and use the data to increase chances of success; how to identify appropriate program officers, study sections, and funding opportunities. |
| MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition | This resource provides an authoritative update of MLA documentation style for use in student writing, including simplified guidelines for citing works published on the Web and new recommendations for citing several kinds of works, such as digital files and graphic narratives. |
| Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research | This resource walks readers through the entire research process, from formulating questions to designing, collecting data, and interpreting results and include updated examples from published mixed methods studies drawn from the social, behavioral, health, and education disciplines. |
| Engineering Communication: From Principles to Practice | This book is a writing and communications text designed to guide engineering students through the process of writing polished and professional documents. |
| Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches | This resource compares qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research designs.The following topics are covered within all three approaches: preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches, and reflections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry. |
| R Graphics Cookbook | This resource is a guide that provides more than 150 recipes to help you generate high-quality graphs quickly, without having to comb through all the details of R’s graphing systems. Each recipe tackles a specific problem with a solution you can apply to your own project, and includes a discussion of how and why the recipe works. |
| Effective writing in mathematical statistics | Effective Writing in Mathematical Statistics |
| EndNote Guide | A guide to getting started with EndNote and EndNote Web |
| A Guide to Econometrics | Provides an overview of the econometrics and an intuitive feel for its concepts and techniques without the notation and technical detail that characterize most econometrics textbooks. |
| Online Academic Research | This resource offers great advice and guidelines for accurate, efficient, and ethical research practices. The Office of the Vice President for Research has added this resource to the RCR course that we coordinate with the Graduate College. |
| ISU College of Business Writing and Speaking Center | Free consultation service for improving communication across a range spanning from reports to Powerpoint slides. |
| Writing Commons | An online encyclopedia with detailed explanations of writing terms. The website also offers courses on professional/business writing and research writing. |
| Writing readable research: a guide for students of social science | A discussion of voice in scientific writing, together with rules for readability and clarity of structure. Also includes a treatment of scientific peer-to-peer communications. |
| Public Speaking Foundations | A set of short lectures with transcripts on preparing, delivering, and concluding a presentation. Multiple helpful tips from a professional presenter. |
| Academic Writing in English | Lund University has launched a MOOC on Academic Writing in English hosted by Coursera. They can be used free as a supplemental resource in writing courses. These are especially useful for undergraduates or novice writers. Topics include developing thesis statements, paragraph structure, integrating sources, editing, and more. |
| Step by step guide to critiquing research. Part 1: quantitative research | Article about how to read research critically. Step by step approach to critiquing quantitative research. |
| Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 2: Qualitative research. | Step by step approach toward critiquing qualitative research. |
| Using Sources Effectively Strengthening Your Writing and Avoiding Plagiarism | Now in its fifth, expanded edition,Using Sources Effectively, Fifth Edition targets the two most prominent problems in current research-paper writing: the increase in unintentional plagiarism and the ineffective use of research source material. Included in this edition are coverage of research strategies and source selection (Chapter 2), a chapter on quoting sources effectively (Chapter 4), and a chapter on sentence patterns (Chapter 10). |
| Tips for Writing an Effective Award Nomination | Writing tips for award nominations start on page 3. |
| Writing in Biology | At once sophisticated and practical, Writing in Biology: A Brief Guide advises students on composing research articles, literature reviews, oral presentations, and other key biology genres. The book gives careful attention to both the governing priciples of audience, purpose, and argument, and the ground rules for style, visual design, and sourcing. Writing in Biology: A Brief Guide is a part of a series of brief, discipline-specific writing guides from Oxford University Press designed for today's writing-intensive college courses. |
| Writing in Engineering | At once sophisticated and practical, Writing in Engineering: A Brief Guide leads students through how to compose design reports, lab reports, and other key engineering genres while attending to the principles of argument, style, and visual design. |
| Productive Writer Newsletter | The Productive Writer Newsletter provides biweekly messages about managing time for greater writing productivity, reducing distractions, staying motivated, revising and editing, binge writing, communicating with an advisor, dealing with writer's block, and managing procrastination and perfectionistic tendencies. Sponsored by the Graduate School, the Productive Writer is free and open to all, especially graduate students writing papers, proposals, theses, and dissertations. |
| Writing Your Master's Thesis: From A to Zen | Using real-world cases, student vignettes, and reflective questions, Lynn leads you through the A to Zen of the writing process, building your confidence as well as developing your skills. |
| Good Essay Writing: A social sciences guide | Writing good essays is one of the most challenging aspects of studying in the social sciences. This simple guide provides you with proven approaches and techniques to help turn you into a well-oiled, essay writing machine. |
| Developing a Mixed Methods Proposal: A practical guide for beginning researchers | This practical, hands-on guide helps beginning researchers create a mixed methods research proposal for their dissertations, grants, or general research studies. The book intertwines descriptions of the components of a research proposal (introduction, literature review, research methods, etc.) with discussions of the essential elements and steps of mixed methods research. Examples from a real-world, interdisciplinary, mixed methods research study demonstrate concepts in action throughout the book, and an entire sample proposal appears at the end of the book, giving readers insight into every step up to completion. Readers who complete the exercises in each chapter will have an individualized, detailed template for their own mixed methods research proposal. |
| Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 exercises for paced, productive, and powerful writing, second edition | With its friendly, step-by-step format, Becoming an Academic Writer helps writers improve their writing by engaging in deep and deliberate practice—a type of practice adopted by expert performers in areas such as sports or music. Featuring 50 exercises, this practical, self-paced guide is flexibly organized so readers can either work their way through all of the exercises in order or focus on the specific areas where they need additional practice building their skills. The Second Edition is enhanced by a new appendix on literature review, new feature boxes, and new chapter summaries. Previous edition available at Parks Library: https://iowa-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/12tutg/01IASU_ALMA21195512710002756 |
| Overleaf | This resource is a collaborative writing, editing, and publishing platform. |
| Handbook of Research Design & Social Measurement | In addition to hundreds of new references features new to this edition include: a comprehensive introduction to qualitative methods including a review of existing computer applications for collecting and analyzing data; the latest information about the use of computers and online research techniques, including the use of the Internet to locate actual research instruments and journal articles; updated coverage on new scales, internal and external validity, and new analytic techniques with extensive references on each; abstracts, citations and subject groupings by measurement tool of the last five years of the American Sociological Review, Social Psychology Quarterly, and the American Journal of Sociology; extensive coverage of how to prepare manuscripts for publication, including a list of all journals covered by Sociological Abstracts along with the editorial office address and URL for each entry; new coverage of ethical issues; expansion of social indicators to include international coverage; discussion of the importance of policy research with presentation and discussion of specific models as an adjunct to both applied and basic research techniques; and the addition of an index to facilitate the reader's ability to quickly locate a topic. |
| What is Plagiarism? | No doubt, you’ve been hearing about plagiarism from day one of your course. And you know that it’s bad. Doing it will get you in a lot of trouble if you get found out. And with all the tools available to your lecturers, you will get found out. But what is it? Is it just pretending that someone else’s work is your own, or copying chunks of your friend’s essay? It’s a lot more than that. For example, did you know that you can plagiarise your own work? And that it can get you into trouble just as much as plagiarising a well-known piece of research can? -- This blog post that defines plagiarism, explains the risks of plagiarizing, and provides 9 tips for avoiding plagiarism in your own work. |
| Writing Letters of Recommendation for Prestigious Awards and Fellowships: Guide for Faculty | For highly competitive fellowships, candidates are often selected as finalists/scholars based on the strength of the letters of recommendation, so it is vitally important that they be as specific and detailed as possible. Below are the responses to an informal survey of Truman Scholarship selection panel members asking: What do you like to see in a letter of recommendation, and what leaves you cold? These comments are relevant to most letters for major fellowships. |
| Scientific Writing Training | This scientific writing course guides learners through the process of writing and publishing an original research manuscript (called a “scientific paper” throughout this course). This course originated as a three-day scientific writing workshop for global Field Epidemiology Training Program residents and emerging authors. Materials were converted to an e-learning course to expand reach and increase flexibility and convenience for learners. The course includes both infectious and non-communicable disease examples. |
| NextScientist Blog | A series of blog posts about PhD life, writing, and job search |
| Cambridge Dictionary +Plus | Learn new words, improve your grammar, and download free quizzes and word lists. Cambridge Dictionary +Plus is your trusted partner in making English work for you. |
| Learn English with Cambridge | The Learn English with Cambridge YouTube Channel is for learners looking for some additional help in learning English and for teachers to supplement lessons. Our team of international teachers are ready to give learners short YouTube lessons on specific bits of real-world English. |
| Concise guide to APA style: The official APA style guide for students (7th ed.) | The Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition is the official APA Style resource for students. Designed specifically for undergraduate writing, this easy-to-use pocket guide is adapted from the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. It provides complete guidance for new writers on effective, clear, and inclusive scholarly communication and the essentials of formatting papers and other course assignments |
| Successful Scientific Writing | A series of interactive online learning modules about scientific writing. Includes: Module 1: Course Introduction -- sections of a scientific article, academic writing style, publication process Module 2: Abstract Module 3: Introduction Section Module 4: Methods Section Module 5: Results Section Module 6: Discussion Section Module 7: Title Module 8-1, 8-2, 8-3: Publication Process |
| What is an Ed.D. Dissertation? Complete Guide & Support Resources | Wondering how to tackle the biggest doctoral challenge of all? Use our guide to the Ed.D. dissertation to get started! Learn about the purpose of a Doctor of Education dissertation and typical topics for education students. Read through step-by-step descriptions of the dissertation process and the 5-chapter format. Get answers to Ed.D. dissertation FAQs. Or skip to the chase and find real-world examples of Doctor of Education dissertations and websites & resources for Ed.D. dissertation research. |
| MIT Communication Labs | Need discipline-specific communication resources? Access MIT's CommKit articles – quick guides to technical communication needs including posters, journal articles, and fellowship applications. CommKits are free for all to use, whether you’re at MIT or elsewhere. Biological Engineering -- The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard -- Civil & Environmental Engineering -- Chemical Engineering -- Electrical Engineering and Computer Science -- Mechanical Engineering -- Nuclear Science and Engineering |
| Supporting the Growth of Graduate Writers: A Film | Supporting the Growth of Graduate Writers: A Film offers short scenes to capture the work of real graduate writers and writing consultants. Each scene has been collaboratively written to represent common issues graduate student writers face. Each scene also includes specific strategies writing consultants can use to help graduate students grow as writers. |
| Golden Speaker Builder | The Golden Speaker builder helps you improve your English pronunciation by letting you hear how your own voice would sound if you had a native speaker accent. |
| 100 PhD rules of the game to successfully complete a doctoral dissertation | A doctoral dissertation is a challenging undertaking requiring determination, persistence and resilience over a long time: four to six years’ study or more. These PhD “rules of the game” are intended to help students successfully navigate this challenge. |
| Bio Render | Browse thousands of pre-made icons and templates from more than 30 fields of life sciences. The site also offers how-to webinars. |
| Reactome | REACTOME is an open-source, open access, manually curated and peer-reviewed pathway database. Our goal is to provide intuitive bioinformatics tools for the visualization, interpretation and analysis of pathway knowledge to support basic and clinical research, genome analysis, modeling, systems biology and education. |
| Noun Project | "The Most Comprehensive Icon Collection in the World ... Icons are some of the most universal communication tools available, crossing language and cultural boundaries. ... Noun Project is building a global visual language that unites us — a language that allows quick and easy communication no matter who you are or where you are." |
| Bioicons | A website with free pre-made icons to include in biology and science visualizations. |
| Health icons | A website with free, pre-made icons to include in health and science visualizations. |
| Writing Biology: Texts in the Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge | Originally published in 1990 by University of Wisconsin Press. Also available in Parks Library. In Writing Biology, Greg Myers shares his exploration of discourse in the biological sciences. His goal, as he notes in the preface to this landmark book, is to "provide some interpretations of scientific texts in their social context that will help us understand how texts produce scientific knowledge and reproduce the cultural authority of that knowledge" (p. ix). Arguably the first major work in writing studies that explores the rhetoric of science, Writing Biology offers a detailed analysis of texts, with a strong focus on social construction of knowledge and the rhetorical contexts in which scientists construct their texts. As Myers notes, "Science is like other discourses in relying on rhetoric; it just uses a different kind of rhetoric" (p. 4). This foundational work serves as a landmark in the turn toward exploring the discourses of professional communities by writing scholars. |
| Figure Permission Guidelines for Authors | This resource provides guidelines for how authors can request reproduction of copyrighted figures from previous publications in their own publications. |
| Pronunciation Doctor Youtube Channel | Pronunciation Doctor helps English language learners improve their skills in pronunciation, listening, connected speech, vocabulary, grammar, dictation, oral presentation, and more! |
| Rachel's English | Rachel’s English provides over 800 free videos to help non-native speakers improve their spoken English and listening comprehension. Videos focus on a variety of topics from the correct mouth position of sounds to words that reduce and real English conversation study. The resources here are perfect for: non-native speakers wanting to work on their spoken English for job advancement or to pass a test; teachers, native and non-native alike, who teach ESL; Americans who have suffered a stroke and need resources to re-learn the movements of the mouth when speaking English. |
| Tools for Clear Speech | TfCS offers a variety of practice exercises and online resources for remote access. From individual English sounds to overarching features like intonation and stress, these exercises are an excellent way to preview, practice, and maintain what you learn in our face-to-face services. |
| English Accent Coach | English Accent Coach is an online tool for developing English pronunciation skills - focusing on vowels and consonants. For those who were brought up speaking a language other than English, it can be as difficult to recognize English speech sounds as it is to produce them. In fact, research has shown that pronunciation can improve when learners are coached to better recognize English sounds. More accurate and rapid recognition of sounds can also help learners to more quickly acquire English vocabulary. |
| English Listening Lesson Library Online (ELLLO) | Elllo offers English listening activities for a range of topics and levels |
| Academic Oral Presentation Skills | This video gives examples of a good and a bad presentation. |
| English for Uni | This free website is for teachers and learners of English as an additional language, from intermediate levels upwards (i.e. approximately IELTS 6 and above). The site aims to make difficult grammar and academic writing concepts easier to understand. Topics: Articles (a/an/the), Conditional forms, The passive voice, Prepositions, Tenses in academic writing, Essay writing, Oral presentation skills. |
| Perfect English Pronunciation | Improve your English with animation, mouth close-ups and practice. The comprehensive visual guide to English pronunciation. Series consists of two 60 minute DVDs on how to pronounce the 25 consonance sounds and the 21 vowel sounds and diphthongs of American English. |
| Grammarly | Grammarly is a digital writing-support tool that provides powerful grammar, spelling, and plagiarism checking based on natural language processing and machine-learning technologies. All ISU students and faculty have free access to the premium version of Grammarly. |
| Preparing to Publish | This free e-book offers a wealth of instructional material on the topic of research article writing for publication and thesis or dissertation completion. The text provides graduate student writers with helpful information, strategies, and tips on navigating disciplinary writing in their fields and how to understand, dissect, and ultimately, construct their own research article. The text is organized according to a standard research article format, breaking down each section of the empirical research in a simple and straightforward manner to help graduate students build a quality, argument-driven manuscript as they write up their empirical study findings. |
The CCE would like to recognize the Graduate and Professional Student Senate at Iowa State for generously contributing to our collection of on-site resources.