Some resources for graduate students

Richard Hamming, the prominent American mathematician, gave a series of lectures (Learning to Learn), which are enlightening. The most important one that every graduate student should watch is "You and your research". You might also enjoy other lectures on "Creativity" or "The art of doing science and engineering".

This is an indispensable part of graduate life. Every graduate student should be able to easily convey what (s)he understands through research papers, talks, or lectures in general. Clarity, grammer, punctuation, and ordering are just a couple of things you should always have in mind. It needs investing and practice to master. These are a couple of books to better help you with writing:

• The elements of Style: This is very short book on principles of composition. This book is nails on basics you need to know.
• Style: Lessens in Clarity and Grace: This is a great book towards writing clearly.
• A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations: A reference book or style guide for writing academic papers, theses and dissertation.
• The Chicago Manual of Style: This is like a reference book for widely used and respected writing style in the US.
• Simon Peytons, computer scientist, has given a talk on "How to write a great research paper?". He is a gifted speaker with great advices on writing a good reasearch paper.

We can't avoid presentations. It's better to prepare and learn how to present and with practice master the art of presentation. Here are a couple of reading suggestions:

• Even a Geek Can Speak
• Simon Peytons talks also on giving presentations: "How to give great research talk?"
• Robert Cialdini has a book on "Influence: The Psychology of Persuation". He has recently published the book as "Influence: Science and Practice". This is a great book on understanding the key weapons of influence.

• Tomorrow's Professor.
• A PhD is not enough lays out a rational path towards a research career.
• Professor David Patterson, computer scientist, gave a lecture in Berkeley as his last lecutre where he talked about "How to be a bad professor?". It covers different subjects, and you will enjoy listening to this talk.