𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽-𝗯𝘆-𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲: 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿

 

𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉. 𝑯𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟭 : 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

To get started, choose a subject that brings you joy to study and aligns well with your potential major. For example, if you are planning to pursue a degree in chemical engineering, choosing chemistry as your research track would be a great choice.

Next, narrow your scope. Choose the field of chemistry you want to get involved with as there are a lot branches, such as environmental chemistry, forensic chemistry etc. It will adapt your lense to a certain focus that's important for building the foundation of your research. 

Following that, find an interesting topic. Youtube, educational television documentaries, news articles and scientific magazines will help you to discover various topics available in your chosen field. Afterwards, you can mix and merge a set of different topics or choose an individual one. Remember, a carefully crafted topic is the key element of a successful research paper.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟮 : 𝗥𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀

Learn more about the topic. Considering the amount of time, focus and energy needed to go in depth of the topic you’re working on, it might be tempting to google one or two relevant articles and call it a completion. But for a strong research output, you need to get yourself familiar with current findings and the events scientists are working towards to advance in that topic. It would require reading a bunch of research papers, scientific articles and data reviews. Make sure to take notes as you work through and bookmark the content that might come handy later on. 

You’ll discover a lot of new terms and a lot of new words. Don’t passively skim through these but take your time to extract the key ideas.  

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟯 : 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

Now that you know what's your topic about and where it can flow to have a real-life impact, identify the problems associated with it. You don’t need to have the solutions ready right now, just start listing out different challenges that you see. If the first two steps are followed correctly, this step gets easier. In a short amount of time, you'll have a list of problems that are important from not only your standpoint but also scientists', and you can choose a specific problem out of those. Turn that problem into research prompt. In this process, every idea will be uniquely crafted by you.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟰 : 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽

Reach out to local laboratories or universities for official guidance. There are a lot of research institutes and scientific organizations all over Bangladesh which function beyond club activities and make contributions globally. For instance, the Atomic Energy Centre of Chattogram conducts research on nuclear navigations in a broad aspect. While it’s true that you won't be getting access to private laboratory of these institutions or the opportunity to join their professional team that's working on an advanced project, you should still reach out professors to guide you through your research. Most professors and scientists are willing to help you out and provide you with the expensive resources available to them. 

To receive mentorship, mass email professors while maintaining formal boundaries. Ask if you can use their laboratory, if they can arrange industry-standard tools for you to conduct your research, if there's a time-chart that must be maintained etc. Have the trust that you’re surrounded by wonderful people who want to see you grow, and hey, it would take just one positive response for you to dive into the professional procedure.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟱 : 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵

Now you will be working through the problem to find solutions. Set bi-weekly meeetings with your research guide to ensure continuous progress. At times, you will need to practially examine the efficiency of your solution. This is when the lab-work / toolkits are important. Always jot down the answers that you’re receiving and build your draft.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟲 : 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 / 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Preprint is preliminary version of your paper that you can share by posting to online platforms. Peer-reviewed research papers can be published as preprints. Publishing in a journal can take a good while; if you want to get your name out there quicker, preprints are the way to go for. These have free open access, so you can increase the reach and views of your work easily. There are many preprint servers including arXiv, Research Square, Authorea, Figshare, Zenodo, Social Science Research Network etcetera.

If you aim to publish your research paper in a journal, it’s going to take a little more effort to prepare the content. Regardless of your choice, check out the guidelines of the preprint server / journals and keep it intact in your research paper. 

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟳 : 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿

Finalize a format that must be maintained in your research paper. Make sure to insightfully present the points that you’ve noted while doing your research. Get it reviewed regularly to avoid bringing major changes after final evaluation. Avoid high usage of AI while writing your paper and keep it authentic to your energy.  A university-level research paper needs to bring together a lot of components, so consider getting it reviewed by officials other than your research mentor. 

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟬𝟴 : 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵

Now you can submit your research paper to the preprint service that you previously chose. An email address containing @edu.bd domain boosts your research paper to be officially selected by universities, this is where your mentor can help you. Publishing a preprint affiliated with a prestigious university carries immense value.

If you want to publish your research in a journal, there are multiple ways. The quickest way would be to visit the website 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫.𝐨𝐫𝐠/𝐜𝐟𝐩 and filter the list of proceedings through topics / subjects / country. Then sort them again by submission deadlines to find ones with earliest deadlines. Check if the proceedings are associated with reputable journals. If yes, submit your research paper to the proceedings and wait for publication. 

𝑰𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒉 𝑺𝑾𝑻 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 ִ ࣪𖤐