Dr. Method and Theory tells his students that the only way to get good at reading academic journals is to keep reading them. No amount of pouting or pixie dust will instantly transform a grad student into a smooth reader of complicated articles.
If I keep writing, I tell myself, if I write a fuckload, if I write every day, then one day the words won't flow like treacle through a pinhole. My brain feels like treacle. Have I ever eaten treacle?
BED, Juniper. Spare me and go to bed!
8 comments:
The neat thing about treacle is that it will always flow, even through much smaller spaces than a pinhole. Don't ever store a jar of molasses upside down to get the last bit out. No matter how tightly the lid is screwed on, the molasses will work its way out. There's no stopping it.
And it does pour just fine once you warm it up a bit. :)
Now I need to make some molasses cookies.
Dr. Method has given you you an incredible piece of advice. None of us have any magic superpower or have had the heavens open and grace us with the ability to be perfect at something scientifc on the first attempt. These skills are perfected with practice. Stick with it, sweet Juniper.
Dr. Method is correct. I would add to that advice that you have to read bad papers as well as good papers. The only way you will ever be able to tell them apart is by reading both.
Essentially all papers have flaws, as do all experiments, all ideas, all models, all simplifications and all icons (even Dr Isis, who distracts us from her feet of clay by dressing them in Naughty Monkeys ;).
If you look for flaws you will always find them. The trick to reading papers (and in successful relationships) is not to look for what is wrong, but for what is right. Usually you can’t tell from a single paper. You have to read the references, the reference’s references, the papers by the proponents as well as the papers by the detractors.
Only by knowing what is right can you expand on it.
Tortoise and the hare, Juniper!
I'm not here for the quantity, but the quality, of your posts.
There's no extraneously verbose meanderings here, just the awesomeness that you share, Ms. Shoe!
Thank you all for your encouragement! I value it so much that I did not respond at once to your comments; I didn't want to get all Lifetime movie saccharine on you. (My sister and I were watching a completely different channel when the plug for "Midnight and Mistletoe" came on. Nauseating.)
Stephanie: Really? HA! Hopeful as well as delicious! Decades of Victorian novels and I still didn't know. When I first read this, I was totally thrilled.
Dr. Isis: Thank you for patiently encouraging me on multiple occasions. I write and read every day, following your example of perseverance. (I get up at the buttcrack of dawn and jog, too. Except not yesterday because it rained really, really hard the whole time, and I don't have the shoes for that. Maybe you ought to do a Hot Waterproof Running Shoes edition.)
daedalus2u: You are one awesome, wise dude. I didn't think I was so fixated on what was wrong with my endeavors. Seriously. I'm not just saying that. And I will definitely keep taking this advice once I learn enough to read all the papers I want to read!
biopunk: You are the best. Why are you so nice to me? I don't deserve it!
(Okay, maybe I do. Kind of. A little. Happy holidays to you, too. :)
Juniper - I just caught up on your posts since you've come back. Girl, you're so deep and introspective!! Keep it up, have a great break, and think highly of yourself :).
I like your Dr. Method. I can't wait to hear more about this nouns vs. grammar distinction, it sounds very interesting.
Hmm, I just stumbled upon this fair blog, and I love it! It is fabulous and deep and introspective. I am none of these things, so I'm totally a fangirl! Treacle, or a tortise, always wins out over the long haul, correct?
Phizzle: Awwwww . . . the only thing is that I'm technically not on break, as I am not presently a student.
Hermitage: Welcome! Your blog is fucking hilarious. Don't sell yourself short.
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