Approach to contacting Research supervisor

[chilli]

What is the best way to approach a potential research supervisor? During undergrad, I would spend some time reading up on the supervisor's research and include a few lines in my email indicating my interest in that particular project. However, people have told me this approach is not the most efficient. I will spend hours reading about research that I will not be contributing to further before I am able to find a supervisor. Would it be appropriate to email a supervisor asking if they have any research projects available for students before I spend time reading about their work further? Or would this come across as ingenuine? 

[frenchpress]

31 minutes ago, chilli said:

What is the best way to approach a potential research supervisor? During undergrad, I would spend some time reading up on the supervisor's research and include a few lines in my email indicating my interest in that particular project. However, people have told me this approach is not the most efficient. I will spend hours reading about research that I will not be contributing to further before I am able to find a supervisor. Would it be appropriate to email a supervisor asking if they have any research projects available for students before I spend time reading about their work further? Or would this come across as ingenuine? 

It can come across as ingenuine. But also really increases the risk that you end up going back and forth talking to them about a project you have zero interest in. Or worse, end up working on something you didn’t realize you have no interest in. That’s just as much a waste of your time and everyone else’s, potentially more so. 

[dragoncat]

What I've found very effective is instead talking about my own previous research experience, even if it super unrelated to what they do, and talking about what my goals are with research. 

ex: "have done wet lab research on gut microbiome of patients with celiacs, etc..." and "hoping to gain more experience with clinical research/chart reviews/etc."

also mentioning something about long term goals is nice.

I keep it short as they don't want to sit there reading a whole essay. Everything mentioned above is usually just 2 sentences.

I end with something like this "I'd love to chat more with you about your research and any opportunities that may be available for me to get involved as a student. If you'd like a copy of my CV please let me know and I'd be happy to send one over."

Let me know if you need any more help!