Going to an academic conference is an exciting opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and exchange stimulating ideas. However, to make the most of a conference requires a lot of hard work before, during, and after the meeting itself. Marta Teperek provides a checklist of things to do at each of these stages.

What’s the secret to a productive spell of writing? Chris Smith shares insights gleaned from interviews with a diverse group of academics, from which a number of common academic writing habits stood out. These range from the simple acts of scheduling and setting self-imposed deadlines, to the use of “free-writing” techniques which help authors write their way out of blocks.

Katherine Wood, a graduate student in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Psychology Department and advocate for open science, walks through a basic overview of how to overcome and accomplish some operations commonly encountered when initially getting a data set. "By generating the data yourself" she says, "you can make your life easier by saving it in the format you want." She explains step by step multiple ways to accomplish this and highlights packages that will make things easier for anyone with similar issues.