Graduate Research: A Guide for Students in the Sciences

Definitely a great book! I'm a second year graduate student in chemistry and found the book very readable and useful. The author designed this book in a manner so that anyone from undergraduate to beginning principal investigator can walk away with more knowledge and wisdom in his or her field. Pros: --Written for a wide audience. --Concise, to the point message in each chapter. There's no bull. --Depth of topics. (Presentation and Publication of Papers chapter discusses everything from selecting a journal to responding to editorial reviews and even how to pay for page charges (something I never thought of)) Cons: --Old. The 3rd edition was published in 1998. --Outdated examples (mainly in the chapter on Library and Literature Work) --Bias towards chemists (made it easy for me to read, but not sure about non-science disciplines) I believe the author may have changed his career focus (some more recent books about professional life and academic administration), however, I hope someone picks up the responsibility of updating this fantastic book. Despite the age of the book, I would recommend anyone involved in graduate school to buy this book. It's reasonably priced, and you'll be better off with it on your library.

I liked the book in general, its compact style and sound advice. It serves as a guide that maybe useful to grad students especially those in their first years, a recommended reading. What I didn't like was: 1- The first chapters were more like a research paper full of citations and quote that distracted me a lot from the main topic. Fortunately this style didn't continue for the later chapters. 2- If you are not a chemistry/psychology student you will feel uncomfortable sometimes since the books quotes many examples from those fields. But all in all is ok. 3- Still not what I wanted exactly, a book that covers the thought process for discovery, generating ideas, and the transition from the more relaxed/dependent style of undergraduate to the rigor/creative style of grad. school. Surely the book talks about this in one chapter or two but what I wanted was more devotion to these concepts.

I would highly recommend this book for ANYONE planning to pursue a graduate degree in the sciences. Those early in their graduate career will also find it helpful. Dr. Smith covers several topics from the qualities of a good researcher, choosing the right school, choosing a thesis advisor, as well as scientific ethics and scientific writing. I have found this book very useful. I just wish I would have had it when I was a junior or senior in college!