We’ve talked before about ways to use technology to help you with the vital job of keeping up with the literature (see here and here). Now here is another one to add to the list.

This approach was first flagged up by Eric (thanks Eric!) in a comment on Carrie’s article about improving your Pubmed searches. The idea is to use the combined power of Pubmed, RSS feeds and iGoogle to create a page of RSS feed boxes that will keep you continually updated on articles containing your keywords of interest, or from specific authors or journals. It is nice and simple, but I find it an incredibly powerful and fast method of literature scanning compared to email updates or browsing each journal individually.

So here’s how to set it up. Read more »

Efficient time management is essential if you are to get the most out of your time in the lab. Breaking down projects into individual tasks and planning out when to do them is relatively easy. But the thing I find most difficult is accurately estimating the amount of time to allocate for each task.

I tend to be ridiculously optimistic with my estimates, so experiments and other tasks always take longer than I expect, resulting in a mad rush to get things finished at the end of the day.

But (as is often the case) Steve Pavlina has the solution. Read more »

All of the hard work you do in the lab goes into your lab book. So if you’re not careful it can get quite difficult to find stuff in there after a while, especially if, like me, you use a number of different lab books at the same time. This simple numbering system can help you keep track of your lab book data more easily. Read more »

There is no doubt that the internet has revolutionised science by making information freely available. But when it comes to actually getting work done, the internet can be a problem.

With all of that lovely information available right at your fingertips it’s easy to get sucked into surfing when you are trying to work.

Here are 5 ways to avoid the lure of the internet and stay efficient

1. Leechblock is a Firefox extension that will block access to any website for any period you specify. So you can block all of those sites that suck up your time, or schedule a set time each day where you can view them. You could allow access to your favorite news sites only during your lunch hour, for example.

2. Temptation blocker is a bit more of a blunt instrument than Leechblock. It allows you to lock yourself out of applications for a set amount of time - so you could use it to block your browser, games, email or whatever is distracting you. If you need to get back into the application before the time is up you can, but the program makes you type in a 32-digit alphanumeric code as a disincentive before unblocking the program.

3. Deleting all bookmarks to websites that eat up your time is a simple way to make it more difficult to navigate to your favorite time-consuming site. But that can be a bit drastic as sometimes you might just want to surf. Alternatively you could use Firefox’s multiple profile capabilities to create one profile for work and one for play.

4. Mozilla’s Prism, is an intriguing piece of software that allows you to run web applications you use/need often as if they were on your desktop. So there is no need to actually open a browser, meaning less opportunity for distractions.

5. Lo-tech options include unplugging/switching your wireless off while working, using pen and paper instead of a computer and exercising some self control!

How do you avoid online distractions? Let us know in the comments.

Multi-tasking used to be my favourite way to get ahead.

During my PhD I saw others around me working extremely long hours in the lab and not really having much of a personal life and quite early on I made the decision that this was not for me.

Although I enjoy my work, having a good life outside the is also very important. Also, I found that if I worked very long hours then I tended to be far less efficient overall.

But, I still wanted to get through as many experiments as possible. So I also made the decision that my approach would be to work a regular 8 hour day and be as efficient as possible during that time. My basic recipe for an efficient working day was: Read more »

As scientists, we have to keep up with new research coming out and follow the journals. We all have our preferred way of doing so though. Sporadic searches on Pubmed are one way, or weekly email updates on specific search terms (also offered by Pubmed) are another. Alternatively, there’s Hubmed for RSS of Pubmed updates, and many more options besides.

Using search terms narrows your attention however, so I prefer simply browsing around my favorite journals online. I get a broader sampling of current research that way - which may not be of concern for the average scientist, but for a blogger, it’s often more productive for finding topics to blog on in the peer-review literature.

Some of my favorite journals, below the fold (feel free to add to the list in the comments!): Read more »

No matter how efficient you are, it’s always possible to improve your productivity and improving your productivity means that you get more of the rewards you are trying to obtain: results, publications… or dare I say it, money.

Here are 20 ways to improve your productivity. Some are focussed toward improving the productivity of bench research, but most are applicable in many other jobs. This list is based on much longer general list that can be found at Steve Pavlina’s excellent personal development website. Read more »

Last month, Thomas C. Erren and colleagues published an editorial in PLoS Computational Biology entitled 10 simple rules for doing your best research, according to Hamming. The article provides some great philosophical guidance on setting out to do great research, drawing on advice given by the mathematician Richard Hamming during a Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar in 1986. Read more »

During a research project, how do you record your data, conclusions and the samples you produce? What about ideas, insights and thought-trains? It would be very useful to have a good system to easily store all of these valuable products of your work and retrieve them when you need to look at your data or your thoughts on a particular problem weeks, months, or years later. Read more »

Talented, enthusiastic scientist required. Must have good organizational skills.
Do you fit the bill? With the pace of molecular biology and biochemical research quickening year on year, the importance of good organization and planning skills for researchers is becoming increasingly important. Here are 5 ways to ensure that your data is organized and easily analyzed, samples are safe and accessible and your project is carried out efficiently. Read more »