3 Things I Learned While Publishing as an Undergraduate Researcher
Tips to help you kickstart your research journey
Welcome to A Hitchhikers Guide to Publishing Research Articles!💡
This is the third in a series of articles to help you launch your research dream. In this blog, I will share some of the lessons I learned while publishing four research papers in the area of computer science and engineering in my undergraduate career.
But wait!! Before I get started, let’s talk about one of the most rudimentary things which are the “How” or “Where” to start with your research journey? ( One thing which many freshers wonder about! )
— The answer is pretty straightforward! It all starts with approaching professors/potential advisors. Though you can publish your work independently, it is often great to have a mentor to guide you through the process, especially when you are just getting started in the field. So gather good knowledge about the ongoing research in your college ( probably the easiest place to start from ) and connect with relevant people who can offer you a strong foundation on how you can begin your research.
So since that’s sorted out, let’s continue with the top 3 lessons.
1. Be Patient!
Research takes time and publishing it will take even more! Most manuscripts are not accepted on the first submission. However, you may well be invited to resubmit a revised manuscript. If you choose to do so, you will need to respond to the reviewer’s comments. My first research paper got published after getting 2 major revisions and 2 minor revisions in a total span of 1 year. I won’t say that 1 year was not frustrating at all, but my mentors always encouraged me to keep going on and try my best to respond to the reviewer’s comments to the best of my knowledge as this will eventually be a good learning curve for me. And It was so true, each revision indeed polished my manuscript. So the takeaway here is to just be patient (especially when you have just started out writing scientific manuscripts). Remember the journey is important here not the destination!
2. Ask “why?” at every line
One of the best pieces of advice I received while writing my research papers so far was to ask yourself “why?” at every line you write. Writing about your work is not just documenting the results you found, but also discussing the methodology you followed to reach your end goal including “what did not work?” or “why you did not use the other method?”.
Furthermore, many facts which you write may need to be backed by suitable references. So, this technique of asking “why?” at every line will help your reader be less confused while reading about your study as well as will result in fewer reviewer comments in your revisions (if any).
3. Keep a diary!
Just like your favourite “Dear Diary”, keep one to track the progress of your project as oh boy! trust me, you will tend to forget many details of your practical work when penning everything down in your research paper at the end. Most researchers follow this rule to start drafting their research papers once they are completed with their practical/coding work. But as there are months of work that goes into reaching your desired output (and thus the beginning of your research paper writing), you tend to forget many crucial details, especially what did not work. So best is to maintain a journal for yourself and make sure to write every breakthrough or setback you came across while practically working on your research project.
That’s all for this blog. Hope these tips help you in your journey.
Happy Researching!😄
