Personal/Research statement

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LECTURE 3

• Personal/Research statement
• CV/Biosketch/Resume
• Databases
• Reference managers

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Why are personal and research statements
important?

• The picture you draw of yourself should be how
  you want to be seen by others

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Research Statement

• Emphasize uniqueness
• Answer questions
• What do you study
• How do you study it
• Why is it important
• Carefully craft (few words that say a lot)
• Sentences must transition
• Mechanism to advertise

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EXAMPLE

• Research Program Goal
• To investigate/understand the molecular and
  cellular mechanisms that regulate aqueous humor
  outflow such that novel targets can be identified
  and used for the development of therapeutics to
  effectively lower intraocular pressure in people
  with glaucoma.

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RESUME

• Your life on a page
• Selling tool that outlines your skills and
  experience
• Focused on a specific job/application

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10 items to keep in mind when scanning a resume-
The Scientist, February 2006

• Career progression makes sense

• No unexplained gaps in dates between jobs

• Education progressed in logical time sequence

• Simple, readable presentation answers questions
  rather than raises them and doesnt distract the
  eye This person understands basic communications

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10 items to keep in mind when scanning a resume-
The Scientist, February 2006

• Applicant failed to describe a company or
  institution not well known, taking it for granted
  that the reader will know the organization This
  indicates the person may be a poor communicator
  or not able to see themselves objectively.

• Inconsistency in time sequence between jobs

• Red flag is raised when doctorate degree takes
  longer than six years

• Fonts are too elaborate raises the question
  Whats more important here, the presentation or
  the content?

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10 items to keep in mind when scanning a resume-
The Scientist, February 2006

• Color resumes say one thing Frivolous

• Publications listed should be restricted to
  peer-reviewed journals this person listed
  letters to the editor, presentations, etc. This
  indicates an inability to self-edit and
  streamline thoughts.

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Resume vs. CV

• RESUME is a career and educational summary meant
  to highlight your skills and experience (usually
  relative to a focus area).
• C.V. is a list meant to document every job,
  degree, talk, abstract, etc., etc. you've ever
  received/done in your life.

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Resume contents

• Contact information
• Objective
• Education/Employment
• Experience
• Publications
• Honors and Activities

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What do you put in a CV?
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What are CVs used for?

• Academic Research Position
• Annual Reports
• Award applications
• Graduate program websites
• Seminar announcements
• Promotion/job applications

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Curriculum Vitae

• Example Ross Ethier, Renata Ramos

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How does a biosketch differ from a CV?

• Brief summary of your professional / educational
  accomplishments
• Length and format limits
• Short and simple, highlighting the experience of
  the person in relation to this application at
  this program.

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BIOSKETCH CONTENTSNIH STYLE

• Personal information
• Research Experience
• Honors
• Manuscripts
• Ongoing and completed projects (within last 5
  years)

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Biosketch

• Example Dan Stamer

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length
content
use
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Dans tips..

• Keep file on your desktop
• Update regularly!

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SCIENTIFIC WRITING IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE

• Online manuscript submission
• Databases/searching strategies
• Reference managers
• Citation index
• Web of Science

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DATABASES

• NLM
• NCBI
• MEDLINE
• PubMed
• GenBank
• Entrez
• OMIM
• Many others

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ACCESS TO DATABASESArizona Health Science
Library

• www.ahsl.arizona.edu
• Work or Home (remote access)

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PURPOSE(S) FOR LITERATURE SEARCHES

• Ideas
• Foundation for hypotheses/future experiments
• Avoid redundancies/waste of time
• Make sure credit is assigned properly
• Make sure grant/manuscript is up to date
  (especially on submission of revisions)

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SEARCHING STRATEGIES

• Subject area
• Tissue
• Disease
• Technique
• Process
• Author
• Text word

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HOW OFTEN TO SEARCH?

• Daily, Weekly, Monthly?
• Before manuscript goes out, especially revision
• Before national seminar
• Before oral qualifying exam
• Maybe set-up automatic updates (myNCBI)

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How do you search for articles before 1950?

• OLDMEDLINE (http//gateway.nlm.nih.gov)

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REFERENCE MANAGERS

• Endnote (plus others)
• Personal electronic reference database
• Journal Templates
• Formatted Bibliographies
• Database interface

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ENDNOTE EXAMPLE
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JOURNAL IMPACT FACTORS

• What do they mean?
• What do they mean for you?
• How do you find them?

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CITATION INDEX

• AHSC WEBSITE
• Databases tab
• Browse database (AgtZ), choose J
• Go to Journal of Citation Reports

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WEB OF SCIENCE

• Search number of citations for a particular paper
  and specifically by whom
• AHSC website
• Databases tab
• Choose W
• Go to Web of Science
• Click search by author
• Click create a citation report

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ONLINE MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION/REVIEW

• Have cover letter ready
• Have figures in correct format
• Have manuscript in correct format
• Verify author names and affiliations
• Have reviewer suggestions/conflicts ready

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BeforeSUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

• Have colleague read
• Have each author read/edit
• Recheck journal format (Info for authors)
• Make sure all pages are numbered
• Have first authors name in header
• Double check the accuracy of the references
• Make sure that each copy has all parts

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MAKE MANUSCRIPT REVIEWER FRIENDLY

• Include extra copy of figures with legends
  immediately beneath
• Include copy of in press citations

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MOST COMMON ERRORS IN FIRST SUBMISIONS

• 1) Spelling
• 2) Inaccurate references
• 3) Misquoted references

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COVER LETTER

• Write/edit carefully (first impression)
• Spell editors name correctly
• Say what is included in packet/e-files
• Say something nice, but not effusive about why
  your data belongs in this journal
• Mention the title of the manuscript
• Include your contact information
• Include names of reviewers you recommend or that
  you wish to exclude because of conflict of
  interest

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MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

• Electronic submission
• Check to make sure manuscript is in proper format
  (word file of right version, pdf, etc)
• Check to make sure figures are in proper format
  (JPEG, TIFF, etc) and of right quality (pixel
  density)
• Usually an option to view before sending

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ASSIGNMENT

• Put together your CV
• Pick 4 Journals that is in your field of interest
  (one you may send your paper) and find their
  impact factors in Journal of Citation Reports be
  sure and have a spread of impact factors.
• For grins, look up your advisor on Web of Science
  and see how many citations/paper he/she is
  getting and what kind of H-index