Embarking on a research journey as an undergraduate can be both exciting and daunting. There is simply so many things that one can study. Whether you’re uncertain about your interest in research or looking for ways to begin, these insights and advice will help you take your first steps with confidence.

Is research for me?

Feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you.
– “Unwritten”, Unwritten (2004), Natasha Beddingfield

Natasha Beddingfield highlights the importance of trying things out yourself. As budding scientists, feel free to experiment your affinity for research! This advice is especially relevant for people who is not sure about their future plans. If you tried it, and find out that research is not for you, excellent! You know you’re more inclined in something else, and there is nothing wrong with that. If science is your kind of life, equally great! Experiential learning is an excellent way to explore your skills, and perhaps find a career path. 

Without prior experience, what early indicators are there that I’m inclined to research?

While these are not perfect predictors, these are pretty good indications, in no particular order. You can have any number of these attributes, and feel differently in intensity for each one. 

• You spend a lot of time thinking about some academic idea in your free time. 
• You find some upper level classes relatively easy to understand or interesting. 
• You are not satisfied with the depth of a course topic, and you care to find out more about it. 

I have little experience… what can I do?

You can always learn on the job, regardless of the task, if you’re motivated to learn. Demonstrating your passion is my #1 advice for rookies without experience. You can also show a good familiarity of your topic of interest when you are reaching out for a position. 

I don’t know what I’m interested in… what can I do?

I love this question!! There are many ways to approach this but I’ll share with you mine. Take a blank piece of paper. Let’s do some brainstorming and consider the following points:

• Are there any particular research topics that you’re interested in? (Perfectly fine if you don’t have one at the moment, skip this for now)
• What courses did you do well or find particularly interesting? 
• Any diseases or conditions are you particularly concerned about?
• What topic do you see your self exploring in your free time?

If any of these questions yields the same answer, chances are these are good starting points to identify your research interest. 

And of course, talk to anyone that may yield more information for you. Your peers, your undergraduate advisor, your previous professors… sometimes simply asking is more effective than surfing the net to find answers. 

Initiating a Search

I put some broad keywords as a broad research areas of interest. Which supervisor does these things?

In my opinion the hardest part is to generate a list of keywords as your potential research interest (see above). For audiences in UBC, UBC cIRcle is an open access depository of all MSc and PhD theses (plural of thesis is “theses”, who knew?). Other universities should have a similar service. The strategy is to find recent (say past 7 years) graduates that matches your research interest by, and then sort out who their supervisors are. Ta-da! It’s that simple. You can also refine your search with Boolean operators. How? Read more on Boolean Searches, or ask any librarian.

How do I approach the professor? 

The gold standard, as old school as it is, requesting a face-to-face conversation via email is the best. However, video conferencing offers flexibility. Please understand that they are busy people.

What should I say when I ask for consideration for a position?

There are two facts that may not appear obvious but it’s worth mentioning. 1. This is a negotiation, and therefore 2. your writing must consider your professors’ (employers’ or supervisors’) point of view. Negotiation is an excellent skill to foster now, regardless of your ultimate future path. 

Here’s the deal. You are negotiating for an experience/ job in exchange for skills to be developed, or as a stepping stone for who you want to become. Your prof is negotiating for labor (with skills to be trained on the job) in exchange of productivity, usually through assisting a graduate student or a project. With this in mind, my advice is to think how your involvement in your prof’s lab is beneficial for both parties. Therefore, it is beneficial to outline both what you can offer to benefit the lab, and how the professor’s resources can benefit you as a budding scientist. 

To demonstrate your curiosity, find a peer-reviewed research article that interests you the moment that is by your advisor of choice. Annotate it diligently. Do your best to understand it (at least how their work advances from previous art), and ask questions when you see room for discussion. Now, I understand this is a big task. However, for inspiration, I have a few to start:

1. Why is a particular step is important for the protocol?
2. How does this recent advance inspire current projects?
3. What future work mentioned in the paper can I help out on?

What is the best timing to reach out?

The obvious is ASAP. However, professors are busy so there are some deadlines that they need to chase after. I would avoid these times if you can help it. 

1. Starts of winter term 1 and 2
2. Close to their midterms/ final
3. Research grant season (mid March, November)
4. Long holidays (your application is lost in the sheer daily volume of emails)

Although it varies between professors, I’d say the best times are

1. The few days between classes and final exams (this doesn’t work if your prof’s final is on day 1 of exams)
2. During term breaks (again, doesn’t really work if your prof’s midterm is immediately after the term break)
3. Second day of a work week, preferably in the late morning (Mondays aren’t great for the same reason with long holidays)

Honestly I won’t overthink it as long as you follow up (see below). 

The professor ghosted me…

Always follow up respectfully, especially if you didn’t get a response for your professor. It shows initiative! Profs are only human so allow 2 business days for a response. You may follow up after with an email. Mindfully, be respectful. 

Starting Out in a Lab

What is the one piece of advise you have for working in a lab?

Summarizing my experience, I strongly believe that the strongest predictor of success in the lab is one’s ability to ask for help. In the age of generative AI and databases, the best skill, in my opinion, is no longer your ability to memorize facts. The key skill shifted to how diligently you can to get to the correct answer. One can easily spend countless hours surfing the net. However, research is usually niche, and experts of your topic is usually your advisor, or peers in the lab.

Don’t forget: even the best leaders reach out for advice.

What jumps starts my career in the lab when I start out?

1. Obviously, safety and other job-specific training.

After pointing out the obvious, there are two very practical tasks that demonstrates initiative. This makes you impressive as a new team player.

2. Establish collegiality

Collegiality is the companionship and cooperation between lab members. It might strike you as an odd first task, but I strongly believe this is important. This is a very easily measurable and observable behaviour by your advisor, even within the first few days upon your arrival. Why you ask? It is because these are the very people that will support you when you need their help (see ‘asking for help’ above): graduate students, post-doctoral fellows (postdocs), staff scientists, technicians, and more. They collectively know everything you need to know about onboarding, and the techniques + equipment you will need to learn for your project: from what buttons to press to get the printer going to how to do the most high impact experiments. Building collegial relationships is therefore, crucial. You are also building your reputation in the field.

3. Your initials and numbering system

Your initials is label to identify yourself for record keeping. What kind of records? Your reagents, your experimental results, your computer files, your cells, your biohazardous waste, your training certificates, and many more. Try to communicate with your peers to avoid confusion from a past member. Then, establish a numbering system that works well for your lab and for yourself. When you are confused, the last thing you want is to decipher code that you made for yourself.

4. Lab notebook

In essence, a lab notebook is a proof of making your ideas coming true. This requires meticulous documentation of what you did, for several good reasons.

1. To demonstrate that you did logical work.
2. To backtrack and reflect how things did/didn’t work.
3. To prove that your invention is original, and dated to demonstrate intellectual precedence.

Why is it important? To demonstrate novelty of your work with proof. Intellectual precedence is essentially the notion of “I did it first”, and protects your right of invention. Put in the effort to make it professional and presentable; follow your lab’s guidelines for more.

5. Project identification + literature review

Essentially, what are you doing to contribute to your lab? With help from your lab members, you can identify what tasks requires your contribution. You can also find the paper that you annotated, and identify which authors are repeatedly sited by your advisor. These are likely your contemporaries, reviewers, and even competitors, and you should know something about their work. Only then, when you have extra time, read widely.

6. What’s next?

You should discuss performance expectation from your supervisor, and where appropriate, ask for help from your lab members to see how to proceed. Now you established a network to support you. Go for it – I hope your experience is rewarding.