<p>Hey guys, I am freshman nuclear engineering student. I would say that I am a fairly driven individual ( I already scored a research position at my school, and a summer internship at a national lab.) however, I want to be as much of catch to a potential employer/ grad school as possible, so I figured publishing a research paper while still a freshman would look really good. I asked my advisors but they just keep sending me in circles, so I ask you- Where do I start? First off, Im not trying to WOW the scientific community with some kind of breakthrough; I just want to get published. Even if its a steaming pile of crap- it will still look good. Now with time, as my knowledge advances Ill probably publish something of value, but now I am just a freshie. So, where do I start? What can I write my paper about (examples?) who should I ask for help? What is the process of getting published? Really any piece of information would help! Thanks!</p>
<p>that’s why you do research on topics that haven’t been investigated.</p>
<p>First, you won’t publish as a freshman. The publication process requires several rounds of reviews (usually three) with 3-4 months between rounds (depending on the AE). So from the time you submit a paper until it’s published takes 9 to 12 months.</p>
<p>Second, publishing as a freshman vs. a sophomore vs. a senior doesn’t really matter. What matters (in terms of impressing people) is where you publish. Each field ranks journals. There are “A+” journals, “A” journals, “B” journals, etc. One publication in an A+ journal is more impressive than 10 publications in B journals. There are also “trash journals” that any one can publish in. Publishing in one of those journals actually decreases your reputation. What qualifies as an A+ or A or B or even a trash journal is very dependent on the field. You’ll need to talk to faculty to find out what journals you should be looking at.</p>
<p>Third, publishing in a good journal is not an easy task. You’ll need to read the latest literature to determine what streams of literature are hot (what areas are of interest to current research) and where those streams are located. Once you’ve identified an area that builds off the existing literature but is untapped, you need to determine how to investigate and contribute to that literature. Then you need funding to carry out experiments. Finally, you probably need someone with “Ph.D.” in their title to co-author a paper with you (few people trust research from a university that’s no co-authored by an adviser). </p>
<p>All-in-all, making a real contribution to the literature takes time and effort. The best place to get started is to find a professor’s current research and ask to contribute to that. Doing that will introduce you to the literature and will help you understand the process of developing new knowledge.</p>
<p>BanjoHitter, thanks a lot! I guess I had a serious case of misconception when it comes to this stuff. However, I have heard about things like journal of undergraduate reaserch, which only publishes-duh- undergrads’ work. Now there is just NO WAY that these kids came up with anything ground-breaking. Its more propable that they just did something creative and “out of the box”. How do you think a publication in this sort of “journal” would affect my “reputation”?</p>
<p>Undergrads do publish good material sometimes. Usually what happens is that an adviser is working in an area and gives the student an extension. The student then spends a year or two on that extension then it’s either published as part of a bigger paper or if the results are interesting, it will be it’s own paper.</p>
<p>Students don’t just don’t sit around their dorm rooms thinking “hey, this would be cool” and then spend 3 hours googling the topic. It takes hundreds (if not thousands) of hours working with someone that has a strong background in the field.</p>
<p>The “undergraduate” journals (like your local school’s undergraduate journal) isn’t really publishing. Even if it’s “peer reviewed”, it’s reviewed by a couple of grad students who don’t specialize in the area - not by a panel of experts. Publishing in one of those places is the same as not really publishing at all.</p>
<p>What usually happens is that undergraduates can be a second or third author on a paper while being a research assistant to a professor at their university. There are very few fields where an undergraduate can actually do it all themselves unless they’ve been doing research for a few years. There’s really just too much to know when you’re talking about research because you have to come up with something that hasn’t been done before.</p>
<p>Now there are situations in which undergraduates can be first authors in papers. Most of the time this happens when you’re accepted to an REU or other internship for the summer and your professor thinks the research is good enough to submit to a journal. It could also work out this way if you’re doing research while you’re in school with a professor who’s willing to let you do most of the work, but this is with a lot of maybe’s (what field you’re in, what sort of research you’re doing in that field, what classes you’ve taken, how vast and deep your knowledge is of the field already, etc.).</p>
<p>This is all from the physics perspective. I would think that engineering would be even more difficult, because there are a lot of classes that you have to take before you can think about contributing anything serious, but you could say this is the case for any field. It takes some exceptional work, luck, and motivation to get published, but once you get lucky once or twice, it’s easy to keep the streak going. As long as you work hard to make sure you’re learning as much as you can as well as doing quality work, your professors/mentors will notice. Since you mentioned that you’ve been doing research during the school year, plus your national lab internship (which I didn’t think they made decisions on until March… but okay) it looks like your future’s looking pretty good. If you’re doing research for 4 years, you’re bound to get published some time if what you’re doing is worth anything and your professor isn’t just jerking you around and using you as cheap labor.</p>
<p>hadsed, you hit the engineering nail on the head as well. I have worked with one undergrad who was published, and it is going to likely be a conference proceedings, not a full journal. That is still pretty impressive as an undergrad.</p>
<p>This guy had been working at our lab for like 3 years and didn’t actually submit the draft paper until his final undergrad semester. In other words, it takes a lot of time and hard work.</p>
<p>No self-respecting journal will accept the abstract to a steaming pile of crap, let alone the paper. I suppose some conferences might (hehe).</p>
<p>The bottom line is that you won’t publish as a freshman. You are mentally and practically incapable of doing so. Work hard and with luck you will be published as a junior or senior.</p>
<p>I have a couple of questions for everybody. I have a BS in ET and I did a senior project that included a research paper. Now of course I wasnt looking for publication just to graduate. Last week I registed for BS in CE and got accepted. They told they normally dont accept ET apps. but my GPA was high enough to save me…yeah!!! I plan on continuing with making advancements to my senior project and wait around my junior/senior yr to possibly publishing a paper.
BanjoHitter…when you mean “You’ll need to read the latest literature to determine what streams of literature are hot (what areas are of interest to current research) and where those streams are located”, are you talking about research papers from IEEE, BMES etc. or just books from the store/articles from the internet?
boneh3ad…I know you have an MS in ME and at first thats what I wanted to apply for so I could learn both sides of the field, electronics/mechanics. Do you think I should stay in CE and just try and find a relaible ME partner to hook up with?</p>
<p>If your research interests lie in ME, then you shoul go that route. Don’t sit in one major when your interests lie elsewhere. I originally planned to do that as an ME trying to branch into AE and just ended up in AE for grad school in the long run.</p>
<p>What he means by finding where the hot research areas are and reading the literature is that you should basically be an expert in your area of research and up to date on the latest publications, especially papers. Reading literature ensures you don’t double up someone else’s research (looks very bad on you) and can give you new insights on your topic. Finding hot areas makes it more likely that people will care about your stuff.</p>
<p>“plus your national lab internship (which I didn’t think they made decisions on until March… but okay)” I do not know if that is the standard procedure, but I had a pretty long email exchange with a researcher at LANL, who apparently liked me well enough to offer me a spot…</p>
<p>As for all the comments-Thanks! I will try to get published before I graduate than, instead of being delusional about doing so my first year of college. Best of Luck!</p>
<p>
Not quite true… I know someone who was a second or third author on 3 papers (in engineering) in legit journals before they even started college, but that’s an extremely rare occurrence. She started working in a university lab as a high school freshman.</p>
<p>But if you start research as a college freshman, there’s no way you’ll publish that first year.</p>
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<p>My comment was directed at the OP, who is a second semester freshman that has not started a paper. Even if he submitted something today, it would take until his sophomore year before he published.</p>
<p>Yes, I realized that. Hence the second half of my post. And I quoted boneh3ad, not you. While boneh3ad’s post may be clear to those of us familiar with the publishing process, those unaware may not follow.</p>
<p>The purpose of my post was for anyone else looking at this thread who might interpret a “you” as a general (rather than specific to the op) ‘you.’</p>
<p>In regards to zman talking about scientific literature, this is something that your mentoring professor will know. However, it’s always a good idea to read papers on your own. I try to get through papers in different fields whenever I get a chance. Reading the highly technical wikipedia articles (serious) is also very helpful. It’ll feel like hell for a few weeks, months, maybe even close to a year for some things, but eventually it gets you into the right mindset and soon you’ll be able to understand at least some of it.</p>
<p>Also, it helps to stay on top of the ‘popular’ side of things. Physorg is a great site that has tons of feeds to different areas of science, and I have a personal feed linked to it through Google Reader. They almost always cite the scientific papers, so it’s a good opportunity to try and understand things especially since you have someone translating it to laymen terms, which helps.</p>