Research is to discover answers to your scientific questions in the form of solutions or explanations. Your solutions may appear in the form of software algorithms, circuit schematics, block diagrams or mathematical lemmas, theorems and corollaries. In any case, a deep and thorough analysis of any proposed methods and techniques must be provided. As you will soon experience, the process of research is very strenuous and requires diligent continuous efforts. You need to acquire a work ethic, which is very different from undergraduate-level studies. This page tries to provide some tips to those who have just commenced their journey of graduate studies.

Toughness of Research: Research is not course work. Only a good result catches people's eyes. Unfortunately, if you do not obtain any result, you cannot publish any paper and thus, you may not receive any degree. Although you obtain a result and submit your paper to a conference or a journal, they will judge your work based on its quality, not your efforts. This is the sheer reality. Let's face it. You are thrown into a tough competition against researchers and graduate students all over the world.

Splitting Course Loads: Personally, I do not recommend you to take many courses in a short period of time. That hinders your daily research. Split your course load evenly so that you always have enough time for research.

Meeting with Supervisor: Some students tend to avoid their supervisors. This is very dangerous. You are advised to keep a close tie with me (as your supervisor). Before challenging a problem, you are advised to seek a consultation with me. You need to report your progress at least once a week.

Participating in Seminar Activity: A weekly seminar (if one is available) is the place where you report your research results and brush up your presentation skills. It also promotes your understanding of materials (papers, textbooks, etc.). You can exchange your ideas with other seminar attendees. Regular attendance of seminars is compulsory.

Acquisition of Skills in Reading Papers: You should acquire a skill in reading technical papers by a series of training. While reading papers, you need to understand

• the problem statement: What exactly is the problem that the author(s) want to solve?
• assumptions: What are the simplifications and assumptions (implicit and explicit) that have been made? Are they strong or weak assumptions?
• arguments and proof techniques: Are the arguments sound? Can the authors prove their conjectures rigorously using mathematics or are the arguments qualitative?
• results: Are the results significant? Are the results robust (do they apply if any or all of the assumptions are violated slightly)? For results obtained via simulation, what are the parameters used in the simulation? Why are these parameters used? Are they appropriate for the problem stated?
• writing style: How is the paper organized? What diagrams are used? Are they effective? Are references cited at appropriate places? Techniques learned from good writers will help you in preparing your own papers and thesis.
• bibliography: Are the references recent? The bibliography is usually the starting point for exploring further on a topic.
• What was not mentioned? Often there are details of the work that have not been mentioned in the paper. Sometimes this is done deliberately. These details may be important as they may point to areas of further work and improvements.

Establishing Research Habit: It is important for you to exercise your research everyday. I advice you to acquire a habitual pattern of conducting research. Because as soon as you stop researching, you start to lose your ability to conduct research effectively. It will take time for you to recover the former level of research capability. Everyday exercise is the most important way to keep your brain working in search of a solution to your questions. What is your exercise? You repeat important published works, write programs, work through exercises in books, try to prove lemmas and theorems (no matter how simple your theorems are) everyday. An anecdote says that mathematicians at Princeton used to exchange their greetings by saying "How many theorems have you proven today?" Of course, you need occasional refreshment and relaxation to nurture your brain. But you need to come back to your research.

Stress Management: Undoubtedly, minor stress starts to visit you when you initiate your own research. As a symptom, you may experience anxiety, fatigue, irritation, anger, emptiness, emotional sway, etc. You do not need to panic. However, I saw many students quit their research because of their inability to cope with the constant presence of stress. I advice that you find your own way of reducing your stress without hindering the progress of research. If you really feel heavy anxiety or uncertainty of your research, please come to speak to me (as your supervisor). Please keep in mind that everyone has his best place. Research may not be the only choice for you. You may ask yourself whether research is best suited for you.

Finding Research Goals: Your research should achieve one of the following goals.

1. Solving an Open Problem: If someone left an open problem in his/her paper, you may challenge the problem.
2. Improving an Existing Result: Relax the assumptions made in a previous paper. Think of ways to achieve the same results by utilizing less resources (less complex, more efficient, less power, or whatever).
3. Simplifying an Existing Proof: If you see a complex argument or proof in someone's paper, you may try to simplify it or give a whole new argument or proof. However, you need a justification of why your proof is superior to the existing ones.
4. Reformulating an Existing Problem: Just because everyone else use a particular approach to a problem does not mean that it cannot be reformulated in another way. Reformulation often forces us to use different techniques for solving a problem. It may lead to more efficient, or new and unexpected results.
5. Discovering a New Field and Theory: As technology progresses, we need a new field and new theory. You may initiate the field or theory but it is rather difficult to let people understand the usefulness of your theory.

Attending an International Conference: It is desirable for you to attend good international conferences. For PhD students, the School of Computer Engineering will financially support your conference travel, accomodation and registration once during your 3 years of study.

Discussion with Visiting Scholars: It is important to partake in discussions with visiting scholars and attend their seminars. That broadens your perspective.

Keeping a Logbook: It is important that you keep a logbook to record your work done every day. Once in a while, you may want to look back at what you have done in the past month or so. It can give you a sense of achievement. But, more importantly, it will help you tremendously when it comes to writing up reports, papers and thesis.

I wish you all the best with your research and an enjoyable research time!