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5 - Choosing a department, research supervisor and project
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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- Research in Medicine
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Summary
After deciding on the timing for your research programme and the degree to which you wish to aspire, you next need to decide where you would like to conduct your research, whom you would like to work with and what you are going to work on. The order in which you decide these and their relative importance will vary significantly between individuals and specific circumstances. It might be that before you actually start applying for research positions, you have strong ideas about the area of research you might pursue, and the person with whom you may wish to work. If that is the case, it will determine the channels along which you will make enquiries and applications. Alternatively you may seek openings or scholarships at particular departments with initially less specific interests in mind, and seek a direction for your research afterwards. Most applicants will discover a middle course, being initially drawn towards a broad area of research and a department, then gradually acquiring knowledge of available research projects and personnel as enquiries and the application proceed. In this latter case, a good place to start is a university or clinical department whose work or interest lies close to interests in your desired career path. For instance, if you would like ultimately to be a transplant surgeon, you might try the local university department of surgery. If your career plans have not yet crystallized, the decision is inevitably more difficult.
Preface
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Looking back on my own scientific work I should say that it shows no great originality but a certain amount of business instinct which leads to the selection of a profitable line. (E. D. Adrian, autobiographical notes [A. L. Hodgkin (1979): Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 25, 1–73.])
Doctors and medical students experience a training directed primarily towards clinical practice. Yet, increasing numbers of the more successful additionally devote time to advancing knowledge, often while working for a research or intercalated Honours degree. Similarly, science students are selected for postgraduate work mainly through university degree results. However, little is said about the qualities one requires for successfully completing a research programme, and the extent to which these differ from what makes a successful doctor or undergraduate student. No doubt one requires originality, creativity or flair, but to attempt to define or expand upon these would be beyond the direct scope of this short book. Additionally, modern medicine encompasses an enormous breadth of subjects, and research is among the most individual of endeavours.
Nevertheless, one can discuss some of the more practical problems associated with pursuing research and working for a thesis and a capacity to tackle these fulfils a necessary, even if not a sufficient, condition for a successful research programme. We hope we have commented helpfully upon at least some of these hurdles, even if only briefly in a general way. If we thereby provoke constructive thought, even if not agreement, we shall feel we have achieved our object and have offered assistance to those seeking masterships, doctorates and honours degrees.
13 - Submitting a thesis and preparing for the viva voce examination
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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11 - Attending scientific meetings
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Scientific meetings and conferences provide formal opportunities for researchers to get together and exchange information on a pre-defined subject or area of knowledge. They are also the ideal environment in which to develop your presentation skills. Application forms for clinical jobs are increasingly including sections for presentations, particularly at national and international audiences, and so a track record of presenting data has become an important part of career progression. Many of the larger conferences also publish the abstracts which can be beneficial for grant or other funding applications.
In general, the advantages of attending a meeting include:
making contact with, and gaining recognition from, other researchers in your field;
securing priority for your work by presenting it at a defined date;
getting practice in presenting work, and answering criticisms and questions (particularly useful for your approaching oral examination on your thesis); and
keeping up to date with progress in your field through contact with other participants and attending their presentations.
Choosing where to present
Within the general scope of scientific meetings, there is a hierarchy of forums at which you can display your work, ranging from informal discussion within your department to giving a paper at an international conference. These can be graded in ascending order as follows:
Seminar in your department.
Local meeting of a specialist society in your field, e.g. the London Connective Tissue Society Meeting.
National meeting of professional or academic societies, e.g. the British Connective Tissues Society.
International Conferences, covering a particular interest, e.g. International Symposium on Basement Membranes.
Major International Conferences, e.g. Gordon Conferences.
6 - Applying for research positions and funding
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Having decided on a particular department or research unit, and having confirmed that it offers research opportunities, either through a postgraduate programme or advertisements of research positions, you may consider making an application. This entails:
obtaining further background information about the department or position,
setting out information about yourself in the form of a curriculum vitae,
finding referees who will write about you, and
applying for funding.
Background information about the available position
Before applying for any position you need to find out about the selection procedure. This information will usually be available from the departmental secretary, postgraduate tutor or departmental website. In particular, it is worth finding out:
who is on the selection committee;
the closing date for applications;
how many candidates will be short listed;
the date, place, time and length of interview;
how many candidates will be selected and how many posts are available; and
when the decision will be announced.
Visiting your future place of employment is also important, particularly when deciding upon a research supervisor or if you are already interested in one. Many departments will prefer candidates who have already approached, and been regarded as acceptable for, research supervision by a particular staff member. Talk with those who have been or who are already there, ask about the work conducted there, possible supervisors, etc.
Your curriculum vitae
You next need to furnish information about yourself to your possible future employers. Although most medical jobs now require applicants to complete a standard application form, most candidates for research positions are still asked to submit a curriculum vitae.
12 - Writing a thesis
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Timing
Most students will reach a compromise between two extreme approaches to timing when it comes to writing up a thesis. You could start writing your dissertation only after completing all your experimental work, or could write a sequence of short accounts in the course of your project as you gather results and draw conclusions. Writing periodic progress reports and papers as circumscribed parts of your project become completed can form part of this process.
Writing continuously as you collect data has a number of advantages. It reduces the amount of pressure on you as you approach your thesis deadline, and encourages the good habit of reviewing and analysing data soon after they are obtained. The act of writing then becomes an integral part of your thinking about your data, dealing with inconsistencies, and identifying forgotten control experiments. These can then be rectified in the course of your continued laboratory work. In any case, writing as you go helps fill in periods where you are unable to do experiments; for example, when equipment is being serviced or repaired. Observing your dissertation as it gradually evolves, rather than anticipating the massive task of writing it, builds morale. Additionally, working some of your findings into publications will improve your chances of obtaining your next job, as then you will have something to show for your work. Finally, the time at which you decide to stop laboratory work and devote your time entirely to writing becomes less critical.
Research in Medicine
- Planning a Project – Writing a Thesis
- 3rd edition
- Juliet Usher-Smith, George Murrell, Harold Ellis, Christopher Huang
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Health professionals are increasingly drawn towards research in the course of their training, often with little guidance on the skills and techniques required. This practical text provides essential advice to guide the beginner through the processes involved in selecting, organizing, funding, undertaking, evaluating and publishing a biomedical research project, and completing a postgraduate qualification. Cartoon illustrations provide a wry commentary on the ups and downs of life in research. This edition contains new content on choosing supervisors, career implications, degree structures, ethical issues and time conflicts between research and service needs, and is fully revised and updated to reflect changes in the structure of medical careers and degree courses, and the use of computational and information technology in research presentation. An invaluable guide suitable for all stages of a medical research career, from the first stages of research, through to professional supervisors, career counselors and postgraduate tutors.
8 - Overcoming frustration
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Inevitably the heady days of early successes, new techniques and new equipment come to a resounding end when the inherent weakness of the procedure, equipment, hypothesis, approach, or even the problem you have set yourself become manifest. Setbacks and failures in research are inevitable. Being aware of this, and realistic about it, will help you to cope. It is important not to take such events too seriously, but to treat them in an analytical, almost detached fashion, as yet further problems to solve.
In addition, it is important to be clear that not obtaining positive results, or the findings that you expected, need not invariably be identified with failure. Disproving a particular point conclusively can be as constructive and scientific an outcome as proving a hypothesis. Initial negative results may provide a warning about the appropriateness or validity of the hypothesis being explored. However, it is genuinely disheartening when experiments do not seem to work at all and fail to give any interpretable results. Individuals vary a great deal in the way they react to such obstacles. Here are some alternatives, whose applicability would vary with the particular situation at hand.
Repeat the same procedure
Do this when you think the procedure you have adopted is fun- o damentally sound, but that you may have performed it with less skill than you might have wished, or feel you require further practice in performing the procedure itself.
This course of action is desirable provided that you re-examine o the situation and assess the problem before you repeat.
[…]
Further reading
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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- Research in Medicine
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Index
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Contents
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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4 - Selecting a research degree
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Most medics doing a period of research will wish to work for a higher university degree. Besides the intrinsic interest they will have in pursuing such research, they will be balancing the time they will be putting aside for this against the benefits such an exercise would confer for their future careers.
What degrees are available?
Some UK and Commonwealth universities encourage their medical (undergraduate) students to enter for intercalated Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSc) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) degrees. Others offer postgraduate Master of Philosophy (MPhil) or Master of Science (MSc) degrees. At the postgraduate level, most universities offer a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD or DPhil). Some US and UK universities have combined MD-PhD and MB-PhD programmes. Most universities in the UK and Commonwealth also offer MD (Doctor or Medicine) and MS (Master of Surgery) degrees for medical and surgical candidates, respectively. In London, the MD and MS have now been replaced by the MD(Res) (Doctor of Medicine (Research)) degree. Other universities have abandoned the MS and, at these universities, the surgical candidates submit an MD thesis alongside their medical colleagues, and are subject to the same regulations. The standard (and often the regulations) for the degree of MS and MD are considered to be equivalent to each other. Note that in the US, the MD (Doctorate of Medicine) is the basic medical degree, not a higher research-based medical degree.
The intercalated BSc
In the UK, Oxford and Cambridge students have compulsory third-year courses, usually including a research module, which lead to an Honours BA.
Appendix: Information for research students wishing to study overseas
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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2 - Deciding whether to do research
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Research experience is increasingly important in today's fight for jobs and so the aspiring clinician may leap, somewhat reluctantly, into a research programme without carefully assessing its processes, outcomes, advantages and disadvantages. Some considerations as to whether or not one should do research at all are presented here.
The challenge
Research by its very nature offers a tremendous intellectual and personal challenge and has the potential to unearth information that may help the wider community.
Becoming a better clinician
A number of desirable qualities are necessary for, and consequently, developed in, research. These include an open, inquiring mind, logical thought, careful analysis of previous research with a mild degree of scepticism, an understanding of the processes necessary to achieve the presented result, self-discipline and self-sufficiency. It can be argued that many of these are also of considerable value in clinical practice. Almost any established clinician who has spent time in research during training, whether they are surgeons in district general hospitals, physicians in private practice or general practitioners, will tell you that they regard themselves better doctors as a result of this experience. They find themselves more able to analyse a clinical problem, appraise the results of their management of patients and assess objectively the latest claims from scientists, colleagues and pharmaceutical companies because of their exposure to the scientific method.
As part of an academic career
Without doubt, research achievement, including a higher degree by thesis, is essential for a career in academic medicine.
1 - Introduction
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Aims of this book
This guide was written primarily for medical students and practitioners considering whether to attempt a programme involving original research in the medical and biological sciences. The author who initiated this text (George Murrell) read for a medical degree, did a stint in research and has now returned to clinical medicine (orthopaedic surgery) with an academic interest. He was then joined by two others, one of whom (Christopher Huang) first qualified in medicine and has subsequently remained in research, and another (Harold Ellis) who has had a primarily academic clinical career. In this third edition, they are now joined by Juliet Usher-Smith, who completed a combined MB/PhD programme and is now at the early stages of combining clinical practice with research. Accordingly, the authors themselves represent the major groups and career stages of people who do medical research.
Individuals have different reasons for wishing to do research, which include gaining a higher degree, furthering their medical career or simply taking a break from clinical practice. Such a pursuit can be incredibly exhilarating and rewarding. Alternatively, it can be an endless, lonely, boring and frustrating exercise. The aim of this handbook is to guide the potential medical postgraduate candidate away from the latter predicament. It is not intended to dictate the researcher's own originality, creativity or scientific approach. Rather, it is organized around a sequence of practical steps directed at the more pragmatic questions:
‘What steps do I take?’
‘When and where do I start?’
‘How do I get to the end of the tunnel?’
‘What do I do next?’
We thereby hope to alleviate unnecessary anxiety and save the reader valuable time and energy that could then be used in a more productive way.
10 - Publishing a paper
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Deciding whether to write a paper
Hopefully at some point during your research you will acquire sufficient data to begin to publish your work in scientific or medical journals. In principle, the criterion for justifying preparing a paper is quite simple. You will have completed a substantial set of experiments that answer a scientific question in a number of important aspects, and you will have fully completed controls. Your findings then consequently come together to form a coherent body of knowledge that proves or disproves a particular hypothesis or provides information that is useful to the scientific community. However, judging the extent to which you have reached this point is a matter of experience. Your supervisor will be the best person to advise. In practical terms, having a number of submitted or published publications is a great reassurance as you plan your trajectory to finishing your research project. There are supervisors and research groups who encourage their students to write all their findings into research papers as their work proceeds. Completing a thesis is then greatly facilitated by simply assembling this work into a coherent whole!
Choosing when to write a paper
There are thus several advantages of publishing early on in your research period.
The exercise will concentrate your thoughts, reveal areas of inadequacy in your work and define areas for further testing. Thus the act of drafting a research paper itself facilitates your thinking about your work.
[…]
Frontmatter
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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7 - Getting started
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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The first phase: getting started
Congratulations! You have now passed the major initial hurdles of making the decision to pursue research, and of following this decision through to the position where you are able to start. The remarks in this chapter primarily concern your fitting into, and learning to function in, this new environment. How you begin your period of research and the methods you use will obviously vary depending on whether your research is primarily laboratory or patient based. There are, however, many issues common to all types of research.
A doctor in research
When you join a research group, whether in a university or clinical department, you will find yourself in a very different setting, with values distinct from those to which you are accustomed in the clinic or ward. You should try as quickly as possible to assimilate into the local scene. Even if the atmosphere is initially alien to you, this may reflect its tradition of research achievement just as the particular environment in a successful hospital promotes good clinical results. However, this does not mean a clinician does not have anything to offer a research environment. Some of the advantages you will have gained from a clinical background are as follows:
You will often be more realistic as to what to expect of others.
You will often have more social confidence and take more care in your dealings with others.
You will have a better sense of what can or cannot be achieved in limited time.
[…]
3 - Deciding when to do research
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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Biological scientists not proceeding to do medicine usually attempt their higher degrees immediately after their first degree, often continuing an interest arising from an honours degree project. Others return to university after a time working in industry. Medical students or doctors have a number of options, each with particular advantages and disadvantages. These relate both to the implications of taking ‘time out’ for research on future medical career prospects, and to the effects of this timing on the academic quality of the research. The main options for timing of research in medicine are:
Prior to medical training.
During undergraduate medical training.
Between undergraduate medical training and starting clinical work.
During clinical training.
Ultimately, the choice of when to do research will depend on a large number of both personal and professional factors and what is ‘best’ for one person may be very different from what is ‘best’ for another. Here we consider some of the advantages and disadvantages of the various options. Much of the text here relates to medical students and doctors within the UK, but details of the differences in other countries are included at the end of the chapter.
1. Prior to medical training
Research after a basic science degree may be very helpful for gaining entry to medical school, and often sets the groundwork for each of the later steps.
2. Research during undergraduate medical training
A year or more of research taken during undergraduate training, leading to a BSc, MPhil or PhD, is a well-recognized step in many universities. Indeed, this is often actively encouraged for the more successful students.
9 - Writing scientifically
- Juliet Usher-Smith, University of Cambridge, George Murrell, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Harold Ellis, University of London, Christopher Huang, University of Cambridge
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How you structure your writing and express your ideas profoundly influences your readers’ and, more importantly, your examiner's impression and understanding of your work. A small number of talented, experienced and much practised writers are able to write quickly and fluently, but most of us require considerable effort to make our writings acceptable. The brief remarks in this section cover the important steps to be taken when writing, and may provide some help on how to compose scientific prose and indicate some of the reasons why a given piece of scientific writing may be unsatisfactory. However, they cannot replace more substantial volumes on the use of English, to which the reader must refer if he or she wants more definitive details.
Decide what to say
The first step in writing is to be absolutely clear as to what you want to say. The best English in the world will not compensate for a writer with nothing to report. Note down in a rough, not necessarily logical, fashion a list of the points you wish to make. They can then be ordered later, or in the course of writing.
Organize what you wish to say
Determine how your writing needs to be organized. This will vary depending on whether you are writing a progress report, a research paper or your thesis. Broadly speaking, though, most scientific writing follows the IMRaD style (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion) and includes the following sections.