How do you do research?

[UserNameNeeded]

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I was told by a professor during my undergraduate years that "research knows no time schedules" and went on a long spiel saying that to do research, basically, you need all of the time and flexibility in the world.

This pretty much discouraged me from doing research then, but I hear about medical school students doing research with the little, constrained time they have and I'm thinking my professor may have been somewhat wrong. So how do you guys do it? How do you get started? How do you finish it in the time you have?

 

[Brainsucker]

Lots of people do research over the summer between 1st and 2nd years. There are specific grants for this. (I'm getting $3500 from the NIH for the summer.) There are a few that do stuff during the year. Just like undergrad, you contact the faculty you're interested in working with. I think they're more receptive now, though.

As far as getting things done, one reason I'm doing clinical research over the summer is that I might be able to get an abstract or a publication out of it. It's a lot harder to collect enough data in basic science to do that.

 

[UserNameNeeded]

As far as getting things done, one reason I'm doing clinical research over the summer is that I might be able to get an abstract or a publication out of it. It's a lot harder to collect enough data in basic science to do that.

That's smart!

How did you get the NIH grant? Are you doing it at your medical school or at another institution?

 

[SkylineMD]

basic science research won't get you a publication unless the PI just is generous and will throw you onto the manuscript near the end of the author list (best case scenario) or most likely at the end of the article as a thank you for technical assistance. Abstracts are much easier to get but don't hold much weight on your CV

clinical science research is easy to get abstracts from and publications are possible if you get in at the right time. The only problem with trying to get published in both cases is finding the right person to do research with. I've personally ran into a scientist who promised to put students on their publications if they show dedication to the project but after looking into it, he was full of hot air. So just ask around and try to find the perfect person/people to work with otherwise the only benefits of doing the research is the stipend you get

 

[Brainsucker]

That's smart!

How did you get the NIH grant? Are you doing it at your medical school or at another institution?

I'm doing it at my med school. Getting the grant involves an app with a couple of pages of description of the project and what I'm going to get out of it. I imagine that the grant is available at all med schools since it's NIH. I doubt the application is exactly the same since the school decides who gets the grants, but it's probably similar.