Starting summer research internship tomorrow

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Any advice?

It's neurology related and at a reputable institution. How can I make the most of it, get recognised, and hopefully get published?

Never really done research before so just looking for some general tips, guidance, advice, to help me be successful.

Originally Posted by bonoz

Any advice?

It's neurology related and at a reputable institution. How can I make the most of it, get recognised, and hopefully get published?

Never really done research before so just looking for some general tips, guidance, advice, to help me be successful.

Work as many hours as you can, try to do as much as you can without help. Waiting for help will slow you down. If you are waiting, find something to do while you wait like begin collecting articles on the topic for the eventual paper. Try to teach yourself as many of the necessary skills as you can so that you don't have to wait to be taught.

Cool thanks. Any more advice?

Originally Posted by bonoz

Cool thanks. Any more advice?

If you have a PI, get to know him or her well - they could be a great mentor and possibly write a recommendation down the line. If it's a physician, make sure to spend a few days with them clinically if you're interested in the field and haven't seen it before. They can also give you an idea of the hot topics in the field, which may help you come up with some questions on your own. And no shame if you don't - it's difficult when you're not familiar with the literature.

Learn the research procedures at your institution - are you doing clinical, bench or animal work? Make sure you're squared away with the appropriate research board before you get working, hopefully there is some sort of orientation for that, and you may have some training to do before you can actually start working.

A lot of what you're doing will be done independently, so make sure to update them on where you are with your project. You'll be able to gauge how frequently this should be. To give you an idea, I've been updating about once a week while I'm slogging through data and it'll be more frequent once our databases are established and we're actually working on the statistics and writing up the results.

The biggest thing though, and this should go without saying, is to be professional. Show up when you're expected to, dress according to the lab/clinic standards, etc. Basically, go with the flow of your institution and be nice to everyone - you'll never know where help can come from when you have a question. Professionalism goes a long way. (Hopefully I'm just preaching to the choir, as I don't know your work history.)

Getting published in a short amount of time is basically all luck.

Write down everything anyone tells you because you only want them to have to explain it once. Take good enough notes that you can refer back to them later and do protocols on your own. Even write down where reagents are, if you think you'll forget, so you don't have to keep asking people.