Hey, sorry if I posted this in the wrong place, but I was looking for a way to get research experience/publish a research paper. My school offers a 3 year research course where I would be able to publish a research paper and submit it to 4+ competitions. Other than this, how can I get research opportunities? I live in North Jersey, so there are 3-4ish low tier colleges (uncertain if some have labs) near me. Thanks for helping!
bump bc I also want to know
Look at the web site of the closest university to you. read about the research in areas you like. Identify someone you’d like to work with and email that person after you’ve read his or her work.
Yup, email practically everyone at your local university and ask to help them with research projects. A lot of people look for volunteers. Publishing papers takes a while though so if you want your name on the research paper you need to start early and stay involved.
ok sounds good guys! I will try montclair university, they have a pretty good life sciences dept. In terms of writing a research paper, is there such a thing as a theoretical research paper? Idk if this is a thing, but something like, “if procedure x were done to sample y, result z would happen”.
I don’t think what you referred to as a theoretical research paper would be a research paper so much as a hypothesis. Once you had a hypothesis, you could do the physical research to determine if you were correct, which runs into the obstacle.
But if it is a math based question, it may be possible, but I’m not sure what you mean.
yeah, i see what you mean MPC. That makes sense that it wouldn’t be accepted as research. Do you have any suggestions of what to work with? I am considering using plants as they are easily accessible and is just plain easier.
It depends on what field of science you want to go into. Based on that, you can look at those departments on the universities’ websites and see which labs have projects aligned with your interests. And don’t choose interests based on what seems easy–universities have all the latest technologies that provide opportunities for some cool research that probably wouldn’t be called “easy.”
When you’re emailing, send a resume with your relevant AP scores and extra curriculars (I.e. if you participate in the research class or any science Olympiad/science anything). You’re much more likely to get an offer if you offer to intern for free (most researchers can afford a free intern). Most of all, show you’re passionate about what they’re researching. I’m a junior who did this, and now I work in a lab (after interning there over the summer). Going to work is my favorite part of the day and I wouldn’t give up this job for the world. Good luck!
Thanks coffeeaddicted, if you don’t mind me asking (since you are an intern) what jobs/tasks do you perform? Do you get hands-on experience with the topic?
I have carried out research in mathematics. Normally, the best way to get research opportunities would be by applying to research summer programs like RSI/PRIMES/Clark, which are also very competitive. I didn’t apply to summer programs because 1) my parents couldn’t afford sending me there, and 2) I couldn’t apply to summer programs because of some restrictions. However, I cold emailed a lot of research mathematicians, professors, and PhD students over the world an requested them to mentor me on a research. I would advice you to first write down why you want to do research in a particular field, why you want to do research, etc. After writing those answers, you should trim them, and then you should visit the faculty list of some colleges and then write emails to professors. I emailed over 400 professors before a few people replied to my emails, and then I got to work on a few research projects. Let me know if I can help you more. Feel free to message me 
I would love to help you out.
I first did “intern labor” which usually consists of mundane things that just need to be done. However, they let me work on a problem they’d been having, and when I solved it, they gave me more sophisticated jobs (closer to real science) and then hired me. I had to learn a couple computing languages and it took a lot of work. It only worked out because I was able to invest ~25 hours per week over the summer in what was initially very frustrating problem-solving work. But I loved it!
I think @TeamRocketGrunt made a guide for this
Edit: here it is http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1629448-teamrocketgrunts-general-guide-to-getting-involved-in-research-p1.html