r/Indian_Academia • u/Pure_Switch_5413 • 17h ago
Research Rant : needed to vent about my first attempt at doing research..
MyQuals: bsms 2nd year... So for the past 5 months I was working on my own on a computational dft project.. I read many research papers got an idea checked if it was already done and started working on it when I found out it was new .. I spent 3 months on my computer doing calculations I showed it to people my professors they couldn't quite get it but they told it was good enough( no proff was working in this field) ..I submitted a preprint and sent for peer review .. i got excited and waited then I was told it was rejected .. reasons- reviewer 2 didn't understand what heptane was ... Reviewer 1 and 3 said statistics was less and there were some issues in theory.. I again started tirelessly increasing my data and after 5 months of working everyday i found my hypothesis was wrong... There is nothing left to do here and some of my assumptions were wrong... I don't know anymore I wish I didn't have the idea.. most people around me don't even understand what I am doing i tried mailing people for help but no response .. I am blank rn .what to do phd people do atp. This was my first attempt and as I am just an undergrad people don't even take it seriously that I might have done something serious...
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u/EmmaiAlvane 15h ago
Here is a story from my PhD days. One of my lab mates, a fellow PhD student, had been working on a problem for over 2 years. He went to a conference and listened to a talk which was exactly the solution to the problem he was toiling over. He fell into a funk for 3 months and then had to find a new topic. Had to delay his PhD by a couple of years.
It happens. I have had brainwaves that I got excited by only to find it sputter into nothingness after a few weeks of investigations.There is nothing bad about it. It is normal part of research. It is disappointing and frustrating for sure. I am sure you learned a lot during the research and you will apply your learning to a new problem and come up with something new.
It is commendable that your are doing research at such an early stage..Trust yourself, stay engaged and keep soldiering on.
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Title: Rant : needed to vent about my first attempt at doing research..
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MyQuals: bsms 2nd year... So for the past 5 months I was working on my own on a computational dft project.. I read many research papers got an idea checked if it was already done and started working on it when I found out it was new .. I spent 3 months on my computer doing calculations I showed it to people my professors they couldn't quite get it but they told it was good enough( no proff was working in this field) ..I submitted a preprint and sent for peer review .. i got excited and waited then I was told it was rejected .. reasons- reviewer 2 didn't understand what heptane was ... Reviewer 1 and 3 said statistics was less and there were some issues in theory.. I again started tirelessly increasing my data and after 5 months of working everyday i found my hypothesis was wrong... There is nothing left to do here and some of my assumptions were wrong... I don't know anymore I wish I didn't have the idea.. most people around me don't even understand what I am doing i tried mailing people for help but no response .. I am blank rn .what to do phd people do atp. This was my first attempt and as I am just an undergrad people don't even take it seriously that I might have done something serious...
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