Shirley Wu

Lots of good advice there. I'd add: start with a plan of what your figures + tables will be, build around that. They really are the key. - Neil Saunders

Back when I did Honours, one of our exams was to reconstruct a paper given only the key figures and tables. We even had to suggest a title :) It was a great exercise and has stayed with me ever since. - Neil Saunders

Super stuff. - Richard P Grant

"People are dying" I like that, must include it in my next paper / grant application - Duncan Hull

I would just change the writing order. The abstract is typically one of the last things I write. I usually go Results -> Introduction -> Discussion -> Supplementary Material & References -> Abstract & Letter to the editor(s) - Pedro Beltrao

Regarding when to write the abstract, I tend to first write the abstract, then the rest of the paper, and the rewrite the abstract completely. I find the first version of the abstract to be a big help when writing the manuscript, but it is impossible to write the final abstract before the rest of the manuscript is finished. - Lars Juhl Jensen

I'm with Lars - writing the abstract helps me focus on the main points of the paper and then later on I will at least tweak it if not rewrite it completely. Especially if you're forced to resubmit your paper as a "Methods" paper rather than a "Research" paper as originally intended, or vice versa, since one has a much stricter word limit than the other! - Shirley Wu

Like Lars and Shirley, I always wrote the abstract first. Helps you distill your thoughts and really understand what the role of the paper is - Deepak

good luck :) - Pedro Beltrao

Best of luck! :) - Ricardo Vidal

4 for me, I think. Brake a leg! - PauloNuin

I never had a viva or defence - makes it easier to schedule! Good luck! - Cameron Neylon

I am such a city boy that I'd be a raving lunatic after a few days of rural life. Well, if I can get good espresso and have high speed wifi, I might survive for a while - Deepak

I get this urge about once a day. And there are plenty cheap farms to be had in Queensland. Fortunately, my more level-headed partner keeps me in check. - Neil Saunders

Neil, those farms are cheap because they're sun-bleached God-forsaken wastelands that can hardly support a few mangy kangaroos and a zillion or so blowflies. :-) - Bill Hooker

Crazy - hard work, no money, and no-one interested in buying what you produce, except supermarkets for whom the term 'indentured labour' is a modern and progressive business practice - Cameron Neylon

I don't think I'd actually farm. I'd just, you know, hang out and chop wood. - Neil Saunders

Shirley, you can come work on my farm any time you're in Maryland. I have a couple goats that like human attention and plenty of wood to chop. I don't plant any fields, though, because my property is all hardwood forest. Plenty of fields of crops next door, though. - Jim Hardy

Thanks, Jim! I'll keep that option in mind. @Cameron, hard work yes, but not necessarily less enjoyable or gratifying. Sometimes I just need something tangible. - Shirley Wu

Oh, that's easy then - get in a lab and do some proper science :-) - Cameron Neylon

Cameron, I am preparing some "proper science" on the homestead. Taking the Stamets "Saving the World Through Mushrooms" route. One advantage to having hardwoods and 11 acres of a steep north-facing hillside is that I have plenty of substrate for cultivating 'shrooms. So I plan to "Get into the woods" and do some proper science! - Jim Hardy

Shirley, did you get a recording of 'Informatician Rhapsody'? - Graham Steel

@Cameron - I don't even know if it's a US thing, it might just be this particular department is more... brazen, self-assured, socially courageous, ridiculous, etc. @Graham - I'm not sure if there's a recording but it's possible, since someone recorded our "We are the nerds" two years ago. Then again, even if there is a recording I don't know if I can make it public. What happens at the retreat stays at the retreat. ;) - Shirley Wu

Our departmental retreats (for both university and hospital department - I get everything double) are no fun at all. They're just talks and poster sessions from 8 AM to 6 PM, and if you're lucky you get a coupon for one free drink if you survive all that. That's it. The Christmas parties are where singing happens. - Eva

I thought departmental retreats were an excuse for merrymaking and drunken debauchery :)? - Deepak

Wonderful stuff - Deepak

**** meaning 5 stars Shirley !! - Graham Steel

Many, many stars - that is a brilliant and pretty comprehensive summary of the last few months - Cameron Neylon

a friend of mine showed it to me - I was very impressed with the quality of the rapping! most amateur rap is hard to listen to, but this had the groovy rhythm goin - Shirley Wu

Good find! Great stuff. - Matt Wood

and not just the rap...the lyrics makes actual sense. - Massimo Pinto

Reminds me of early Beastie Boys :) good job Shirley - Daniel Jurczak

Cool challenge! But it will be hard explaining why the hell an old guy should blog. You either feel that this is what you want to do or you don't. - Björn Brembs

The challenge is to find someone who does want to, but doesn't realise it yet :-) - Cameron Neylon

Yup, great idea. I'm hassling all the Professors I know. Maybe we'll have 15 senior professors blogging by this time next year? http://duncan.hull.name/2008/0... - Duncan Hull