Graduate Research, Writing, and Careers in Computer Science
Useful Books on Graduate Studies, Research and Careers in Computer Science
You can find the slides of a talk that I have often given to new graduate students here
You can find a list of extremely useful books on research, scientific ethics, writing, dissertations, and scientific careers that I recommend to all of my graduate students here.
Online Resources on Graduate Study in Computer Science
- Advice for Undergraduates Considering Graduate School by Phil Agre.
- Notes on the Ph.D. Degree, by Doug Comer
- How to Succeed in Graduate School - A Guide for Students and Advisors by Marie desJardins.
- Graduate Study in the Computer and Mathematical Sciences: A Survival Manual by Dianne Prost O'Leary.
- Graduate School Survival Guide, Wanda Pratt.
- Tomorrow's Professor - Excerpts from Richard Reis's book with the same title.
- Computer Science Graduate School Survival Guide by Ronald Azuma.
- Graduate School Superstars
- How to Choose a PhD advisor by Michael Loui. Graduate Study in the Computer and Mathematical Sciences: A Survival Manual by Dianne Prost O'Leary.
- Networking on the Network by Phil Agre
- How to be terrible graduate student (by Graeme Hirst, University of Toronto).
- How to cope with "burnout", by Andreas Gehmeyr.
Online Resources on Ethics
- On Being A Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research from the National Academy of Sciences. Podcast.
- Course on Responsible Conduct in Research, from Columbia University
- Integrity in Scientific Research, Videos from American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Ethics in Computing by Edward Gehringer, North Carolina State University
- Association of Computing Machinery Computing and Public Policy Page (including Code of Ethics)
- Iowa State University's Code of Computer Ethics
- Netiquette, by Virginia Shea.
- Resources on Plagiarism and How to Avoid it Iowa State University Library.
- On Line Ethics Center for Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University
- Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Online Resources on Research in Computer Science
- You and your research, by Richard Hamming.
- A Letter to Research Students, by Duane A. Bailey
- How to Read a Research Paper
- How to do research in Computer Science by Michael Schillo, German Research Center for AI.
- Research Methods in Computer Science (Tom Dietterich's course at Oregon State).
- Graduate Study in the Computer and Mathematical Sciences: A Survival Manual, by Dianne O'Leary
- How to do Research in the MIT AI Lab, ed. David Chapman
- How to Have a Bad Career in Research/Academia by David Patterson
- Dissertation News, published by The Association for Support of Graduate Students.
Online Resources on Writing, Publication, and Presentation
Grammar and Style
- The Writer's Handbook, from the University of Wisconsin
- Elements of Style, William Strunk
- Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling from Purdue University
- Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization - A Handbook for Technical Writers and Editors, from NASA.
- Information Systems and Technology Style Guide, from Berkeley
Writing a Thesis
- Writing and Presentation of Thesis or Dissertation by Joseph Levine.
- How to write a Ph.D. thesis by Joe Wolfe
- On Ph.D. Thesis Proposals, by H. C. Lauer
- How to write up a Ph.D. dissertation, Jason Eisner
- Structure of CS Dissertations, by Spencer Rugaber
- How to write a thesis in an Experimental area of Computer Science by Doug Comer.
- How to Organize Your Thesis by John Chinneck
- Thesis Defense by Chris Riesbeck
- Hints on Ph.D. Thesis Defense by Ed Coffman, Jonathan Rosenberg, and Sal Stolfo.
- Preparing for Ph.D. Defense by Andrew Broad.
Writing Papers and Abstracts
- How to Publish a Scientific Paper, by Sharon Downes
- Me Write Pretty One Day: How to Write a Good Scientific Paper, ASCB Women in Cell Biology
- How to write up your results for publication, Paul Doughty
- How to Write a Good Research Paper, by Simon Peyton Jones.
- How (and How Not) to Write a Good Systems Paper by Roy Levin and David D. Redell
- Hints on good mathematical writing, by David Goss
- A primer on mathematical writing, by Steven L. Kleiman
- Mathematical Writing by Don Knuth (including videos of lectures).
- How not to write a research paper by Oded Goldreich
- Advice to Authors of Extended Abstracts, by William Pugh
- How To Have Your Abstract Rejected, by van Leunen and Lipton.
- Ian Parberry's Guide for for New Referees
- Technical Writing Tips by Henning Schulzrinne
- How to Give a Good Research Talk, by Simon Peyton Jones et al. Talk
- Presenting Research by Marie desJardins
- Michael Ernst on giving a talk
- Ian Parberry's Guide for Speakers
- On Short Talks, by Charles Van Loan, Cornell University
- Tips on giving a 15-minute talk Scott Keogh
Writing Research Proposals
- The Art of Grantsmanship, by Jacob Kraicer
- How to Write a Strong Research Proposal by Simon Peyton Jones and Alan Bundy. Talk
- Tips for Writing Research Proposal by Joseph Levine
- A Guide for Proposal Writing, from the National Science Foundation
- All About Grants from the National Institutes of Health
Online Resources for Women in Computer Science
- CRA Committee on Status of Women in Computer Science with many pointers to resources for women in computing.
Graduate Scholarships and Fellowships
- Graduate Assistantships, Fellowships, Scholarships
- Graduate Teaching Assistantships
- Graduate Traineeships in Bioinformatics and Computational Molecular Biology
- Yahoo! Graduate Fellowships
- AT&T Fellowships
- Homeland Security Fellowships
- INTEL Graduate Fellowships
- Microsoft Graduate Fellowships
- B.F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Program
- Merril Lynch Grants Competition
- National Academy of Science Predoctoral and Dissertation Fellowship Programs
- National Physical Sciences Consortium Fellowship Program for Minorities and Women
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships
- IBM Ph.D. Fellowships
- NASA Graduate Fellowships
- National Defense Science and Engineering Fellowships
- Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program
- Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships
- Department of Energy High Performance Computing Fellowships
- NVIDIA Fellowship Program
- American Association of University Women - American Fellowships
- American Association of University Women - International Fellowships
- Luce Scholarship Program
- Google Scholarships
- Iowa State University office of Financial Aid
- Financial Aid
Online Resources on Careers in Computer Science
- Ph.D. Careers, from Berkeley
- Computing Research and Academic Jobs
- Higher Education Jobs
- ACM Career Center
- AI Jobs
- Bioinformatics Jobs
- Biomedical and Health Informatics Jobs
- ISCB Computational Biology jobs
- Bioplanet.com Bioinformatics Jobs
- Science Careers, American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- IEEE Job Site
- Nature Jobs
- New Scientist Jobs
- Chronicle Careers
- Academic Careers
- Higher Education Jobs
- Careers in the Academia
- Yahoo! Hot Jobs
- Career Builder
- On-line Job Services
- Recruiter Network
Online Resources on Life after Graduate School
- Transition form graduate student to assistant professor
- The Assistant Professor's Guide to the Galaxy by George Bekey.
- Resources for new professors by Nigel Ward.
- Ph.D. Comics
- A Day in the Life of a Graduate Student
- Burnout Prevention and Recovery at MIT
- Nerd Songs
- A Dictionary of Useful Research Phrases
- Philosophical Humor, Dave Chalmers
- All Computer Humor
- Omri's Computer Humor Page
- Laughnet Computer Humor
- Tina's Humor: Computer
This list of resources for graduate students is maintained by Dr. Vasant Honavar, Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University. Please send suggestions, additions, or changes to: firstname.lastname@example.org.