Research, where do I begin !?

College Majors Math/Computer Science Majors
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<p>Here is a little background information...
-Sophomore.
-Mathematics major/ Computer Science minor.
-Highest level of math - Calculus II (currently enrolled).</p>

<pre><code> I attend Montclair State University (northern New Jersey). The reason why I am only in Calculus 2 as a sophomore is because I didn't attend college for 4 years after I graduated. I first went to community college for a year and started at College Algebra. I had a 4.0 GPA at my community college and after one semester at my university, I have a 3.4 (the grades from community college do not transfer).
Ok, now to get to the reason for this post; After I complete my Bachelor's degree, I want to attend graduate school for a Master's degree in Mathematics. So, in order to better my chances, and for my love of mathematics, I want to begin conducting research. The problem...I don't have the slightest idea on where I begin! First of all, I don't even know what I would even want to research. Lastly, I feel that I am not even prepared for the task (only being in Calc 2).
So, what do I do? I want to ask a professor if there is any way I can become involved to gain experience and maybe figure out an area I would be interested in researching, but I have had only two different math teachers. The first was my Calc 1 teacher from last semester ( I had no kind of relationship with him), and the second teacher is my current Calc 2 professor (the semester just started, so I haven't had a chance to make myself known). Next semester I am taking Calc 3, Linear Algebra, Data Structures, Statistics, and Transition to Advanced Math. I want to start getting some research experience now before I enter my Junior year.
Should I email all the professors in the Math department and ask if I can assist them in anyway in their research, even though they haven't had me as a student? Is that normal?
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<p>So my questions are, 1.) Am I able to begin research at my level of studies? 2.) How do I go about finding a professor to guide me? 3.) Are there any online math journals that are not too advanced that I can read to get some ideas?</p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time to read my post. Sorry for being all over the place, but I am very confused.</p>

<p>-Andrew</p>

<p>P.s Any advice is welcome :) Thank you!!</p>

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<p>Hi, you don’t sound like you have any background for some meaningful research yet. I was going to suggest that it might be easier to start with CS research, which may or may not be mathy, but you don’t mention having any classes in that either. Are you really going to have a semester with all math classes? Are they all necessary at once? Sounds like a bit much or a bit monotonous. It is possible you can work with a professor to do some grunt work, like crunching numbers. That was something my daughter did after her first year, and was able to be around researchers, learn what they were doing etc.</p>

<p>Spend some time to read your faculty websites on your college site. Look at the research interests they have. Look at the links they post, their websites, any blogs, their CVs. Then pick a few and email them to see if they have any projects that someone just starting out could be helpful with. If nothing try some more. Is there a department office that might have resources, an academic advisor, a math or cs club?</p>