Making the Transition from Coursework to Research

Most graduate students will have spent nearly 12 years of their lives taking classes and trying to earn good grades by the time they arrive in the Ph.D. program. These 12 years of training can reinforce a mindset that is not necessarily the best for conducting research. Courses rarely leave charted territory, and leave us unprepared for the uncertainty and unknown waters of research. To contrast the two, consider the following aspects of coursework and research.

Coursework

• The beginning and end are well-defined.
• The path from beginning to end is well-defined.
• Everything that is needed to get from beginning to end is outlined for us in a syllabus.
• Homework and exam problems are chosen to be doable within a fixed amount of time.
• Homework and exam problems can be solved, and this is expected.

Research

• Research problems are rarely well-defined.
• It will inevitably require techniques you don't know or have forgotten.
• Your particular problem might be unsolvable.
• There may be no time limit, affecting motivation.

Getting started

For some people it's as simple as going to a faculty member and asking them if they have any interesting problems to work on. The initial effort will probably consist of several weeks of reading the literature. At this early stage there's no commitment by either party to turn this into a student-advisor relationship.

To find out what your professors actually do, click on the research profiles on the Faculty page on the department site. Or ask them.

For the next step, see Choosing an Advisor.