Things I learned in grad school that have nothing, and everything, to do with grad school

An irregular series on everything but your experiments. Hell, I may advise you how to do those too. I'm bossy like that.

Part 1: Asking Questions at Talks

Don’t be scared. People like being asked (polite) questions about their research. Particularly if the question demonstrates some level of informed thought. But even questions of the “Hey, that’s totally cool, have you ever tried such-and-such experiment? or Do you ever see such-and-such response?” variety are almost universally welcome. It shows you’re engaged, paying attention, and enthusiastic. As you will find when you give talks yourself, that is the dream audience.

Ok, be just a little scared. If you’re asking this question in a big seminar, people will evaluate your question, and if it is idiotic in the extreme, you may be judged accordingly….perhaps not the first time, but if you do this sort of thing repeatedly, yes.

As a corollary, sit next to a smart friend in seminar. If you want to ask a question, but you’re nervous that it betrays utter stupidity, nudge your smart friend and ask. If she thinks it’s interesting too, then go ahead and ask it. Two is a quorum.

Aim for coherence. If you’re nervous, particularly if you get a bit of stage fright speaking up in seminars, write the question down so you can phrase it appropriately ahead of time and not fumble your words.

Keep it down. This is for the ladies. Nervous men will often instinctively deepen their voices, which helps project calm authority. Nervous women will often tighten their chests and end up twittering at higher pitch. Guess what this does? Take a breath, relax your diaphragm, and aim to speak at or even below your usual conversational pitch. Sorry, it’s a sexist truism, but it will affect your audience so you may as well deal with it. No matter how nervous you are, you never want to project it.

Advanced question-asking: Tie in your question to known facts or literature for extra oomph. The ideal question of this genre takes the approximate form: “You showed us Data X, which you say provides support for Hypothesis Y. However, in light of Published Finding W, isn’t Hypothesis Z another possible interpretation of your results?” These are not easy questions to come up with. They require some knowledge of the literature and real capacity for synthesis. If you ask two excellent questions like this in the course of your grad career, you’re doing great. Make it your goal, though, every time. You'll notice that the smart folks you admire are often asking a question like this.

For Chrissakes, ask questions in seminar, at least occasionally. I hate it when I talk to a friend post-seminar and she has a totally brilliant question that she left unasked, because she didn’t want to pipe up. That’s not just your loss--it’s to the detriment of the whole audience, which loses your thoughtful perspective. Ask!!