How do I start doing research with a professor? I'm a sophomore and want to start getting involved with doing at least something related to research/acedemia.
If I
>Go to prof's office hours
>Tell him I'm interested in the material he's teaching, and was wondering if there was any research he was doing that was doing that was related to the subject and that I could possibly help with
Is this how it's done?
yes. but try to broaden your horizons a bit, research he's doing might not be that related to the subject, but still be appropriate for students learning that subject.
>research a bit in order to know the actual research field for each of your professors
>choose the one that interests you the most
>office hours
>"I had interest in learning about XYZ, related to what you do".
>DO. Not TEACH. Be aware of that (unless you are at a millionaire heaven in which every professor teaches only what he/she researches).
>actually know a little something about XYZ, to show your interest
>"Oh, but you are going to have to work for free, is that ok?"
>"Sure, I am so interested!"
>work as hard as you can for a while, gain respect and trust, get to know people who work with the professor
>get a scholarship, eventually
>do research
Basically this. And expect to volunteer for a semester putting in real effort and time for no money. After they know you're good you'll have opportunities to get paid for what you do.
Kek, fucking nerds.
I mean this board is Veeky Forums idk what you were expecting...
You're a bunch of fucking try hards though, fuckers.
lol, just wait until you encounter pre-meds, finance, or business bros, if you think research interested people are tryhards
Here's how:
>pass courses
>enter final year
>now have to do a mandatory internship
There you go. Apply at your favourite department and they can't even turn you down unless they're full or something.
dude there are a number of grants if you choose to do this, which is usually a few thousand bucks for a semester of research in a topic you're interested in. most people, such as yourself, don't jump on this. if you care about grad school then it helps a lot too, but even if not i've gotten a few paying contracts from professors just from being engaged and talking to them
????? not all schools are the same. some programs have mandatory internships, some don't. there is competition for those departmental positions as well, but if you've developed relationships beforehand it's all a formality
I actually study accounting and finance, final year.
Ahh so you do it for money. Of course you fucks are in it for the money when the topic/extra work doesn't fully appeal to you.
I took a course in a subject that I was interested in, did well, then spoke to the prof when the course was over. I said that I'd do stuff for free to get experience. After a few months I started getting paid for my work, but I also learned alot of the basic lab techniques that apply to most things in my field (molecular bio)
Poor, poor you
>but I will be rich and shit
yeah, tell me this when you are at your forties crisis
i am legit interested in my area of study, otherwise the amount of money made through grants and contractual gigs wouldn't in themselves be enough of a motivator. but also, of course i do this for the money, but not solely - you're fucked if you aren't pragmatic about what you want out of school, and shitting on people for ensuring their own success is some weak ass trolling
Yes, but also try to secure personal research funding. If you're in Canada you should look into USRA NSERC
can this be for undergrads too?
yes! read a fuck load of whitepapers and be able to have a conversation that's deeper than some autistic "well, actually" class interruption and you'll differentiate yourself. eventually you'll be given opportunities if you can demonstrate ability and that you actually give a shit
i get you user... but thats true for the last year only isn't it? when you HAVE to write a paper for getting your degree (in my country.) is there a way to do that sooner or is it wiser to just study the fuck of everything? thank you!
Lol, I love those goobers who always pipe in during lectures with those "well actually" or some kind of "I read this article..." statement. Everyone just rolls their eyes because it's taking valuable class time from everyone else so they can have their soap box for some unrelated topic.
>when some autist interrupts class and then says something that demonstrates his a complete and fundamental misunderstanding of the basics of the topic, and you can tell the professor is trying to come up with a diplomatic way of calling him a retard
Become buddies with him/her during the course and go to office hours (but don't force anything). After the course ends and you get your A+, shoot him/her an email saying you really liked the course, and want to keep studying upon the topic. This is the point where the professor says "actually I'm working on this problem and maybe you could help me with it".
I kid you not bruhv, yesterday in my Gen Bio 2 class, this guy said he read an article that humans are genetically closely related to chickens(he was talking about it for about 2 mins before the professor pulled up google and looked it up and shut him down so fast.
lmao no professor wants to sit around babying some 20 year old tryhard nerd
You'd be surprised!
Interest is good but you also have to get along with the professor
Nobody wants to do research with someone they can't stand
Make sure you 1. Be Polite, and 2. Respect their schedule
this. academia is filled with some big egos, flattery can help you a lot.
but it's very much a two way street. they won't waste their time to help you out because of "altruism" or some shit, usually they expect it to benefit themselves in some way. unpaid work ("volunteering"), having their name on your research, etc. this could lead to paying work (at first dull, examples include proofreading, indexing, digitizing, stuff they'd rather not do which can vary depending on your field), then later leading to better opportunities.
Email the PI and say you're interested in the lab's work and include a little bit of information about you and your grades. They'll walk around the lab and ask the postdocs and grad students if anyone needs another set of hands. If anyone does, you're probably hired.
>wasting your youth doing labmonkey shit instead of fucking girls
>he doesn't date a self-loathing engineer who's so interested in what happens in physics labs that you telling her about it gets her wet
Step your game up
>Is this how it's done?
No.
Nobody is interested in people who want to do research for the sake of doing research. They want people who are interested in a particular question and want to work it out. Your goal should be to find a specific answer, not to do research.
If you want to work on something the professor hands you, I suggest you do the following:
>Think in depth about the topic your professor teaches. Without necessarily doing too much literature research, try to develop the ideas above and beyond what you were thought.
>In doing so, stumble upon an interesting (and, preferably, relevant) question that you can't find an answer to, AND can't find an answer to in the literature.
>Come up with a couple of bright ideas to attack this problem. Your ideas will all be stupid, and that's alright.
>Talk to your professor about your thoughts, and raise the topic of your bright ideas and your inspirations of working these ideas out further.
>Your professor will shoot down your ideas for not working for reasons that are obvious in hindsight. Or, if you are lucky, your ideas might work but this research project is too extensive or to deep for you to tackle.
>Hopefully, your professor will talk about related ideas and open projects, related to their own research, that are related to yours and might be within your reach. If they does not, try again until they do, either with different ideas or with different professors.
>Work from there. Become honestly interested in the ideas your professor proposes, or it will never work.
>tfw self-hating engineer interested in what happens in physics lab but no physician gf to tell me
I actually wrote it for undergrads, user