Graduate Research: A Guide for Students in the Sciences

by Robert V. Smith, Edward F Lener, Llewellyn D Densmore

Book Overview

Graduate Research is an all-in-one resource for prospective and matriculated graduate students in the sciences. The newly revised edition includes updates to every chapter. Graduate Research covers a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0306434652
• ISBN13: 9780306434655
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Springer
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Some Information Never Gets Old

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 --Outdated examples (mainly in the chapter on Library and Literature Work) --Bias towards chemists (made it easy for me to read, but not sure about non-science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.

Compact and useful guide

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.

An EXCELLENT guide for first or second year grad students!

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!