I’m a high school student, I’m wondering what is research in college like?
I have looked at different schools’ website about research in college, but most of them are not very clear about the timing.
Can you do research all year round? Or just summer research?
What KIND of research? Laboratory? Medical? Research for a paper or a class?
@JustOneDad
Like major-related research, or a research about a topic you are interested in.
Working along or with a professor.
What would stop you? Professors LOVE to have assistance/assistants. The question is; do you have some skills that can be of assistance?
It depends on your major. Most people think of “research” as laboratory research in the sciences or perhaps psychology, but undergraduate research also includes creative activity in the social sciences, humanities and the arts. For some ideas, take a look at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR), which hosts students from across the country who present their original projects each spring.
What would undergraduate math research be like?
There is a CUNY professor named Joe Malkevitch who has a web page on research ideas in mathematics for HS and undergraduates.
I do research on writing centers and work with some of my professors. I have to read, read, and read already existing research, really understand that research, bounce ideas and concepts off my professors, talk to them about my ideas and goals, interview people, do even more reading, then start writing down my ideas formed from reading and observing with the support of the research itself along with my interviews, and then I write a proposal for a conference and hopefully get accepted. If accepted, then I organize my random collection of knowledge into some kind of presentation that hopefully doesn’t suck.
I’m assuming it’s waaaaay different for the maths and sciences.
It depends on what field the research is in.
I’m a research assistant in the linguistics department at my school, doing research on language acquisition. Currently my assignment is going through the data and tagging anything relevant to the research question that comes up. The tagging goes in different phases depending on what question we’re preparing to analyze. Along the way, I keep an eye on the general stuff that comes up in the files in relation to the tags and report back any other potential research questions and considerations to my supervisor. Once tagging for a particular research question is done, we look at those tags and use them to analyze the data.
Before that, when I was first starting out I was just preparing the files for tagging and analysis. It was stuff like editing out personally identifying information about the speakers from the files, making sure the files were in the correct format, cleaning up the files so we could read them later, etc. It was basically the grunt work that both needed to be done for the research to progress, and served as a test for me to make sure I was dedicated enough to the project to do the actual research later on.
It’s a lot different depending on the field. I know of someone that did research in biology, and she mentioned preparing slides initially. I don’t know other details though.
I’ve never done laboratory research, but I have done primary research, and while it is difficult, it is actually a very exciting experience.
Last summer, I researched diaspora from Southeastern Ireland to Savannah, Georgia with two professors and ten other students. It was a lot of work; for two weeks, we were in the archives from 8 AM to 5 PM, looking at all sorts of old documents, from microfilms of newspaper articles to minute books. We spent the next two weeks in Ireland, where we were fortunate enough to go to the National Archives in Dublin, where we handled letters that hadn’t been touched since the 1850s. Of course, that was on Bloomsday, so we weren’t too happy about it…Although doing primary research entailed a LOT of hard work, hunches that often led to nowhere, and, probably worst of all, dealing with calligraphy from the 19th century, it was amazing to piece together a lost narrative from history. It also gave our group many opportunities to present our research. We actually presented in Ireland at the JFK Trust, and Rory Kennedy was in attendance. I’m still working on research presentations for the trip this year, and I’m planning on going back to continue the project this summer.
So, bottom line: If you can participate in research with a professor, do not hesitate! Aside from participating in a demanding academic experience, you make great connections, wonderful memories, and an awesome addition to your resume.