#AcademicTwitter Yesterday I submitted a paper covering some experiments I've worked on for the last ~year. Here's a thread of reflections in no particular order that might be helpful for others 1/

First, I had to redo some samples due to covid. Mildly annoying that I didn't have time to finish them before shutdown, but I wasn't going to put myself and others at risk before we'd established how to work safely. I'd much rather redo them. 2/

I'm generally well-versed in the surrounding lit. What I'd FORGOTTEN is the amount of energy it would take to construct the introduction/discussion sections. I could've started preparing both well in advance of "being ready to write the paper". I wish I'd started sooner 3/

Everyone's got their favorite citation management software. #notanad I prefer @zotero and have been using it throughout grad school.

A friendly reminder that you can download journal-specific citations styles online. However, this is also a reminder that journals can and 4/

frequently DO update citation styles, even annually. I'd forgotten to confirm the stylesheet I used reflected new changes in the requirements. ALWAYS CHECK because it could've been disastrous. You can manually edit the citation style in Zotero and it'll be fixed permanently. 5/

I had a tight timeline for the paper. To stay focused, I've been using Forest ( @forestapp_cc) for dedicated working time. There is a free version, but I've been more than happy with premium ($1.99 USD). Gamifying working has been huge, and there are many fun trees to collect 6/

In my field, it's common to have several coauthors. You should get approval of each before submitting, including edits (internal review, we say), and should take suggestions seriously. They'll provide a different perspective as they're not as far into the weeds as you 7/

It's helpful to set boundaries here. I knew it would take me several days to incorporate the suggestions of 6 coauthors, so I requested them a) in waves, and b) by a certain number of days in advance of the deadline. Highly recommend 8/

No matter how many papers I work on, starting the next is always challenging. This would be the 7th paper I've been involved in, and every time it's like I forget how to write. Imposter syndrome in full force

But it's not true. I can write well. And so can you 9/