Publishing a research paper for the first time

BanjoHitter
Wed, 12 Jan 2011 01:54:57 +0000

Undergrads do publish good material sometimes. Usually what happens is that an adviser is working in an area and gives the student an extension. The student then spends a year or two on that extension then it’s either published as part of a bigger paper or if the results are interesting, it will be it’s own paper.

Students don’t just don’t sit around their dorm rooms thinking “hey, this would be cool” and then spend 3 hours googling the topic. It takes hundreds (if not thousands) of hours working with someone that has a strong background in the field.

The “undergraduate” journals (like your local school’s undergraduate journal) isn’t really publishing. Even if it’s “peer reviewed”, it’s reviewed by a couple of grad students who don’t specialize in the area - not by a panel of experts. Publishing in one of those places is the same as not really publishing at all.