<p>^^ I share the same concern, @TeamRocketGrunt - could you also respond to my PM please?</p>
<p>@tomatox1, @apandia : Again, it depends on which area you’re interested in. Research is very specific; when you say “honors bio” or “AP Bio,” you’re encompassing cell biology, ecology, human anatomy/physiology, animal physiology, etc. If you’re interested in doing a project in cell bio, you’re not going to have to know any ecology, and vice versa; honors bio or AP bio or whatever is, therefore, overkill. Most cell bio projects end up involving stuff like enzyme kinetics and organic chemistry/biochemistry, so if you were doing a project in cell bio, you’d have to have a good general knowledge of that stuff. Basically, formal classes in areas like biology or chemistry often cover content irrelevant to what you need to know for a specific research project; find your specific topic of interest, and just focus on the science foundation you need to work in that area (nothing more). This philosophy applies pretty well to the biological sciences and some of the chemical sciences; you can’t apply this to stuff like physics and mathematics, though, so fair warning.</p>
<p>Once you gain a good general knowledge, the more specific knowledge can be gained by reading published papers relevant to your topic and deciphering the jargon as you go along. If you give me a topic you’re interested in working in, I may be able to point you in the right direction in terms of what concepts/content you should learn as well as a few papers to get you started on reading scientific articles.</p>
<p>Assuming you’re a first time researcher, how would you demonstrate your knowledge of certain subjects to the professor to get them to help you research without some objective stats such as a certain class? </p>
<p>TeamRocketGrunt, is there I book or website I can look at to learn research techniques in a lab for cellular biology?</p>
<p>I am very interested in cardiology and neuroscience. Would reading articles from <a href=“http://www.journals.elsevier.com/”>http://www.journals.elsevier.com/</a> relating to the topics be appropriate in gaining background information or would reading proper textbooks be the way to go? If possible could you direct me to specifics websites and/or books applicable?</p>
<p>@ItachiUchiha, it’s best to learn through hands-on work with a professor. I did find some videos to get you started, though. <a href=“JoVE Science Education”>JoVE Science Education;
<p>@boomvoom4000 : that sounds like a good plan. When you first begin reading, there will be a lot of jargon you won’t understand, so take special care to decipher each unknown word/concept/sentence. Once you do this for a few dozen papers, your knowledge base should be enough to start formulating a project of your own. </p>
<p>@tomatox1: The prof only cares about the subject your project is in. If you have a project idea in mind, read up on what you would need to know to execute the project and have a good idea of the project itself; detail the idea in your email, and the professor would be able to see that you know what you’re talking about. Wikipedia/journal articles are great resources. To communicate it more directly, simply state it in the email.
However, most people don’t jump into research with an idea already formulated; they email professors and ask to simply work under them (doing grunt work, etc.) so that they can learn stuff about the research topic, and they begin to formulate their own idea as they learn more and more. A good example of this type of person is 2011 Siemens winner Angela Zhang; she emailed a prof at Stanford asking only for a spot so that she could learn as much as possible. The prof gave her a stack of papers to read, and she deciphered them over a course of three months and developed her own idea as she learned. She took her idea to the professor and began work on her project. If the professor is willing to take a risk on a high school student, he/she will understand that you’ll have limited knowledge; they won’t have extreme expectations of you. </p>
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<p>Oh my, I feel so old… (HS senior whose childhood was Yellow then G/S)</p>
<p>Anyway, great thread TRG–it would’ve been nice to have two years ago. Also, research isn’t only open to those in the sciences; you can love history/political science and do the same with professors doing research on your interests. </p>
<p>So should you detail what courses you’ve taken to the hypothetical professor, either in the email or afterwards, or would it be a better idea to just say “I’m interested in…”</p>
<p>@tomatox1: The latter. Again, profs only care that you know about their specific research area; they won’t care if you took two semesters of biology as long as you can say that you’re interested in and know a lot about (insert prof’s interests here). In your email, you can say, “I’m interested in ______ and have independently read quite a bit on the topic.” Of course, if you’re lying and you go to work for the professor, it’ll become apparent really quickly. </p>
<p>@Vctory: I started playing Pokemon when I was four (first game was Gold; first Pokemon was Totodile :D). Currently a HS sophomore lol. Political science/history research exist? What do people usually do? </p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt It’s pretty much data gathering/analysis to test theories/develop new ones. Example to prove it’s a thing: I was invited to join UNC Chapel Hill’s undergrad Research Fellowship w/ a 10k grant to research abroad. Resulted from an essay about testing the viability of the Nordic Model in a globalized society. </p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt How long or how many papers did you read and understand before you contacted profesors with an idea? Also the nearest university to me is the University of Houston. Is it a good or bad thing that UH is a HUGE school (35000+ students), in terms of finding a profesor willing to take in a high school sophomore/junior?</p>
<p>@boomvoom4000: I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do before I went in. Like, I wanted to make a specific product (not really a “product,” but you get the idea). As I read more and more on how to build said product, I realized that my idea had already been done, but the reading I did gave me a lot of information about the research area in general, and I was able to use that information to go in a different direction with a novel project. I think looking at the same research area from a different perspective (a person wanting to build product X) gave me a look at unique ways to build product Y which scientists who haven’t looked at it from both perspectives haven’t considered yet. I contacted professors with 0 papers read. Met with a prof, he started me with a few papers in his research area (my research idea at the time wasn’t in his field, per se, but it was the closest I could find), I independently looked up papers on my specific area of interest, and I contacted a second professor whose interests match mine. I’m still in touch with the original professor, and I’m still working to find a project to work on under him; however, my initial idea is being worked on under another professor. I had 0 papers read when I first contacted the prof (but I did have an idea of what I wanted to do, regardless). A few weeks after meeting with him, I had maybe 10 (?) papers read (didn’t “read” them all; skimmed a bunch). Then I read a bunch of abstracts online (10-20 more?) and saved the ones most relevant to me on my computer. In my “Research Stuff” folder, the “Initial Idea” folder has 26 items, and the “New Stuff” folder has 35 items. I read 20-40 papers that I didn’t save, so I’d say anywhere from 80-100 papers before I was informed enough to write a research proposal for my initial project. I’m still reading papers to get an idea for a project under the original professor, who’s been kind enough to wait this long for me. </p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt Is it a possibility to research for business studies?</p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt I do have experience with research, working with mentors, etc. But in the research plan to a science fair project, should there be a summary of the background research that led me to that question of focus for the project? Last year I didn’t make a section for background research, but I think it would especially important since I’m planning to work in a more complicated study.</p>
<p>@Allude What do you mean by “business studies”? I know that economics research is a thing, so I’m sure you could get behind that.</p>
<p>@awakeningvenus : You should definitely summarize all background research if you’re basing your current work on it. Even if you pull a single fact or piece of data from a paper and ignore the rest, be sure to cite it all the same. The major science fairs (ISEF, particularly) can be very finicky about this stuff, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. </p>
<p>Would it be appropriate to ask a professor for my own project if I’ve never done research before? She gave me an “internship” in one of her labs this summer, but I don’t really know what this means. I will be doing medical research, but I don’t know what role I will have in the lab. Also, If i were to instead simply help in ongoing research, would that be something that I could enter into competitions or publish?</p>
<p>@Audrae
To answer your first question, it depends on the professor. It’s not necessarily “appropriate” or “inappropriate.” Generally, professors usually lean towards “yes” if you can show that you’re competent in your area (as in, competent at the PhD level). Some may stipulate that you have to have lab experience first before you can begin your own project. In fact, that’s what happened with me; I went into research with the idea of having my own project to do. The professor told me that I’d have to come up with my own project and gave me a stack of papers to read. He also had to train me in the lab work before letting me near any real work lol. </p>
<p>As for helping in ongoing research and using that as your science fair project, it depends on the fair. Some fairs like ISEF will allow you to, but only if you submit the part that YOU worked on. Fairs like ISTS, to my knowledge, only accept solo work; as in, the entire project has to be done by you. If you publish as part of a team, your role is reflected in the placement of your name. If you were a significant part (primary contributor), you’d be either the first author or one of the first authors. There are also second authors, third authors, fourth authors, etc.</p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt Thanks for clarifying. I met with my professor in January and she said she would put me in one of her labs, so should I assume I’m just going to be helping in ongoing research? I didn’t want to push the envelope so I didn’t say anything about my own project, and I don’t think I am competent to a PhD level. The competition I was thinking about is Siemens, but I’m still going to enjoy my research even if this may not be possible.</p>
<p>@TeamRocketGrunt Would you say it’s easier to just help a professor with research instead of starting your own project? And how difficult of an EC is research, with school clubs being a 1 and national awards being a 10?</p>
<p>If I’m going to be doing an internship in a national institution doing research, would I be allowed to submit research work done while at the institution? Or would it be considered plagiarism?</p>