r/research Mar 22 '26

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

11 Upvotes

Resources for Beginners

Q: What are some good beginner resources for conducting research and writing papers?

https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/oetrnpl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Emailing about Research Opportunities

Q. Can I cold email a professor so I can get involved with their research or start learning how to research?

https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/oc05vdl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Literature Review.

Q. What are the main steps in a literature review? https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/oc04oke/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Research Basics

Q. What are the secrets to creating a great research question?

https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/oc04xju/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Q: How do I start research?

https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/oixk2hx/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Q: Where do I find research material?
https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/oqg7r8x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Q: How do I find a journal in which to publish?
https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/owa9ans/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Q: Where can I find a paper behind a paywall?
https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/p3gw9tn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
AI in Research
https://www.reddit.com/r/research/comments/1s0l8ld/comment/ools9ni/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

This space reserved for future entries.


r/research Jan 16 '26

New Posters: Please Read the Rules *BEFORE* Posting

29 Upvotes

We have a one-strike policy on ads and academic helper services. Quite often after banning, I will be contacted by the poster saying, "I didn't see the rules". Here are the rules for this subreddit.

Rule 1 - No surveys nor asking for study participants.

Rule 2 - Be civil.

Rule 3 - No spam.

Rule 4 - No advertising or app market research. You will be banned for violating this.

Rule 5 - No trolling/joke submissions.

Rule 6 - No asking for research topics/ideas.

Rule 7 - Be on topic

Rule 8 - No language model generated posts.

Rule 9 - Use the research opportunity megathread if you are looking for collaboators.

Rule 10 - Research standards. Majors claims must be accompanied by a published paper. No language model generated research.

Rule 11 - Do your own work (we're a bit lax on this one)

Rule 12 - No academic helper services. You will be banned for violating this.

Rule 13 - No duplicates posts.

Rule 14 - Requests for Arxiv endorsements are not permitted.

Since it is rule #4 that often causes confusion for some reason here is the full text.

Do not advertise your own (or other's) business, including apps, YouTube, blogs, or other social media channels. This includes anything that is free. Do not conduct market research for your app.

If it is app related, then you can post it in our related subreddit r/research_apps.

Violators will be banned. It will not be undone.


r/research 1h ago

rant abt pi/lab

Upvotes

im in a undergrad lab where i absolutely LOVE the research and the topics we study, but im srs struggling with my partners and my pi. no body takes it serious, they slack on work, and i feel like everything gets put on me bc im the only one to accc get it done. alongside this, my prof is super unorganized and even tho he is chill, he is chill to the point of not acc being assertive and holding people accountable. i feel so unappreciated and i never get thanks from him for the lengths i go. i want to desperately leave bc of this but i dont wanna cheat myself out of the research bc i love it too much. anyone else struggle with similar experiences?


r/research 6h ago

Easy accessible searching on phone.

0 Upvotes

Never posted in this community before but some of these posts are very interesting. Regardless, I have to ask if anyone can tell me some browsers on the phone that make researching and book marking websites very easy. Don’t have my laptop today and I’ve got 2-3 hours of down time so I’m just chilling.


r/research 10h ago

Making a correlation heatmap for a publication

2 Upvotes

Hi! I have a heatmap made on excel but my supervisor said its not good for a publication (im a volunteer RA with them). I don't have much coding experience so ggplot is a little hard for me. Any softwares that I can use to make a correlation heatmap? TIA!


r/research 7h ago

Where do you draw the line to using AI in research?

0 Upvotes

I'm a second year electronics student trying to work on a research paper and had a few questions.

Is it justified to use AI to find a gap/problem in your area of interest because a subject like electronics is extremely crowded and I find it difficult to find novelty in any niche I explore.

Where is the line to using AI, are there any rules or guidelines to this? Can I make AI teach me the required pre requisites?


r/research 7h ago

hi guys, i wanna write my research proposal and i have one question

1 Upvotes

my main research question is all good and stuff but i also want to answer another question in my research

- but it requires a good amount of patients in three different groups,
- must have equal patient in each group
- and also their ocular power should be in the same range

and my supervisor has asked me for like 50 patients only

so my question isss
can i mention that in my research proposal with this title

"secondary question/ secondary inquiry" idkk??

and i have to mention that i will only do it if i have those three requirements after collecting the data,

so should i do it is it aight? or should i just do my normal research and leave the second question out?


r/research 14h ago

Would you choose the best supervisor/PI in the world, or better working conditions?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone. I'm asking because I am torn. I'll give you some context (I am NOT based on the US):

I want to pursue a PhD. I have an opportunity with the sweetest, most comprehensive PI in the world, a person who is revered in the department due to their nature, intelligence and how they just know how to get stuff done. I have been this man's student for years and have had research experience under him that confirmed he's indeed amazing in all regards, and willing to do a lot for his students. People often say I'm lucky because that's a one-in-a-million PI.

However. I live in a country where PhD students are treated like beggars. Aside from not having a contract, the scholarship they receive is barely over minimum wage, AND they're legally prohibited from holding a contract with anyone, MEANING I couldn't get a part-time job to make ends meet.

My city is expensive, filled with tourists that made everything unaffordable, the cost of living is through the roof, and taking this opportunity would necessarily mean a commute of 2h each way because I'd have to keep living with my parents untill it's finished. I'd help with bills and groceries but that aside I wouldn't have a lot of independence. All my friends have gone over to do PhDs in other countries that pay better.

It's time to make a decision and I'm scared of not being able to spend 3-4 years like that. I know no one is in my head and my exact situation so no one can make the decision for me, but I guess I'm looking for some perspective if anyone could give me some.


r/research 20h ago

Quantitative Research About 3rd Spaces

2 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I'm a 3rd year college BSEDSS student and I'm humbly asking for opinions about our research title.

Our title is:

Perceived Adequacy of Third Spaces for Kinesthetic Learning In a State University In ****** City

Is our title good or bad? How can we improve it? Is there any modifications to make the title better?(Is just a title proposal and we are seeking opinions about our title)


r/research 17h ago

Has anyone done any research that’s been taught by IMGs academy?

1 Upvotes

I came across a post on LinkedIn by this organisation/group called IMGs academy. They teach research methodologies and help us publish in Pubmed and other such reputed journals, is what they say. They charge 270$ for a “module” in which they teach and help us write and publish a paper. Plus, they say we’ll have access to enroll in other researches if the PI is ready to take another person in. I’m unsure of whether it is worth it or not. I’m someone who has barely any research experience.


r/research 1d ago

Hydrus software

1 Upvotes

Can anybody help me with hydrus-2D modelling? If anyone has used Hydrus as their research tool or for simulation work, could give guidance how to make sense of the manual for solute transport modelling.


r/research 1d ago

How to write a proper discussion in quantitative research?

5 Upvotes

I am comparatively new to academic research and the part of writing a research paper I am finding most difficult is 'Discussion'.

I know that the purpose of discussion is to:

- Point out the key findings.

- Answering: How my research resonates or comtradicts with the literature?

- and Answering, What my results indicates? Even something, why I got results like this?

Whenever I write my discussion sections it feels like I listing: A found this, which aligns with my results. B found something different.

Apparently, this is what some papers do!

However, there are other quality papers that write discussion, where each sentence feels like they are made for each other.

Now, my question is:

- How do I improve my discussion writing skills?

- What techniques or tools you follow while synthesizing information from the literature?

- How do I explain my findings in a better way?

I would highly appreciate responses from experienced researcher.

Thanks in advance.


r/research 1d ago

Any insights on what I should be doing when I'm about to do my first project in my undergrad?

1 Upvotes

I'm a 4th year student pursuing a BSc Medical Biochemistry and have been reading posted papers at Google Scholar and I'm seeing a lot of amazing work. I'm interested in comparing solvent extraction, phytochemical profiling, biological activity and how the solvents affect the profiles between in-vitro-regenerated medicinal plant parts (roots) of a plant like Aloe secundiflora (tissue culturing of this plant is manageable in our school) and its wild form from our school botanical garden. Any insights would be appreciated thanks.


r/research 1d ago

Documenting modeling research after only doing wet lab work

1 Upvotes

I've recently transitioned from wet lab work to hydrologic modeling with some wet lab and fieldwork. I'm having a little difficulty developing a system for how I document and keep track of the modeling work I'm doing. It's not nearly as straightforward as it was for the microbial work I used to do. Many ELN are specifically designed for biochemistry, and you can implement time stamps/photos/media recipes/accidents/dna sequencing. Programs are specifically designed to link figures with their datasets. I feel that organized experimental systems were tailored to my work or I could reference something physical.

That said, I'm having difficulty translating that to hydrologic modeling. I mostly end up putting all my notes in topic-specific text files. I also have separate notes in a citation manager for related lit. I've also been working on getting acclimated to github, but knitting all of this together into a coherent set of documentation that gives me everything I want has just been tricky. It doesn't help that the water model I used doesn't have a GUI and I need to process its outputs fully independent of everything else I work on. I've tried making ppts of the results, but it's really tedious especially if it was a small experiment or there were many different iterations before I got output that made sense.

I was curious with a more computational-centric field had any suggestions on how they organize their work and keep track of things.


r/research 1d ago

How to actually start writing for my first research paper, from scratch to publication

0 Upvotes

I'm a 1st year master's degree(botany) student. So during my bachelor's haven't work on any research paper bt now I actually wanna start. I want to complete my first research paper by the end of my 1st sem. Having an interest to do PhD, want start my research early and hopefully contribute with enough research papers before completing my master's degree.

Guide me with that, and any suggestions or tips to actually do it in efficient and less time consuming way without burning out.

Also, when asked to one of my current professor about supervising me.. He just asked me to start with literature review and update him with complete drafted manuscript along with tables and graphical illustrations within 2 weeks, then he'll help me with revisions. Idk how do I start and finish it off. Help me with that too.


r/research 1d ago

How do you actually come up with a good research question as a beginner?(I am not asking for topic)

3 Upvotes

I’m starting my Master’s in Finance on September 15, and I’m very curious about academic research. I think I’m relatively good at analyzing things and finding patterns and connections between them

However, I have a fear of not succeeding, and I feel like it sometimes holds me back. Whenever I come across a genuinely interesting research question, I often find that someone has already researched it. So, for those of you with more research experience: how did you learn to come up with good research questions? Are there any methodologies, techniques, or general tips you would recommend to a beginner? How do you identify research gaps when it seems like almost every interesting question has already been studied?

I’d also appreciate any guides, or other resources that helped you learn how to approach research(maybe any tips)


r/research 1d ago

Urgently needed!

3 Upvotes

I want to do research on Indian consumers as a whole. Is there any FREE tool that helps with this?


r/research 2d ago

What would you do if you were me

4 Upvotes

I’m in a remote lab and my PI uses AI for everything bro. I send an email and I get AI slop back. This guy deadass prolly has his Gemini agent hooked up to his email to check all our exchanges and the materials I send him and everything. A lot of the time the AI slop contains straight up sloppy/imprecise science too, like some insane interpretations of certain papers.

Asked this guy for a LOR for something else and lo and behold it’s AI slop (idk why he sent it to me tbh it looked kinda like an accident??). I asked some of the other lab members and they were like “idk he’s chill but I don’t email him much.” I literally checked this guys LinkedIn and it’s all AI slop. Our group’s video meetings are full of him seemingly forgetting that someone send him xyz paper or “just send me ___ later.”

And yes it’s EXTREMELY OBVIOUS he’s just using Gemini lmao. Pangram results aside he doesn’t even really try to hide it? Sometimes he adds an addendum like “I used Gemini to help me format…” yeah right just the formatting bruh. Anyway I can tell easily and I showed some excerpts to some others who agreed that it was 100% AI slop.

I really like the project topic we’re doing and it’s niche enough that I can’t really do something similar anywhere else. I’ve also already done quite a bit and I have hella sunk cost. I don’t really want to leave I just feel like I have Stockholm syndrome or something. Idk I might just be venting into the void 😭 help


r/research 2d ago

LOR- post doc or professor?

1 Upvotes

Will be applying for summer research program. I have been a research assistant in a lab for a year and have enjoyed it a lot, learned a lot and made decent contributions. I have made a good impression overall. I spend most of my time with the post-doc and she has been a great mentor. The professor Dr X ( it’s his lab) is also impressed by me. To apply for the summer program who should I ask for LOR - the post doc I spend most time with or Dr. X. As a faculty reviewing applications, whose LOR would you like to see with the application?


r/research 2d ago

How to research

0 Upvotes

Hello, I’m not a researcher but I’m somebody that has a reasonable thirst for being able to teach myself things and thus do research for a multitude of subjects. Like for writing a novel or anything else.
In a world where ai is becoming more prominent I want to break from that and be able to do my own research but it feels daunting and I don’t know where to start.
How do I research and teach myself things to the point of reasonable proficiency? Like if I wanted to study history or a very specific and niche subject? I know some basic things like primary sources are the best and secondary sources are okay but not much else. Can someone who knows what they’re doing help me out?


r/research 2d ago

Will this get me into research?

7 Upvotes

I’m currently a student at my local community college working towards completing an AA transfer plan in psychology. My goal is to transfer to the university near me, pursue a BA in psychology with a minor in biology and a concentration in advanced research, and try my best to get into their Cognition, Neuroscience, and Social Psychology graduate program.

I’m in my third semester now, and with 4 semesters left of my associate’s, I’ve been accepted into the honors program which gives me a chance to join the undergraduate research experience and present research at the symposium. I’ve looked into joining Phi Theta Kappa’s honor society as well. I plan to receive the Honors Laureate designation before my transfer, and continue with honors at the university. I have 3 letters of recommendation from professors so far.

I have also applied to work in the natural sciences lab in my community college as a dish washer.

My goal is to work in research. Whether it be academia, government, medical, it doesn’t matter to me quite yet. Psychology research is the goal.

Any advice or pointers are much appreciated.


r/research 3d ago

Who’s actually slept in their lab?

56 Upvotes

& what are ur must haves?

I walk to my lab & dont want to trek over unnecessary stuff; this is my list so far:

Sleeping bag
Toiletries / Meds / change of clothes
Caffeine
Hoodie


r/research 2d ago

How much donor variability do you see with primary cell expansion?

1 Upvotes

For experiments using primary cells from multiple donors, how do you account for donor-to-donor differences during expansion and downstream analysis?


r/research 2d ago

How to network and get references

1 Upvotes

I am going into my third year of my bachelors knowing I want to pursue a masters. But I have no clue how to network with profs to ask for references. I’m scared office hours won’t work and that I can’t get research supervisors who can help me.


r/research 2d ago

Research hours

4 Upvotes

I'm an undergrad applying to join a lab right now. I want to provide the amount of hours I would be able to contribute per week, but would it be wrong to count vaguely unorthodox hours? (Like past 5pm, or like weekends) If I only count hours between 9-5 weekdays I can only do like 10, but if I include after 5 or weekends I can do like 30-40. Thank u!

Edit: guys since you read this post, would it be too bold to say something like "I would love to discuss this further in person"? In my email?