Questions about Presentations, Publishing, etc

I am just starting my journey. I'm considering TESU for either Environmental Studies and Natural Sciences. Then, I'd like to attend a local school for my Master's. I can't find it now, but one school wants to review my presentations and publishing. I'm just curious to know what I am getting into.

I did some googling around for "Thesis Publishing" etc, so I think I have a general idea about that. Also, I was curious about presentations. I planned to Vlog on Youtube about my Ecology education, but I also wanted to make some well researched and edited videos about my research. Do those count in anyway?

Thanks

 

I think you'll need to take one step at a time and specify where you are at in attaining the undergraduate degree.

 

In TESU's capstone course, you'll write what will amount to a mini-thesis for the capstone course. You might get something publishable out of that. As far as presentations, academia tends to look for presentations at conferences. You can join an organization in your field and present at their conferences. A video on YouTube wouldn't be something to put on your CV.

 

That's true. I'm just curious to what I'm getting myself into. It's been years since I've done any formal education. Research, presentations. My mind is boggling.

I see. Thanks

 

First step is complete your bachelor's. Some students, regrettably, spend all of their time pining away about which doctoral program is right for them to the detriment of their undergraduate studies. Finish the B.S.

As sanantone has said you can potentially publish something using your capstone work. But graduate admissions isn't looking for your vlog on YouTube. They are looking for presentations at conferences and peer reviewed publications (not screenshots of your Tumblr feed).

 

What they say. You should worry about this when your degree is close at hand.

What kind of natural sciences you have in mind? It is unlikely that you'd be able to produce a professional science publication on your own; then again, the adcomms would not really expect you to have one. You should try to turn a capstone project into some kind of publication. If you can get into an actual lab for some kind of volunteering gig, take the opportunity.

I might add that I got into a quite decent doctoral program, with funding, with didley squat in terms of publications or presentations. Get good grades and write a great personal statement; this may well be enough.

 

Thanks for the replies. I was merely curious to know what I'm getting into. I have no experience doing any type of presentations and am still very shy. I want to start going to toastmasters or do anything else necessary. I have a few years, right?

I'm looking to go into ecology or some kind of conservation. I'll still weighing my options.

 

YouTube, Ted Talks and the like are all very fine for what they are. But they aren't academic presentations. One thing that might help the most is to start tracking conferences in your field. Maybe you'll find yourself able to attend. It can get pricey. But it's also going to give you the clearest vision of "what to expect."

Plus you might make a few solid contacts.

To me, Toastmasters is a lot like Veganism. It has people who are for and against it and some, on both sides, are incredibly angry in their positions.

I've heard of people terrified of public speaking going through Toastmasters and coming out comfortable with public speaking. I've also heard of people who get in there and get so caught up in the administration of the program that they don't actually improve any meaningful skills.

I tried it briefly. I found that having someone count my vocalized pauses caused me to lose my rhythm. The result was robotic presentations that were technically sound and incredibly boring to listen to.

Excessive vocalized pauses might seem a bit sloppy. But when I listen to our company CEO talk he throws quite a few "uhs" out there and it hasn't harmed his career very much.

In short, if it works for you then do it. But I think that the true value in Toastmasters is that it gives you the opportunity to practice public speaking. That is also something you can potentially get elsewhere. If you have a church or synagogue that allows for lay sermons then this is an opportunity. If you have a professional association you might consider presenting there. You said you're into some sort of conservation so maybe volunteering to teach a class at a park or a nature center. All of these can give you the same practice without getting you caught up in group politics and people trying to saddle you with "offices" unrelated to your public speaking.

If you are still weighing your options then this is truly too early to get caught up in grad admissions. The field you choose may not require a Masters at all. Or it may require, or prefer, a completely different sort of degree (like an MPA). Focus on your undergrad studies and narrowing down on your career goal and then choose the credential that will suit your needs.

 

Have you looked at any professional organizations? You can often join the student chapters for very little cost and they can offer great opportunities to get early conference presentations and even co-author papers. If you are currently employed in the field you want to work in, ask around and see what organizations your supervisors and peers belong to. Many companies will pay for your annual dues and if you get to present your costs to attend a conference.

 

Theoretically speaking:
- Bachelor is to build up your theory and foundation
- Master should be focusing more on how you apply the theory you learnt in Bachelor or create new one to solve real world problem. You will also learn advanced ones on top of it. Unless you are talking about fully research master degree, then publication may be important.
- Doctorate/PhD, you do take courses with masters students, but your thesis is longer and may require some papers publication. Within 4-5 years, some PhD Candidate may only be able to publish one or two first authored papers related to their dissertation. However, like masters students, you should be focusing on how to apply or create new solutions to solve problems.

Publication wise, we have conference proceedings, unpublished manuscripts, first authored papers and non-first authored papers.
- Basically, what impress people is not the non-first authored papers. These non-first authored papers can meant that you simply just involved (to what extent, we don't know) in the research project and with the right connection, the first author write the whole paper and just insert your name into it after asking you to read or proofread it. Alternatively, your name may also be introduced somewhere in the paper, especially if the project uses derivative work from someone else.

- What impressed people are actually first authored papers. If you look carefully, those PhD candidates published papers with their name as first author, while their professors names are at the last. Why? Because the PhD candidate did most of the research and writing, while the professor advises him/her. Hence, REAL publications should normally be at PhD level, usually after their courseworks. For masters, maybe after your graduation, be it converting your thesis to publish or publish as a working professionals, unless you are in research masters.

Publish a paper takes time, going through all those editorial, reviews and also when the journals actually want to publish them. Like mine, it can takes a few months to half a year, hence, think of it first unless you have the time before the admission starts. If you want to go to grad schools, I would suggest reading PhDcomic.com, be it master or PhD because as these PhD students mentioned, grad school is not like undergrad school where "grades are high". Hence, they also stated that "Grades are actually not important in Grad Schools", it's a binary, you passed or failed. You defended your thesis or not.

Another way to work around, I think, you may want to consider is participate in competitions and try to win them. This shows your strengths and ability to apply theory, a focus in grad schools. Like many professionals, you may also want to consider publishing some articles in reputable websites, create your own course at Udemy or write your own eBooks and publish them. At least you are the first author and they are your writings. No ghostwriting please, that defeats the purpose. Provides some samples if the school wants to see, at least you can research and write no matter what.

 

Master or PhD, you are in Grad School. Source from PhDComics:

PHD Comics: Les (Really) Miserables - I dreamed a dream
PHD Comics: Grades don't matter
PHD Comics: Grades don't matter

When I was in my full time master, I almost laughed when I saw them. That's almost describes my life by then.