From the

series at Science NextWave, a website of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

By JEREMY M. BOSS and SUSAN H. ECKERT, EMORY UNIVERSITY

[Book of the same title by these authors]

Giving It 110% "The issue of how much of your salary a university will require you to recover on grants is critical to the overall support that your department/institution will give you during your career, and therefore should be near the top of the list of factors when deciding on taking a position."

I Can't Believe They Didn't Like It! Part I — Manuscripts "The key now is to know how to move forward, to understand the appropriate roles of the reviewer and the reviewed, and to determine how to respond to critiques so that you get that grant funded, eventually, or that paper accepted."

I Can't Believe They Didn't Like It! Part II — Grant Proposals The key is to read your critique thoroughly and dispassionately, and respond sensibly to the queries and concerns of the reviewers."

Negotiating a Faculty PositionThe first and most important key to any negotiation is to know your bottom line.

On Being a Manuscript ReviewerThe manuscript review process is the cornerstone to scientific inquiry and results reporting. As a citizen of the scientific community, it is important that you participate in this process and that you take your responsibility seriously.

Publishing at the Top of the Heap Some may believe that publication in Big-Time Science is equivalent to two or three "society-level" journal articles, but the most important thing is to get your work out there where people can see it by publishing regularly in journals that are widely respected, read, and cited by your peers.

Staffing Your Lab "We've identified the ideal attributes: brilliant, productive, well trained, well read, creative, writes like Emerson, and works all day. How do you determine whether an applicant has these qualities?"

The Job Talk You need to tell an intriguing story about your research. Everyone in the audience has to understand it, each at a level appropriate to them.

The Red Herring "Good scientific practice with clear hypotheses--including experimental designs with solid positive and negative controls--should eliminate most errors that might send your research group down a wrong path."

To Fund or Not to Fund? Careful planning is crucial if you're going to complete your reviews and still have time to get your own work done.

To Teach or Not to Teach? "If you had the potential to be a great teacher, and your senior colleague knew it, then maybe the advice might have been different."

Where'd My Day Go? "Be aware of where your day goes, implement whatever strategies you can think of to save time, and do not get so caught up in the day-to-day that you lose site of your objectives."