Why not reading is bad for your PhD

I’m writing this from my own experience in my PhD. At the start of my PhD (in Immunology) I did a lot of background reading around my subject and I got a good grasp of the subject area. That took me around 2 months. However, it all went down hill after that. I stopped reading and taking notes, I stopped rehearsing what I’ve learnt and only read when I needed to – journal club, trouble-shooting experiments, writing end-of-year assignment etc. What I didn’t realise at the time was that these actions (or lack of) added to the stress that I was already having. I couldn’t remember precisely the basic knowledge around my subject and I’d had a hard time writing my thesis.

What I should have done?

Looking back, what I should have done was spend AT LEAST 30 minutes a day reading a paper. That way you could finish reading a paper and fully understand it in 1-2 weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the paper. Focusing on reading 30 minutes a day (no distraction) is better than nothing. Let’s face it, we waste more time on our phones and social media. Let’s be a bit conservative here, if we go through 1 paper every 2 weeks, we could go through 26 papers a year! Now that’s better than 0 or 5 papers a year. Of course, once we could spend 30 minutes per session, we might end up spending more. The knowledge that you gain would really help you in your PhD.

Yes you are tried from doing your 48hr time-course experiments, but I’m sure all of you could spare 30 minutes a day properly reading and going over your notes.

So what now?

I don’t know which stage of your PhD or postdoc you are at, but it’s never too late. Chances are you already have some background knowledge in the subject area that you are in. But whether you are just beginning or finishing your PhD, it’s never too late to start. What we want is at least 1% improvement everyday and that will put you in the right trajectory.

What I am doing now is to spend at least 30 minutes a day going through basic immunology, reading a paper (could be just one paragraph), learning some stats and coding etc. Hopefully this will put me in the right direction in moving up in my career ladder.

I hope this article helps you all.

Peace,

Baby Immunologist