1+5 Good Habits for Young Scholars

2 minute read

I’m selling about good habits that young scholars could foster while finding their path in academia, for only $ 5. 100% of the sales will go to a hospital fighting COVID-19. Read on to know more.

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Academia could be a wonderful place. By seeking the truth, researchers are exposed to several research challenges, and their discoveries could shape the way we think, work, and live. However, academia can also be a tough place to work. Graduate students are six times more likely to be depressed than the general population. The academic job market is extremely competitive.  If you happen to think that academia is for you, it is better to foster some good habits. 

In this book that I’m selling for only $ 5, I describe 1+5 habits that I cultivate and follow over the last few years. By sharing this habits, I believe I could help other young scholars to find their path in academia, as I found mine. The 1+5 habits are the following:

  • Do your homework;
  • Know your institution;
  • Collaborate;
  • Procrastinate on Twitter;
  • Stay health;
  • Have fun.

There is a sample of the book, including the chapter that describes the first habit.

A natural question that the reader would ask is: why you mention 1+5 habits instead of just six habits? Well, because I believe the first one is not a habit, but an obligation. If you don’t do your homework, you can hardly move forward. Therefore, the other habits do not make much sense. Simple like this.

100% of the sales to combat COVID-19

For the first 90 days, I will donate 100% of the sales to UFPA hospitals that are in the front line fighting COVID-19 (excluding taxes and fees). I will make everything transparent in this website.

Limitations

In research works, we always have many limitations. This book is no different.

First, one avid reader would quickly realize that the writer of this book is a young researcher himself, so his habits might be limited due to his little experience in conducting research projects. I wholeheartedly concur. Therefore, this book may be more attractive to really young scholars, such as undergraduate and graduate students.

Second, I cannot claim that the ideas that I discuss in this document are anything new. On the contrary, many have been discussed since the early days of research and documented in many books by many authors in many research fields. Perhaps, the main benefit of this book is to have these ideas summarized in a single place.

Third, as a software engineering professor and researcher, my views are shaped based on my interactions with this community. Although I believe that some researchers in other areas could see some value here and there, it is not clear to me how my “1+5 habits” would generalize to other research fields.

Finally, this book is based on my own experience and views. It does not reflect the opinions of my employer, etc.

About the author

Gustavo Pinto is a software engineering researcher and professor at the Federal University of Pará, Brazil. Gustavo Pinto is a young scholar himself. He got his Ph.D. from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, in 2015. Since them, he became a fairly active researcher in his research community, which could be noticed by his 60+ papers published, 1,000+ citations, and five awards. Know more online at www.gustavopinto.org or follow him on Twitter (@gustavopinto).

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