博士研究生科研指南24条（上）
本文原载于 《nature》 2006年5月11日 vol441 原文附译文后，分两期刊出
译者：胡晓（中南大学）
事实上这并不是昆士兰医学院(qimr)正式出品的文件，因此它并不代表qimr的官方立场。但是，千万不要小看它，许多拥有成果丰硕而又拿奖到手软的昆士兰学霸们都持有类似的看法，如果这样的学术生涯也是你所追求的，那么这些指南是你不得不看的。
博士生阶段，是快乐、值得也是你享有某些特权的一段时光。这期间你可以投入百分百精力进行科学研究、发现新问题、探索新领域，还可以从中获得报酬，另外没有那些缠身的行政事务和岗位责任，这种专注的机会以后可不多了。当然，收入相对来说略少、工作的时间略长而安全感又略低，但坚持下去的人会获得学霸独有的快感，比如对学渣进行智力碾压的满足、发现新问题的喜悦、自行安排研究计划的自由、开（lv）会（xing）的机会、加入到国际性的学术组织跟志同道合的人论道的快乐和实实在在用自己的研究为人类过得更好贡献一份力量的可能，以上都是在做博士研究时候的一些福利。
1、选择一个你欣赏和崇拜的导师
首先看看目标导师的团队之前和现在的工作是什么，记住在文献检索系统查查他们的产量，再看看他们的工作环境和配套的基础设施如何，当然不要忘了确认下导师是否能够对你的选题和项目提供较充裕的经费。
2、全身心投入到你的研究中
赶紧从考上博士的喜悦中醒醒吧孩子，你现在面临学术生涯最重要的转折。要想在学术上有所斩获，你得培养自己娴熟的技巧、高效的思维、批判的分析、解决问题的能力和对时间的合理安排。重要的事情说三遍，要想获得这些技能包，你就得全身心投入到研究中、全身心投入到研究中以及全身心投入到研究中。跟自己的研究谈一场不分手的恋爱，在每一次的实验计划和实验结果中锻炼自己的思维能力，就算是失败的实验也是有益的教训。将失败看作是成功前的挑战和训练比无谓的抱怨强太多。如果你仅仅是亦步亦趋的听指挥做研究，每天到点了就关门走人，那很难取得进步。记住，在枯燥无聊的研究中，并不是每一个花千骨都会遇到白子画，坚持和韧性才是学者的不二秘笈。
3、努力工作
不要以为你可以侥幸的一周只工作38个小时。你需要投入更多的时间，把你的大部分周末也算上吧。倘若你想在学术界有一个成功的职业生涯，每周至少得工作50-60小时。如果你对自己的研究热情澎湃，想来这绝非难事；如果你觉得自己的研究嚼之无味，讲真，你可能入错行了。著名篮球运动员三井寿曾哭着说“我想打篮球”，显然兴趣比命令更能推动学术研究。当然，工作的时间长短并不是最终的判决者，在学术界，唯一能让你直起腰杆的是成果、成果、还是成果。除非你是一个天才、一个对自己安排井井有条的天才、一个对自己安排井井有条而又运气爆棚的天才，三者缺一，那么请你必须要通过以上程度的努力去争取发表足够多、足够好的文章来为自己的学术研究生涯开个好头。在博士入学的时候来看，拥有奖学金的三年时间似乎很漫长，那是因为毕竟你书读得太少，很快你就会发现三年时间一晃而过，接着就是悲惨的第四年延毕在等你。那些回到家里用业余时间继续自己的研究的人往往更容易接近成功。注意你周围那些这么干的家伙们，可不就是他们发文章发到手抽筋么。在业余时间进行专业学习，是促使他们成功的重要原因，而不是他们在成功以后养成的习惯。
4、注意放松
为了避免在读博期间走火入魔，在某些周末和假期进行适当放松是有必要的。要是你的工作与身边团队人员的联系非常密切，那就最好人性化的不要在节假日进行工作，否则当你放假的时候别人都在埋头苦干。另一种情况，你的工作自主性非常强，也不需要使用那些易损耗的设备，那么在假期做一个安静工作的美男子是个不错的选择。如果你在某天的下午或者傍晚还有个问题没有搞定，带回家去当天就解决它比较明智，给自己一个没有“前任烦恼”的新的一天。
5、阅读文献
阅读文献的范围包括与你的研究直接相关的和间接相关的、过去的成果和最新的成果。除非那就是你饭碗里的东西，否则你基本没可能对文献作出什么原创性的贡献。发现你感兴趣的文章就主动跟你导师交流，别让他拿着文章来找你。最佳阅读文献的时间是实验的间隙、晚上或者是周末。而只阅读文献疏于实验，效率也很低。许多人刚开始阅读文献的时候感觉非常晦涩，这时候别轻言放弃，回到早期文本和教科书寻找答案，然后与你的导师和同僚进行讨论。将晦涩的文献视作点燃学术讨论火花的星星之火。你的导师就算日理万机，也需要保证与你进行这样讨论的时间。
6、设定严整的工作计划
根据实验计划严整的安排每周、每天的任务，将你的空窗期调整到最短。结束了一天的工作后，列出一个明天任务的清单，这能 助你在睡眠时对明天的工作有一个潜意识的认知。如果没有来自家庭的事务和压力，你得灵活的安排自己回家的时间以处理一些意料之外的工作情况。（记住，博士生的学习阶段是你时间安排最灵活的一段，一旦你有了小孩，请跟着黄家驹高唱“原谅我这一生不羁放纵爱自由”，尽力而为吧）
7、每天保持进行试验记录
这会使你的论文写作变得简单，也有助于 助你保护那些有将来有可能让你“出任ceo、赢取白富美、走向人生巅峰”的知识产权。特别是，在实验的进行中记录那些细节可以相对简便的转化为你论文中的章节，同时对整个实验室的同僚们也是有好处的。
8、富于创造性
反复的思考你所在从事研究工作，思考为什么要用这样的研究方法，是否有更好的方法？别把你的博士生涯全部交给你的导师来设计。跟导师和同门多交流，探讨那些备用方案，并在文献中发现与你研究相关的新问题和新思想。也许对于一个成功的学者而言，创造性是最大的挑战，拥有创造力即拥有了所研究领域的学术敏感性。对于一个博士生而言，努力使自己富于创造性的尝试永远都不算晚，而这也是将伟大的科学家和学术工匠区分开来的一个标志。去探讨那些学科内的重大问题、前沿问题，对业已形成的“传统智慧”保持怀疑之心，对包括导师在内的“学界权威”保持怀疑之心。不要畏惧与导师就学术问题展开争论，一是因为每个人的研究都有局限，二是因为真正的学者永远都对学术讨论持有开放态度。
9、主动的推进研究工作
积极主动地寻找研究相关的信息与建议，不要因其繁琐而敬谢不敏。因为你的导师也不可能做到对领域内所有问题的精通，因此有些时候你也需要摈弃“不好意思”的脸皮，去寻找其他人的 助。切忌几周的时间都不与你的导师和同门讨论自己的研究。如果在导师的团队还没有形成定期研讨制度，这就要靠你自己去创造这样的机会了。因为在你初涉科研的懵懂期，很容易脱离学术的正规轨道、同时也浪费大量的时间和资源。闭门造车不可取，只有走出蜀山摆脱门户之见，远赴长留向白子画学习，才能见证奇迹的出现。
10、多层次设计和评估自己的研究
将自己研究工作做一个分层预估，比如安全层面的工作可以保证自己以一种不那么出色但是很有保障的状态毕业；相对安全层面的工作指的是在前人有扎实研究基础的问题上做一些有挑战的尝试；挑战层面指的是针对学科前沿进行的探索，风险比较大，但是一旦成功，就是学术生涯中最重要的第一桶金。
11、尽可能多的参加学科领域内的研讨会
在参加研讨会时不要坐在后排也不要打盹，坐到前排听讲并且在提问环节提出针对性的问题。在这样的场合发言，对一个博士生来说，是一个能更好了解本研究领域和获得关注的好机会。这种场合，是很难自欺欺人的，往往你会获得真实的有益的信息。所以鼓起勇气，大方的提出自己的观点和问题。
12、创造一切机会参加学术会议和讲习班
如果你幸运的得到了会议或者讲习班的邀请，记住这也是工作的一部分而不意味着假期的开始。确保自己参加每一场发言，别管发言的主题在你心目中跟你研究的关联如何，你总会学到一些东西。在发言的间隙，抓紧时间在会场结交朋友，互通有无，这是你找到博士研究生毕业后出路的一个好机会。别把时间都用在跟你的老朋友或者同门的交流上，那样的机会的多得是。尽量去参加每一个招待会和晚宴，在那里你会获得大量的信息、认识大量的新朋友。同样，别在会议期间还跟你的同门们厮混在一起，记住在会议期间，各种各样的社交场合也是你开展工作的场合，都会给你带来对研究有益的收获。要是晚上的社交中喝多了，第二天记得狠狠的送自己一桶冷水，一定不要错过了早晨的会议。当你结束了会议，回去后记得将自己的收获跟导师汇报，与同门分享。
13、在与导师的每次会面时作好记录
除非你像黄蓉一样过目不忘，否则就跟她老公一样扎实记录。
14、加强锻炼自己的写作能力
许多学生薄弱的论文写作能力使他很难写出一篇好的文章，更不用说获得资助和期刊收录。参加一个写作课程、进行语法和拼写检查、向写作思路清晰和表达准确的人学习、吸取同门和家人提出的意见都很有必要。就你的研究项目列出计划，以保证在博士生期间可以写作3——4篇不错的论文。不要把论文写作留到快要毕业或者延期毕业的时候。从入学的第一天就开始计划，这样即使你前一两年没有成果刊发，但却获得了宝贵的经验。这些经验将会拓宽和加深你的知识面、优化你的实验并显著增加你在攻博期间发论文的几率。当然也会使你在写作论文的时候更加得心应手。另外，写作好的文献综述是很容易被收稿的，这是提高引用率的一条捷径。
guide for phd students (andpost-docs) aiming for a successful career in science
roughly in order of importance, and with apologies tothose who have worked these things out for themselves!
this is not an official qimr document and does not represent the viewsof qimr or its committees. it does, however, reflect the collective view ofsome senior qimr researchers who manage to enjoy very productive andintellectually rewarding careers in medical research, and who wish to pass onsome tips to those who are considering a similar career.
doing a phd should be fun, rewarding and be seen as a privilege. its the only time in your life that you canspend 100% of your working time learning to do research, finding out newthings, having freedom to pursue new areas and getting paid for it, without anyadministrative or other responsibilities. those who stick it out do so because,despite the relatively poor pay, long hours and lack of security, it is all wewant to do because of the intellectual satisfaction it brings, the excitementof discovery, the freedom to make your own work schedule, the opportunities fortravel, the pleasure of being in an international community of like-mindedpeople and (for some people) the possibility that we might actually help thehuman condition!
- choose a supervisor whose work you admire (find out first what work they have done and are doing, and search pubmed to see how productive they are!), located
in a department or institute with good infrastructure (equipment, patient samples, seminar series etc), and who has enough grant funding not to limit your project too much.
- get involved and take responsibility for your project. this is probably the most important transition from the honours year. to be successful in research you need to develop strong skills in independent and effective thinking, critical analysis, problem-solving, and time management. the only way to develop these skills is to take responsibility for your project. you need to immerse yourself in your research and exercise your mind with every experimental plan and every experimental outcome, including failures. embrace failures as challenges and training exercises for future successes, rather than looking around for people to blame. if you simply follow directions and close the door behind you at the end of the day you will never progress in research. tenacity is essential!
- work hard. don’t think you can get away with a 38-hour week. you will need to work long days all week, and for part of most weekends. that gets you to closer to a 50-60 hour week, which is what you need if you want a successful career in academia (or indeed in any professional career). if research is your passion, this is actually easy to do, and if it isn’t your passion, then you are probably in the wrong field. you should be going to work because you want to, not because you have to. of course, ultimately, the number of hours doesn’t matter – the only thing that matters is productivity, but unless you are a genius, and very organized, and very lucky, you will need to work this hard to get out enough good papers to make a good start in a scientific career. a three year stipend might seem like a long time at the start of a phd but three years goes very, very fast and it might be difficult or impossible (depending on its source) to get an extension into a 4th year. the people who go home with a full briefcase of work to do at home are the ones most likely to succeed. note who around you does this – aren’t they the ones who have ‘made’ it? the extra hours are the cause, not consequence of success!
- play hard. take some weekends off, and reasonable holidays, so you don’t burn out. but if your work is very dependent on people around you, don’t plan to work over christmas and new year and then take your holidays when your colleagues are all hard at work. on the other hand, if you are totally autonomous and not using equipment that is liable to break down, the holiday season is a great time to work in peace, and without competition for equipment. if youre stuck with a problem in late afternoon or early evening it might be more productive to go home and tackle it fresh the next day.
- read the literature, both in your immediate area, and around it; both the current and the past. you can’t possibly make original contributions to the literature unless you know what is already in there. see it as a challenge to put an interesting paper on your supervisor’s desk before they put it on yours! the best time to read papers is between experiments, or in the evenings or weekends. reading papers at your desk instead of doing experiments is a poor use of time. most people find it challenging to understand some papers when they start out. don’t let this put you off. instead, go back to the earlier literature or text books, ask questions and discuss the papers with your supervisor or other colleagues. use this as an opportunity to spark thought-provoking scientific discussions. your supervisor will be busy, but should always make time for these discussions (if not, find another one!).
- plan your days and weeks very carefully. if you are in the lab, begin the week, and each day, by carefully dovetailing experiments so that you have the minimum of down time. make lists of what you have to do tomorrow at the end of each day while today’s work is in your mind. this also allows your mind to think about the next day’s work while you sleep. unless you have domestic constraints, be flexible about what time you go home to cope with unexpected changes to this schedule (and remember, this is probably the most flexible part of your life – once you have children, this goes out the window, so make the most of it).
- keep a good lab book, and write it up every day. it will make thesis writing much easier, and will also help to protect any intellectual property that might one day make you rich. in particular, write up the details of your methods as you go along. they will easily convert to chapters in your thesis, and also to laboratory protocols which is useful for everyone.
- be creative. think, think, and think some more about what you are doing, and why, and whether there are better ways to go. don’t just see your phd as a road map laid out by your supervisor. talk to your supervisor, and others around you, about alternatives and watch the literature for new discoveries and ideas that are pertinent to your project. probably the toughest challenge for a successful scientist is to be creative, while keeping a sharp eye on feasibility. it is never too soon to start working on this aspect of your phd, and at the end of the day probably the single thing that most distinguishes a great scientist from work horse. ask big questions, and be sceptical about , even if it comes from your supervisor. don’t be afraid to argue with your supervisor on scientific grounds – they are not always right and should appreciate the debate.
- be active, not passive, in your approach to research. seek information and advice, and don’t assume that it will just diffuse into your head. your supervisor won’t know everything (and may be technically less than competent anyway!), so find the right people for advice and don’t be afraid to ask for it. don’t go for weeks without talking about your research with your supervisor and other members of the lab. if your supervisor doesn’t seek you out regularly, go and talk to him/her. when you are inexperienced it is very easy to get off track and waste valuable time and resources. those students and post-docs who sit back and wait for the magic to happen, or work in a vacuum, never get anywhere.
- try to keep a three-part portfolio of sub-projects that are ‘safe’, moderately safe, and challenging (could this be a nature paper if it works out?). that way you are pretty certain to get a phd, but might hit the jackpot, and have the thrill of a really exciting discovery.
- go to as many seminars as you can and all of them in your general area. but don’t just sit at the back like a sponge, or fall asleep; sit up the front and ask questions of the speaker in question time, or afterwards, and of your supervisor and others in the lab. students who speak up in this way gain a much better understanding of their field and are the ones who are really noticed. remember that at this point in your life it is difficult to make a fool of yourself. just having the courage to speak up is really applauded!
- make the most of any opportunities to attend a conference or workshop. if you are lucky enough to do so, don’t treat them like a holiday; they are work. make sure you go to every talk, no matter how relevant you think it is, or isn’t. you will always learn something. between talks, use every minute to meet new people, find out what they are doing, tell them what you are doing, and remember that this is where you are most likely to find a good post-doc lab. don’t spend all the time speaking only to people you already know or socialising with your lab; you can do that when you get back. receptions and dinners are not optional; these are where most networking takes place and you need to be there mixing with new people, not hanging around the ones you already know. likewise, don’t take your partner with you and spend all the free time with them; they can join you before the meeting starts, or after it finishes, but during the meeting, including the social events, you are at work. if you are hung over from all of the socialising, don’t miss the next morning’s session, just take a bucket in with you. and when you come back, tell your supervisor (who has probably paid for all or some of it out of their hard-won grants), and others in the lab, what you got out of the meeting.
- take a notepad and write down the action items when you meet with your supervisor, unless you have a perfect memory, and make sure they get done – or go back to explain why they can’t be done.
- practise your writing in any way you can. most students with a recent australian education have very poor writing skills, and this will severely impact on your ability to write a satisfactory thesis, get a grant, and get a paper accepted. do a course in writing (if you can find a good one), use the grammar and spell checks on word, try to learn from people around you who write clearly and concisely, and get feedback on everything you write from colleagues or even friends and family. plan your project so you can get at least 3-4 good (or 1-2 extremely good) papers out of your phd. don’t leave thesis writing until after your scholarship or candidature has expired. start writing from day 1, even if nothing you write in the first or second year ends up in your thesis, the experience will be invaluable. it will help to broaden and deepen your knowledge, prioritize experiments, and significantly increase your chances of publishing during, rather than after, your phd. it will also make writing your thesis much, much easier. in addition, a good literature review is often publishable, so that can be another option that will help to make your name, particularly since reviews get good citation rates.