Asking
questions is the biggest primemover in the evolution of society and
civilization
1)
Reading
papers should be a habit, a mental workout. Religiously read one paper per
day. Biting into papers should become the most pleasurable activity. Read once
it for all! Write and bite! Take notes like a UG student : that is your core
competence. Read paper after paper after paper. It will reinforce your own
paper.
2)
Your
work should fill a gap in existing literature. It is very important to
highlight the points of novelty in the paper. Layout the objective in the very
beginning of the paper. Conclude a paper very strongly, and highlight the
importance of your work. Do scholarly work and write papers of archival value.
3)
Comparative studies are an absolute must. No
research can survive in isolation. Comparison with others results is THE
foremost requirement. Absolutely nothing can stand ground without that.
Generate decisive results, at par with recent research trends. Put forth your
work in the proper perspective of the current research and literature.
4)
Start
a paper with the big picture, zoom in, do the analysis, show results with
comparative studies, then zoom out and show how your results and conclusions
fit into the big picture.
5)
A
paper needs to be marketed : pinpoint its USP and sell one point in your work which others have
missed out. Highlight very strongly what is special and unique about your work.
Put forth your originality point almost like an advertisement. Suggest a
reviewer who writes in your target journal, and/or is in the editorial board.
6)
Aggressively
search for (at least 10) relevant papers and dissect time fully, word-by-word. The
ONLY way to do a good work and get it published is to first do a thorough
exhaustive literature review. Pick a few aligned papers and find out what is
missing. Do not overload yourself with all literature. Do not waste time in
papers distantly or remotely connected with your work. Fix one or two anchor
papers for your work : publish in that journal or the journal in which that
author publishes usually. Be very choosy about your literature collection. If
there is any paper that you have not read in the last one year, junk it off.
7)
Do
not get overwhelmed by papers : pick one of your interest are published in the
last five years, it will itself help you in tracing back the relevant
background papers. Stand on the shoulders of giants. The authors who
published the papers are not superhumans : if they have brains, you have too! Do not be scared of the paper, as if it
is a masterpiece or something! Chill! Read like a magazine article in the first
glance. Then attack it head-on! Read with a pen and notebook, taking important
notes. Have a laptop handy, searching for all background papers and unknowns
but relevant topics (whichever you do not know about). Brutally and openly
punch hole(s) in some recent aligned papers, and make your own statement
through research. Study and scrutinize literature, and do attacking comparative
studies. Dig into literature and make an impactful write-up to set the stage
for your finding to be displayed.
8)
Do
not do things which other have not done but can do, given the time. Do things
which others have not yet thought of doing. Do not do simple application of
theories, case studies, exercises! Leave them for tutorials, homeworks, term
papers. Do what others are repeatedly failing at. Are you filling a missing
link? The proposed technique should be improving the approaches presented in
published literature.
9)
Be
very direct and straightforward in writing. Implicit communication is mostly
misinterpreted as lack of depth. Do not expect the reader to get your point
without you actually spelling it out deep and hard. Be direct, be honest. But
do not let out all your research secrets. If a paper is returned by the Editor : read
the responses of the editors very carefully. Increase the depth and focus of
the paper. Never make it broad, make it deep. Trim out all extra. Do not spread your paper wide like a
blanket : strike it deep like a sword. Make ONE point very deeply. Do not
show loads and loads of results which others can easily generate with your
theory. Do not write a whole thesis : the
editor/reviewer/reader will get exhausted! Depth beats breadth. Quality
outlasts quantity. Concentrate your forces : be very strong and to the point.
Gaining knowledge should become your spiritual activity.
10) Kill the reviewers’ questions one
by one. Answer each of them pin-pointedly and confidently, with all background
and supporting information/plots. Add more references if necessary.
11) The quickest way to get a paper
published is as follows : pick up one anchor paper, re-solve the problem
statement, bring in a minor physical/mathematical modification, do comparative
study with that paper, and submit! Many people do this to increase their number
of publications quickly. If you start you own topic from the scratch, it will
be difficult (not impossible) to break into the ongoing trend of research. In
the beginning of your career, you need to choose a topic based on the current
research trends. Once you are established, you can bring in more originality
and non-conventionality in your publications.
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12) Never have too many things on
your plate. Do not spread your energies thin. Focus! Focus! Focus! Go one at a
time. Pick up one work, do from start to finish, then move to then next (after
a well-deserved rest-break).
13) Never spend a minute more than
allotted in undergraduate teaching. Be very particular about your professional
timing. Teaching should be on autopilot, after the first few years (as a
faculty). Do not meet undergraduates unless they can do research of publishing
standards. Do not waste time teaching and supervising. Be unapologetic about not
diverting your energies to non-research activities.
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Stay true to your
work. Be honest to your profession. You cannot lie to yourself. Do everything
in academics with full honesty and sincerity. Press on and stick-to it.
Persevere and success will come automatically. Every day, give yourself a
reason to feel proud of at the end of the day. To get ahead in any field, reading and updating your knowledge is a
must. Read and know what you are doing. Seek excellence and success will
follow automatically. Perfection resides in quality. Intensity gives eminence.
Start from the basics : everything will grow from there. Stay true to your IIT-JEE
knowledge. Do not multi-task. It degrades your neurons! Forget the hype of
work-life balance! Build your portfolio. The publications are your credentials.
Research requires self-consciousness. It requires withdrawal from the society. It requires critical thinking. It requires the ability to question things. It requires one to stop taking things for granted and verify the truth oneself. A researcher cannot do something because he has been told to do so. S/he must do something because s/he has decided to do it after all necessary deliberations. Recover from mediocrity and race towards great heights. Do not let your efforts go waste. Every research you have done : publish it!
Research requires self-consciousness. It requires withdrawal from the society. It requires critical thinking. It requires the ability to question things. It requires one to stop taking things for granted and verify the truth oneself. A researcher cannot do something because he has been told to do so. S/he must do something because s/he has decided to do it after all necessary deliberations. Recover from mediocrity and race towards great heights. Do not let your efforts go waste. Every research you have done : publish it!
Every human being
must challenge oneself consistently, push the envelope, try bigger and better
things, do increasingly difficult jobs, hone one’s talents and skills, be persistent,
and see the end of their plans. Fructification is a must. One should feel like
an achiever to be happy. Every person should feel : main kuch dhhang ka kar rahi hoon”. Everyone should feel worthwhile.
All this comes from individual efforts, which have been motivated by internal willpower and not
any external source. Howmuchsoever anyone advises someone, the latter is going
to be happy only after a self-motivated accomplishment. The individual wants
their own core competence propelled into action by their own choice. It is
very important for the individual to decide what they want to do in life. Life
is too precious to be lived ad-hoc, somehow. Make life worth living, not merely
existing. Have goals, dreams, plans. If you want something you have never had
before, you have to do something that you have never done before. New results
cannot come without changing present efforts. So head out for the unknown.
Challenge your brain. Push yourself to do bigger and better things. Do what you
are scared of : action cures fear. Face your fears head-on, as if it does not
exist : and it will really cease to exist.
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