Undergrad Research Publications?

[GrandeLatte]

Hi guys, 

I am very new to this community, so sorry if this question has been asked before. I saw in many of your posts that students have publications (as leading or 2nd, 3rd authors) and conference papers which is really amazing. I wonder if anyone can provide some insights on how can undergrad get their research published. (i.e. is the published work done in summer or you have to stick to a project longer). Thank you so much in advance!! 

[CardiacArrhythmia]

5 hours ago, GrandeLatte said:

Hi guys, 

I am very new to this community, so sorry if this question has been asked before. I saw in many of your posts that students have publications (as leading or 2nd, 3rd authors) and conference papers which is really amazing. I wonder if anyone can provide some insights on how can undergrad get their research published. (i.e. is the published work done in summer or you have to stick to a project longer). Thank you so much in advance!! 

Most UG students that publish in adequate journals are likely hopping on to a current graduate student's work. As long as you show significant contributions, the graduate student and PI can put you down as an author. In addition, it also depends on the type of research done...wet lab research takes years to push out a publication do to the amount of waiting they have to do for their experimental models + retests to improve validity. 

Publishing an article in an no name, zero impact factor journal, to me, doesn't showcase anything. 

[anonymouspls]

5 hours ago, GrandeLatte said:

Hi guys, 

I am very new to this community, so sorry if this question has been asked before. I saw in many of your posts that students have publications (as leading or 2nd, 3rd authors) and conference papers which is really amazing. I wonder if anyone can provide some insights on how can undergrad get their research published. (i.e. is the published work done in summer or you have to stick to a project longer). Thank you so much in advance!! 

don't sweat too much about this stuff. Lots of people with zero research get into medical school (such as myself). If you work a summer retail job, it can get you just as many points, if not more than a 1st author publication in a respected journal, depending on how you write the entry. For example, Western has a section for "self directed learning" in their ABS where the majority of applicants put down their research, but for myself I put down competitive chess and a retail job I had which was self-directed. It was probably to my benefit to have unique things put down when the evaluators had probably seen entry after entry of similarly-worded research for most everyone else they had rated. 

 

I just wanted to post that for anyone else who might be looking at these forums. I know when I was applying, seeing everyone have all these publications gave me a lot of anxiety. 

 

In terms of getting undergrad research done, like I said I didn't do any so I would defer to cardiac's comment above. 

[Pakoon]

48 minutes ago, ysera said:

don't sweat too much about this stuff. Lots of people with zero research get into medical school (such as myself). If you work a summer retail job, it can get you just as many points, if not more than a 1st author publication in a respected journal, depending on how you write the entry. For example, Western has a section for "self directed learning" in their ABS where the majority of applicants put down their research, but for myself I put down competitive chess and a retail job I had which was self-directed. It was probably to my benefit to have unique things put down when the evaluators had probably seen entry after entry of similarly-worded research for most everyone else they had rated. 

 

I just wanted to post that for anyone else who might be looking at these forums. I know when I was applying, seeing everyone have all these publications gave me a lot of anxiety. 

 

In terms of getting undergrad research done, like I said I didn't do any so I would defer to cardiac's comment above. 

I just want to second this, I had zero research when I applied but still got in.

[GrandeLatte]

On 7/12/2019 at 9:15 PM, CardiacArrhythmia said:

Most UG students that publish in adequate journals are likely hopping on to a current graduate student's work. As long as you show significant contributions, the graduate student and PI can put you down as an author. In addition, it also depends on the type of research done...wet lab research takes years to push out a publication do to the amount of waiting they have to do for their experimental models + retests to improve validity. 

 Publishing an article in an no name, zero impact factor journal, to me, doesn't showcase anything. 

Thank you for the input! Do summer students usually get published as secondary authors? Say if the side project they work on are important to a section of the MASc's work to be published (but not the entire work they've done).

Thanks again! 

[GrandeLatte]

On 7/12/2019 at 9:28 PM, ysera said:

don't sweat too much about this stuff. Lots of people with zero research get into medical school (such as myself). If you work a summer retail job, it can get you just as many points, if not more than a 1st author publication in a respected journal, depending on how you write the entry. For example, Western has a section for "self directed learning" in their ABS where the majority of applicants put down their research, but for myself I put down competitive chess and a retail job I had which was self-directed. It was probably to my benefit to have unique things put down when the evaluators had probably seen entry after entry of similarly-worded research for most everyone else they had rated. 

 

I just wanted to post that for anyone else who might be looking at these forums. I know when I was applying, seeing everyone have all these publications gave me a lot of anxiety. 

 

In terms of getting undergrad research done, like I said I didn't do any so I would defer to cardiac's comment above. 

Thanks for the insight!! Yeah just getting a bit anxious about the research part cuz I wasn't sure how important this is weighed upon, but thanks for the comment! And congrats on getting into Med school!! That's AMAZING!! 

[GrandeLatte]

On 7/12/2019 at 10:17 PM, Pakoon said:

I just want to second this, I had zero research when I applied but still got in.

Thank you!! And congrats on getting in!!!

[CardiacArrhythmia]

On 7/15/2019 at 11:17 AM, GrandeLatte said:

Thank you for the input! Do summer students usually get published as secondary authors? Say if the side project they work on are important to a section of the MASc's work to be published (but not the entire work they've done).

Thanks again! 

It is possible, but not likely if you're talking about only helping 1 summer for an entire master's work. Expect more of a latter author appearance.