• A very good exercise to try is the following: choose 5 articles from the arXiv (approximately in your discipline). Set a timer to read each one in 10 minutes and take 1-2 minutes to write down
    • the main point of the paper
    • a concept of vocabulary word you didn't know/understand
    • possible next steps or a related "open" problem (where "open" means open to you)
    Does this change the way you see the documents you have written? Would a colleague be able to write down the main point of your document (e.g., Research Statement)? do you now have a side project to think about from your vocab word or open problem? Such speed reading and side-project thinking is a useful skill to have when you get to a postdoc and no longer wish to work on problems stemming directly from your thesis!

  • Finally: a (fairly obvious) strategy when first embarking on a particular grant application is to read through a large collection of the past recipients' proposals, parts of which are typically publicly available. The exercise above is also helpful in this context.

Last modified: Tuesday, 28 June 2022, 2:10 PM