Small commitment side research projects in addition to summer research project?

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UTSW2019

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I currently have lined up a summer research project that's clinical-based and the time-commitment won't be very high. It will last the entire summer. This project isn't in a speciality that I'm particularly interested in as of now, and I was thinking that I could also contact other departments to see if they have any residents or attendings who are doing retrospective studies or need any help with lit reviews or looking at past charts or case reports. How do you suggest I go about doing this?

I don't have any publications or abstracts or presentations under my name, so I thought it'd be a good way for me to get some solid experience this summer vs doing these during the school year. My main project most likely won't result in a publication but an abstract submission/conference presentation.

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I currently have lined up a summer research project that's clinical-based and the time-commitment won't be very high. It will last the entire summer. This project isn't in a speciality that I'm particularly interested in as of now, and I was thinking that I could also contact other departments to see if they have any residents or attendings who are doing retrospective studies or need any help with lit reviews or looking at past charts or case reports. How do you suggest I go about doing this?

I don't have any publications or abstracts or presentations under my name, so I thought it'd be a good way for me to get some solid experience this summer vs doing these during the school year. My main project most likely won't result in a publication but an abstract submission/conference presentation.

Very doable! The best way to approach this is to contact the other docs and let them know how many days per week you are available to commit to their projects! That way they know what to expect and you are able to handle both projects! PM me if you have questions, I'm doing much the same!
 
If you know what you're doing, having multiple projects floating around can be very productive. If you don't know what your doing, lack support from mentors/PIs, or aren't terribly motivated, having multiple projects can be a great way to spread yourself too thin, get nothing tangible done, and piss off potential mentors/contacts by flaking on your commitments.

There is no way for us to know if one option vs the other is better for you, especially since it also depends on project-specific factors. That said, given that you are asking this question in the first place and you have no pubs/abstracts/presentations to your name, I suspect you are fairly new to research and should probably get your feet wet and make sure you are able to take care of your first project with time to spare before searching for additional ones.
 
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