Becoming successful in research is an ongoing process in which certain values and practices play a crucial role.
Your undergraduate years are the perfect time to establish within yourself the values and practices that promote success in research. This guide is designed to start you off on the right path.
保持热情的属性 开放的思想, 灵活性, 自律, 热情的持久性 are required to successfully perform research work. Maintaining those attributes takes purposeful effort. 因为 research involves a quest for new knowledge, you’re going to be working on projects that deal with questions which don’t necessarily have an answer—or we’re not sure yet of the answer, which is why we’re working on it in the first place. 所以你需要 be prepared to work on open-ended projects. It’s entirely possible that you will go down some dead ends, but if so, don’t fret. That is part of the process of discovery that all researchers go through; remind yourself of this fact when the going gets tough.
You need to remember that being a student researcher is just that: you are a student and a researcher. The student part cannot be diminished—your advisor should expect you to be working hard on classes, 取得好成绩, making steady progress toward obtaining your degree. 这些目标是至关重要的 properly balancing a successful undergraduate research experience. What good would it do you to accumulate research experience at the cost of jeopardizing your obtainment of the academic degrees that are essential credentials for your future research career?
话虽如此, we have found that students working in an active research group sometimes show improvements in GPA, sometimes decreases in GPA. There’s no one “right way” to balance your research activities with coursework. Keep in mind that balancing your priorities is part of the learning experience. 事实上, the balancing act you will learn to accomplish is integral to the entire research profession at all of its stages.
Become Adept at Time ManagementThe importance of possessing superior time-management skills to leading a successful research career cannot be overstated—and as an undergraduate researcher, now is the time to start cultivating those skills. 研究 uniquely juxtaposes the open-ended with the time-sensitive. Scientific experiments have to be meticulously planned and prepared ahead of time, then executed with efficient, 灵巧的, undistracted precision. Multimillion dollar research grants are planned and proposed two to five years in advance and then faithfully carried out. How do researchers manage these impressive feats of time management? The answer is found in the mundane yet critical personal habits of periodic goal setting, 每日任务安排, routine task prioritization, regular accountability for how one’s time is spent.
To be useful, knowledge must be shared—and that means you will eventually have to convince other experts in your discipline that the discoveries you made and the methods you used during your research, 奖学金, creative activities are reliable. 这意味着 need to keep complete and accurate records 你所做的一切, 你是怎么做到的?, what you learned from doing it as you work on your research from day to day. So don’t try to reinvent the wheel on record-keeping. As soon as possible, find out from research experts who have gone before you what the best ways are to keep solid research records.
