I asked a professor to join her lab. She said yes. Here's what I learned.

[Jane]

I finally did it. I walked into office hours. I was sweating. My voice cracked. I said: “I read your paper about adolescent anxiety and the school-based interventions. I was wondering how you measured the outcomes. I'm interested in research and I'd love to learn more.”

She didn't laugh. She didn't say I was too young. She pulled up her data on the screen and walked me through it. She asked what I was learning in my stats class. She said: “I have a project starting next semester. You could help with data entry at first. Then maybe more.”

I learned three things:

1. Read the paper. Not just the abstract. The methods. The discussion. Find a question. Ask it.
2. Go in person. Emails get ignored. Office hours are for talking.
3. Be honest about what you don't know. I told her I hadn't taken advanced stats yet. She said: “Good. You'll learn.”

I'm terrified. But I'm in.

 

[Simona]

I did this last year. Same script basically. Read a paper. Asked a question in office hours. Got a data entry position. Now I'm co-author on a conference poster.

Here's what happens next: data entry is boring. You'll stare at spreadsheets and wonder if this is research. It is. It's the foundation. Learn the database. Learn the coding scheme. Learn the variables. Then ask to help with analysis. Then ask to help with writing.

The professor said "you'll learn." She meant it. But you have to push. Don't wait to be taught. Watch YouTube tutorials. Read the lab's old papers. Figure things out yourself. Then show her what you figured out.

That's how you go from data entry to co-author. Congratulations on the first step. Now take the second.