Helpful Resources for Grad School and Beyond

I’ve benefited greatly from reading advice posts—especially during my graduate school application process. In this post, I’ve collected some of the most helpful resources I’ve come across, covering both graduate school applications and research life. I will continue to update this list as I discover new and insightful advice.

As a gentle disclaimer, I’ll borrow a word of caution from Carl Sandburg:

“Beware of advice, even this.”

Applying for Graduate School

Giving Talks

Writing CVs

Tips from Course ESOLLANG 697 at Stanford:

Do not include photo, race, religion, nationality, birthday, gender, etc.
Highlight the last name. If your name is Zhang San in Chinese pinyin, then use (Zhang, San / San ZHANG). If it’s scary to use all caps, use small cap instead. In LaTex, it’s (San \textsc{Zhang}).
Include mailing address, phone number, and email address.
Do not include experience prior to college.

Writing Emails

How to Email Your Professor (without being annoying AF)
Tips from Course ESOLLANG 697 at Stanford:
- Start with your request, or who you are if this is your first time emailing that person, rather than “I hope this email finds you well”.
- Be short.
- Salutation: start with “Dear Professor [Last Name]”, and switch to “Hello [First Name]” when you have close collaboration with him/her.
- The larger the request, the more polite the language. Use “I wonder”, “if you might be willing to” or past tense to create distance and politeness. Also remember to give the receiver options and not to impose.

Professional Research Advice

Miscellaneous

Ether Wave Propaganda: a history of science blog, by Will Thomas and Christopher Donohue