I made a pretty big (in retrospect) mistake when leaving grad school. In my rush to get as far away from lab as possible, I left without publishing my work. I just left. I packed up my binders of data and piles of printouts, dragged them all to my apartment (since my lab had shut down, I had no place else to store them), filed my thesis and and started my internship at NN (which is way cool, btw. If you’re not jealous, you should be).
Three months out and the unfinished papers are still hanging over my head – hanging really low and smacking me every once in a while. It’s making my head hurt. I need to get the papers out ASAP for a number of reasons, but the time, energy and motivation to do so is entirely absent. It doesn’t help that I have practically forgotten what HSV-1 stands for, now that I have replaced science geekiness with web geekiness.
One potential motivator – getting rid of all the boxes and boxes of papers cluttering my apartment. It’s kind of like this, but not as bad.
Until my half-finished manuscripts (all 1.5 of them) are published, the boxes (and boxes and boxes) of papers are staying put in my apartment, in case I need to look something up. Right? Is that the reason they are still there? Only a few among the many hundreds of papers are not available online. It would not be a great effort on my part to pull the papers I need (though a pain to identify the ones I need in the cobwebby corners of my mind). So why am I loathe to trash the old print-outs?
I suspect it’s because they serve as a written record of my time in lab, chronicling the course of my scientific education, much like one’s bookshelf tracks their personal evolution. They are a physical manifestation of all I have learned in my 7 (SEVEN) years in grad school, of the citations I crawled and the research threads I followed. Those papers are still sitting in my house because I am not ready to get rid of them.
In reality, I think I may be the last of my kind. More and more papers are available online. Fewer people (I think) are printing papers out to read them, but instead downloading the paper each time, or filing the paper away in some electronic format in EndNote, Connotea, Papers, or any of the million citation services out there. I think that the time of creaky filing cabinets stuffed full of printed papers is quickly passing us by.
Old guard that I am ( in only this regard, thankyouverymuch ), I will continue holding on to those boxes of papers at least until my manuscript(s) is/are published somewhere. Anywhere. Wish me luck – and caffeine.
Anna,
I have a similar problem. When I left my PhD lab, I for some reason packed up and brought with me my piles and piles of papers that I had read during my six and a half years. Why?…who knows? They are still sitting in boxes in my garage. And now…at my current lab…I have started a new collection probably with some of the same papers. Accessing papers online is great, but I still prefer to read them on paper (except when I need to zoom in on a figure), so I print them all out. So, you’re definitely not the last of your kind. Good luck on getting the paper out!
-Jason
I too prefer reading on paper. Can’t take notes when I am reading on a computer screen. Funny how you can’t part with the boxes of papers either. We spend so long feeling so attached to them, that it’s hard to let go! Silly and kinda sad all at the same time.
Thanks for the good luck wishes. I definitely need them.
I’ve stil got mine too, and I received my PhD a little over 5 years ago :)
That’s it. This is an epidemic. We are all hoarding a small rainforest’s worth of trees in our homes, for no apparent reason.
I had no unfinished projects to work on when I left my PhD lab, so I just recycled all the papers that the other people in my lab didn’t want. A transatlantic move is very good for decluttering!
Cue Martin and his German greenness.
Good luck with getting those manuscripts polished off and submitted. I hope you can find the time amid your new distractions because it will only get more difficult as the days slip by…
I find it hard enough to find the time to write papers and that’s part of the job. In fact, I shouldn’t be commenting here, I have a manuscript that needs re-drafting…
I really want to publish the remainder of my work, but my supervisor isn’t very enthusiastic about the idea of publishing it and just wants the project to die when I leave. I’m being discouraged to publish, which is just one of many things I’m unhappy about concerning this whole grad school thing.
It does mean I can throw out the boxes of papers sooner, I guess.
I agree that the papers serve as a tangible, physical reminder of all your work. I think that’s why I still have tons of my notes from my undergrad years. And I have binders full of articles and notes from my grad career. I’m keeping them.
And add me to the list of people who prefer to read a paper in physical form rather than electronic. I found that when I read papers in electronic form I would get eye strain and my eyes would hurt after a while. Didn’t have that problem with the paper versions. There may be a way to alleviate that by futzing with the monitor, but who knows how to do that? Eye strain is one reason that I think that paper books will never fully be replaced by e-books.
I’ll add my second to the reasoning of eye strain to preferring the paper copies to electronic copies. However, in the midst of writing my dissertation, I’m often misplacing my paper copies as well and then needing to reprint them, if needed. So, not only am I cluttering up my office/room/desk with papers, but also my desktop with my back-up files. Plus the fact that in order to get the full picture, I have to find all three copies of a paper to get all of the notes I took in the margins. It really does add up to a mess.
I don’t envy you the writing process at all, but hopefully it will complete the entire experience. You definitely worked hard enough for those publications – it will be worth it when they’re done.
Cath – Oh, lucky you! I would have so loved a clean break, but it was just not to be. Bummer.
Stephen – It is getting more difficult. And I am forgetting more each day. I will now have to go back and re-read a dozen papers before I can redo my discussion section, which is the last (and biggest) bit that needs an adjustment. Oh I so don’t want to do this.
Eva – I don’t get this! You are the second person I know with a PI who dislikes publishing. How is that even possible? Isn’t that the whole point of being a PI? Publish, get funded, do more work, get published, etc? Why does your PI not want you to publish? Is there a good reason that I am overlooking here? And there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, is there? You can’t just go on and publish something on your own, which leaves you in a pretty uncomfortable spot. I don’t understand.
John – I have never tried e-books. Are they as hard on your eyes as computer screens?
Melissa – Congratulations on turning in your thesis!! This is so exciting. You bring up a big reason for my mess – I have three copies of every paper because I either misplace them or file them under three different categories and never find them again. I really can’t read off a screen because I can’t take notes and my head starts hurting, and I hate knowing that killed a billion trees, but I don’t know what the alternative is! Really want to get my manuscript out soon. I can’t stand thinking about it any longer. That’s my task for this weekend. Fun.
(looks on and chuckles)
When I did my PhD I acquired loads of reprints … but I also took a lot of notes in libraries, especially on the older, rarer literature (palaeontologists using and valuing papers written more than 5 minutes ago).
When I wrote my first proper book, Before The Backbone, a historical review on theories about the origins of vertebrates (still in print, folks, after 12 years) I acquired loads of reprints … but I also took a lot of notes in libraries, especially on the older, rarer literature (palaeontologists using and valuing papers written more than 5 minutes ago).
When I wrote my first trade book, Deep Time, I acquired loads of reprints … but I also took a lot of notes in libraries, especially on the older, rarer literature (palaeontologists using and valuing papers written more than 5 minutes ago).
When I wrote my next book, Jacob’s Ladder, I acquired loads of reprints … but I also took a lot of notes in libraries, especially blah blah blah…
Where is this shedload of paper now?
Long since recycled.
Have I missed any of it?
No.
If I really want something badly enough, I can track it down. I know where it lives.
… in libraries. Obviously.
Anna> I couldn’t really bring any papers with me since I moved across the Atlantic for my post doc and I realised that my parents wouldn’t be too thrilled about having two or three boxes of “older papers I had read” in their storage.
So, I labelled them all and put them in order correlating to an Endnote file and left them for the next phd student in the group. (I haven’t had the courage to ask if she really uses them though…) I took my endnote library with me though. Can’t imagine what I would do without it :)
Good luck with writing!! It is so nice when it’s done and you can truly say “I’ve left my PhD” without having that slight feeling of guilt that there is something you should do…
Heather – Mean. That’s mean. I am looking forward to the day when I look back at all this and chuckle! Hope it’s sometime soon…
Henry – That’s the rub, isn’t it. I don’t have access to my university library any longer. The print-outs I have now are it – I won’t be able to download the papers again. Ack. That just occurred to me, actually. I am stuck with those boxes for eternity. And can I mention the feeling of complete and thorough emptiness at not being able to access any papers? Ever? It’s awful! I feel like I have lost one of my senses or something. I always took it for granted before, but now… Ouch.
Asa – I am afraid I am going to do just that – descend upon my parents’ house with boxes of papers. Hope they don’t mind! I don’t know what else to do. I certainly don’t have any room for them in my apartment. You are WAY more organized than I could ever hope to be. Very good idea to coordinate printouts with EndNote. Wish I had thought of that. Can’t wait to finish everything that’s been hanging on me! I won’t have a sense of closure with grad school until I finish the papers!
Anna – they’re really making you squirm, aren’t they? Well, I don’t have to say then that I just finally got the last paper resulting from my PhD work published… just less than five years later. I wasn’t the big procrastinator on that one, but still!
I’ll throw the last few copies out now (yes, I DID move them across the Atlantic TWICE).. except for the really beautiful, old taxonomic papers on Foraminifera… (which would be a pain in the butt to find again – let’s face it, Henry!).
And I LOVED my filing cabinet. Those will be sad times indeed when all the filing cabinets are gone!!!
Ha! I am glad I am not the only one to travel with gobs of papers. That makes me feel better. Also encouraging that significant delays between graduation and publication are not unheard of. You are making me feel better, Steffi.
Anna, if I publish, it won’t be a good paper, and my lab is huge. My supervisor doesn’t need my work to be published to get grants, because she has people working on three or four other projects, with faster and more interesting results. I think that she feels that having a lesser paper out there would hurt her publication record, but I don’t see how (she wouldn’t have to list it anywhere if she didn’t want to, and she has so many that it wouldn’t impact her average citation score). I am writing a manuscript, though, and found someone to help me proofread it, so I can at some point show her that she doesn’t have to do anything, it’s done and ready to be sent out.
Anna, if you have abstracts for your manuscripts that tell the complete story, you could upload your manuscripts on Nature Precedings and tag them as preprints.
I am finishing a manuscript on stone tools that has been lingering on my desk for more than two years now. Nobody took my stone tool research for serious – what can a forest ecologist possibly know about Stone Age artifacts anyway? Well, I’ll be happy when it’s out there and we’ll see from there where it gets. At least I have managed to get the attention of a few interested archaeologists already.
Anna,
Be a bit more positive: if you consider the mean and SD of finishing in your program, I’m sure that 7 years is NOT sth with p<0.05 !!!
If i can finish my project by my 7th year, I’d be more than excited.
best
mehdi
I don’t have a lot of experience using e-books other than on my desktop computer. But I have noticed that the smaller the screen, the worse it is for my eyes. I have a Sony PSP and I’ve noticed that it doesn’t take long at all for my eyes to feel uncomfortable when using it. And they get all red and freaky looking. It’s actually kind of disconcerting. So I’m guessing that something like the Kindle probably wouldn’t work out too well for me. Maybe I just need glasses.
And I too was bummed out by the fact that graduating meant that my access to all those wonderful databases was going away.
Thanks for this post. Until I read it I felt like a man stranded alone on an island. I have unpublished work from my master’s work! And that’s a very long time ago. Of course, I also have one or two papers that I could wring out of my Ph.D. work. Realistically, I do not think I’ll ever publish them. Between work, wife, kids, and waiting for the roofer to fix a leaky roof – I have no shortage of “explanations” – how could I ever find the time? Oh, and as for my hard copies collection…it’s 2.5 drawers of a metal filing cabinet. I’ve dragged those across three states and one flight over the Atlantic.
Eva – I see what you mean now. Still, I think that it’s a shame your PI won’t let you publish a paper which you need for your own career. The fact alone that she doesn’t need the paper should be enough motivation for her to publish it for you. Overall, I think the word “should” should be stricken from the English language. Many things that “should” happen, don’t. I do hope you publishing your paper isn’t one of them.
Raf – Good luck with your stone tools paper! It sounds fascinating. Precedings is a subject I have to tread very carefully around when it comes to my PI. I really want to post the manuscript, but haven’t yet broached the topic with her. Any hints for grad students trying to convince their PIs of the worthwhile nature of Precedings are most welcome.
Mehdi – It’s so sad that at our school, 7 years isn’t all that bad. It’s just not right, in my opinion. I think the averages have been dropping, slowly, but I am pretty sure that we still take way longer than most other schools. Hope your stuff is moving along well!
John – Do you ever notice how you are half blind when you walk out of the office in the evening, after a full day at the computer? Is it just me? I get all hazy-eyed and unable to focus. The computer screens just kill me.
Antonio – Life always gets in the way, doesn’t it? It’s so frustrating. I am now starting to understand that maybe grad school wasn’t the busiest ever. I am feeling busier now than when I was in lab! I am glad I am not the only one with lingering tasks from school. Pretty awesome that you flew your filing cabinet across an ocean. That’s commitment. I really hope I don’t have to do the same… putting it all in a car seems bad enough. Fingers crossed for us both to publish these papers!
That actually doesn’t happen too much in my case. Maybe you have your monitor set too brightly? It actually seems to happen to me when I spend a lot of time reading something printed and then have to focus on long-distance items, like when driving.