How to do Research

Since beginning of my grad school I am habitual of reading articles about how to do better research, how to find a ‘worthy’ research problem and finally how to solve it. I came across dozens of such articles but I have tried to put some of them together. At the same time I feel that there are lot more interesting articles that I haven’t read, so feel free to share any advice regarding how to do better research or on similar lines. I will be more than happy to cite it here.

Quite interesting article which covers all the aspects of research problems. What all types of problems are out there, how to select a worthy problem, how to make a judgement between time invested Vs. research outcome and lot more.

I won’t admire my own article but this is something which I learnt with experience and I think it will be useful for others. Some of this advice is off course inherited from my academic advisors.

Undoubtedly this is the best resource you could find on web. He has a nice collection regarding how to write research papers, how to read them and lot more. I still recall our research methods course that I took with Prof. Sumit Roy referring to his article on how to read a research paper. Apart from his research advice, something which I really admire him for, is the balanced approach to research that he pointed out in the second half of his page. It is way more important to live a balanced life and have a right attitude towards research. Something which I learnt from my limited research experience is, research is like a marathon you are not supposed to run 43kms on day-1 but you have to prepare yourself gradually to reach that goal. Consistency is also important along with rigour.

I hope you will find this interesting and useful but again don’t get distracted by this. Prof. Keshav’s advice in his article also points to the fact that you have to work sincerely to have a productive research career.