How to grad student
One day, I may get around to writing my own advice on "how to grad student". Below are some links with great advice, along with an interspersal of my own comments.
- Advice to a beginning graduate student – Manuel Blum
- How to give a great research talk – Simon Peyton Jones
- It isn't possible to stress enough how important it is to have enthusiasm during a talk. Some things that I would add: If you need special planning to be in an especially good mood and with high energy, then follow that plan before your talk. Pay attention to how your recent history affects your body and mind. Does eating just before a talk slow you down? Or maybe it's necessary. Do you need to be well-slept to have energy and recall for a talk (most people probably do).
- Avoiding mathematically heavy slides is essential, yes even if you are doing theory. Many mathematical ideas can be conveyed with the help of figures to give intuition, and having more figures will make for a better, more appealing talk.
- The one thing I would disagree with is the suggestion of making your slides the night before. Putting together good slides takes time (all the more so to make good figures). Revising the night before —sure, I agree with that — but especially grad students should prepare a talk well in advance, leaving time for practice runs. Here is a useful trick a friend taught me for getting the timing right for longer talks: if the talk has multiple, not-long segments, then practice the timing of each segment. It's psychologically easier to commit to a practice run of a single 5 to 10 minute segment than a practice run of a 45 minute talk. Also, measuring the time of segments will help when you need to trim down your talk because it's invariably too long.
- Some hints on mathematical style – David Goss
- Mathematical writing – Donald Knuth, Tracy Larrabee, and Paul M. Roberts
- Section 1 (the minicourse) is essential reading, and I agree with every piece of advice given there. I don't claim to have read more than Section 1.