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On Mon, 8 Sep 1997, Aarif Rajan wrote:
> I'm a undergrad student currently taking a course in work & exercise
> physiology. We are going to do a lab project on anything we want but I'm
> having a little trouble thinking of something interesting to study for
> this project.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
Aarif,
A good way to get ideas is to go to the library and read some
journal articles to see the sort of research that is being done in the
exercise physiology field. Review articles can give you a general
picture of what is known about a particular topic. You should also read
several different articles describing original experiments just to see
how one goes about planning them and setting them up. For a project in
an undergraduate class, I wouldn't worry too much about whether someone
has already studied your topic. Don't mimic an experiment that you've
read about (unless you can put some new wrinkle on it), but don't spend
hours and hours searching the literature just to make sure your project
is original - it's not likely to be completely original anyway.
I would start by reading some articles from the Journal of Applied
Physiology or the Journal of Experimental Biology. Your professor can
probably suggest other sources. Remember that an experiment that sounds
straightforward when you read about it probably took several wrong turns
and several months before it came out right. Your project will
probably be considerably simpler than those that you read about.
Good luck,
Jason Blank
Dept. of Cell Biology
Duke University Medical School
jmb4@acpub.duke.edu
> I'm a undergrad student currently taking a course in work & exercise
> physiology. We are going to do a lab project on anything we want but I'm
> having a little trouble thinking of something interesting to study for
> this project.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions?
Aarif,
A good way to get ideas is to go to the library and read some
journal articles to see the sort of research that is being done in the
exercise physiology field. Review articles can give you a general
picture of what is known about a particular topic. You should also read
several different articles describing original experiments just to see
how one goes about planning them and setting them up. For a project in
an undergraduate class, I wouldn't worry too much about whether someone
has already studied your topic. Don't mimic an experiment that you've
read about (unless you can put some new wrinkle on it), but don't spend
hours and hours searching the literature just to make sure your project
is original - it's not likely to be completely original anyway.
I would start by reading some articles from the Journal of Applied
Physiology or the Journal of Experimental Biology. Your professor can
probably suggest other sources. Remember that an experiment that sounds
straightforward when you read about it probably took several wrong turns
and several months before it came out right. Your project will
probably be considerably simpler than those that you read about.
Good luck,
Jason Blank
Dept. of Cell Biology
Duke University Medical School
jmb4@acpub.duke.edu