给国外导师的自荐信

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给国外导师的自荐信

doing research

给国外导师的自荐信

for many new graduate students, graduate school is unlike anything else they've done. sometimes it's hard to know exactly what it is you're supposed to be learning. yes, you have to complete a dissertation, but how do you start? what should you spend your time doing?

graduate school is a very unstructured environment in most cases. graduate students typically take nine hours or less of coursework per semester, especially after the second year. for many, the third year -- after coursework is largely finished and preliminary exams have been completed -- is a very difficult and stressful period. this is when you're supposed to find a thesis topic, if you're not one of the lucky few who has already found one. once you do find a topic, you can expect two or more years until completion, with very few landmarks or milestones in sight.

the following sections talk about the day-to-day process of doing research, criticism and feedback, working on the thesis, and financial support for research.

the daily grind

being a good researcher involves more than ``merely'' coming up with brilliant ideas and implementing them. most researchers spend the majority of their time reading pa-pe-rs, discussing ideas with colleagues, writing and revising pa-pe-rs, staring blankly into space -- and, of course, having brilliant ideas and implementing them.

a later section discusses the process and importance of becoming part of a larger research community, which is a critical aspect of being a successful researcher. this section contains ideas on keeping track of where you're going, and where you've been, with your research, staying motivated, and how to spend your time wisely.

keeping a journal of your research activities and ideas is very useful. write down speculations, interesting problems, possible solutions, random ideas, references to look up, notes on pa-pe-rs you've read, outlines of pa-pe-rs to write, and interesting quotes. read back through it periodically. you'll notice that the bits of random thoughts start to come together and form a pattern, often turning into a research project or even a thesis topic. i was surprised, looking back through my journal as i was finishing up my thesis, how early and often similar ideas had cropped up in my thinking, and how they gradually evolved into a dissertation.

you'll have to read a lot of technical pa-pe-rs to become familiar with any field, and to stay current once you've caught up. you may find yourself spending over half of your time reading, especially at the beginning. this is normal. it's also normal to be overwhelmed by the amount of reading you think you ``should'' do. try to remember that it's impossible to read everything that might be relevant: instead, read selectively. when you first start reading up on a new field, ask your advisor or a fellow student what the most useful journals and conference proceedings are in your field, and ask for a list of seminal or ``classic'' pa-pe-rs that you should definitely read. for ai researchers, a useful (if slightly outdated) starting point is agre's (see [agre]) summary of basic ai references. similar documents may exist for other research areas -- ask around. start with these pa-pe-rs and the last few years of journals and proceedings.

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