How do you check yourself?

[nnnnnnn]

As I finish my second year in grad school, sometimes I wonder if my research is meaningful. I used to be able to convince myself that it was and of course my adviser and labmates will tell me it is.

But I feel our scope is so limited and biased.

I don't want to hole myself into this PhD fooling myself that my work can have impact only to graduate and realize otherwise.

I don't mean to sound and down and depressed as I do. But how do you know you're on the right track? Is it the journals you publish in? The accolades you accumulate? If so, which ones? I'm serious that I have no clue. If it helps, I'm in chemistry / materials science.

[fuzzylogician]

But how do you know you're on the right track? Is it the journals you publish in? The accolades you accumulate? If so, which ones? I'm serious that I have no clue. If it helps, I'm in chemistry / materials science.

I get into conferences, I get published, I get asked (and successfully field) serious questions from people who don't know me well - e.g. at conferences and similar occasions, I got my dissertation project funded by the NSF. People know who I am before I meet them -- that tells me that I am doing well. I also get told I do good work by my advisors and others in my department. I try to ask people around me once in a while how they think I am doing, even though that's a really hard question to ask. It's of course possible that people are still facilitating some not-great work that I do (we all have better and not-as-good projects) and indeed everyone sometimes feels inadequate, so it's a matter of trust: do you trust your advisor to tell you if you're not doing well, and do you trust the peer-review process in your field?

[Guest |||]

It isnt the journals that make your work worth while, nor the accolades

 

it isn't even people coming up to you and saying "I love your research"

 

None of this ultimately matters and isn't worth a cent.  What matters is if you can enjoy the work you do, be  content with what you have regardless of any ribbon, bow-tie or prize to show for it.

 

 

That said, of course, we all have to do the dance of journals and awards, to prove ourselves and land the job in the first place.