Advice for talking to professor about research article

[sivman17]

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I am trying to develop a friendly relationship with one of my professors. He is in charge of an orthopedic research program that I would like to participate in during the summer and subsequent semesters. I have talked to him generally about his research and why I am interested in orthopedics. He gave me two articles that his team has published recently and suggested I read them. I have read one of them and plan on reading the other one in the next day or so.

My question is.. what can I go and talk to him about regarding these articles? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but I'm serious. The first article is about tissue-engineered human menisci. It's actually pretty interesting for a science article and I understand everything, except for some of the methods that they did. But it's not like it's above my head or anything. But, what can I say to him that makes myself sound intelligent? I don't want to ask questions about the article over things I already understand simply for the sake of asking questions.

Does this make sense? I mean, should I go and ask if they have done anything more with this tissue engineering? Or if it has had any clinical applications? In the article, which was published a year ago, they say it hasn't been used in humans yet.

Any advice would be great. I haven't really done much research in the past so I don't have a real firm grasp on talking about research procedures and all that jazz, but I've certainly read enough articles to understand it and everything.

 

[Mr hawkings]

I am trying to develop a friendly relationship with one of my professors. He is in charge of an orthopedic research program that I would like to participate in during the summer and subsequent semesters. I have talked to him generally about his research and why I am interested in orthopedics. He gave me two articles that his team has published recently and suggested I read them. I have read one of them and plan on reading the other one in the next day or so.



Any advice would be great. I haven't really done much research in the past so I don't have a real firm grasp on talking about research procedures and all that jazz, but I've certainly read enough articles to understand it and everything.

I a little confused about your goal here. My experience has been that when they give you an article to read, its mostly for you to get an idea of what they do and to decide if its STILL something you want to do or not. If you genuinely have questions about why they did certian things, that fine. BUt if you go in asking questions just to impress him, you're going to end up looking foolish.

That being said, i think "WHY" type questions are the most useful in this situation. People generally jump at any chance to talk at length about their research and their rationale for setting things up the way they did. These will probably be things you may actualy be wondering about.
Dont worry about not "sounding intelligent". He wont expect you to know everything especially considering how specialized his research is. Just make sure you dont sound like you've never been in a lab before.

 

[Go Ducks]

If you want to really impress him, ask about how his article relates to another article you read on your own.

OR ask about the direction his research will take. "You showed X. What's the next step; to demonstrate Y?" This will show you are thinking ahead and have ideas for projects.

OR ask about the practical applications for his research. List some that you've thought of and ask if there are others. Then the professor will see that you are the type of person who sees the larger picture.