What are you planting today? As you research, write, teach, learn, and market your work, what is your long-term objective for future harvest? Is it a reputation? Position? Legacy?

In this week’s collection of articles from around the web, we explore topics of ethics, the benefit of PhDs, resilience, self-improvement, self-promotion, and mentoring.

Og Mandino once said, “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” As you approach your writing practice this week, ask yourself whether you are giving your best to your efforts and what you are planting today that will influence you harvest in years to come. Happy writing!

Facing ethical dilemmas during research

Consider if the following has ever crossed your mind, ‘If I plan to do ethical research then it will happen right?’ The answer is not straightforward because each research study is unique and remember the conditions in which you are undertaking your research are constantly changing in ways that are not always predictable.

Why learned societies and academic publishers can benefit from hiring PhDs

Conversations about alt-ac or career-diverse doctorates can be fraught for universities, students, and employers. Students may wonder how their skills can transfer outside of the academy, while professors may struggle with how to help students in a career path that they may never have undertaken. Potential employers may wonder, “What can someone with a PhD offer my organization?”

Academic resilience in times of COVID

In the last 12 months, the individual and collective heroic spirit of many academics has been nothing short of extraordinary. Overcoming the initial hurdles of COVID-19 takes one kind of energy; the resilience needed to remain engaged with the continuing changes and uncertainties is quite another challenge. Sustained resilience requires purposeful strategies.

Ethics & research with vulnerable participants

Naturally work with vulnerable populations intensifies some ethical issues when planning research designs. Interestingly many of the same questions were raised in my advanced doctoral research class last week and I really appreciated when one of the students remarked, “stating our population is vulnerable does not absolve a researcher of their ethical responsibility.’ So perhaps a good place for discussion is whether your research participants should be considered vulnerable and how this might impact your research design.

Fix your writing tics with Chris Banks from ProWriting Aid

What is your writer’s tic and how can you fix it with Pro Writing Aid? Why are commas such an issue for writers? (and my own personal nemesis!) How can AI tools enhance our creativity and usher in a new abundant future for writers? I discuss all this and more with Chris Banks from Pro Writing Aid.

How to give a great podcast author interview

As an author, one of the best ways you can reach new audiences is through podcasts. To increase your odds that you’ll make a good impression on your listeners—and perhaps convince some of them to read your work—keep the following tips in mind.

10 Best mentor quotes that will broaden your thoughts

You can reach out to the people who think they are smart enough and they have enough experience of life. When someone has a lot of experience you will be able to learn from their experience and applied it to your life whenever possible. It will give you some guidance and you will know in which direction you want to move.