Getting Started as a Researcher
===============================

.. figure:: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd051017s.gif
   :alt: Ah..research life

   Ah..research life

Motivation and Mission Statement
--------------------------------

-  To become a scientist is to dive into the unknown on behalf of the
   human-kind, it is never an easy job but can be very rewarding as
   well. It is good idea to always check your motivation, think about
   your mission statement, and confront your career and personal choices
   sincerely.
-  `Choose Your Own Adventure: Developing A Values-Oriented Framework
   for Your Career by Lucianne
   Walkowicz <https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.09963>`__

   -  I think you should read this, every word of it, before you read
      anything else. This is probably the best career advice I have ever
      read. I worked on my **mission statement** right after I read
      this.

Inclusiveness and Community Building
------------------------------------

-  Read through the `AAS Code of Ethics <https://aas.org/ethics>`__ or
   the `ASA Code of
   Ethics <http://asa.astronomy.org.au/code_of_ethics.php>`__

   -  Also the `Anti-Harassment Policy for AAS & Division Meetings &
      Activities <https://aas.org/policies/anti-harassment-policy-aas-division-meetings-activities>`__

-  `Astronomy and Astrophysics
   Outlist <https://astro-outlist.github.io/>`__

   -  “As professionals in astronomy and astrophysics, whether we are
      students, faculty, staff, librarians or are working in other
      positions, we all like to believe that our work environment is
      determined only by our capabilities as students and researchers,
      and that it is free from personal bias. A productive professional
      atmosphere depends on open and accepting interactions of
      individuals free from discrimination and harassment.”

-  `AstronomyAllies - Anti-harassment in
   Astronomy <http://www.astronomyallies.com/Astronomy_Allies/Welcome.html>`__
-  `Equal Opportunity Astronomy: Articles &
   Resources <http://www.astrobetter.com/wiki/Diversity>`__ collected by
   AstroBetter.

ORCID and Google Scholar
------------------------

-  `ORCID <https://orcid.org/>`__ provides a persistent digital
   identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and,
   through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and
   grant submission, supports automated linkages between you and your
   professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized.

   -  It is a very good idea to register an ORCID and maintaine it from
      time to time.

-  It is also a good idead to start a `Google
   scholar <https://scholar.google.com>`__ page

Choosing a Programing Language
------------------------------

-  It has become clear that `Python <https://www.python.org/>`__ has
   become the new Lingua franca in astrophysics and cosmology research
   and it is probably the language you want to learn first. We also
   prepare a series of lists to collect **Python** related resources and
   tools, including `basic learning materials for
   Python <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/python_basic.md>`__
   ,\ `resources on improving the performace of
   Python <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/python_performance.md>`__,
   `on model fitting or optimization in
   Python <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/python_optimazaton.md>`__,
   `on statistical analysis and model in
   Python <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/python_statistics.md>`__,
   `on data visualization in
   Python <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/python_visualization.md>`__,
   `on getting started with your own Python
   project <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/python_write_yourown_project.md>`__.
-  `C <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)>`__ and
   `C++ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B>`__ are still at the core
   of many important astrophysical applications, e.g. numerical
   simulations, data reduction or analysis that requires high efficiency
   or good performance. Many important astrophysical softwares use **C**
   or **C++** as the core and then wrap it up using **Python**. Here we
   also provide some basic resources for using
   `C <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/clang_basic.md>`__
   and
   `C++ <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/cpp_basic.md>`__
   in research.
   `Fortran <http://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/HomePage>`__ is another
   historically important language known for its excellent numerical
   performance. Its influence in astronomy is decreasing right now, but
   you will still see it in scenarios that rely on high-performance
   computing.
-  `Julia <https://julialang.org/>`__ is another intersting high-level
   programming language on the rising. There are `several key advantages
   over
   Python <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/julia-motivation-why-werent-numpy-scipy-numba-good-enough/2236>`__
   but it is still a young language. Right now, **Julia** tools for
   astronomy and astrophysics are still limited, but we decide to start
   to `collect relevant resoures and
   tools <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/programing/julia_basic.md>`__
-  At the same time, `R <https://www.r-project.org/about.html>`__
   statistical language also has some interesting applications in
   astronomy;
   `IDL <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDL_(programming_language)>`__
   was yesterday’s language for astronomical data reduction, but for
   historical reasons, many projects/instruments are still using it. If
   you just start your research in astronomy, we no longer recommend you
   to learn it. But in case you have to face it in research, it is `not
   difficult if you have a background in
   Python <http://mathesaurus.sourceforge.net/idl-numpy.html>`__
-  Although their applications in astrophysics are limited,
   `MATLAB <https://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab.html>`__ is widely
   used for data reduction and numerical simulation, and
   `Mathematica <http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/>`__ is a very
   popular tool for symbolic analysis and theoretical research. Neither
   of them is free, so please make sure you have the correct license to
   use them.
-  And it never hurts if you can learn some basic programming skills
   related to webpage making,
   e.g. `HTML <https://www.w3schools.com/html/>`__,
   `CSS <https://www.w3schools.com/css/>`__, and
   `Javascript <https://www.javascript.com/>`__.
-  **It is also important to remember: never tool-shaming others!**.
   There are excellent scientists who still rely on **IDL**,
   `IRAF <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRAF>`__, **Fortran** for
   research, and using
   `SuperMongo <https://www.astro.princeton.edu/~rhl/sm/>`__ or
   `gnuplot <http://www.gnuplot.info/>`__ for data visualization. There
   are plenty of personal and practical reasons to do so and they can
   still do great science. Use your energy for something more positive
   and productive.

Misc
~~~~

-  `The STA663 courses at Duke University compiled a nice list of useful
   resources for computer skills that are useful for
   research <http://people.duke.edu/~ccc14/sta-663-2019/>`__
-  `StackOverflow <https://stackoverflow.com/>`__ is a community
   knowledge database for programming. It can be your best friends in so
   many situations, and you should consider helping others too.

Organizing Your Research Project
--------------------------------

-  `GitHub <https://github.com/>`__ or any other on line code
   repositories (e.g. `GitLab <https://about.gitlab.com/>`__,
   `bitbucket <https://bitbucket.org/>`__,
   `coding <https://coding.net/git>`__) can help organize your
   scientific project. It can help you do version control, back up
   research results, and also share results and code with the community.

   -  `hub - A command-line tool that makes git easier to use with
      GitHub <https://github.com/github/hub>`__
   -  You can also keep your project synced across multiple platforms.
      Please see `this
      article <https://moox.io/blog/keep-in-sync-git-repos-on-github-gitlab-bitbucket/>`__.
      Notice that **gitlab** is using **v4** API now.
   -  It is easy to `keeping in sync your Git repos on Github, Gitlab,
      and
      Bitbucket <https://moox.io/blog/keep-in-sync-git-repos-on-github-gitlab-bitbucket/>`__.
      All you need to do is to make sure the repos share the same name,
      and add multiple remotes to the same local data.

-  And **GitHub** allows you to `create new repository based on a
   template <https://github.blog/2019-06-06-generate-new-repositories-with-repository-templates>`__

   -  There are template available that can help you get started:

      -  `shablona - A template for small scientific python
         projects <https://github.com/uwescience/shablona>`__

-  If you want to start a package as your project, you can try
   `cookiecutter <https://github.com/audreyr/cookiecutter>`__ - A
   command-line utility that creates projects from templates for Python,
   Javascript, Ruby, Markdown, CSS, HTML etc.

   -  If you are interested in using **astropy** as a good template for
      Python project, the `astropy package
      template <https://github.com/astropy/package-template>`__ is
      available too.

Organizing a Programming Environment
------------------------------------

-  Before starting some serious projects, you should be a little more
   patient on the learning curve and try to cultivate some good habbits.
   Good examples are everywhere!
-  Don’t waste too much time choosing editors or IDEs, just pick the
   first one you like, learn how to use it; if it does grow on you,
   change to another one. Both `vim <https://www.vim.org/>`__ and
   `emacs <https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/>`__ are excellent tools;
   `atom <https://atom.io/>`__,
   `VScode <https://code.visualstudio.com/>`__, and
   `sublime <https://www.sublimetext.com/>`__ are all very good IDEs.
   They **all** have amazing capabilities and can help you become a
   great coder and scientist.
-  There are some useful resources that will save your time setting up
   the environment:

   -  `spacemacs - A community-driven Emacs
      distribution <https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs>`__
   -  `spacevim - A community-driven modular vim
      distribution <https://github.com/SpaceVim/SpaceVim>`__
   -  `Awesome Emacs - A community driven list of useful Emacs packages,
      libraries and
      others <https://github.com/emacs-tw/awesome-emacs>`__
   -  `neovim - Vim-fork focused on extensibility and
      usability <https://github.com/neovim/neovim>`__
   -  `awesome-vscode - A curated list of delightful VS Code packages
      and resources <https://github.com/viatsko/awesome-vscode>`__
   -  `awesome-atom - A curated list of delightful Atom packages and
      resources <https://github.com/mehcode/awesome-atom>`__

Backing-up Your Research
------------------------

-  This is as important as you can possibly imagine.

-  Off-line Backup:

   -  You should constantly back-up your harddrive using external
      harddrive. Both MacOSX
      (e.g. `TimeMachine <https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250>`__)
      and Linux (`TimeVault <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TimeVault>`__ and
      `Duplicity <http://duplicity.nongnu.org/>`__) have systems that
      help you backup data.
   -  You can also easily backup your entire system or certain directory
      using a command line tool
      `rsync <https://linux.die.net/man/1/rsync>`__: **rsync -av –delete
      /Directory1/ /Directory2/**

      -  On Linux, you can also use
         `Cron <https://opensource.com/article/17/11/how-use-cron-linux>`__
         to automatically backup files at any given time. For example,
         you can follow the instruction
         `here <https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/automatic-offline-file-backups-with-bash-and-rsync>`__

-  Online Backup:

   -  It is encouraged to use service like the
      `Dropbox <https://www.dropbox.com>`__ to constantly backup
      important research-related files (e.g. draft, code, and figures).
      In mainland China, `jianguoyun
      (坚果云) <https://www.jianguoyun.com/>`__ is an alternative.

Keeping Research Notes and Documents
------------------------------------

-  `Markdown <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown>`__ is a
   lightweight markup language with plain text formatting syntax. It is
   very easy to learn and can help you make well-organize notes and
   documents that can be easily converted into other format (**HTML** or
   **LaTeX**).

   -  `Mastering Markdown by GitHub
      Guides <https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/>`__
      is a very good start.
   -  If you want to learn more details, use `the Markdown
      Guide <https://www.markdownguide.org/>`__.
   -  Most of the editors and IDEs support the **.md** or **.markdown**
      format documents through extensions. They can help you check the
      syntax. There are also a lot of markdown editors on all platforms.

-  Whatever notes or documents you are keeping for your research, make
   sure it can be backed-up and is searchable. Using software like the
   `OneNote <https://www.onenote.com/signin?wdorigin=ondc>`__ from
   Microsoft, or on-line service like
   `evernote <https://evernote.com>`__ would be a good idea. If your
   project is already on **Github**, you can just use **git** to version
   control and back-up your documents. `GitHub wiki
   pages <https://guides.github.com/features/wikis/>`__ are another
   great way to keep notes.

Publishing Your Science
-----------------------

-  `A list of journals in Astronomy and
   Astrophysics <https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php?category=3103>`__

   -  Don’t pay too much attention to the impact factor or H-index.

-  Writing a paper can be painful, but it is one of the most important
   step in your research life. We have `a separate document talking
   about writing
   papers <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/taotie/blob/master/research/writing_paper.md>`__.

Sharing Your Science
--------------------

-  `Open Science <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_science>`__ is good
   for everybody!
-  You can share your results using **Github**: you can share codes,
   notebooks, and draft together. But it is not very good if you have
   large amount of data to share.
-  `zenodo - a general-purpose open-access repository developed under
   the European OpenAIRE program and operated by
   CERN <https://zenodo.org/>`__
-  `Dataverse - open source research data repository
   software <https://dataverse.org/>`__
-  `The Astrophysics Source Code Library (ASCL) <https://ascl.net/>`__
-  `OSF - Open Science Framework <https://osf.io/>`__

Talking about Your Science
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  It takes a lot of practice to know how to give a good talk, but there
   could be some useful tips to follow:

   -  `How to give a great scientific talk by
      Nature <https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07780-5>`__
   -  `Three tips for giving a great research talk by
      Science <https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2019/04/three-tips-giving-great-research-talk>`__
   -  `Speak your science by Astrobites (three
      parts) <https://astrobites.org/2018/02/10/speak-your-science-part-1/>`__
   -  `How to Give a Great Talk by Chat
      Hull <https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.08088>`__

Making a Scientific Poster
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  `We’re Here To Help You Make The Best Scientific
   Poster <https://www.makesigns.com/tutorials/>`__

-  `Better Scientific Poster <https://osf.io/ef53g/>`__

   -  By Mike Morrison. A new, faster approach to designing research
      posters. Includes templates
   -  There is a `Youtube video that describes the motivation and
      design <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RwJbhkCA58&feature=youtu.be>`__
   -  `The LaTeX
      template <https://github.com/rafaelbailo/betterposter-latex-template>`__
   -  `The R Markdown
      template <https://github.com/GerkeLab/betterposter>`__

Reading Paper
-------------

-  It is important to read as much as you can. It is important to follow
   **arXiv** regularly.

   -  You can check if your institute is using
      `voxCharta <https://www.voxcharta.org>`__, a on-line platform to
      vote on papers and organize **arXiv** discussion.
   -  It is good idea to have a routine that keeps record of interesting
      papers. Here is an examply by
      `me <https://github.com/dr-guangtou/daily_astroph>`__

-  `Astrobites <https://astrobites.org>`__ is a very good website to
   follow recent interesting papers from the perspective of a graduate
   student.

   -  They also provide some good advices on reading papers: `Part
      I <https://astrobites.org/2017/12/19/tools-for-reading-papers-part-1/>`__,
      `Part
      II <https://astrobites.org/2018/03/09/tools-for-reading-papers-part-2/>`__,
      `Part
      III <https://astrobites.org/2018/09/06/tools-for-reading-papers-part-3/>`__

On Using arXiv and SAO/NASA ADS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

arXiv
^^^^^

-  `To submit an article to arXiv <https://arxiv.org/help/submit>`__

   -  Please read this webpage first…submitting paper to arXiv sometimes
      can be annoying.

-  `Local time at arxiv.org <https://arxiv.org/localtime>`__

   -  To remind you the deadline for submitting paper to arXiv

-  `The official arXiv github repositories <https://github.com/arXiv>`__
-  `arxiv.py - Python wrapper for the arXiv
   API <https://github.com/lukasschwab/arxiv.py>`__
-  `arXiv LaTeX Cleaner: Easily clean the LaTeX code of your paper to
   submit to
   arXiv <https://github.com/google-research/arxiv-latex-cleaner>`__

SAO/NASA ADS
^^^^^^^^^^^^

-  `Tutorial for using the new ADS
   search <http://adsabs.github.io/help/search/>`__
-  `Official SAO/NASA ADS github
   repositories <https://github.com/adsabs>`__
-  `ads - A Python Module to Interact with NASA’s ADS that Doesn’t
   Suck <https://github.com/andycasey/ads>`__

Communicating with Others
-------------------------

-  `Slack <https://slack.com/>`__ has become the most common way to
   organize a small collaboration. Even the free version can be very
   useful.
-  Telecon becomes more and more frequently used to communicate among
   collaborators in different institutes and timezones. Commonly used
   telecon tools including `Skype <https://www.skype.com/en/>`__,
   `zoom <https://zoom.us/>`__,
   `GoToMeetings <https://www.gotomeeting.com/>`__

   -  All of these tools are free and cross-platform, and easy to use.
      You can share screen using them for remote presentation too.

-  `Doodle <https://doodle.com/make-a-poll>`__ is the most commonly used
   tool to create a poll to decide the time slot for a meeting or
   telecon.

Personal Website
----------------

-  It is actually pretty important to have a visible personal website
   that links your CV and contact information. Make sure that it can be
   found by search engine.

-  This is especially important if you try to find job in another
   country (e.g. get a PhD in China, want a post-doc job in Europe) or
   when you know the hiring committee is not familiar with you.

-  `GitHub Pages <https://pages.github.com/>`__ is pretty good choice to
   make a nice-looking personal website. And there are some `easy-to-use
   templates available <https://pages.github.com/themes/>`__, and there
   are `more fancy ones
   available <https://jekyllthemes.io/github-pages-templates>`__

   -  `How to Create a Simple Academic
      Website <https://marisacarlos.com/pages/create-simple-academic-website>`__

-  `al-folio - A beautiful Jekyll theme for
   academics <https://github.com/alshedivat/al-folio>`__

   -  This is a pretty good template for academic personal wesbsite

-  Good examples (personal choice: clean and informative)

   -  `Adrian Price-Whelan <http://adrian.pw/>`__; the code can be found
      `here <https://github.com/adrn/adrn.github.io>`__
   -  `Dan Foreman-Mackey <https://dfm.io/>`__; the code can be found
      `here <https://github.com/dfm/dfm.io>`__

Conference and Talks
--------------------

Scientific Conference
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  Behave yourself professionally during conference or workshop. Please
   pay attention to the code of conduct. As an example, you can read the
   `Code of Conduct for ESO Workshops &
   Conferences <https://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2018/tcl2018/code.html>`__

-  `CADA International Astronomy
   Meetings <http://www.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/en/meetings/>`__
   is a very good place to check if there is anything conference that
   interests you in the future. There is a RSS Feed and a **iCal**
   subscription.

-  `astromeetings Twitter
   account <https://twitter.com/astromeetings?lang=en>`__ is also a good
   way to follow the on-going conferences in your field.

   -  It has become routine for a conferece to have a designated hashtag
      on Twitter for people to twit about the talk. We cannot go to all
      conferences (and it is `bad for the mother
      earth <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1746-692X.12106>`__)

-  `Future IAU
   Meetings <https://www.iau.org/science/meetings/future/>`__

On-line Colloquium
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-  With Youtube, it is pretty easy to enjoy great astrophysical
   colloquium in universities and institutes all over the world. Here
   are a few good channels to get started:

   -  `CfA
      Colloquium <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCApHNlZLkxmiV95A0ChueYg>`__
      and `ITC
      Video <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTuACIrLKPTlp6XMZbeipig/featured>`__
      from Harvard/CfA
   -  `Heidelberg
      Astronomy <https://www.youtube.com/user/AstronomyHeidelberg>`__
   -  `CCA
      Seminars <https://www.youtube.com/user/SimonsFoundation/playlists>`__.
      Some of them are about astronomy and cosmology.
   -  `Dept of Physics & Astronomy at the University of
      Utah <https://www.youtube.com/user/UofUPhysAstro/featured>`__