Incoming M1. I'm headed to a strong mid tier school in the northeast and would like to go IM and then hopefully cards. Right now my plan is to focus on exams/school for the first half of the 1st semester and then start to explore research. I did some basic work back in undergrad but I haven't stepped foot in a lab or done any research for about 3 years. What are the types of things I should start off with? I was thinking that I could start off with case reports and then work my way up from there?
how to approach research
- Thread starter sghos
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Pick a field to do research in, email people with research interests that you think are interesting. They will tell you what projects they have available and you can decide which ones you want to work on. If you want to write case reports, then you could specifically ask them if they have anything to write up, but I would shoot for actual experimental papers (clinical or basic) if possible. Case reports IMO seem like a thing you write up when you're swamped with other work 3rd and 4th year and need to squeeze out a paper or two in a field of interest. In first and second year (and esp the summer bw the two) you have time to really get into the research and write some solid papers, so you should take advantage of that. Case reports are way low on the research totem pole compared to almost any other type of study you could be involved in.
Right now I think clinical would probably be a better fit for me. I don't think I can handle doing basic stuff. How open are clinical research PIs to med students with no background in clinical research?
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Very open. Everyone has to start somewhere. Just be willing to work hard and teach yourself as much as you can. You'll make some mistakes, but as long as you are motivated and responsive to your PIs edits you can turn something good out in the end.
