Any advice for a newbie?

[Newtry]

Hi all!

I'm new around here and just looking for tips.
I'll be starting a funded PhD studentship this autumn which I'm very excited about.

However, it's been over 10 years since I completed my Masters - I'm now a middle ish manager in industry (the same field as my PhD topic).

I'm a little nervous about my skills, how things may have changed and also the huge effort of a PhD. I'm also really lucky to have some funding but it's still a drop money-wise.

What should I be doing now? Is there any prep you'd recommend? Any hints or tips for my first few weeks/months?

Have you got a good preferred sources/papers management software sorted? Get your filing system sorted whether it's going to be online or not. And a good references manager - time consuming to keep it up properly with custom coding etc but invaluable when refs run to the hundreds (I used Endnote but probably better ones now and I'm sure others can recommend).

Just today on the bus I was thinking of something I wanted to use in a book chapter - but I just couldn't remember the paper I read it in and at the time it didn't strike me so particularly so I didn't save it or keep the citation <<rolls eyes>>. I should know better - if you can't cite it you can't use it. Oh the hours wasted trying to find where I read something because I didn't make a note of it at the time....

Enjoy!

Thank you @Acinonyx2 - one to add to my list!

Zotero is your best solution for the filing / management of academic papers issue mentioned above.

are you in arts or science?

my advice would be that PhDs can be much more flexible & independent than industry which means some students get lost. set yourself goals for the week and the month and discuss them with your supervisor.

also, make sure you join all relevant mailing lists you can find and follow academics in your field on twitter & mastodon. it is a good idea to develop a network of people in your area for advice / ideas / hearing about conferences etc.

Thanks @parietal it'll be law.

I'm usually good at self motivation but I've seen similar comments re: lack of structure so getting a schedule down is a priority for me.

Thanks for the tip re: Zotero, I'll take a look