How to start research?

Morel Lesson of the verse of  great Sindhi Sufi poet Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai:

It requires a lot of efforts and your determination to reach the destiny, If you are not prepared for unseen hardships then it is better not to initiate journey! because crown is not a simple headgear for everyone.

In the light of above verse, before you read further about research and how to start it, there is an important point to understand. 'Research is not a thing that comes out of blue' or simply falls suddenly into your hands. It comes through continuous struggle and wide range of learning and studies of the basic fundamentals and their advanced applications. Therefore there is no simple way of picking a topic to start your research. It is important to collect your thoughts, learn basic fundamentals of your main subject, must know the current trends and existing and near future possible applications. Well having said all this might discourage you if you are new to research but it is a fact of life to keep both sides of the fact. This was the one side of story. The other side of story is that research degrees such as Masters or Doctor's of philosophy are the means to train you to develop skills to become a successful researcher. So if you are interested in doing research, planning to get admission in master's or doctor's degrees then you have reached to a resource to give you the unbiased and friendly device.

Pick a direction or area of interest based on your background in your area of study  (e.g., courses you have taken, readings, conferences, talks to Professors, etc.). Try to be as specific as possible. For example, if your area of research is Telecommunication/ Information Technology then do not pick 'multicast' (it is too general), but perhaps 'congestion control for reliable multicast' or 'multicast routing in ad hoc networks'. Do not pick 'wireless networks' (too general), but perhaps 'systematic testing of wireless MAC layer' or 'efficient handoff for IP mobility', for instance. There could be a list of topics that interest you (related or unrelated). I do not recommend a list of more than three topics. Choose those topics that you know the best as for as the basic fundamentals are concerned.

In research when you will be exploring the other possible ways to find the solution of an existing problem, it is very important to know the basics of the existing problem, ideal conditions, alternatives, links with other subject matters and overall picture of other potential, economical approaches under investigation. If you get registered for a MPhil or PhD, your first assignment will be to produce a valid proposal for research to define the research question (i.e. problem(s) you want to solve by doing research) and suggest the stepwise and systematic approach to find the solution(s). Not to worry if you are registered or enrolled as your supervisor will help you to develop and shape the draft of the proposal according to particular layout or format. But it depends entirely upon your current state of information to assert research question. It may take about 3 months to develop a research proposal once you acquired in depth information about the research question and the possible ways to solve it. If you are planning to work with an approved research proposal of your supervisor (i.e. you have never seen this proposal before) then it might take more time to learn about the project. In either cases you will start with literature review.

Literature review is the first step forward to your research and in parallel you will learn more about relevant (and irrelevant as well) issues. It is expected that as a new research student you will be given about 6 months to review the available literature, however there should be a regular meeting schedule  with your supervisor who will watch over your activities and will ensure that you are doing literature review in the correct direction. It is very important to be focus on the same issues because while doing literature review you will come across several interesting facts and there could be chances of divergence from your identified area of interest. The supervisors based on their knowledge of the subject decide if you are moving away from the original stated objectives defined in the research proposal.

An important point to be considered what if someone want to do research on his/her own? Yes you can do it but for this you have to learn about basic tools of research. Even if you do not know anything about research, how to do it, you can simply do the literature review of the existing problem. This will generate your FIRST GOOD RESEARCH PUBLICATION, yes it is true, and it will also save ONE YEAR of your MPhil/PhD if you are planning to get enrolled for it. You cannot imagine the advantage of it if you are proceeding abroad for MPhil or PhD degree. You will save yourself from a BIG SHOCK and SURPRISE on the campus research environment and you will feel an expert of your field and will do your research work more focussed and free of worries. Additionally if you are planning to apply for funding or any scholarship in your country, your proposal with a research publication guarantees the grant or stipend, scholarship or studentship.

How to do literature review?

Use search engines that produce highly recommended results.

Compile a set of 'keywords' to start searching for high quality readings for each of the previously selected topics. Good places to start your search in Information Technology are IEEE library on-line (Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers) ACM library on-line.

For more general options use

Google scholar, which enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. Additionally, there are several useful gears from google that can be found from their website http://labs.google.com/ which they call a technology playground. Do visit to see various useful links and search engines that are not otherwise obtainable using a general search in www.google.com .

Gold Rush: It is a tool to help you find the best databases to search for information on a specific topic or from a specific journal. Gold Rush will also help to determine whether or not you have access to a particular database. If you do have access to a database, Gold Rush will provide you with a link to search that database.

Info Finder: It is a global link to research on agriculture, hunger, poverty and the environment. It is a collaboration between Future Harvest Centres, CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research ) and FAO/ WAICENT which allows you to search for digital information on all three web sites. CGIAR works to promote food security, poverty eradication, and the sound management of natural resources throughout the developing world. It is the largest scientific network of its kind.

Scirus: This is another most comprehensive science-specific search engine on the Internet. Driven by the latest search engine technology, Scirus searches over 200 million science-specific Web pages.

Wikipedia: Good to get basic information about terms that you might use in everyday life or even in your research to some extent.

If you are not sure about the research resources, internet resources do not hesitate to ask your colleagues, teachers, librarian or any researcher if you know! If you are shy to ask then you cannot be a good researcher.

Sindh2UK can help to  answer your question regardless of the difference in research subjects. We will speak to our friends, fellows, colleagues and other supervisors to give you the appropriate reply. Send an email if you are stuck in your research! BUT remember the resourceful people are very busy so it is advised to follow the guideline provided to you and then contact for more improved research ideas!

Once you defined keyword and searched some papers, select around 15-20 papers that you think are most related to what you had in mind and are of the highest quality.  Make sure these research papers are comprehensive, appear in good worldwide reputable journals, contains about 20-100 references (i.e. review papers).

It is important to identify the type of paper from the source (i.e. journal, letter, magazine, conference, symposium, workshop etc). Some of these, however, are more selective and competitive than others. Do NOT read all these papers yet! Check the title, abstract, names of authors, their affiliations, keywords (i.e. indexing terms). Try to refine your set of keywords and perform multiple searches to cover most related quality work. Another hint is to use references and citations. Usually the most cited work by high quality papers is also of high quality. If you like a specific paper look at the list of references, this will give you a good direction to follow;

·         For the selected 15-20 papers read only the abstract, introduction and conclusion in detail (you may skim the rest of the paper for a general idea). Identify the emphasis of each paper:

o        (I) which problem it addresses,

o        (II) what solution it proposes,

o        (III) how the solution differs from previous solutions, and

o        (IV) what are the main contributions and conclusions.

Out of these 15-20 papers, and based on your reading and understanding, pick a list of 4-6 papers that you think are the highest quality and that address your research interests and the challenges in the field most appropriately.

·         Read those 4-6 papers from beginning to end, identifying in detail: (I) the main approaches, (II) methods of analysis: (a) metrics, (b) evaluation tools, and (c) analysis and interpretation of resulting simulation or measured data, and (III) conclusions. At the same time, try to keep a list of what you think the authors may have missed in the paper/study, gaps or limitations that could be improved upon and any ideas on how to accomplish these improvements. Some questions to ask include: Did all/some papers use similar approaches? Have they used the same evaluation criteria, or method of analysis? If not, then what are the strengths/weaknesses of each method? Also, keep a list of ideas that you want to explore further, or background material you want to brush upon. This will create another list of readings for you in later stages.

·         Write a two page proposal defining, as clearly as possible, the following items:

o        Motivation

o        Research challenges

o        Overview of existing work

o        Limitations of existing work

o        Potential directions and ideas for improvement

o        Expected results and impact on the field.

Have some knowledgeable (trustworthy) friends to review the proposal for you and get feedback, mainly about the presentation and clarity, leave technical remarks for the research advisor (if registered). For example, have them read the 2 pages and tell you (in their own words) what they think you are proposing. If/when you think it is clear, then discuss the proposal with your research advisor. If you do not think it is clear, go back and re-write. If you think you have missed some other work, then go back to the 15-20 list and pick another 3-5 good papers to read in detail, and re-write parts of your proposal.

Try to focus. It is hard, and there are a lot of good ideas out there, and the more your read, the more you want to read (which is good), but you have to focus and write those 2 pages. [Remember that having a strategy is sometimes more important than dispersed ideas. More readings will come at a later phase. It is more important to focus at this point and not get confused, so be very selective in your readings.]

·         If you have done a good job at the above, I think you are at a good 'starting' point to pursue research! Good luck with the rest.
The next step is to write a 10 page proposal elaborating on the 2 pages above, adding your own twist on the problem, outlining your initial thoughts, results and findings, and outlining a clear plan to continue the work.

List of the available electronic research journals and publications [more than 5700] Visit this page to see what subjects and thereafter the sub-subjects are available. There are useful links and suggestions to start your first literature review!

Other resources:

World's largest online library

Other useful links

·         How to do Research

·         Researcher's Bible [How to do PhD] download link

·         Researcher's Bible latest version [html]

Researcher Hypotheses

Hypothesis (Simple Definition)

The final document that you will submit for your exam is your thesis, which is your position, your argument, your story-line, or your focus. Hypo- means under. So, your hypothesis is the foundation on which you build your thesis. You formulate working hypotheses to guide the process of your research.   Hypotheses are your educated guesses about the nature and direction of the relationship between the two variables in your research question. A hypothesis then is a tentative construct, to be proved or disproved according to the evidence you have gathered. To cut story short. If you clearly describe question there are more chances of useful answer. if your question is incorrect NONE can help you so it is better to take some time and invest your maximum efforts to set hypotheses. Forget the term 'hypotheses' just remember to produce basic research questions and create an advance question that is valid and still under research....continue......

There may be several ways of 'telling a story' but 'the story is the same!' Research requires an open-mind-and-heart formula that may include following criterion; 

>Start it,

>>be consistent,

>>>make a schedule of things,

>>>>follow it,

>>>>>keep a record of every things (results) no matter good or bad,

>>>>>>observe time management,

>>>>>>>accept criticism,

>>>>>>>>do self-criticism,

>>>>>>>>>try to do-it-other-way if not getting what you expect.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

and above all don't scratch your head or bite you fingernails or lip or pen or twist your moustache but try improve your communication skills along with body language.

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