Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

Contribute to the scientific community by conducting a research project. While everyone has their own methods, this is one way to try it out.

Steps

1. 1 Determine the area of ​​common interest.
2. 2 Search all areas on a topic by browsing articles and sites of general interest (such as Wikipedia and Wikibooks).
3. 3 Look for literature. Find at least 50 abstracts using keywords to search the web.
4. 4 Use the Citation Counter (Google Academy) to identify the most important articles.
5. 5 Get articles. This can be done through interlibrary lending, archived internet sites such as arXiv.org, or through purchase (purchase required as a last resort as articles can be expensive). Read the articles and also develop a plan / concept map for the area you are studying.
6. 6 Look for further articles through the links until you exhaust your topic or yourself.
7. 7 Outline your research plan. Exactly what you want to prove and how you will prove it.
8. 8 Contact authors (especially in your field) for their recommendations.
9. 9 Apply for research grants and find a vehicle to experiment. Determine the required tools and create an overall research budget.
10. 10 Do an experiment.
11. 11 Record your results, making sure they are detailed and reproduced.
12. 12 Write a research paper and attach it to the publication.

Tips

• Find a group of like-minded people or join a discussion forum on the Internet.
• Print biweekly research reports and keep in a binder. This will help you organize your notes.
• Pick an area that really interests you or it gets tiresome.
• Keep a log of all activities. This will help others determine how you arrived at your conclusions. It will also help you remember the progress of the study.

Warnings

• Stay on top of all ongoing research projects. Otherwise, you might find out that your research is being done in other countries.

What do you need

• Computer
• Ideas
• Library card
• Internet
• Inquisitive mind
• Time!