by Benjamin on December 12, 2010
I just had a beer with an old friend and a brand new Ph.D. student, and as usual we found ourselves chatting about papers, friends, academia and such war stories, debating which conferences to submit papers to this year. Then I asked our new arrival in academia which conference he was thinking of submitting a paper to. He (coming from a ‘top’ university) quietly said that his fellow Ph.D. students weren’t encouraging on the topic, so being in his first year he didn’t want to make a fool of himself and also he didn’t have a paper ready. Let me stress now that it doesn’t matter what year you are in, nor if you have a paper ready – you only need an abstract to submit a paper for a conference, and if you are a Ph.D. student, you should be writing an abstract and submitting it !
The majority of papers that go to conferences are not written when the abstract is submitted, and some never even make it into a proper script by the conference ! (That’s reserved for the very senior, so I wouldn’t recomment it). Many conferences have young scholar sessions, and most offer a bit of money for travel, while your department is sure to have a conference budget. And you can get some of that money, if you have a paper (read: abstract) ready for the conference. So the key question here is to ask yourself, “where do I want to be in six months with this research?” Write down 250 words which answer how you will get there, and submit it.
Going to conferences means you’ll meet people who are interested in what you do, and who have expert knowledge. Seeing where the discipline is going, finding people willing to read your stuff (because they’re interested) and give you comments and feedback. Fantastic stuff. Chatting up a journal editor over a few beers in the evening is never a bad plan either. So step to it, even if writing abstracts can be hard and there aren’t a lot of good guides out there, but the best tip I’ve seen, is from Joe Wolfe:
An abstract is not an introduction. It is a résumé of your thesis
………………………………………-Joe Wolfe, Uni. of New South Wales
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 14:45. Add a comment
by Jeanne aka JStor on April 28, 2009
They announced the John Bates Clark Medal last week. This year’s prize went to Emmanuel Saez from UCLA. I haven’t actually read any of his work (taxation, and income and wealth inequality), but I will.
The award is given to an “American economist under the age of forty who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.” I think they define the term “American economist” pretty loosely. (Case in point: Saez is a French citizen/US permanent resident.) So my guess is it’s totally up for grabs for whatever young hot shot they want to give it to.
Time’s ticking, so I’ve decided to totally call you all out! Cause I can’t wait for the day that I’ll be congratulating one or all of you. All is entirely possible now, since the AEA is awarding a John Bates Clark Medal every year now (guess they don’t believe in the law of diminishing marginal returns).
Posted 2 years, 9 months ago at 21:54. Add a comment
by Benjamin on April 24, 2009
When I started as a graduate student I was paranoid about publishing my material freely on the web. I mean, what if someone copied, scooped, plagiarised or even re-produced my work as their own, leaving me behind, un-cited, unrecognised and with little to show for my efforts?
Based on Seth Godin's work on marketing, this graph probably does a good job of showing the value of your ideas to yourself...
That is a long time ago, and I think I have learnt a very valuable lesson as I have slowly begun to make more and more of my work available on-line. And the idea is simple. The more people know about you, the more valuable you are, and the more people read your papers, the more you will be asked to participate in conferences, journals, books and public talks.
The day of the hallowed journal is far from over, but with internet search that is able to include .pdf, .doc and latex files, anyone working on a particular subject can go-online, and punch in their question. If your paper is on-line, it will be read and more often than not, the reader will contact you to ask how the work is going, ask you some questions, or simply take your work and cite you in their paper. Already you’ve made a connection with one author in your field, and you didn’t need a reference from a senior professor to approach anyone.
It’s happened to me on multiple occasion by now, suddenly I get an e-mail out of the blue saying “Hi Benjamin, I just read your paper on so-and-so and was wondering if…”. From there I have discussed my work with policy makers in the Netherlands, Academic economists in South Africa and India, consultancy companies in London and other students and academics from across the globe – a lot of people who I would have never been able to reach, would not know had an interest in the field, or simply had no idea about.
I am not saying, post any old paper on the web, and within a week you’ll have seven top people clamouring for your attention. No. That’s not how it works… Sadly.
However, if you have one, or more, well written (draft form is fine, but it has to be of a quality you would be happy to submit to a conference or senior professor), and available on your own website, plus you can drop it on the various econpapers databases, then over the coming year your work will slowly be read by people interested in exactly what you do, and that is the first step to being noticed. Don’t be afraid to put your work out there, front and center, distribute it for free if you can and start having people reading your work. Ultimately that’s what you want, right?
Posted 2 years, 9 months ago at 09:27. Add a comment
by Benjamin on January 14, 2009
Why do so few scientists make significant contributions, and why are so many forgotten in the long run? This is the question distinguished mathematician, computer scientist and theorist Richard Hamming addresses in this inspirational talk, aimed at helping us all do great work by sharing his own insights, enthusiasm and experience.
He gives advice from his life long career as a scientist and researcher, with experience from private industry – the famous Bell Labs in the U.S. – and academia. This paper is a great read for any researcher.
Download full paper here
Hamming, Richard. 2008. “You and your research.” New School Economic Review 3(1): 5-26
Posted 3 years ago at 09:16. Add a comment
