Scientists have an unfortunate reputation of sometimes being socially awkward. While this doesn’t apply to all of us, everyone has some insecurities that can hinder our ability to make crucial contacts at networking events. But when 50% of all job hires are made via referrals, we can’t afford to miss out on making new connections at these events.

We’ve previously discussed many things you SHOULD do at networking events to increase your probability of success, but here, we’ll discuss the things you definitely SHOULDN’T do at networking events.

These “what not to do” behaviors are almost more important than what you should do because the damage that these behaviors can cause sometimes can’t be undone no matter how hard you try to overcompensate later with better behaviors.

Why? Because first impressions usually last forever.

First impressions are hard to change and even harder to reverse. So avoid giving someone a negative first impression of yourself by avoiding these five behaviors at networking events:

1) Don’t hold negative conversations.

Scientists who feel “stuck” in academia often have a negative attitude about almost everything, however, don’t let this come through in your conversations at networking events, ESPECIALLY with people you are meeting for the first time.

Don’t complain about your work, downplay or belittle your own accomplishments, or criticize the event itself. It’s easy to focus on the negative when you are frustrated with your current situation, but view the networking event as a lifeline, as a way out of academia – this should make you excited! Finally, A WAY OUT!!!

This should serve as a positive ray of light for you, so hold positive conversations. Instead of lamenting about all the problems you’re having (in the lab, with your advisor, etc.), shift your attitude and focus on problem-solving and finding solutions.

For example, if you love research, but hate academia, and you find yourself speaking to an Industry R&D representative at the event, talk about how you’ve recently learned a few new techniques and expanded your skillset. Then mention that you’re now hopeful you can find a position that utilizes these new talents to develop therapeutics for XYZ disease outside of academia. This is a much more positive spin on what could potentially be a frustrating situation back in the lab.

Always be looking forward and talking positively about what you want to do in the future instead of dwelling negatively on your past or current situation.

2) Don’t be glued to your smart phone the whole time. 

In today’s technology era, many of us use our smartphones as a crutch. If we find ourselves standing somewhere alone, we don’t want to be perceived as unimportant or clueless, so we immediately pull out our phones and try to look busy… however, most of us are merely checking Facebook or Instagram. Oh yes, we’re very busy indeed…

It may feel less scary to stare intently at our phones instead of trying to hold conversations with complete strangers, but looking at your phone isn’t going to get you a referral to your dream job. People are. So go talk to people.

Instead of using your phone as a safety net, put it away, and don’t look at it during the event.

If you find yourself suddenly standing alone, see this as an opportunity to go start a fresh conversation with someone new. Often times, you can get stuck talking to the same people for far too long because the conversation never seems to hit a natural stopping point, and speaking to one person all night who may not be a great contact for you is as equally ineffective as not speaking to anyone at the event.

So if you find yourself standing alone, don’t retreat to your pocket to find your phone. Instead, go find someone new to speak to and maximize the number of contacts you make at the event. The more connections you make, the higher the probability that you’ll succeed at sustaining a professional relationship that results in a job offer.

3) Don’t socialize with only your labmates or people you know. 

Another crutch that many of us lean on at networking events is spending time with people we already know, but this defeats the purpose of attending the networking event. If you spent the entire night only talking to people you know and likely see everyday, why did you bother going to the event in the first place?

Do not spend a lot of time talking to people you know at networking events. Instead, specifically seek out those you don’t know and get to know them. Make it a point to meet at least 3-5 people you don’t already know, including those with and without PhDs, at every event you attend.

Sure, you and buddy can jointly introduce yourselves to someone if you are uncomfortable approaching someone on your own, but huddling in a group 5 or more people from your own lab creates a circle that very few other people will attempt to infiltrate, leaving you with zero opportunities to meet someone new.

4) Don’t ignore the person standing alone.

Sometimes people have a tendency to ignore the people standing alone, assuming that they must be alone because they aren’t very important. Alternatively, some may think that these people would simply prefer to just be off on their own.

Ironically, think about point #2 above… When you were suddenly left alone, what did you do? Whip out your phone to avoid looking lonely or unimportant, right? But “looking busy” is usually a façade, because what are you really doing there? Checking Facebook and Instagram…

Consider the feelings you get when you’re standing alone and realize that when others are alone, they’re probably feeling the same way. The easiest way to help both of you is for you to approach the loner and strike up a conversation. Nervous that they don’t want to engage in conversation? Don’t be. They came to the networking event with the same goals as you – to meet people. Hence, they are expecting conversation with strangers. That’s your green light, so go for it!

Besides, people standing alone are the best people to approach because it’s far easier to make meaningful conversation in a one-on-one situation than it is in a circle of 3-4 (or more) people.

And although it may be less scary to sidle up to a group (almost unnoticeably in some cases), consider that it can be pretty hard to join the conversation in a circle of people because you’re often coming into it in the middle of the conversation. Then you’re left trying to figure out what they’re talking about first before you can add to the banter, AND it may take a while before you can even introduce yourself to the group.

All of these nuances are avoided when YOU begin the conversation, so target those loners and own the conversation (and the introduction) from the very beginning!

5) Don’t leave immediately after the last talk is over.

This is the worst thing you can do at a networking event because when the presentations are over, that’s when the magic begins.

Don’t convince yourself that just because the speakers provided their email addresses in their concluding slides that you’ve got everything you need to make a connection. True connections are made during face-to-face interactions and interactive conversation, not via digital back-and-forth email threads.

It will be much easier for someone to get to know you (read this as: “and want to refer you for a position”) when they can talk to you and interact with you. People are much less likely to recommend someone for a position who they have only “met” via email. Being able to see you, engage with you, get a sense of your personality, and maybe share a drink with you will go a long way in making connections that are more likely to pan out into potential employment opportunities.

So, after the last talk, plan on staying for the breakout mingling sessions. That western blot can wait another hour – it’s not going anywhere – but the connection to your dream job might be leaving in an hour, so capitalize on the time you have at the event! If you are truly “too busy” to stay for the whole event, skip the talks (although we do NOT recommend this!) and arrive at the start of the breakout sessions. This will be more worth your time. Again, you need to meet people, not just sit quietly and listen to presentations. Prioritize appropriately.

In sum, your time is valuable, so when you attend a networking event, take advantage of the opportunity and maximize your time with those in attendance. After all, you may not get a chance to meet them again (ever!), so don’t spend that time clinging to your smartphone or hanging out with your friends and labmates. Stay for the mingling sessions so that you can specifically meet new people, and in doing so, don’t be afraid to approach the loners – they’re the easiest targets! – and always keep your conversations on a positive note.

Of course, there are many other strategies that will help you be a better networker, but following these rules and avoiding these simple “don’ts” will increase your chances of being successful at networking events. Think about how you tend to approach networking events and consider incorporating some of these tactics!

** Give these tips a try at the next event you go to and let us know how it goes! **

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The “Permission Paradox” is the biggest career Catch-22 there is….

You can’t get the job without the experience, but you can’t get the experience without the job.

Everyone is bound to experience this issue at least once in their careers, but many people will experience it over and over again… whether you’re trying to land your first job after graduation or you’re being considered for a promotion to CEO after 20 years with the company, you’ve never held these respective roles before, so you inherently lack the experience necessary for these positions.

So what on earth do you do?

You have to find ways to get around the Permission Paradox by finding and gaining experience without the job.

This can seem like an insurmountable challenge, but here a few simple suggestions to help you gain the experience you need to demonstrate that you are, in fact, well suited for the position despite that you’ve never had those responsibilities before.

1) Get Credentials.

The easiest way to “gain permission” and be genuinely considered for a position is to obtain the proper credentials, which clearly state that you are qualified for the job.

For example, consider the mentality that an employer has when debating over hiring someone with a Ph.D. vs. a graduate student. Most of the time, the employer will automatically consider the Ph.D.-holding candidate to be smarter, better, and more qualified than the graduate student, even if the graduate student is nearing their defense date. The Ph.D. is a credential that tells the world that you have reached a certain level of achievement and are thus capable of performing at certain level.

This is just one example of a credential. In its most basic form, credentials are indeed degrees, however, credentials can also take slightly less formal forms as well.

For example, if you take a course on Business Management, that would be an incredibly helpful boost for you if you were applying for a position at a start-up company. Between two applicants – a Ph.D.-holder and a Ph.D.-holder who has some sort of training in business management – it is far more likely that the CEO or hiring manager of the start-up company will choose the candidate who has the business management background.

So, in addition to your degree, set yourself apart from your competition by finding a course or a program that you can take or participate in that will give you additional credentials to support the claim that you are a great – and possibly the greatest – candidate for a given job. This tactic is particularly key for transitioning from academic to non-academic positions.

2) Volunteer.

The best way to gain experience is to actually do it – well isn’t that the paradox itself? Yes, but you don’t actually need the JOB to get the experience in some cases.

You can volunteer in similar positions to get the experience you’ll need in order to get the job (wherein you’d actually get paid to do the same activity).

If you wish to stay in academia, you’ll need teaching experience, but as a postdoc, your job is to perform research, not teach. However, if you volunteer to give a guest lecture in an undergraduate or graduate course, you’ll gain some teaching experience. At some institutions, including Yale, there are even part-time paid positions for postdocs who ‘volunteer’ to teach these courses. This is obviously a win-win situation because you’d gain plenty of experience designing lectures and preparing lesson plans and you would also be compensated for some of your time.

Even if there is no compensation though, it’s important to forego instant financial gratification in order to secure the relevant experience necessary for your target job. Sometimes you have to put in the work before the true benefits come back to you ten-fold.

Either way, paid or not, these types of opportunities must be sought out on your own. No one will force you to teach a course (or even take a course to gain credentials) to make sure you are better prepared for your job interview.

3) Re-Envision your Existing Experience.

Many times, we have skills that employers are seeking, but they are disguised as discreet tasks or accomplishments that are irrelevant for the job in question.

For example, if you are applying to a job that lists project management skills as a critical requirement for the position, don’t merely skip over that application submission button. Realize that, as scientists, we do indeed have project management skills.

For your research project, you asked questions and consulted advice (i.e, did your market research), you designed and implemented experiments (i.e., drafted and executed a plan), collaborated with other postdocs and graduate students to get the job done (i.e., organized and led a team), assessed and reassessed the plan along the way as new data were acquired (i.e., performed reviews and assessments and redirected the plans/team accordingly), and eventually put the report together and published it (i.e., compiled a summary and completed the project).

Thus, even if your target employer isn’t interested in your research at all, what they will appreciate is the fact that, by doing that research, you have the desired project management skills they seek. However, they won’t view your experience this way unless you re-envision it for them in this manner. It’s about learning how to strategically sell yourself and your skillset.

For more examples of how you can Rethink and Reshape Your Skills, see our previous blog post dedicated to this topic.

4) Be Willing to Start at the Bottom.

Although it may not be exciting to think about, especially with an advanced degree, sometimes it pays (big time!) to swallow your pride and literally start at the bottom.

In many cases, postdocs and graduate students are overqualified for entry-level jobs, however, without directly relevant experience, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to break your way into a company at the level you desire or deserve.

In this case, simply getting your foot in the door is the best strategy… and that may mean you have to start at the bottom. But once you’re in, it is much easier to prove yourself worthy of a promotion.

If you’re at least present – at any level – in the company, you can volunteer to take on more projects and responsibilities with which you can demonstrate your true capabilities and highlight your potential. Often times this catches the attention of the higher-ups and allows you to climb the ranks to the position or pay-level that you actually deserve.

So don’t be afraid to start at the bottom, keeping in mind that a number of hires for senior positions actually occur internally from within companies!

Collectively, these strategies will help you overcome the Permission Paradox because, for any job application, despite that you couldn’t possibly know how to perform a role that you’ve never had before, you’ll undoubtedly be evaluated on two fronts: your track record (past experience) and your potential (future experience), and the strategies listed above address both of those critical evaluation criteria.

Your track record – i.e., experience and success rate – must be established before you even apply. This can be difficult to do without the job that gives you the experience you need to GET the job. However, if you can get credentials that prove your worth based on a somewhat standardized scale (whether it be a degree or specific course/program training), volunteer for positions that will give you similar enough experience to speak to in your interview and reference on your resume, and re-imagine your current skillset to format it in a way that applies to the job at hand, you will be able to establish a rather successful track record that should help you land the job.

Initially, your potential for success will shine through in your established track record, but using the last strategy – i.e., taking a lower-ranking job and working your way up to where you want to be – can also be a great way for you to demonstrate your potential once again after you’ve gotten a foot in the door. Once you’re there – regardless of how you got there – you are free to thrive in your position and create opportunities for yourself internally.

Thus, these approaches will undoubtedly help you navigate the ultimate career Catch-22 and allow you to break into your desired career track and achieve the status or position that you deserve.

** Give these strategies a try and let us know how you overcame the Permission Paradox! **

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Academic researchers who wish to leave academia often look for their ideal jobs. However, when you’ve only known one thing (i.e., academia) for so long, it’s hard to know what your ideal job is, let alone how to find it. Thus, trying to find your “dream job” straight out of academia is somewhat of a futile effort.

Instead, look for a great stepping-stone that can serve as a platform or foundation that will ultimately lead you to your dream career. And keep in mind that your “dream job” may change and evolve as you gain experience in the non-academic field.

Moreover, looking for a transitional position takes some of the pressure off of your job search. You don’t have to find the “perfect” job right away, and, in fact, it’s highly unlikely that you’d find your dream job right after graduate school or your postdoctoral fellowship anyways.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the average person changes job 11.7 times in their life, so while you may get close to your “dream job,” you probably won’t find your “forever position” right after your training period.

In some ways, it’s actually better to accept a transitional position, especially at the start, because each new job should be a learning experience that accomplishes two goals:

1. Diversify your skillset.
2. Expand your professional network.

First, with each new position, you should learn a new skill that will teach you something about the field that will better prepare you for your ultimate career.

Additionally, this new skill may teach you something about yourself and your aspirations – i.e., do I like this skill? Is this this skill necessary for my desired career? If so, do I still want to pursue that career path based on what I know now about this skill? These types of questions can help guide your career search.

Second, with each new position, you will inherently gain a larger professional network as well as the opportunity to exponentially increase the size of that new professional network using your new contacts.

As with the first goal, you should use your new network to learn more about the field you’re currently in, related fields, opportunities within these fields, etc., and see where conversations with these connections take you… because they might just take you to your next position.

By combining your new skill(s) and your newly expanded professional network, you will undoubtedly be in a better position to secure your next job, which may be closer to your ideal “dream job” than your current position.

Use your new network to not only help you find the next (possibly also transitional) position, but also to recommend you for this next job based on their ability to see and attest to your growth (i.e., those new skills you’ve developed) in this first position.

Then, after accepting the next new job, repeat the cycle. Apply the same rules as before – learn a new skill and expand your network – to get even closer to your ideal position and/or “dream job” because a career path/search is a constantly evolving journey.

So if you’re looking to leave academia, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to find the perfect job right away. Be willing to accept a position that will afford you plenty of opportunities to learn something new and meet a lot of people. Even if those jobs are slightly outside of what your current vision of your “dream job” is, accepting these roles can eventually lead you to the perfect career.

Additionally, given that you have only known academia, consider the fact that your view of a particular career path may not be accurate. As a result, you may secure your “dream job” and later realize that it is completely unsatisfying.

So keep an open mind when performing your first non-academic job search following your training period. Apply to variety of types of jobs within a given field of interest, and after being offered a position, ask yourself if you could learn something useful and meet a large amount of new people in that role. If the answers to both questions are ‘yes,’ then that position, even if it’s not your “dream job,” is worth accepting.

The bottom line: At every transition in your career, take the opportunity that provides you with the most potential for professional development and career growth. It may take you 11.7 tries, but eventually, this tactic will lead you to your dream career.

** Share how these tactics affect your non-academic career search! **

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The struggles that plague academics – i.e., the pressure to publish (and publish high), the current funding crisis, and the meager salaries that barely cover the monthly bills – can wear on academic researchers very quickly, driving us to seek alternative careers.

While these are valid reasons to leave academia, these struggles can leave us misguided in our career searches.

For example, publications give us prestige and notoriety. As academics, we are trained to strive for these abstract work goals, but these things won’t pay the monthly bills, and, in fact, incredibly successful students and postdocs get the same paycheck as unsuccessful trainees!

Additionally, feeling trapped in position with long hours and little pay may drive us to seek higher salaries. Larger paychecks will certainly make paying the bills easier, but does that mean we give up something important in exchange for the paycheck? Possibly. Probably.

For the average researcher looking to leave academia, the innate tendency is to look for a prestigious non-academic position with a high salary.

Most scientists leave academia because they are unhappy, but seeking prestige and money in your next position often lands you in an equally unsatisfying position.

So, how do we ensure that our alternative career searches yield fulfilling jobs?

We look for Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.

1. Autonomy

Most people don’t like to be micromanaged, and scientists take this to the extreme.

Researchers generally manage their own days – they plan and conduct experiments on their own time, decide when they arrive and leave each day, take breaks when they want, etc. There isn’t anyone hovering over them telling them exactly what to do and when. As long as they meet their deadlines, they are free to accomplish those goals however they can.

Because scientists are very independent, transitioning to a job that doesn’t provide autonomy will be just as frustrating as your current position but for different reasons.

So, in your non-academic job search, look for autonomy. Of course, a little teamwork is always expected, but for the most part, your new job shouldn’t deviate too far from the independence you’ve grown accustomed to.

2. Mastery

People thrive when they feel important and needed. One way to ensure that you will be an important and necessary addition to your team is to seek a position for which you can use skills that you have mastered. If you are the resident expert, the team undoubtedly needs your expertise.

Furthermore, when you can use skills that you’ve mastered, you generally perform well, and, as with any positive feedback loop, you thrive when you’re already doing a good job.

Additionally, using your strengths and performing well affects your confidence, too. Despite a need for change, it can be scary to trade something comfortable and familiar (i.e., academia) for something foreign and unknown. However, choosing a position that allows you to use your expertise will make this jump a little less dramatic and increase your chances of success in that new position… which in turn boosts your confidence, which helps you perform better, which further boosts your confidence, etc (positive feedback loop!).

So look for a role that plays to your strengths. Don’t accept a position that pays well but is a struggle. This will only provide daily frustrations that are not easily fixable without a huge time investment to learn a completely new skill.

3. Purpose

Lastly, look for purpose in your new position. Feeling as though your work makes a difference is supremely critical for maintaining motivation and job satisfaction.

If it didn’t matter whether or not you went to work and if the world wouldn’t notice if that job was never completed, then you won’t be happy in that position. Regardless of how well it pays or how great the hours are, without purpose, you won’t be happy.

So look for a position that gives your work meaning, and keep in mind that what’s important to someone else may not be important to you, so find a position that gives you the opportunity to do something that is important to YOU.

In sum, when scientists are dragged down by the pitfalls of academia, they can be enticed to seek prestige and salary in a new position, but these things likely won’t lead to a fulfilling job/career.

Instead, look for positions that afford you autonomy, mastery, and purpose. These aspects are associated with greater job satisfaction, and with better job satisfaction comes a happier work life. Thus, if you wish to leave academia because you’re unhappy, make sure you avoid non-academic positions that will leave you feeling equally unhappy. Find a position that gives you independence, plays to your strengths, and gives you a reason to get up and go to work every morning.

With autonomy, mastery, and purpose at the top of your priority list, your alternative career search is bound to find you a wonderfully satisfying non-academic position!

** Reprioritize your alternative career search and share how looking for autonomy, mastery, and purpose affects your search! **

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For those transitioning from academia to non-academic jobs, the fear of not getting hired due to a lack of skills or experience can be very real. However, scientists have many transferrable skills that are highly sought after by various companies.

For example, postdocs are essentially mini project managers – they design and implement experiments, manage students and collaborators, set timelines and schedules, keep projects within budget, organize data in presentable formats, and routinely meet deadlines.

Although we may not view these mundane tasks as “skills” per se, in the broader picture, they ARE skills. Specifically, they are project management skills, and numerous companies higher project managers every day.

Thus, to be successful applicants in non-academic job searches, we must step back, critically analyze our skillsets, and identify how our skills could be applied in different scenarios.

For example, those interested in technology transfer should recognize that the back-and-forth process between companies and patent examiners is very similar to the peer review process necessary for publishing articles. Highlighting your abilities to accept criticism, reassess your document, improve it, and successfully resubmit it demonstrates that you do indeed have experience – and success – in this type of banter. If worded strategically, you would be a prime candidate for the tech transfer company to interview and possibly hire.

The key is describing these skills in profession-matched language so that your potential future employer “gets it” because if you phrase your skills in the most basic and simplistic manner, the deeper meaning is lost. For your skills to truly be “transferrable,” you must highlight exactly HOW your background gives you experience in the specific areas they are looking for.

Thus, as scientists conducting a non-academic career search, we need to rethink and reshape our skills such that employers see the value in hiring someone with transferrable skills who may not have directly relevant experience.

It’s about learning to sell yourself using the right marketing tools for a given audience, but don’t let the thought of selling yourself overwhelm you. Whether you realize it or not, you’re already a salesman – as a researcher, you regularly sell your data to various audiences to convince them that your conclusions are the most logical explanations. Just apply those same abilities to your resume and cover letter to sell the argument that you would be a great fit for the job based on the data you provide, i.e., the skills you highlight, which you have reshaped to demonstrate that you possess the needed attributes listed on the job posting.

Here are some examples of how to reshape your skills:

Written Communication Skills:

Basic Skill: You’ve published a few papers – one in Nature – and an invited review.

Reshaped Skill: Excellent written communication skills with the ability to cater the language to the target audience; published four primary research articles in top-tier journals, including Nature, for experts in the field and authored a solicited review of the literature for non-experts.

Oral Communication Skills:

Fact: You’ve given talks at conferences for which your abstract was selected from a large submission pool, and you’ve won a presentation award at an on-campus function.

Reshaped Skill: Excellent oral communication skills; gave award-winning presentations at local symposia and was selected from an applicant pool of 2,500+ to present at a/n inter/national conference.

An alternative example of (written/oral) communication skills:

Fact: You enacted change in a program.

Reshaped Skill: Excellent communication skills; successfully pitched amendments for the graduate program to the Executive Curriculum Board at [Institution] that are in effect today.

Project Management Skills:

Fact: You manage your research project, and you have collaborators and students working with you.

Reshaped Skill: Successfully managed a highly collaborative inter/national team of scientists, clinicians, statisticians, and students to identify genes mutated in specific cancers; pivotal findings will be/are published in top-tier journals.

Leadership Skills:

Fact: You were the President of a University group.

Reshaped Skill: Served as the President of the Postdoctoral Association at [Institution]; implemented numerous workshops to promote career development, increased membership by 27%, and secured funding for future events and programs.

Multitasking Skills:

Fact: You simultaneously manage your research project(s), those who work with you, your presentations, writing assignments, meetings, and deadlines.

Reshaped Skill: Excellent ability to multitask; simultaneously manage 2-3 different research projects, while also mentoring students, writing papers and grants, preparing presentations, attending conferences, and meeting strict deadlines.

These examples highlight how we can rethink our skills to demonstrate that, although we may not have direct experience in a given field, we certainly possess the skills necessary to adapt to a new setting quickly.

There are many more ways to reshape your basic skills into transferrable skills that many companies are seeking in job candidates, so step back, critically analyze your skillset, and find ways to re-envision and sell yourself – and your skills – in a non-academic setting.

** Critically analyze your skillset and share with us how you’ve reshaped your skills! **

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To begin exploring alternative career paths, first consider what aspects of research you find the most – and the least – enjoyable, and let these preferences guide your career search.

For example, if you love experimentation, troubleshooting, and making discoveries but hate writing up reports and/or presenting data, a Research Associate position at a pharmaceutical company would be a good fit for you. Many companies hire researchers to brainstorm and test new ideas, but they’ll often hire science writers to ultimately compose a publication or a press release. This divides the tasks, allowing you to focus your attention on the aspects of science and research that you enjoy most.

Alternatively, if you are easily frustrated with experimentation and troubleshooting but love writing up a finished project, a career in science/medical communications would be a perfect fit for you. Numerous communications companies help larger pharmaceutical companies strategically align their new products and tell their stories in publications, PowerPoint presentations, and marketing pamphlets. In this case, you would only be responsible for the final positioning of data that someone else acquired, allowing you to avoid the parts of science and research that you find most frustrating.

Identifying the specific activities that you enjoy can be challenging, especially if you haven’t given it much thought. Fortunately, there are free services available that can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Below are two different self-guided skills assessments that will identify your current skillset and help to define the types of careers for which you would be well suited.

1) Careerealism

Careerealism is company that helps job seekers find the perfect job fit by helping them identify their professional persona from the eight that they’ve defined: 1) the Mentor, 2) the Researcher, 3) the Warrior, 4) the Superconnector, 5) the Educator, 6) the Builder, 7) the Optimizer, and 8) the Visionary.

Each of these professional personas has different strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, they are not defined in the literal sense, i.e., an “Educator” isn’t necessarily a teacher/professor, but rather someone who excels at communicating information – in emails, documents, oral presentations, etc. For more details about each professional persona, visit their webpage.

As you go through the descriptions of the different personas, you may find that you relate to more than one type of persona. This is natural, as each of us possesses a variety of skills. The key is identifying which skills are your strongest.

Careerealism provides a quiz that can easily pinpoint which ones are our strong suits. With a short series of 20 “would you rather?” questions that takes less than a few minutes to complete, we can see a breakdown of where are preferences and tendencies lie. Take the quiz here.

Once you know your strengths, it will be much easier to identify ideal careers for you. For example, after taking the quiz, you may discover that you are indeed an Educator even if you’ve never thought of yourself as one. And let’s say that you are equal parts an Educator and a Visionary. Knowing this information may help you redirect your alternative career search, focusing more on leadership roles that require effective communication to get large groups of people to work together efficiently on long-term projects.

This service can certainly open your eyes to strengths you didn’t realize you had. You can then begin researching jobs that specifically require those skills or use Careerealism’s paid services to help you leverage your persona(s) to get your dream job.

Alternatively, you can use other free services to match your specific skills, not personas, to specific jobs.

2) Oystir

Oystir is company that will ask you to identify your skills as well as the degree to which you have mastered these skills, and based on your self-declared skillset and levels of proficiency, Oystir will generate a list of jobs that are seeking candidates with your qualifications.

To use the service, first create a free account and begin by selecting a category on the left, i.e., “Biology Skills.” Within each category, you’ll find different bubbles/circles with different topics. If you have experience with a given topic, i.e., “Bacterial Culture,” select that bubble. The next view will provide you with an opportunity to define your level of expertise with this particular skill. For example, 1) I have no/very limited experience, 2) I’ve learned the basics, 3) I have experience but need help, or 4) I execute complex experiments by myself. After selecting the most appropriate statement and clicking “Complete,” you’ve added this skill and skill level to your skillset.

In addition to experiment-based skills, Oystir also includes categories such as Business, Finance, Outreach, Writing, Teaching, Engineering, and Manufacturing to help you parlay your research skills into diverse, non-academic roles for which you may already posses some basic skills.

After completing the assessment, Oystir filters out jobs that meet your qualifications. By clicking on the “Job Matches” tab, you can see the long list of jobs that are seeking candidates with your specific expertise. Then, just click on the jobs that interest you to learn more, and either go straight to the application or save the job in your “Favorites” for later.

It’s that simple.

Although both Oystir and Careerealism provide similar assistance in terms of identifying your strengths and weaknesses, there are a few key differences.

1) The main difference is that Oystir uses specific skills to identify good job fits for you, whereas Careerealism works more in the abstract to describe features of a position that you should seek out. Depending on your personality, one may be better suited for your alternative career search than the other.

2) Oystir is specifically geared towards helping PhDs and other scientists make the transition from academia to non-academic positions, whereas Careerealism is a universal service for all job seekers regardless of their background.

3) Oystir is ultimately a database of jobs; thus, after completing the skills assessment, you can be matched to specific job listings, whereas Careerealism does not provide this additional application.

Despite their differences, both Careerealism and Oystir provide excellent services that can help researchers begin to explore alternative career paths by first identifying their strengths and weaknesses. Many individuals are often met with limited success when it comes to non-academic job searches mainly because they are applying for jobs that are not a great fit for them; thus, the employer is likely to choose a different candidate. Better prepare yourself by first performing an in-depth skills assessment and letting this assessment guide your alternative career search.

** Perform your own skills assessment and share what you learn about yourself! **

Share your thoughts below by clicking the “Leave a Reply” link or by clicking the chat bubble in the top right of the post.

Welcome to the 2015-2016 academic year!

Hopefully, everyone had a great summer and you’re ready to get back into the academic groove. With a fresh start to a new year, it’s the perfect time to do a little self-reflection, assess your current situation, and set new goals for the upcoming year. One way to accomplish this feat is by filling out/updating your Individual Development Plan.

Recently, the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD) and many universities have implemented the use of Individual Development Plans, or IDPs, to formally assess a trainee’s progress both in the lab and in terms of career development.

At some institutions, annual IDPs are required before reappointments and additional grants or funding can be awarded or utilized. As such, many researchers find IDPs to be somewhat of a nuisance; they’re just more paperwork that simply gets in the way of doing research.

However, given that the percentage of science trainees that ultimately secure tenure-track faculty positions is less than 15-20%, IDPs should be viewed as platforms that facilitate and jumpstart alternative career searches.

However, the training that graduate students and postdocs receive in academia does not prepare them for careers outside of traditional benchwork. To be successful in non-academic careers, trainees must explore and hone additional skillsets on their own time.

But what skills should each trainee seek out and develop? That depends on their interests, but many trainees are unaware of what interests them outside of the lab because they have never spent the time to truly reflect on what aspects of science and research they enjoy most.

This is where the IDP can help.

The IDP forces students and postdocs to begin thinking about these things early in their research careers. For many trainees, the realization that they most likely will not secure a tenure-track position comes too late, possibly at the end of a 5+ year span as a trainee. As they are applying for jobs, they may realize that they only have research-specific skillsets, which may leave them jobless if they cannot land a coveted faculty position – which is no easy feat in a densely packed field of highly qualified candidates all vying for the same few positions.

These trainees could have spent those 5+ years developing other skillsets on the side, which would have ensured a viable back-up plan when it came time to apply for jobs.

Without the forced exercise of sitting and reflecting on one’s progress, current skillset, interests, and desired skillsets, these alternative opportunities will be squandered. Thus, the IDP should be viewed as a tool for career success and job security, not just more paperwork.

Every IDP update should 1) identify accomplishments over the past year, 2) set short-term and long-term goals for one’s research and career development, 3) prioritize projects and identify any barriers that may hinder their progress, 4) provide constructive criticism in both directions (mentor and trainee), and 5) clarify expectations for the upcoming year regarding both research and career/skill-building goals and discuss any disagreements about these perceived goals.

For example, one topic that could arise in an annual IDP meeting between a mentor and a trainee is that the trainee needs to develop better writing skills. These would be valuable for both academic and non-academic positions later in the trainee’s career. Writing is critical for securing grants, publishing papers, and submitting abstracts/securing speaking positions at conferences in academia. Additionally, excellent writing skills can be carried over into a career in Medical Communications, Editing and Publishing at the editorial level, and a number of other non-academic professions that require writing skills in order to compose cohesive and logical arguments on behalf of a particular company.

In this scenario, the IDP meeting may conclude by deciding that the trainee should enroll in a university-sponsored science communication and/or writing class to develop and hone these skills. Alternatively, the mentor may suggest that the trainee begin putting together an application for a grant or fellowship to get experience writing up their preliminary data in a logical and easy-to-follow manner.

Identifying gaps and making plans to develop additional skills is vital and essential for both the trainee’s current and future positions, inside and outside of academia; thus, the IDP meeting benefits both the mentor and the trainee.

Additionally, the IDP update should serve as an opportunity for the trainee to identify any interests or areas of the scientific process that they are passionate about.

Without the IDP and the forced self-reflection that accompanies the exercise of filling out an IDP, these opportunities to begin developing necessary skills early is sure to be missed, which will only lead to desperation when it comes time to apply for jobs.

Moreover, some trainees may be forced out of their current positions earlier than expected due to funding crises. Then what? If you develop additional skills early, you will always be prepared, and to develop skills early, you must first identify the gaps. That’s what the IDP helps to define, so take advantage of it!

Resources:

If your institution does not require yearly IDP updates or meetings between you and your mentor, there are still ways for you to independently take a proactive approach to assessing your skills, identifying technical gaps, and taking appropriate actions to fill these gaps.

1) Science Careers provides a free service, known as myIDP, to help students and postdocs identify their strengths and weaknesses, set training goals, and stay on track. Although some people may shy away from self-guided programs due to the discipline required to keep up with them, this free electronic service overcomes this potential setback by sending you monthly reminders to keep you accountable to your goals and help you stay on track.

2) The National Postdoctoral Association also provides a series of Core Competencies – with a checklist – that can help postdocs (and students!) identify gaps in their skillsets, seek out relevant training opportunities, and ultimately leverage their training into alternative careers.

3) Finally, if the thought of leaving academia after years of research upsets you, there are ways to advance your research-specific career now using similar IDP-like approaches to identify gaps and develop core skills that will be necessary to make you a competitive candidate in the academic job market. Vitae provides a service known as the Researcher Development Framework to help researchers improve their skills and master aspects of research that extend beyond the benchtop. There is a free trial option for the service, so if research is where you know you want to be, invest in yourself and give this service a try – it’s a competitive world out there!

In summary, if you are required to fill out and update an IDP regularly, don’t just view it as more paperwork that you merely have to get through. Take advantage of the opportunity to reflect on your accomplishments, skills, and goals to better prepare yourself for the job market, whether it be the academic or non-academic job market. The earlier you begin developing additional skills and preparing yourself for a variety of careers, the more successful you will be at the conclusion of your training period. And with a slew of resources available to you to help you accomplish these goals, there’s no reason to delay investing in yourself, so take a moment, perform a critical self-assessment, and start the new year off on the right foot!

** Take the IDP self-assessment and let us know how you plan to extend your skillset! **

Share your thoughts below by clicking the “Leave a Reply” link or by clicking the chat bubble in the top right of the post.

Over the past few weeks our Summer Series on Good Writing brought to us by guest blogger, Dianna Bartel, has highlighted several basic principles of clear writing. Of course, this has only touched the surface of effective scientific writing and general writing principles. Thus, Dianna leaves us with reviews of the writing resources that she frequently consulted while writing these posts.

Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations (Second Edition, 2013)

Angelika Hofmann

http://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Writing-Communication-Proposals-Presentations/dp/0199947562/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434371817&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=angelica+hoffman+scientific+writing

Angelika Hofmann is a distinguished authority on scientific communications at Yale. As the Deputy Director at the Office of Development, she puts effective communication into practice to lead fundraising efforts for Science and International Initiatives. In this comprehensive volume, Hofmann details all levels of professional scientific writing – from grant proposals, research statements, and résumés to preparing academic presentations and posters.

The book is very well organized and easy to scan for useful tips. There are abundant examples and self-help exercises related to many scientific writing contexts with special emphasis on the needs of non-native speakers in various sections. This book is my primary reference for scientific communication… that is, when I can find it, as it often finds its way onto my colleagues’ desks, too!

The Elements of Style (Fourth Edition, 1999)

Strunk and White

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434371772&sr=1-1&keywords=strunk+and+white

Written in 1918 by William Strunk, this little book was revised in the 1950s by his former pupil, EB White – the one and the same EB White of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little – hence the custom of calling it “Strunk and White.” This slim 100-page volume is a wonderfully succinct guide on style choices. Although the main text makes bold statements that sound like rules, there are few hard-and-fast rules of grammar here. Rather, this is one point of view on writing choices such as omitting needless words, using concrete language, and placing emphatic words at the end of a sentence (any of this sound familiar??). There is also a useful chapter on misused words and expressions, which is a great reference to quickly check the use of words like farther and further or that and which. This remains a classic reference and is definitely worth consulting.

The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21^st Century (2014)

Steven Pinker

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sense-Style-Thinking-Persons/dp/0670025852

Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist, and popular science writer at Harvard University. He draws on research and his deep knowledge of linguistics to give his writing principles a scientific basis. This is a style manual, so rather than giving a list of rules, he provides advice on word choice, punctuation, sentence construction, relationships between sentences, and function of paragraph breaks.

The best advice in this book is contained in the first three chapters where Pinker stresses that reading what we write should be easy and painless. In discussing the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of writing clearly, he provides entertaining examples of exceptional and horrible writing, cartoons, and other anecdotes. He also demonstrates how to take apart a piece of good writing – from best selling literature to obituaries – to see what makes it tick.

The middle of the book is a dense guide on syntax and creating textual coherence. Though this part of the book gets bogged down in technical details, it is full of good advice. For example, Pinker uses syntax tree diagrams to illustrate both the cause of and solution to problems like misplaced modifiers (e.g., She’s the mother of an infant daughter who works 12 hours a day).

Though it does not lend itself to easy skimming for topics of interest, the book is full of valuable information – if nothing else, treat yourself to the first three chapters.

Grammar Girl (blog)

Mignon Fogarty

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve writing. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, Grammar Girl gives clear explanations of complex grammar questions with helpful examples and memory tricks to help recall and apply the rules. Grammar Girl excels at mnemonics: such as a very easy noun to remember that affect is a verb and effect is a noun (AVEN x2). But even if these memory tricks don’t appeal to you, useful and often entertaining explanations accompany the topic at hand.

Whitesides’ Group: Writing a Paper

George M. Whitesides

[Advanced Materials, 2004,16,15:1375–1377] DOI: 10.1002/adma.200400767

Don’t have time to delve into books on scientific and research writing? Then this is the resource for you – a 3-page paper on writing a scientific paper. George Whitesides is the author of more than 950 scientific articles and has one of the highest h-indexes of all living chemists. Clearly this successful Harvard chemist knows a thing or two about effective scientific writing.

The manuscript details the “outline method” of writing research papers. Whitesides suggests that an outline should present the key data and general organization of the paper. He also advises that outlines should be developed with our advisor. Furthermore, writing should begin only when the outline is finalized rather than first writing a draft of the entire paper (which can yield significant revisions from co-authors and advisors).

This brief manuscript is replete with sound advice. For instance, a key point at the outset is that “a good outline for the paper is also a good plan for the research program.” In other words, it is never too early to start writing; a paper is not simply an archive of completed research but is also a structure for planning research in progress. The final column of the paper even has a several general points on writing style. These three pages are definitely worth perusing.

Collectively, these resources will help you quickly improve your writing style, yielding great benefits in the long run, both inside and outside of academia. Many of these tips are summarized in this Summer Series on Good and Effective Writing, but we encourage you to further investigate how you can improve your writing skills, as effective writing will serve you well in any career path you ultimately choose!

Finally, we at CNSPY would like to extend a huge “Thank You!” to our guest blogger, Dianna Bartel, for providing her insights over the past few months in this Summer Blog Series.

** Let us know about any other scientific writing resources that you have found helpful! **

Share your thoughts below by clicking the “Leave a Reply” link or by clicking the chat bubble in the top right of the post.

This week, we continue our Summer Series on Good Writing brought to us by guest blogger, Dianna Bartel. After discussing why good writing is important, where to start, and which words are most effective, Dianna now explains how to put those words in the right place – both in the sentence and in the paragraph – to make our writing more clear and effective. Here’s Dianna:

Last time we discussed the importance of choosing simple and precise words. Now we move on to placing our carefully chosen words into sentences. As readers, we interpret sentences based more on the location of words, not the choice of words. In other words, readers expect a general format in each sentence. And no matter how perfect our word choice is, if we do not place the words in the right location, our meaning will be confused and muddled.

Here are some key points to consider regarding the importance of location in constructing sentences and paragraphs.

1) Establish importance in the sentence

Sentences can be chunked into two big pieces: the beginning and the end. The beginning of the sentence serves to define the topic of the sentence; hence, this is the topic position. The end of a sentence is where we automatically place more emphasis; thus, this is the stress position. And simply switching the words between these two positions will make a huge difference in how our sentences are interpreted.

Consider this example:

Topic                           Stress

Times are hard, but you deserve a raise.

You deserve a raise, but times are hard.

The exact same words, but the location of the words gives these sentences entirely different meanings. The first sentence sounds as though we can expect a raise, whereas the second sentence stresses the reason that we probably cannot get a raise. Either one is a correct sentence depending on what we want to communicate, but if we place the least important part of a sentence in the stress position, our readers will likely perceive our sentence as weak and not convincing. So bottom line – place the most important information at the end of the sentence.

2) Establish a main idea in the paragraph

We can think of each paragraph as a unit of thought that is focused on a single main topic. This is also true, and perhaps more obvious, at the level of sentences. Most writers get this part intuitively right; it is unlikely that we would write a single sentence about two separate topics. However, at the level of paragraphs, it is surprisingly common to see this principle violated. We have all read paragraphs that seem to have no clear point or drift among unrelated ideas. To ensure that our paragraphs are cohesive and effective, every paragraph needs to focus on one specific topic.

To keep paragraphs focused, the main point is stated in a topic sentence. We can think of the topic sentence as a signpost — something that alerts readers to the most important idea to follow in the paragraph. And when read in sequence, our topic sentences will provide a sketch of our document. Thus, topic sentences help protect our readers from confusion by guiding them through our reasoning.

Topic sentences also help shift our readers’ focus from one point to another (also called ‘making a transition’). Readers use topic sentences as mental cues for the information they will read in the rest of the paragraph, so the topic sentence usually appears at, or near the beginning of, a paragraph. Furthermore, when the topic sentence comes first, readers can pick up information about the content of our paper quickly and do not have to search for the main points.

To write a topic sentence, think about the information that needs to be communicated. What point do we want to emphasize? What do we want readers to understand? The answers to these questions will help formulate appropriate topic sentences. Consider the following examples of topic sentences:

Topic                                                               Stress

After nerve injury, there is evidence of synaptic reorganization in the CNS.

There is evidence of synaptic reorganization in the CNS after nerve injury.

The first sentence signals that the paragraph to follow will focus on the synaptic organization. It would be confusing to read a paragraph following this sentence that only talks about other details of nerve injury but doesn’t give further mention of the synaptic reorganization. Rather, we would expect such a paragraph to follow the second topic sentence.

Finally, if we have written a paragraph and wonder whether it might discuss more than one topic, split the paragraph into two separate paragraphs. Repeat as necessary. Short, clear paragraphs are better than long, rambling ones.

In summary, over the last few weeks we have highlighted some of the basic points of sound, effective writing. But there are plenty of principles that we haven’t even touched on. After all, there are entire books and classes devoted to scientific writing, which is precisely what we will end the series with next time – a review of various scientific writing resources.

** Let us know what else you think about constructing clear sentences and paragraphs **

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This week we continue our Guest Blogger Summer Series on Good Writing by Dianna Bartel. Last time, she discussed where to start and how to get started on a writing project. This week, she takes it up a notch and specifically helps us choose the most appropriate words to get our points across clearly and concisely. Here’s Dianna:

When writing about complex ideas and concepts, it’s easy to get pulled into complex writing. Yet complex writing only spurns more complexity and does little to convey our results and insights. Here, we consider some general principles and guidelines that can improve the clarity and sophistication of our writing, beginning with the smallest unit – words.

1) Use precise words

Quantifying results is the most easily recognizable way to develop precise scientific writing. Seems obvious enough – after all, we are reporting quantified results. Yet imprecise words can still sneak into our writing. For instance, rather than “the temperature increased over several hours,” it is better to exactly state that, “the temperature increased over four hours.” Similarly, as opposed to “the cells divided regularly,” opt to explicitly state “the cells divided at regular four-hour intervals.”

These are common imprecise words that can usually be clarified:

Imprecise words 

Few

Frequently

Many

Most

Occasionally

Often

Regularly

Several

Temporary

2) Use simple words

Science requires technical and often complicated terms. Therefore, to keep our writing from being too dense, we can choose simple words for the rest of the sentence. This is especially true in sentences that are already burdened with several complex terms and ideas. For instance, the dense words below can often be replaced with simpler words, assuming that we do not sacrifice precision and accuracy.

Dense                                    Simple                 

Ameliorate                             Enhance, Improve

Attenuate                              Reduce, Decrease

Augment                               Enhance, Increase

Elucidate                               Explain, Show

Eradicate                               Eliminate

Etiology                                 Cause

Methodology                         Method

Proximal                                Close

Utilize                                     Use

3) Omit unnecessary words and empty phrases

Nearly every form of scientific writing is space-limited. Grant proposals, most journal articles, and abstracts all have word or page limits, so there is a premium on concise writing. Besides, adding superfluous words and phrases distracts rather than engages our reader. Many of these unnecessary phrases are those we frequently use in speech, where they buy us some time as we’re pulling together our thoughts. But on the page, these phrases usually weigh down our thoughts and always cut into precious space.

Here are some empty phrases that creep into writing that can be simplified:

Dense                                                Simple  

By means of                                      By, With

Despite the fact that                          Although

Due to the fact                                  Because

During the course of                         During

Fewer in number                               Fewer

For the purpose of                            For

If conditions are such that                 If

In light of the fact that                       Because

In order to                                         To

In the event that                                If

In spite of the fact                             Although

Has the capacity to                          Can

Obtain estimates                              Estimates

Offers confirmation                           Confirms

Shows a peak                                   Peaks

4) Use qualifiers sparingly

Qualifiers are words that modify or limit the meaning of other words; like the hundreds of words or phrases that can be used to express possibility, approximation, or doubt (some examples below). Using this cautious language has an important place in scientific writing, but using two, three, or even four synonyms is unnecessary and depletes the strength of our point: “may be possible” (better: it is possible), “seems to suggest” (better: suggests), “rather likely to indicate” (better: indicates), “may be seen as rather likely” (better: is likely). We only need to express the possibility or doubt once; one modifier is enough.

Adjective Qualifiers

Apparent

Possible

Presumed

Probable

Putative

Supposed

Adverb Qualifiers

Apparently

Arguably

Fairly

In general

Likely

Perhaps

Possibly

Presumably

Probably

Rather

Somewhat

Unlikely

5) Choose abbreviations carefully

Like jargon and technical terms, abbreviations are in no shortage among our pages. Too many abbreviations can confuse our readers, but when used effectively they can speed up reading and ease the understanding of the subject. Take for example a study focused on the ‘nucleus of the solitary tract’ that refers to this brain structure 80 times in a seventeen-page paper. That’s 400 words, or a long paragraph, of those same five words! But by shortening to the standard abbreviation (nTS), I eliminated over 300 of those words. This is an obvious example; however, just because there is a standard abbreviation for a term does not mean we need to use it, especially if it only appears a few times. A good rule of thumb is to abbreviate words if they appear at least 10 times in a ten-page document.

In addition to field-specific abbreviations, there are standard abbreviations, such as kg, cm, and other forms of measurement, as well as those that are generally considered common knowledge, such as DNA and GFP (still a good idea to define and spell these out the first time they appear if possible though). And finally, there are several Latin abbreviations, some of the most common of which follow:

Common Latin abbreviations

e.g., (exempli gratia) = for example

…as demonstrated by earlier studies (e.g., Smith, 1999).

i.e., (id est) = in other words

…the table includes the total distance; i.e., it does not include individual measurements

et al., (et alia) = and others

…Smith et al., 1999

cf.,  (conferre) = compare with

…these results revealed increased numbers of cells (cf. results reported by Smith, 1999)

viz., (videlicet) = namely

…we replicated our earlier results (viz., Smith and Smith, 1999)

6) Avoid Zombies

And last, but not least, we end with some safety precautions to avoid zombies. 🙂

Technically speaking these lifeless monsters are called nominalizations: making something into a noun. For instance, taking a lively verb and adding a suffix like –ance, -ment, or -tion, creates a lifeless and passive noun. So instead of examining a result, the examination of a result occurs; rather than assessing a new technique, we implement an assessment.

The writing scholar, Helen Sword, terms these words ‘zombie nouns’ because “they lumber across the page without a conscious agent directing their motion.” She has even animated this point in a TED-Ed video (a very entertaining 5 min). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNlkHtMgcPQ

Zombie nouns often shift our writing into a passive voice and can turn our writing into a night of the living dead. Dangerously, scientific writing is a breeding ground for zombie nouns. This is not to say that we cannot use nominalizations; however, we should beware that they usually muddy our sentences and decrease clarity.

Consider these examples from the eminent psycholinguist Steven Pinker:

Example 1:

Dense: Comprehension checks were used as exclusion criteria.

Simple: We excluded people who failed to understand the instructions.

Example 2:

Dense: Prevention of neurogenesis diminished social avoidance.

Simple: When we prevented neurogenesis, the mice no longer avoided other mice.

Plus, when we use verbs instead of their related nouns, we often use fewer words:

Example 3:

9 words: Helen Sword makes an observation that nominalizations decrease clarity.

7 words: Helen Sword observes that nominalizations decrease clarity.

Here are some of the typical zombies:

Zombie nouns

Acquisition

Advancement

Assessment

Communication

Consideration

Comprehension

Division

Examination

Extension

Implementation

Perception

Placement

Postponement

Presentation

Proliferation

Transformation

Utilization

In summary, following and implementing these 6 basic tips will drastically improve our writing, seemingly overnight. They are simple quick-fixes that can make a big difference. We’ve all read papers that are exhausting to read, and we’ve all read papers that were enjoyable to read. Go back and see if you can figure out why one was mentally exhausting and the other wasn’t – it’s probably because the easier-to-read paper followed these tips!

Make sure your next paper falls into the “enjoyable to read” category by following these 6 pieces of advice.

Check back with us next time for Good Writing Part III when we discuss how to use our carefully chosen words to construct whole sentences and paragraphs.

** Let us know what else you think about words, words… or words **

Share your thoughts below by clicking the “Leave a Reply” link or by clicking the chat bubble in the top right of the post.