How to do Graduate level Research Some Advice.pdf

How to do Graduate-level Research: Some Advice 1 Dr. Bhaskar Krishnamachari First Draft, September 2002 works Research Group (ANRG) Working Paper 2 WP02-001 Department of Electrical Engineering – Systems University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089 This document is available online from /~bkrishna/anr/ 1 This article is modeled after “How to do Research At the MIT AI Lab,” MIT AI Lab Working Paper 316, Edited by David Chapman, 1988. 2 ANRG Working papers are non-archival documents of a temporary and dynamic nature and should not be referenced in the literature. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Personal and Professional Principles Motivation and Goals Tracking Progress Time Management Dealing with People Quality Attitude Dealing with Failure Taking Advantage of Opportunities 3. The Craft of Research – Basic Skills Keeping a Notebook Reading Listening Talking Writing Programming Mathematical Analysis Background Knowledge 4. The Art of Research – the Hard Parts Identifying a Problem Formulating a Problem Thinking about a Problem Choosing an Advisor The Thesis 5. References 1. Introduction This document attempts to provide useful advice for graduate students, particularly . students, just starting out on their research careers at the works Research Group, Dept. of Electrical Engineering-Systems, USC. It should also be useful for graduate students at other institutions working in similar research areas. Students with no prior experience often have several misconceptions about the nature of research. For example, they may think that doing research is similar to or requires the same skill as acing courses; that research projects are like homework sets - the advisor will assign well-formulated problems and provide the student with the tools to solve them. Hopefully, this document will help clear some of these misconceptions and help them get started on the righ