Mastering Your PhD : Survival and Success in the Doctoral Years and Beyond

Preface.- Choosing a Research Group: Pluses and Pitfalls.- Getting Started.- Setting Goals and Objections.- How to Think Like a Scientist.- Designing Good Experiments.- Charting your Progress Month by Month.- Dealing with Setbacks.- Mentors, Leadership and Community.- How to Get Along with Your Labmates, et al.- Group dynamics: Dealing with Difficult Colleagues.- The Art of Good Communication.- Mastering Presentations & Group Meetings.- Searching the Scientific Literature.- Your First International Conference.- From Data to Manuscript: Writing scientific papers that shine.- Celebrate your Success.- How to Make the Best of your Annual Evaluation.- The Final Year: Countdown to your Thesis Defense.- Writing your Doctoral Thesis with Style.- The Final Act: Defending your Thesis with Panache.- Putting it all Together: A PhD. . .So What's Next?.- Is Industry Right for You? Opportunities to Explore.- Exploring Non-Profit Organizations.- Lessons Learned.