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How to carry out a research project as a graduate student
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A student asked me: I noticed something (say, a current) had impact on the cold tongue in a numerical model. I also read an interesting paper about the cold tongue. Therefore, I decided to study the impact of factors a, b, c, and d on the formation and maintenance of the cold tongue using a numerical model. Which model should I use? How should I proceed next?
To avoid misguiding this student, I would prefer to talk about how to carry out a research project as a graduate student in general.
If one needs funding to carry out a project, one needs to write a proposal first. A student may not need to obtain funding on his own, but a thesis proposal is generally required by the thesis committee, I hope.
In such a proposal, one needs to cover (at least) the following:
1) Why is studying the cold tongue important?
2) What do we already know about the cold tongue? What are the remaining issues? (Read, read, and read more published papers.)
3) Which of these issues I can resolve? If I can answer these (limited) questions in my Ph.D. thesis, will that be good enough for me to graduate?
Once you are sure the cold tongue study will lead you to your Ph.D. degree (and hopefully a job, too), you need to shop for a numerical model. Here are some more questions you need to ask yourself:
1) What kinds of models have people used to study the cold tongue? Maybe more specifically in this case, what kinds of numerical models have been used to study the cold tongue?
2) Which of these numerical models have successfully reproduced the cold tongue?
3) Do I have access to the computing facility that will allow me to carry out many numerical experiments if I pick Model B?—This is very important for a project using a numerical model. Even a great chef cannot make a good dish without needed ingredients!
Once you have picked a “good” model, you need to test it to see if the cold tongue is well simulated, and of no less importance, whether or not the factors a-d are all properly represented in the model. Only if these five “ingredients” are in your model, then you can study the impact of each factor on the cold tongue.
Good luck!
ps. Here are two closely related articles you may find useful:
ps. Here are two closely related articles you may find useful:
How to carry out a research project independently
Scientific Writing for Beginners (1)-(8)
导师与学生
https://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-306792-390142.html
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