Research opportunity - How to make the most out of it ?

[SlickRoseNeer16]

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As a beginner, what did you do to make the most out of your research opportunity ? I have one that is being presented to me.

I understand observing the scientific process and making notes is one of the key. Did you log your observations regardless if you published/ not.

 

[eteshoe]

You always write down all your experimental projects, observations and results. It's a record of what's been done. It can be used for publication but more importantly it will help future researchers in the lab.

 

[ChrisMack390]

One big regret I have from my summers in an immunology lab is not utilizing my downtime properly. I used to run tons of experiments that had long (1-2 hour) breaks throughout while things reacted or incubated. On my best days I would use this time to read some recent journal articles or study something and on my worst I would use it to look at facebook or walk around outside. What I should have been doing was offering to help or even just shadow other employees or asking my PI if he had anything I could work on during the long breaks.

 

[DoctorInVivo]

Be willing to learn anything and everything.


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[Cookiess]

1) Be proactive about reading research papers related to your research project in order to strengthen your background and learn about current ongoing research that is related to your research project. You can ask your PI or grad student to suggest papers to read.

2) Familiarize yourself with the details of the experiments you'll be conducting, from understanding every step of the procedure to troubleshooting what can go wrong with each step. Practice the experimental procedures if necessary.

3) Attend lab meetings to see what other projects your lab is working on and to see how your project fits in with the overarching goal of the research lab.

4) Use a lab notebook to take good notes of your experiments, from the procedures to the data and results you produce.

5) This might be a little early for you, but later down the line, you can scope out potential research conferences that you'd like to present your research at.