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Research Paper

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:21 pm
by MaxWhale
Hello! Is it a good idea to include a research report (final paper) in my application packet? It is a report on my project from last year's REU. Does it bolster my application in anyway ? What are the things you would include in your application packet besides rec letter, score reports, personal statements, transcripts ? Can anyone give me a full-fledged list of credentials that i should include in my application?

Thanks

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:37 pm
by surjective
Don't bother to include your report. No one will read it, and some people will be annoyed that you made the package longer than necessary (think about being the admissions secretary with 700 applications on your desk, that you need to whittle down to a 200 application 'short list' which actually gets read. It's really easy to throw out the one that's way too long).

What you should do is submit the paper to a real journal (like the physical review), get it published, then add a section to your CV for your publications, and list the paper there. This assumes that your work constitutes a novel contribution to your field. If not, you should make a novel contribution to your field, and publish a paper about it, and put that on your CV.

Summary: publish actual stuff and don't make your application fit the TLDNR (too long did not read) category.

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:43 pm
by nathan12343
Is the paper online somewhere? I think it's worth it to include a link in your Statement of Purpose, just in case anyone is interested.

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:26 pm
by noojens
Yep, if it's been published either in a journal or online in some form, include a reference or link to it in your CV or SoP. I wouldn't send the entire report, though. Also, if it's not great research you might want to be careful about how much you talk it up -- don't want to seem like you have low standards. :)

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:59 am
by SuperStringBoy
Does Arxiv accept undergraduate thesis paper (Hep / Gr-qc) ? Do other journals accept? Can you plz tell me names of those journals?

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:52 am
by nathan12343
Anyone can post to Arxiv. Publication in most journals requires some kind of peer-review and sometimes significant fees.

Before you rush to post something to Arxiv, it's best to be aware of its extremely public nature. Do you want this paper to be permanently associated with your name? This includes not only lists of published papers, but also google results and such. Make sure that what you are posting is of high quality.

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:05 pm
by Kaiser_Sose
Has anyone ever considered sending a CD with their projects on it ? Like a portfolio?

I might have two actual publications (if I'm lucky) by the time I graduate. However, I will have completed lot's of minor little research projects for classes and other things. For example, I did this project where I made an interactive contour plot that showed the amount of stress that part of your femur puts on the cartilage of the knee. It wasn't a trivial project to complete and it took a large amount of work researching the relevant literature and mathematics.

I feel like a CD would be a fairly unobtrusive addition to grad school applications. If it came down to me and another applicant, maybe my ability to apply skills to a lot of different problems could be a factor and the CD of projects might show that ?

Who knows, but I agree that sending a huge packet of papers would be a turn off.

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 8:32 pm
by cato88
I have to say I think its a lot easier to skim through a packet of paper than have to pass around a cd or take in a laptop into whatever room they read applications in because there not expecting to need equipment to review an app.

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 11:11 pm
by noojens
Eh, a CD's not a bad idea, but who really uses discs anymore? :P If you want to convey the information, and not seem like a technological dinosaur, make a simple personal website, upload your papers/projects/CV/whatever and link to the page in your SoP.

Re: Research Paper

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:11 am
by theoretical_phys
Instead of a lengthy paper, why not include an abstract of the research? This would be fairly easy to skim through, and it could demonstrate the quality of the research.