types of research projects?

[Nestle]

hi - I was wondering about what kind of research projects med students do that actually get PUBLISHED. Are these med students actually initiating and executing their own independent research project with the supervision of a faculty mentor? or are they simply working on their mentor's ongoing research project? or are they doing their own spin-off projects?? how do you come up with an idea for a project?? i am mainly interested in CLINICAL RESEARCH, and i want to know especially about research that can be done in that summer after 1st-year. also, it would be helpful if someone could post a list of published articles in clinical research written by med students, or at least a couple citations i could check out to get an idea of what i need to do. thanks so so so so much!!!

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[Vader]

It is pretty unusual for a student working on a project for only one summer to get published. That is, unless what you do is part of a larger project and hence are included on the resulting paper. It is very rare that a student will get a first-author publication this way. Usually, more work is required. The work done over a summer can often be presented at a conference. This can take the form of a poster, or an oral presentation if interesting enough. These experiences are quite valuable.

Searching medline or your school's web site with research faculty is a great way to find out about topics. Then, contact people you're interested in directly. This is usually the best way. Alternatively, your school may have a summer research office with participating faculty. You may find summer stipends available.

Good luck!!

 

[ckent]

I am doing clinical research this summer. I know of a hospital close to my school that has med students every summer and they publish a lot from the work that med students do over the summertime. Every school is different, but most medical schools have research programs where you would just apply with a mentor. Usually the mentor comes up with the project idea and the plan for how to complete the project, the only real say that the student has is whether or not he will pursue the project. Students publish all the time, it would be difficult to produce some sort of list with student's research. Students can get involved with almost any type of research out there, they just have to find a mentor who will take the time to show them how to do the work.

 

[Nestle]

Hi. thanks for the info - it seems like there is a lot of variance on whether or not students can publish their summer work. (maybe depending on the institution?)
if there is not a list of student research that was published, could someone give a few references on clinical research - maybe just one or two citations for articles that you or a med student friend got published. just so i can get an idea...

thanks again!!

 

[ckent]

Hello, it is not dependent on the institution on whether or not you get published, it's dependent on who you are working for and what work you are doing. Students can get their name attached to any research that is published if they contributed some significant work to it (and their mentor is nice enough to put their name on the paper, which usually they usually will). Students will usually not be listed as first author of the paper as usually they are not the ones writing the paper. For specific citations, I used to have a sheet from a local hospital that sponsored med students in clinical research projects that had a list of publications that resulted from their work, but I can't seem to find it. Are you a med student? Why are you interested? If you are not a med student, wait until you get into med school, your school will have an office of student research that coordinates research between students and faculty (coordinates: finds funding for stipends). If you are an undergraduate, you can still do clinical research (I have a friend that did), but you have to look a little harder or you might not get paid to do it.

 

[getphedup]

I have been really involved in a project this past year and it has allowed me to initiate my own research project rather easily. It is a questionnaire survey which is pretty easy to do. There should be a few papers to come out of it, actually I am submitting one to a major journal this week. The most time consuming part is getting IRB approval and taking care of small details. I imagine detailed lab and "scientific" research is much more difficult to get going. Just pick something you are interested in, do some medline research, find a mentor/advisor and see what happens.

 

[Vader]

Yeah, I guess I was coming at things from a more basic science perspective in terms of getting published. Often with basic science work, there is quite a bit of time spent learning techniques and getting your experiments to work. To do real quality work and get published within a 10-week period is pretty difficult, though possible depending on the project. For example, last summer I did a project that was pretty quick and I will be getting published as first author (I wrote the paper). You have to work it out between you and your PI.

It is a somewhat different ballgame with clinical research, which can be more rapid. I don't doubt that many students do get published, but I think you should work this out with your PI in advance to avoid confusion or misunderstandings down the road.

 

[JD*]

My second paper. I wrote to Chair Heads across the USA about a topic. I received letters back from all. I used analyses of covarience to show in 2D that the larger the sig size the higher the postor. Secs, verses assist profs vs Dept Heads. I got the idea from old books on Napoleon and Nixon.
It in print and still quoted. To do research, do it.
I'm sure you are referring to Hard Science. That's a different post.
It's best to be loose and divergent, just what they don't teach you in class. GL JD