Bushra Sabir

Are you a #PhD student who is about to write your first paper? Here's a great summary on 'first manuscript' by the editors of ACS Phys. Chem. Au: Prof. Gemma Solomon, Prof. Jin Zhong Zhang, Prof. Tanja Cuk. I quote the paragraphs that I loved the most: 1. "You might be in the fortunate situation of having a mentor who is training you in this process or even formal courses as part of your studies. But even if you do not, there is nothing to worry about ─ there are many resources available to help you get started." 2. "Write the kind of papers you LOVE to read. All readers will be grateful for every effort you make to explain your ideas in a clear and informative fashion." 3. "... keep the writing concise! You want to provide the clearest presentation of your science in the simplest style." 4. "You might read for 3 h to write one sentence. You might plot your data three different ways before you understand the clearest, most effective way to show your results. You might take a whole day to make a single figure or 20 min to write a figure caption. " 5. "... write the paper your results support, NOT the paper you hoped to write at the start of the project." 6. "You need to manage your coauthors’ expectations and make sure you work in a way that minimizes the chances that you end up with rewriting the paper because your coauthors are not satisfied." 7. And finally: "Write a paper you are proud of." "This paper is the lasting mark of your research in the world." ▫️ Myself, I would put it as: DON'T hunt for the number of papers. Publish fewer but those you’ll love. Be thorough and deep in your research. Then translate it into your manuscript. ▫️ #AcademicTwitter #phdchat