Scientific researches and Academic works take a huge toll on researchers and academic authors who sacrifice their life and personal time behind investigating something which is meaningful and unknown to the world. Once they have finished, they feel a sense of achievement for having accomplished a monumental task like completing a significant research, such that they want to go ahead and work on its publication with different international journal. However, the matter of irrelevance of scientific works in real world, has always been an issue with researchers who believe so strongly in their work, but non-scientists feel the discoveries or inventions are doing nothing to change the society. Again, the language of researchers remains complex for many regular readers of science magazines or business owners. So the enormous findings do not get the due credit deserved. Therefore, the success of a researcher often remains a dicey idea, but improving on certain skills and working to build some can really help in the success journey of researchers.
Here are 7 Important Skills to Become a Successful Researcher-
- Do Research on a Socially Relevant Subject– You may have passion for the unknown, the undiscovered, but you have to face it; when your research cannot change something in society, it won’t be meaningful to real people. When you pick a real problem, existent in society as your topic of research, you can make a direct impact on the society by solving the problem meaningfully. You need to know how to pitch even before research, when you need funding for your work. Whatever, your research topic is, make sure you defend it properly in your pitch, such that it makes sense to the society. You must convince your financers that if your research isn’t there, major technological developments for solving societal problems, won’t be possible. Say, your research is on a hydration machine; if you can pitch your story such that it will convince your audience that it can solve water-scarcity across the world, your research will be directly impactful upon society.
- Learn the Art of Selecting a Sample– Select sample from real crowd. Eventually your research is going to go out to the world, which comprises of scientific and non-scientific people, rich and poor, old and young. Select sample for your research from the real world. Survey works conducted in the natural environment will have more real and relevant data than that conducted in a closed room under structured conditions. In fact, this process will help you cater your work to your audience better.
- Take Care and Precision on Research Statement– Use the same method and precision to develop a problem statement in your research abstract. If there is none, you have to formulate a problem, (which is existent in society, but perhaps unidentified) and then state how your research attempts to solve the problem. Writing a meaningful abstract or problem statement in your research paper is very important for making it impactful. The abstract is the first thing that gets noticed by a funding institution or international journal, in your work. If the research needs to be picked for funding or publication, the abstract need to have a clear question which your research will answer.
- Use the Right Keywords– These days, findings something is not difficult because everything is on the web. But that finding can become too rigorous for readers, if your study doesn’t have the right keywords in the title, because this is the age of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Do a basic research of what are trending on the popular search engines before you decide a title for your research or when you publish your thesis as a book. Right keywords facilitate finding your research easily. When your research is found easily, it gets better visibility and citation. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Keyword Search etc. and many more for searching the right keyword. The more visible your research is, the more relevant and effective it will be.
- Do Your Literature Review Beforehand– You have to study related researches in your field very wisely. Unless you do that, you cannot define your research question; neither will you be able to identify if your work is important at all. Do not neglect your review of literature; do it much before you start off with anything else. Related works in the field will give you a clear idea about the relevance of your topic. That will save you time when you start the research, survey, techniques and analyses.
- Avoid Jargons in the Writing– Heavy words or over-complicated technical phrases are not the best way of writing a research. You can keep the language simple so that it is understandable by most people in the real world. Of course, to be successful, your work must be popular, to be popular, the work must be read by others. To be read and understood, the research must be simple and easy to imbibe and develop. A school or college student and a ethical professor might be able to read the work equally. Hence convoluted sentences, heavy phrases or idioms, and scientific proverbs are probably things that you should avoid in your writing techniques.
- Learn the Art of Marketing– Promotion and marketing in every field hold immense importance. After your research is ready, you have to go out into the society and work with real people to make your thesis prominent, just the way you did for survey. You may have to preach and explain the main victims of the problem, how your research is going to help them evolve from situation; how you have worked hard to make a change in the society. That is how, your research will find a place among non-scientists; when they will identify with your work, they will be willing to read it. Share your work on open-access platforms and social media networks. Use Twitter, Whatsapp groups and Facebook pages effectively to your interest. Science enthusiasts are not only present at international journal, but also in the regular day to day web platforms; you never the effort can land you with a great publishing deal.
A successful researcher produces quality with quantity; he or she is cited more often than others in the field, that is why he/she is successful. To circulate and promote a work to the wider audience the above skills are a must in the world of academics today. Using analytics and social media platforms have become necessary ways to deal with relevance and popularity of a research.
