LabLit.com forums

This is my sixth first-author paper and I'm wondering why it never seems to get any easier?

I know what I want to say, but it all seems overwhelming. Especially the intro/lit review. I was wondering why it seemed easier to tell the same story with a Keynote presentation - psychologically what was different between a talk and a formal paper. And then that got me wondering whether The Paper really is the best mode for reporting your research, whether something else might replace it in future. I could see something between a website and a presentation, with all the data linked. Could be really cool.

It's a nice idea, hedge. We just assume that conventions are set in stone, but it would be really interesting to think of other formalized ways to record research findings. I do think it needs to be formalized -- that all scientists in a field should do it the same way.

I'd never thought about it to be honest. It IS easier to make a talk than write a paper, about the same group of figures. I guess the bottom line is that for most of us talking is easier than writing. Also in a talk, the 'references' you give are very spare! The occasional shout-out to papers whose ideas preceded yours but nothing so comprehensive as a manuscript. And that's definitely the worst part of writing a paper.

For me a talk is a lot of ad lib - the slide guides you on the general topic, but what you say comes straight out of your imagination and might not ever be the same thing twice. When you are writing I think it forces you to be more circumspect, more precise. And this is harder.

(How many of you have said things you've instantly regretted, during a talk? This is definitely a downside.)

Ha Ha yes! The dreaded sentence that suddenly starts to go off piste and you are committed and have to carry through to some sort of full stop! This is exactly why I always practice talks - especially the beginning (my problem with intros, again), where things are much likely to go 'free form'.

Modesty aside, I'm brilliant at talks. If I manage to get off-piste I turn it into a joke. And yes, much much easier than papers.

I'm lucky, I guess.

Oh, God, I'm dreadful at just talking. It all gets Holden Caulfield and I can hear the "digression!" every other sentence. I really have to write things down if I'm to marshal some kind of an argument for anything. It used to torment my dad -- I'd start talking, and he'd just sit there looking more & more incredulous. Once he asked, "Is there actually a beginning here? Or an end? Or is it all just middle?"

My first real job out of school, I was an industry analyst at a company that still had a typing pool, and I was expected to dictate my reports into a microcassette recorder like some kind of Hollywood genius leaving notes for himself in a bad movie. Couldn't do it. My boss told me I had six months to figure it out. I quit after ten weeks, but I'm sure that if the six months had rolled around and they'd insisted about the oral reports, I'd have written them out and then read them into the recorder.

Giving talks is such an art form. I would happily gives talks for the rest of my career and ever write another paper. If I ever get a big grant I'd happily sacrifice all my fancy kits and save money to hire a paper writer. Apparently such positions now exist!