R.

Manoharan,
Department Of Information Technology,
Adhiparasakthi Engineering College,
Melmaruvathur.

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

ABSTRACT:

Research in various domains plays a major role in the development of the new
technologies as well as the development of the nation. Undergraduate research teaches you about
a field you are interested in and helps you define your own style. Especially research in
engineering has the important role in developing core applications. Research in undergraduate
level is the initial way to enhance the knowledge of the young engineers. There is a connection
between research and placements too. But now days it has become hard for an average
engineering student to get placed in the campus interview. The usual reason said by the
interviewers is the lack of soft skills. Even if the students have a good technical knowledge they
are not bold enough to express it. As we know soft skills cannot be brought to reality in a single
day, it has to be practiced at least from the second year of engineering study. The basic problem
is, students are not getting enough chance to speak in front of people and even if they get a
chance, they hesitate to do so because of the thought „what others will think about me‟. Our
approach to tackle this problem is by making a student to prepare an own paper which provides
solution for a live problem related to the student domain. That is, improving the student potential
through undergraduate research. First time it will be tough. But when it gets practiced the student
will become pro in preparing, presenting paper as well as in innovation. First, presenting a paper
in symposium then a national conference and then finally an international conference will
increase their potential. If students are confident enough to present papers in seminar or
conferences, then they will be prepared to face the real world problem.

Introduction:

During the final year of engineering study an engineering student has to do a project. But
only few are doing it by themselves. Most of them are buying the project in project centres and
showing it as their own project. Final year project is the outcome of the four years of engineering
study. Without better opportunities for students to be involved in real research, the battle for their
hearts and minds will be lost. If you have own project in mind, Make use of Cornell resources
and pursue an outlet for your interests. Your goal is to find someone to help you with your
project by first developing your interests. The first step involves developing familiarity with your
field of interest. You‟d benefit from taking classes that relate to the project you someday hope to
complete. This will introduce you to the elementary material and to the professors who love the
subject. Read on your own and pursue your project as the passion that it is. Attend lectures on
campus and speak with faculty. Eventually you will find someone who works in your field of
interest and may even take you under his or her wing. Once you‟ve proven your interest and
commitment, he or she may help you with the project that got you started in the first place.
Along the way, you‟ll have gained an understanding of your project in relation to so much more.
Literature Survey:

Undergraduate research opportunities allow students to learn in ways that incorporate or

enact the research process. For research, you need an individual experience, and that's
enormously time and resource expensive.

Strategies for ‘mainstreaming’ undergraduate research publication:

Strategy one: build publication into dissertation and honours-level requirements

Strategy two: build publication into course and programme requirements
Strategy three: widen what counts as „research‟
Strategy four: widen the forms of publication
Strategy five: build the results of publication into the curriculum
Strategy six: involve undergraduate students in the publication process
Strategy seven: train postgraduate students as reviewers for undergraduate research journals
Strategy eight: make the employability benefits of undergraduate research clear to students
Strategy nine: make effective use of current and emerging technologies
Strategy ten: link publication opportunities [1]

Undergraduate Research: How Do We Begin?

Get students interested: A good visual aid can help students become interested, even enthusiastic,
about a problem.
Present background material: The time a professor spends presenting background material
depends upon the research topic.

Work out details with the students: Meeting with the students and reading the article together
helps develop students‟ ability to work independently. In this joint faculty-student reading
session, the professor may question the students about what was read.

Problem solving: The students should start working on basic problems early, and then dive into
exploratory problems as soon as possible. Starting the students off at the basic level and allowing
them to explore the area develops their background in the field. This can also help build
students‟ confidence, enabling them to work more independently.

Develop student independence: Continuous encouragement to pursue new avenues promotes

student independence. Many students will be resistant to doing something new or something they
are not “good” at.

Student frustration: At times, students may feel they are no longer making progress and become
frustrated. Students should be told in advance that this will occur — that frustration is okay and
happens to everyone. In trying to overcome frustration, the advisor may choose to work through
hurdles with them, asking questions along the way.

The research problem: As the mentor has worked through the previous steps, it is probably
useful to point out potential research problems [2].
Why and how to get undergraduate research experience?

In order to apply to become a research assistant in a faculty member‟s lab you will need to
review their specific requirements (including prerequisite coursework, minimum GPA, time
commitments). You may need to complete a brief application and interview for the position. The
available positions in a lab may fill quickly, so you should plan in advance for the semester that
you wish start. The following link describes each faculty member‟s policies for accepting
undergraduate research assistants into their lab [3].

New Approach:

As Brain Tracy said, “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are
willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new” Comfort zone here is
the student bench and class room stage is the area where they can try something new. First and
foremost step to rectify the problem of stage fear is by letting the student to read the circular
instead of letting lecturer or representative to do so. Reading something is easier than speaking.
After doing this a student can come out of his/her initial level of stage fear (which i tried and
succeeded during our case study). Then letting the students to talk about any topic of their own
choice or letting them to take seminar on their favourite subject will even more reduce their stage
fear. After doing these two things, it‟s time to learn and combine communication skills, soft
skills and technical skills to make a real engineer. Paper presentation is the initial step to achieve
the above task. It‟s a way to express the student‟s innovative ideas. Now a days, many students
approach project centres to have their project done instead of doing it on their own. It is because
of the lack of awareness about projects and the disability to understand the relation between
project and placement. For a project to be done successfully, initial literature survey is necessary.
Then a concise survey report on the literature related to the project can be prepared & presented
as a paper.

Paper Presentation:

A paper is a theoretical description about a proposed project. To prepare a paper an

innovative idea is needed. To get an innovative idea students have to focus on live problems and
try to provide solution in an innovative way. This is how an invention is born. A paper must have
answers for these three questions, 1. What am I going to do? 2. How am I going to do it? 3.
Where am I going to implement it and why? After the paper work is finished, it‟s time to present
it. Symposiums are the first stage where a student can present their papers easily. For the first
time while presenting, the presenter experiences stage fear which makes the world around him
dark. The stage fear subsides in due cause making him confortable. By doing this, student‟s
communication skill, technical skills and soft skills are improved. Presenting a paper first in a
symposium, then a national conference and finally an international conference will increase their
potential. If students present papers in those three, their stage fear is no more and they will
became pro in presenting paper as well as in innovation.
Conclusion:

Marks that students secure in their graduate examinations are like a key to start the
engine of a car. Knowledge and other skills that they get during the four years of engineering
study is like driving the car. Even though they have a key, if they lack the driving capability it is
hard to survive. This is the reason why some toppers got rejected in an interview and an average
student gets selected. So, basic awareness needs to be created among the students. Mentors have
to allocate separate work hours at least once in a week to create awareness among students. They
are the chisel who strikes the stones viz students. It‟s on their hands to make a good statue or a
wasted piece of rock. If our approach is followed in engineering colleges especially in rural
areas, we can develop real engineers instead of pseudo engineers. Interview will be a piece of
cake for the students who are brought up in this manner. During the UG study only students can
learn basics of engineering and apply it on real time problems to provide solutions. If
undergraduate research is encouraged means we can develop engineers with innovative minds
instead of theoretical minds.

References:
1. “How to: Get into Undergraduate Research” by Ashley Carter PhD1, Andrew
Nguyen2 April 17, 2011.
2. “Undergraduate Research: How Do We Begin?” by Brad Bailey, Mark Budden,
Michael Dorff, and Urmi Ghosh-Dastidar January 2009.
3. “Why and how to get undergraduate research experience?”
http://www.tulane.edu/~psych/FacLabs2.html.