Our Communication Lab teams are always thinking about new communication skills and scenarios that we can help to demystify and support. Find our latest resources below:
Blog posts
Quick tips on handy skills and first-hand reflections about communication experiences, from Communication Fellows and MIT community members
- How to Overcome Writer’s Block with the Cave Rave Approach, by Myles Stapelberg, NSE Comm Lab, October 2023
Brainstorming can be difficult, and I often find clients (and myself) focusing so much on what each sentence should say that we lose track of what our communication medium is trying to convey. Additionally, the brainstorming process is usually writer-focused, i.e. done with the writer’s concerns rather than the audience’s in mind.
- A Beginner’s Guide to Owning and Presenting your Research, by Liam Hines, NSE Comm Lab, October 2023
Summer has officially come to an end, and with its departure a new semester dawns. And with a new semester come ripe opportunities, scholarly resolutions, and motivating little white lies. I myself have lain in bed the night before the start of classes committed to such delusions as “I will attend my 9:30 lectures” and “I will start my p-sets the day they are assigned.”
- Towards an “#evenbetterposter”: improving the #betterposter template, by the BE Comm Lab, September 2023
Introduced in 2019 by a psychology graduate student, #betterposter is a framework for improving scientific poster design and presentation. The goal is to eliminate large blocks of text—which too often plague academic posters—to improve audience understanding and to make posters more efficient to create and view.
- ChatGPT, Graduate School, & Me, by Eliza Price, ChemE Comm Lab Fellow, August 2023
A grad student’s guide to AI in research and science communication.
- Intro to the faculty job search: tips and resources, by the BE Comm Lab, July 2023
The faculty job search, while continually evolving in terms of trends and hiring practices, is commonly experienced as a daunting, poorly illuminated, and variable process. While there is no single path to success in finding a faculty job, here we aim to provide some general recommendations based on communication best practices and links to additional resources for further guidance.
- Create content for your personal website using good communication techniques, by Morgan Blevins, AeroAstro Comm Lab Fellow, April 2023
Building a personal website for the first time or feeling stuck on how to fill in content? This post shares ways to use the MIT Commkit archives to build your website!
- Handling the Q&A Session, by Matthew Goss, CEE Comm Lab Fellow, April 2023
If you’re anxious about the Q&A section of the exam, you’re not alone! In a survey of grad students (n = 6) preparing for the General Exam in 2023, 100% of respondents rated the Q&A section as “the most daunting.”
- Will your article reach peer review?, by Jared Berezin, CEE Comm Lab Manager, April 2023
Most researchers are familiar with the peer review process, though some may be less familiar with the editorial review process. When a journal receives an article, the editors decide whether or not to advance the submission to peer review.
- Insightful maps and connections: tools for effective literature reviews, by Sydney Dolan, AeroAstro Comm Lab Fellow, January 2023
The purpose of a literature review is to generate a state-of-the-art overview for a particular topic. This requires identifying the most relevant papers to the topic at hand and crafting a story about how the papers are related to one another. This can be a challenging endeavor without some way to strategize and organize the review.
New & updated CommKit articles
Discipline-specific how-to’s and annotated examples, covering both technical and professional communication.
- Figure Design, by Harsh Bhundiya (AeroAstro Comm Lab), Summer 2023
- Portfolios, by the AeroAstro Comm Lab, Summer 2023
- Research Paper and Presentation, by the CEE Comm Lab, Spring 2023
- Fellowship Personal Statement, by Hannah Varner and Simo Pajovic (MechE Comm Lab), Fall 2021
- Statement of Purpose for Graduate School, by Carlos Diaz-Marin, Simo Pajovic, and Hannah Varner (MechE Comm Lab), Fall 2021
- Research Qualifying Examination (RQE), by Mazdak Abulnaga and Rohan Chitnis (EECS Comm Lab), Winter 2021
- Grant Application, by Samiya Alkhairy and Eugenia Inda (EECS Comm Lab), Fall 2020
- Virtual Presentations, by Charlie Hirst (NSE Comm Lab), Summer 2020
- Cover Letters, by Patrick White & Robbie Stewart (NSE Comm Lab), Summer 2020
- CV / Resume, by Robbie Stewart & Patrick White (NSE Comm Lab), Summer 2020
- Figure Design, by Marina Dang, Xinyao “Anna” Liang, & Steve Jepeal (NSE Comm Lab), Spring 2020
For a full directory of all of our CommKit articles, click here.