Doing research as a student

Abstract

Over the years, I have worked in a variety of research groups and learnt from great scientists with different approaches. There is no 10-step plan for success in research, particularly when you are researching the unknown! But there are many paths to leading a rewarding career in scientific research and adopting practices from successful scientists has helped me navigate my own career. Here, I compile some of the advice on doing research that I explicitly or implicitly received during my undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral, and faculty years and use to this day. This is the same advice I give my own students. Some of these points are fairly obvious; others I wish I had implemented earlier in my own career. There are also articles in the scientific literature on doing research and publishing and presenting your results that are great reads; one example is cited here https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.200400767.