End The Job Search... Start With Research!

Last February, in the midst of my second year of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University, I began applying for my first ever summer co-op. It was a long and winding road, but after countless applications and emails, I came out with an offer to join the Higgins research lab. I took my time deciding on whether to accept, with questions like “Is research really something I’m interested in?” and “What sort of skills will I need?” drifting through my head. For advice, I consulted some friends that had previously spent a term in research. I was surprised to hear that their feedback was less than enthusiastic. For some, the extended months on a quiet campus wore them down; for others, the project work was tedious or unengaging.

Despite the warnings, I decided to take the job, hoping that my experience would be different… and it was! I loved my summer co-op, where I spent four vibrant months researching a new material for supercapacitor applications. It was filled with independence, curiosity, and camaraderie. In this piece, I’ll give a review of my own research experience, providing the context and nuance that I wish I could have received during my own job search. I have tried to be honest, including both the ups and downs of research as I experienced it, but ultimately, I would recommend research as a great co-op option!

Learning the Ropes of Research

Let’s start at the beginning. The first step of any good research project is reading... lots of reading. No matter the project, most of the first month is spent working through papers (and the occasional YouTube summary) to get a solid understanding of important topics. Unfortunately, reading research papers is not the same as reading a good book; they can be dense, verbose, and tough to work through, especially at the start of the co-op term, and especially if you didn’t sleep well the night before. Every student has a different take on reading papers – personally, I am much happier in the lab, working with my hands. But, like it or not, reading is critical to starting off in research. Some of my strategies for reading were to set daily goals (e.g., two papers before lunch) and try to find holes in the literature that my research could fill in. This helped with my motivation and attentiveness while reading. But