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20 great go-to online resources for digital marketing:1. Hubspot’s BlogInbound marketing pioneer HubSpot has helped more than 10,000 companies in 56 countries attract leads and convert them into paying customers. HubSpot’s blog offers a payload of Internet marketing research organized into digestible articles like “8 Reasons You Gotta Stop Buying Email Lists” and “15 Free Content Creation Tools Marketers Shouldn’t Live Without.”2. Marketing ProfsMarketing Profs offers a wealth of resources for modern marketers from training courses and virtual and live conferences to podcasts and free articles on everything from SEM to segmentation. Check out their SlideShare presentations for more great graphic marketing tips and tricks.3. MashableThe leading Internet resource about the Internet, Mashable offers near-infinite ways to consume its real-time digital content, whether in text, video, photographic, infographic, or regular graphic form. You might find it helpful to get your marketing news in the context of the larger picture of what’s new across the digital world, but if you’re looking solely for updates on social media, the business of marketing, or tech, you can subscribe to just those channels via RSS or social networks.4. eMarketereMarketer collects thousands of data points from global marketing studies to distill the most valuable insights into easy-to-read charts and reports on all things digital marketing. Subscribe to the free daily newsletter, or spring for a corporate or enterprise account for your business to get access to in-depth reports, searchable and filterable forecasts and more.5. Business 2 CommunityThe B2C (no, not that kind of B2C) community of bloggers writes about social media, tech, branding, PR and marketing in relatable, insight-packed articles and webcasts.6. Dan Zarrella’s BlogHubSpot’s “social media scientist” has one of the most widely respected personal marketing blogs. He doesn’t publish new content that frequently, but when he does it’s indispensable. Example: “Tweets Between 100 and 115 Characters are More Likely to be ReTweeted.”7. Rand Fishkin’s Twitter FeedMoz founder Rand Fishkin’s 150,000 Twitter followers are treated to 50-75 tweets a week on marketing, SEO, startups and entrepreneurship. There’s a reason he’s listed on Twitter under headers like “Must Follow List”8. Heidi Cohen’s BlogHeidi Cohen’s “actionable marketing guide” offers useful and instructive columns on social media marketing, content marketing, mobile marketing, and branding. Every article leaves you with concrete takeaways adaptable to whatever you’re working on, and Heidi’s content is often great to bookmark for future reference (think “101 Social Media Resources” and “20 Security Tips to Keep Your Site Safe”).9. Marketo’s BlogMarketing software company Marketo runs a robust blog brimming with valuable marketing content ranging from email marketing best practices to marketing automation trends. If you’re strapped for time, you can navigate to Marketo’s most shared or most read articles, or else follow on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ for the cream of the crop of content.10. ReadWriteThe gorgeously designed ReadWrite (formerly ReadWriteWeb) is one of the most widely read tech news sites in the world. You can count on it for not just reliable news, but also analysis and conversation around that news. Browse at your leisure, or read specifically cloud, enterprise, hacking, mobile, games, small business, social media, or web news.11. Chris Brogan’s Sunday NewsletterThe indomitable marketing expert, speaker, and author Chris Brogan sends out a free, approachable, insight-packed Sunday newsletter written colloquially and with rich takeaways on everything from motivation to do great work to insights on business and marketing.12. Pam Moore’s WebsitePam Moore has more than 15 years of social media and marketing experience and has been named one of the Top 5 Women Influencers in Social Media by Forbes. Her website serves up free marketing content, from interesting and helpful blog posts like “22 Tips To Humanize Your Brand On Twitter” to products like an editorial calendar template and social media white papers.13. Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert “One Thing” NewsleterDigital marketing strategist Jay Baer’s consulting company Convince & Convert has a daily “One Thing” newsletter that distills the chaotic marketing content of the day into one digestible story, alongside highlights from the company’s blog. The team’s Social Pros Podcast is also worth a listen.14. Exact Target’s BlogSalesForce’s ExactTarget is a leading provider of cross-channel interactive marketing solutions. It follow that the company’s blog is a must-read for digital marketers, with articles ranging from poignant industry examples to cross-channel marketing strategy.15. Marketing SherpaOnline research institute MarketingSherpa is a trove of digital marketing data, packed with articles, videos, webinars, free reports, six (!) newsletters, and more. Head to the Sherpa Blog for observations and reporting on email marketing, B2B marketing, inbound marketing, copywriting, marketing law, entertainment and sports marketing, and much more.16. Social Media TodaySocial Media Today is an independent, online community for professionals in PR, marketing, and advertising. If you believe the best knowledge comes from your industry peers, this is your go-to online marketing resource destination. The site is prolific, publishing upwards of 10 blog posts per day, seven days a week, in addition to running an inventive Social Business Book Club and webcasts. The comments on Social Media Today articles are often as interesting as the articles themselves.17. JeffalyticsThe man who created the Periodic Table of Google Analytics is a valuable source for marketing knowledge that spans the alphabet: blogging and brand marketing to technology, training, and WordPress.18. TrendspottrTrendSpottr is a predictive analytics service that identifies trending information from Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other data streams. It’s a great site to bookmark if you’re in search of timely blog topics, tweets, or IRL discussion points. You can search for any content bucket to see what’s trending in that realm, and then read and share directly from TrendSpottr or click over to the original source.19. Seth Godin’s BlogThe author of seminal works like Linchpin, Permission Marketing, and Purple Cow lets readers inside his head for free on his blog. Godin’s blog posts are succinct, always good for an “aha!” moment, and often inspiring.20. KISSMetrics’ BlogBusiness analytics platform KISSMetrics has a great online marketing blog heavy on the helpful how-to’s (“How to Get Your Keyword Data from Google Analytics,” “How to Make Your Website More Click-Worthy.”).

Here are a few things. The list is not exhaustive.Your dissertation doesn't need to be perfect. It's not meant to be your biggest achievement. It's just a (good enough) long paper.Take care of the relationships you grow with your mentors, advisors and directors. They may become friends and collaborators for your entire career.You're probably good, or have potential, but that doesn't make you Jesus. Chill out, keep your head down and do your job the best you can. If you're great, show it, don't say it.As my director used to say to me “no te preocupes, ocúpate" (something along the lines of “don't sit and worry, just get it done”).Your job is just your job. And grad school is just one part of your life. Don't forget about everything else you are, your interests, and your people. Don't neglect them or yourself.Fields are small. Don't chitchat and gossip about a stranger in front of someone you just met at, say, a conference cocktail party. They might have gone to grad school together or happen to be friends or collaborators.Be careful at Q&As. You're a grad student, and that may be “your field of expertise" but you’re not there to judge anybody. Watch your tone, both, as you ask and as you answer. It may have implications.When you leave your lab you represent it. In the department, in the school, on campus, in conferences, on other campuses. You are your lab's ambassador. Be the best one you can be. Make everyone back home proud when they hear “Jane was amazing at the conference. Her presentation was awesome and she seems like a fantastic, young scholar.”Network. Network. Network. It pays off. Don't misrepresent your background or your achievements. Don't exaggerate because you want to impress. Anybody will be more impressed to find out about your accomplishments and to realize you were humble and down to earth.Don't be afraid to email a senior researcher from a different institution just to let them know about the deep influence of their work on your ideas. They work very hard and are often recognized, but a simple (two line!) message can brighten up their day….and you never know if this first impression may lead to something more.Focus, from as early on as you can, on your dissertation. Even before you take your exams, even before you start thinking about the proposal if you can. Begin to align readings, literature reviews, methodological design choices, analyses, etc with your dissertation. Pilot ideas through class projects. Identify what works and what doesn’t. Then, once you begin working on your dissertation, you’ll have a strong panoramic view of the area you’re interested in, and will anticipate pitfalls.Thank your department administrators if they help you. Acknowledge their hard work. If you’re on a visa and have an international advisor, do the same.Don’t be confrontational in the academic setting. Don’t be a trouble maker. Don’t argue with professors in front of other students. Be polite. You can stand your ground without looking like an entitled fool.Beware of toxic people. Toxic people are always negative, always complaining, always feel overworked and claim that the system is unfair to them. You will recognize them because they’ll never have anything nice to say about anyone, they never blame themselves for anything and they spread rumours. Their negativity will rub off on you. People may associate you with them. Identify them and move away. If that means you are left with no friends…well, that’s alright then.Keep track of all your powerpoints, presentations, handouts, lesson plans… create a dropbox folder called teaching materials and put it all in there. You might need many of those materials in the future.Start working on your CV the minute you arrive. Find a template you like, run it by your advisor, get their approval, and use it consistently. Shoot for adding 3–5 lines per semester. These may include conference presentations, publications, different forms of service, professional development, etc. Keep your CV growing. Be proactive. Picture what you want it to look like by the time you hit the job market and make the necessary arrangements to make it happen. In education we call this approach backwards design :)If you only speak English, fix that. Yes… I said it: “only”. One language is not enough. The world is multilingual. You aren’t. What are you going to do about it? There are plenty of free opportunities out there on every campus and town. I’m not saying you must become completely proficient in Czech in a semester… take 3 - 4 years, a couple of times a week, watch movies, travel to conferences if you can, find clubs and societies and go to their meetings… and you’ll see the difference.Set goals for after your PhD. If your goal is to be a professor, quite simply, it might not happen. At least not the way you envisioned it to happen. Regardless, respect yourself, respect your skills, and respect the time and effort you have invested. Don’t settle for a low-paying, temporary job at a school that doesn’t care about you. Find a plan b that will allow you to live the way you deserve. Start defining that plan b soon.Invest in things that make your life easier and better. A bigger computer screen, a comfy chair, good skin care products, healthy food, a gym membership. I know a PhD stipend doesn’t go very far, but cutting down on alcohol, eating out, and things like that works. Make good use of second hand products. Find out where in town to buy discounted stuff.If you are on a visa be aware of everything your type of visa involves. If you need a document to be able to travel out of the country for Christmas or for a conference, find out how and when to start the process. If you must return to your country of origin after you graduate, do it. Running into legal trouble may jeopardize all the efforts you've put into your degree.Seek help. Mental health a problem among academics. PhD students suffer from anxiety, depression and other mental problems more than other professional groups. Do not, by any means, think you are alone. You are not a failure. You are struggling and we all do. There are (usually) therapists and counselors on campus who are there for you.Meet - the - bloody - deadlines!!! You agreed to finish that draft by October 7; it’s October 16. Why haven't you contacted me yet to tell me you were going to be late (which I would haver been ok with)? Or to apologize for being late and to tell me when to expect the draft? or to ask for help because you haven't even started the draft because you're feeling overwhelmed with everything? Deadlines allow projects to move forward. They tell you when something must be done in order to move the project to the next stage. If you don’t meet them, the project will suffer, and your reputation will too.Enjoy the ride. This can be done. At least, some of the time. Some weeks are a little bit quieter. There’s less to grade, to teach, to write, to analyse. Use those days/weeks wisely. Go for walk, get a coffee, spend extra time with your dog, have an extra long bath, read a book or a magazine. Do whatever helps you decompress so that you can get back to work fresh.Don’t pack every bit of your calendar with new projects. Be smart. Consider how much you have on your plate right now and if you can actually get into more projects. Just because it's nice and shiny doesn't mean it's good for you right now. Be critical.Take good care of your credit history. You will soon transition into a world where you're not a student anymore. Do you best to look good in the eyes of bank and money people. Open a savings account. Activate the “keep the change option” on your debit card. You will be glad you did this.

A 1st time researcher choosing a projectInitially choose to work on a method that has relevance to the Principal Investigator (PI)'s project.Why method? Developing or optimizing a method, one learns the Scientific method.It's also practical. Unlike an open-ended scientific project with many beginnings and ends, a method is finite and most method projects could be finished within a year. In that time, not only would you become experienced in the techniques the lab uses, you may also have enough data for a method paper, if you're lucky.An ancillary benefit? Your PI and colleagues would benefit from your work. Win-win.Here's an example. A few years back, I had a terrifically talented and unusually motivated technician. She had a Masters in bioengineering and was new to biomedical research in general and to immunology in particular. One of the techniques we use a lot in my particular line of work is intracellular cytokine staining of T cells and flow cytometry to assess their cytokine responses. The method we were then using was cumbersome, typically 18 hour days or longer, starting very early in the morning until late at night.With my inexperienced but extremely motivated technician, I mapped out an approach that broke down the process into a two-day protocol, i.e. a much more manageable 10-hour 1st day followed by a 5-hour 2nd day. One-day and two-day approaches needed to be compared side-by-side. Each change between the two protocols needed appropriate controls. Four months of focused work later, we had a working, validated (other teams generated similar data independently) two-day T cell intracellular flow cytometry staining protocol that worked so well everyone at our site now uses it.How to read papersA research paper's most important parts: Experiment Design (what they did), Methods (how) and Results (what they found).A research paper's least important parts: Introduction and Discussion, i.e. the authors' story around their data.An excellent researcher learns to analyze and interpret the data for themselves, and does not depend on the authors' spin. For this, basic interest in the subject and innate curiosity are necessary. Without them, the task is too tedious and laziness makes it easier to just follow the authors' lead and take their story at face value.Focus on Materials and Methods, Figures and Results. Pay less attention to the Introduction and Discussion. Initially very difficult but necessary.Goal is to be able to reconstruct the essence of a paper simply by reading its Figures.Try to read at least one paper per week with the goal of being able to reconstruct its essence from just its data, not from the authors' Introduction and Discussion.Start with papers published by your PI. After all, you are likely to work on a related topic. And you could easily clarify what you don't understand by asking your PI and/or colleague to explain.Once you get better at reading papers, you'll find it easier to choose papers and organize them. Why?Because once you find something in one paper that interests you, it'll lead to a reference in that paper you find interesting. In turn, that'll lead you to more interesting papers and so on.It could even be something as simple as reading other papers by the author(s).Read reviews to get an overview on a topic, and keep track of the work of the scientists who wrote them. They're likely among the leaders in that field.This is how you'll learn to map and build your own database of scientific literature.Ultimately, the best approach to learning the scientific method is through learning to effectively perform a critical analysis of data.One of the best techniques for rigorously learning the scientific method is through a weekly journal club.One person in a group presents a paper of their choice, and everyone joins together to critically examine the data, to find flaws in it or in the methods, and come up with alternative explanations for the results.Many labs pay lip-service to journal clubs so few scientists are themselves good with the scientific method.If you are committed to becoming an excellent scientist, try to participate actively in journal clubs in your lab/department/college/institute.No journal clubs? No problem. Start one yourself with the help of other students in your lab/department/institute.How to arrange papersI use a common nomenclature for naming saved papers: year-journal abbreviation-1st author surname. An example? Page on nature.com which I saved as 2014-NatComm-Dutilh.I maintain different topic folders. My topic sub-folders contain a topic's sub-categories and so on. Here's an example of my system for organizing papers, from microbiota, a topic of interest to me. Microbiota ---> Microbiota sub-categories, one of which I named Virome ---> Virome sub-categories, one of which I named Human Stool ---> Human Stool papers on Virome.Think of organizing scientific papers in your subject along these lines. Your job is to figure out a system with which to separate papers on a topic into its sub-categories. One way to look at the task? Like organizing a wardrobe. Also some papers may fit in more than one folder or sub-folder. In that case, I just save copies of that paper in each relevant folder.How to record experimentsRecord everything, everyday. Often, habits and laziness take over. That's why it's important to learn good habits early and learn them well.In any lab, there are a set of standard assays and protocols. Then habit takes over and the scientist just records something like, 'harvested cells, processed them using protocol #123'. Big mistake! No method is ever done the same way over and over.Learn to record as you go.You just need to develop habits that make it easy for you to record as you go. That means dividing your lab work into modules/chunks/units.It's easier to record data in real-time with electronic tablets in the lab rather than in physical lab notebooks. One advantage is that the entire experiment is electronically recorded in real-time and can be uploaded as a complete record into an electronic notebook, if your lab uses them.As you'll use the same methods over and over again, you'll come to understand how to efficiently separate out different parts of the work. For example, steps one can do ahead of time and those only do-able at a specific moment on the day of the experiment. From this, develop excel templates for each protocol you use.Cook on a routine basis? Think of lessons learned. Many cooking lessons are directly applicable to experimental lab work.In turn, this'll teach you to organize and divide the data recording into excel templates with pre-set formulas that are optimal for your work. This helps record data in real-time in a time-saving manner.I've often noticed that people leave the lab as soon as they finish setting up their experiment. Big mistake! I train people who work with me to take an extra half hour or so to finish recording everything about their days' work electronically while it's still fresh in their minds. No coming back the next day to do this. Many details will be lost to memory.What do I mean by record everything, everyday? An everyday example from my work life is a cell staining experiment followed by flow cytometry.I teach colleagues to record every step of the protocol. It's an electronic template. They just have to record real-time differences/changes from the norm.With antibodies for example, I teach to record every item, including reagent name, antibody clone name, flurochrome conjugate, vendor name, catalog #, lot #, expiration date, concentration, amount used.Using excel spreadsheets, one can make templates for recording this information and much of it can also be copied from one experiment to another with only minor details to be changed on the day of a given experiment.Setting up detailed and specific templates to record experiments takes time and effort initially but once set up, they are very easy to use and maintain, and data gets recorded more rigorously and with more granularity/detail.In my opinion, every lab should have electronic notebooks where data is recorded in real-time, date and time stamped, and uploaded to a central server, with little or no scope for post-modifications, only additions. There is far too much scope for fraud and misconduct in science these days, and we need widespread use of such electronic systems to pre-empt or minimize their scope.Getting along with the supervisorI don't know if I can give much useful advice about this since cultural differences are likely to be considerable. With a busy and pushy supervisor, try to pay attention to patterns. For example, does the supervisor have meetings at specific times of day and/or week? If yes, capitalize on that pattern and put yourself on that meeting calendar, i.e. make a habit of meeting with your supervisor regularly. Go in with a bulleted list of action items. Update on your work? Issues getting research materials? Issues getting access to a paper? Point is to make a habit of regular meetings with your supervisor. Use those meetings to make the supervisor familiar and comfortable with you. In those meetings, point is to start with information your supervisor likely seeks or finds useful such as status reports about your work. Then ask for information or support you seek or need. Overall goal is to build a rapport of some sort with your supervisor. Weekly meetings are more beneficial than not.Thanks for the A2A, Juan Jin.