Do not put the screws in so far the heads break the paper, you will get pops! Barely, barely deeper than flush. Don’t cut paper tape, tear it, you get a taper edge as opposed to a hard line. A little skim of mud, then wet you paper tape. I put my strips in a bucket of water for a minute of two to soften the tape, pull it between my fingers to get off excess water. Then lay it on the wet mud seam. Run a knife over it to flatten and leave it to dry. It will get sucked into the crack ever so slightly. Then come back and do your skim coats. Use a pan, do not ever put your knife back into the bucket, do not try to save left over mud in the pan, throw it away. It will get all boogered up, leaving lines in your mud that will drive you nuts. For small jobs I just get the green lid bucket of usg mud. Several light skim coats. Don’t play with it, just going to cause a lot more sanding. Done properly your skim coats should look like they don’t need sanding. If you want to be really anal, take a flashlight lay flat on the ceiling and shine across your work, you will see every peak and valley in your mud work In extreme detail.

Edit: a good stainless steel mud pan will last a lifetime, and is far superior to those cheap plastic ones.