Getting published?

[Snowman334]

---

Members don't see this ad.

How do you get a research project published?

And, where do you find such a project? 😕

 

[UCImed]

Well if you are an undergraduate, then your best bet is to enter in some research at your university.

Often times universities will have classes that are for research such as a Bio199 or Chem199 that is research based where you work with a Private Investigator (PI) who often publishes papers.

If you ask for a significant enough project and complete it then you can often be published as a middle author.


If you are a graduate student then you should be getting published as a first author to get your degree or as a middle author for other Post Docs

 

[spence]

Well if you are an undergraduate, then your best bet is to enter in some research at your university.

Often times universities will have classes that are for research such as a Bio199 or Chem199 that is research based where you work with a Private Investigator (PI) who often publishes papers.

If you ask for a significant enough project and complete it then you can often be published as a middle author.


If you are a graduate student then you should be getting published as a first author to get your degree or as a middle author for other Post Docs

PI stands for principal investigator (a faculty member in charge of a research project/group), not private investigator

 

[ShinyDome19]

If your an undergraduate, a lot of times you will be working under a graduate student, helping them in their graduate research project. A good way to get into a lab isnt always to get to know a professor which runs the lab, but get to know the graduate students that do the research. I and few other graduate students I worked with hated it when our PI dumped an undergrad on us to train and help in our project, especially when the undergrad has no clue about what the research is on. It can take a lot of the grad students time up and some times set back their progress...thats when the undergrad ends up doing nothing but washing dishes, as that is the easiest thing to train someone to do and it saves grad students a lot of time, but doesnt really teach undergrads anything and doesnt really make for any interesting stories for med school interviews.

Depending on how your school's graduate program works - a lot of schools masters and PhD students teach either laboratory courses or some lecture courses under a professor - if your school is like this, then I would suggest taking one of these courses and getting to know the graduate student. For instance, in graduate school I instructed Microbiology Lab for pre-meds/Pre-nursing students. Find out what his/her research is on, and if its interesting to you, ask them if you can do undergrad research under them (Of course, do well in their class too)...If they go to their PI and tell them they found an undergrad that wants to do research, you shouldnt have a problem getting into the lab and the graduate student will be more likely to trust you with their research. Trusting your undergrad is extremely important as a graduate researcher, largely due to the fact that your research is your degree, and you dont graduate until you finish that research... So, keep that in mind when you approach a graduate student about research. One easy way to gain the trust of the grad student, something that I have found rare in my experience, is to get copies of the literature behind the grad students research, and read it, understand it and question them about it....All in all GET INVOLVED.

In my opinion, to get on publications, simply doing research as an undergrad often wont be enough unless you get in on a project more or less from its beginnings, or you spend quite a long time in the lab on a single project to make a significant contribution to the work. On top of that, there are a lot of graduate students out there that are extremely stingy with their publications. For example, during my graduate research, I did 8 months of sequencing work, 8 hours a day, 4 days a week, to help another grad student get data she needed for a publication, and I didnt even get acknowledged on the paper. So, be cautious of the person you work for/with, make sure they arnt an a**.

If you are able to get ahold of the literature behind the research and understand it, try and come up with small side projects which coincide with the grad students work. This, in my opinion is the best way to end up on a paper with decent authorship, or if the grad student isnt an ass, possibly your own paper with the grad student as second author. I emphasize small with the project because it will be easy to convince the grad student / PI that you can undertake it on your own/under the grad student's guidance. And if its small, it wont require a lot of time from the grad student away from his/her main project. When I was in graduate school, one of my undergrads came up with an awesome side project to one of my side projects, and it actually developed into a masters project for her..and she's been getting ready to publish the work as a first author.

One last word of advice...Only do research if you are truly interested in research. I cant emphasize this enough. If you go to a graduate student and even a lab PI and tell them you just want to do research to look good for medical school, you will end up washing dishes. As a graduate student I went through around 6 undergrad researchers, all pre-meds, before I found one undergrad that was actually interested in the actual research..hence, she stuck around to do a masters degree. Its not hard to tell which ones the good ones are - good ones show up between classes to do anything that needs to be done (even wash dishes), read all the literature they can get their hands on, and arnt afraid to say they dont understand something.

Research is not like your science class labs, it can be a lot of work and a lot of times very boring and tedious when you have to tweak things over and over again to get them to work. But it can also be exciting and rewarding when you get the damn thing to work or when complex ideas all come together. If your not sure if your interested in research or not, be honest with the grad student/PI, and while you might still get a spot in the lab as a dish washer, you'll get your foot in the door and be able to see what research is like without interfering with the graduate students progress. What ever you do, dont waste the grad. student's time...Between their teaching, classes, bitch work for Post-Docs and PIs, and their own research projects, a lot of grad students have very little time for B.S..

Hope I didnt ramble too much and understand that this is from my experiences as a graduate and undergraduate researcher. Things may work differently at differnt universities..Feel free to PM me if you have some questions.

**Edit**- Sorry if I harp on "Dish Washers" a lot. I dont mean it as an insult to anyone who has joined a lab and ended up doing it. As a former graduate student, I really appreciated those students who were willing to come in and just wash dishes as it saved me a ton of time. And, most people dont realize how important washing dishes really is - especially in something like Microbiology, where any sort of residue left in a dish could result in contamination and ruin a project. So, thx to all those dish washers out there!

 

[schrizto]

Wow, ShinyDome, good advice.

 

[ShinyDome19]

Often times universities will have classes that are for research such as a Bio199 or Chem199 that is research based where you work with a Private Investigator (PI) who often publishes papers.

Dont sign up for these classes without speaking to the PI first.

If you ask for a significant enough project and complete it then you can often be published as a middle author.

Dont ask for a project until you are ready for one...No one just enters a lab and is handed a project, especially at a University where the professors dont always have RO1 funding (Big money). When you are ready for a solo project, the PI and grad student will know...trust me. Every grad student wants their undergrad to have a solo project when they are able to take it on more or less by them self...its an easy second author paper for the grad student.

Also, a lot of people dont realize how much work goes into getting a manuscript published. Depending on the research type, it can take months to years (agricultural/ecological) to get enough data for a manuscript. Then it takes 3-8 months to get the manuscript published, if it doesnt get rejected by the journal. Keep this in mind if your already a junior or senior at your university.

 

[Red Leader]

If your goal is to go in a lab, get a recc, get a paper to show off to adcoms and bail, then you will fail and everybody in the lab will hate you.

If your goal is to learn because you plan to pursue research in the future and you are truly interested, then the universe will coalesce around you, the stars will align, and you will shoot out top notch papers faster than a fat kid craps after some bad mexican. Your coworkers will recognize your charm, intellect, and extraordinary abilities, and your PI will write you a glowing recommendation and title it "the new new testament."

Just a little anecdote from my life.

 

[schrizto]

lol @ "private investigator".

 

[shindotp]

If your goal is to go in a lab, get a recc, get a paper to show off to adcoms and bail, then you will fail and everybody in the lab will hate you.

If your goal is to learn because you plan to pursue research in the future and you are truly interested, then the universe will coalesce around you, the stars will align, and you will shoot out top notch papers faster than a fat kid craps after some bad mexican. Your coworkers will recognize your charm, intellect, and extraordinary abilities, and your PI will write you a glowing recommendation and title it "the new new testament."

Just a little anecdote from my life.

That's kind of an exaggeration, don't you think?

 

[Narmerguy]

That's kind of an exaggeration, don't you think?

Not really, no.

 

[shindotp]

Not really, no.

Ummm.. yeah it is lol. Passion =/= ability. There have been people, such as this person:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=665826
who succeeded despite hating research.

 

[Excelsius]

Ummm.. yeah it is lol. Passion =/= ability. There have been people, such as this person:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=665826
who succeeded despite hating research.

Incorrect. It is the other way around. For help, look up quotes from some famous scientists. Without desire/hard work, nothing will be achieved. Ask Edison, who wasn't the brightest spark around.

As for that person you quoted, you assume it is impressive, but in fact you have no information to warrant such an assumption. The publication is very lab dependent. Some labs/research projects put the name of the student on the paper even if he/she did something similar to washing dishes. This is why a publication doesn't mean much without a good recommendation letter to back it up. Some prestigious universities make it too easy for some of their students to publish. These should not serve as basis for advice on SDN unless detailed information is provided. My particular project is very tough and just to get in the door I had to do about two months of learning (the learning curve was high too) to demonstrate that I am worthy to be part of the team. If during my training I had been unable to achieve the same results as the PI, then I would be let go because I would have lacked sufficient "feel" for this research despite my hard work. Granted, this is at a medical school, but all reputable labs operate the same way. On the other hand, I know someone at one of the local schools who has had a "publication" but does not know exactly what the research is about. He got his name there due to regulations. The moral of the story is that publication1=/=publication2, instead of passion=/=results/ability.

To the OP: your approach is already wrong. You do research to learn something and because you want to do it. Yet you ask how you can get a publication without even knowing what research is. Unless you are lucky to get into a lab that dispenses a free pass on publication, no one is going to accept you just because you want to publish.

It is unethical to join a lab just to get a paper and get out, especially if the lab has to spend a lot of time to train you. As a discouragement, know that many good labs will not give you a letter of recommendation unless they feel you really contributed to the lab. So you might spend your half a year or year at the lab doing nothing and only at the end you'll find out that either you won't get a recommendation letter or your letter will be equivalent to a D or a C. Will be back on SDN asking why you didn't get in with your 3.9. So... if you dislike research, stay away. It might harm you more than not having any research at all. Good luck!

 

[Red Leader]

Yes, I totally agree with Excelsius. Shindotp, I am not exaggerating bro. I assure you, if someone who is not passionate/dedicated to research and by some miracle has more publications than I do, I will still out shine them in the interview and trust me, it will be very apparent who did the work and who did not. That's how research works. You put in the work, time, you get the experience.

 

[shindotp]

Yes, I totally agree with Excelsius. Shindotp, I am not exaggerating bro. I assure you, if someone who is not passionate/dedicated to research and by some miracle has more publications than I do, I will still out shine them in the interview and trust me, it will be very apparent who did the work and who did not. That's how research works. You put in the work, time, you get the experience.

I agree with this post 100%, just thought your first post was a bit too much hahaha. Maybe you intended it to be a hyperbole?

 

[Snowman334]

@ ShinyDome189 - Thanks! your essay (lol) was very helpful! I really appricieate your input! 🙂

@ Excelsius - You must be skilled indeed to foresee my motives from my very ambiguous questions. Thanks for the warning though.