Howdy all,

I'm about 3/4 of the way through my PhD and am starting to send out some papers for publication. Unfortunately, both have been rejected. Although the comments from the reviewers were very helpful, they also made me question why I hadn't thought of these things before.

Also, when I'm watching my fellow graduate students, it sometimes seems that they all have read from the same book of "how to do research" :-P

Does anyone else get the feeling that other researchers were somehow trained to "do research" in some formal way that you've just not been exposed to? How do others learn all of this?

MIKE

They may well have been trained to do research. It depends on your country, but lots of UK universities offer short training courses to PhD students on various aspects of research practice. It's also worth looking at Vitae who also do some courses.

There are plenty of books and website with useful advice. And your fellow students are a valuable resource - ask them how they learnt the art of research. :)

Hm, that does make sense. I love that "Vitae" website, I just wish my university subscribed to it.

Thanks!

MIKE