Every week my professor and his students have a journal club, and in the past I would skim through the paper and have nothing substantial to add to the discussion. When it was my turn, my presentations usually lasted only half an hour. For the past few months, however, I have been scrutinizing the papers and actually taking notes.

Two weeks ago, when it was my turn to present, I actually had a 50-slide presentation ready and could answer everyone's questions about the paper. My professor decided to have me present this past week, too, on a closely related paper so we could compare them. I feel slightly less clueless about my field than usual!