The illusion of similarity: two papers (A and B) look the same.They have the same structure.They have the same number of words.Both use fluent, nearly flawless English.Both reference the same number of papers.They have the same number of tables and figures. For a layperson, both these papers look the same. Yet, one of them is the worst horsesh*t you’ve ever…
Observed myself citing various “superpowers” to my PhD students in occasional emails. So, thought of writing these down (the list might get updated). Currently, I can think of nine ten superpowers [updated: Sep 1, 2024] for researchers: Being specific is one #researchsuperpower (but it applies well beyond research). Be bold in your writing. I mean, literally, bold your contributions. Just…
Three ways of justifying/arguing for research choices (e.g., hyperparameter values, thresholds, sample sizes):
(This post is especially for more junior researchers) Some forms of contributions in academic research: You can have multiple contributions in one paper, though often a paper focuses on one type of contribution (it’s hard enough to argue for one!). Even if you wouldn’t make multiple types of contributions in one paper, it helps to think if there is also…