Ok, my dumb question for the month...

[cdmOMR]

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The word "research" has scared me since I began college, and I think it is because I am uninformed about it. What does research actually involve (I guess mostly on the undergraduate research level). Is it simply working with a grad student/professor research program just doing the dirty work? Or do you have to be really in-tune with whats going on and have extensive knowledge in that field? I always imagined it as some program you go through that gives you no direction and you are just expected to know how do everything. Also can someone claify the difference between normal research and the upper-level Bio or chem research class. I know its too late for me to get in any research programs, but I was wondering if people can shed some light for me.

 

[kappa505]

You are part of a team of grad students that are headed by some faculty member. If you are lucky, you get paid. And they should show you how to do everything that you need like making electrophorisis gells for example. It is not too late, just ask around your department.

 

[cdmOMR]

You are part of a team of grad students that are headed by some faculty member. If you are lucky, you get paid. And they should show you how to do everything that you need like making electrophorisis gells for example. It is not too late, just ask around your department.

See that doesnt sound soo bad. I went to a small presentation last year by the head of our Biology dept. and he pretty much said if you havent entered a program by sophomore year, its too late.

 

[bruinpredent]

kappa is right...you start off cleaning dishes and doing the dirty work, but over time the grad students and postdocs teach you how to do a lot of the work so that you can help them and learn how to do a lot of the stuff in their absence.

and yea, its never too late, even if you have only a quarter/semester under your belt when you apply, you'll have far more than that when it comes time for interviews, meaning you can talk all about your experience.

plus, it helps if you go to a school that has a dental school/program where you can do dental research 👍

😍 UCLA 😍

 

[dentstd]

"research" is using your scientific knowledge to solve a problem. To discover an unknown fact or process, and be able to back it up using experimental data.

"research", as it exists to most students, unfortunately is doing menial work as directed by advisors. The thinking is done for them, and they're just there to pipette solutions from one container to another. (or cleaning the dishes, as your fellow dental "researchers" have done).

Real "research" creative thinking and ingenuity to solve problems. The ability to do your own research without the help of others, and the ability to produce quality data is the hallmark of true intelligence.

 

[Gordon9721]

i'm sure research varies from department to department and profs to profs. i've done research for one prof and after explaining what we were looking for, gave me directions on what to do and what needed to be done. for new tests to run, he'd tell me i'd have to come up with them and then he'd let me know if that's what needed to be done.
i'll be doing library research this upcoming semester and that'll consist of researching articles and what not while typing a 10 page report on my findings. it's dental related and the prof says we have a chance of getting published!

 

[TL294]

well, I didnt have to do the dirty work. I was assigned to my mentor at the orientation, talked to her about options, propose my project. First week: we had to learn all the lab techinique: how to load a testing place, how to prepare samples, collect data. After that I just had to meet with my mentor 1 or 2 times a week to discuss about the data. Last week was data analysis, presentation and report week. Mine project was reproductive hormones, so I worked with urine sample most of the time. I did most of the work on my own, so it was great experience and it's a paid job