3 Steps Before Starting Research ll Best Process to Start Research ll Dr Rizwana Mustafa

Choosing a research topic and research area can feel overwhelming for new students, but a clear early process can make the path smoother—starting with the right lab environment, then narrowing options through evidence, and finally selecting a supervisor who can shape a successful research career.

The first step is to visit research labs and spend real time with the student groups working on different topics. Instead of relying on assumptions, students are encouraged to go to labs aligned with their field—whether chemistry or other natural sciences—and observe ongoing projects firsthand. Chemistry, for example, is described as having multiple branches, each with distinct research areas and separate research groups. Students should not just tour; they should build a short questionnaire and ask practical questions about how the group actually functions. A key warning is that lab productivity can look high from the outside—students may appear busy from morning to evening—but the real measure is how much time goes into research work versus non-productive activities like gossip or downtime. Spending time with the group helps reveal the behind-the-scenes routine, the group’s true research activities, and the level of support available.

Students are also advised to treat this as a mini-survey before committing. If a lab group is reluctant to let someone visit or engage, that itself becomes a data point. The goal is to identify which groups offer the right environment for applied research—work that evolves into practical outcomes, including products and real-world applications. The transcript emphasizes that successful research projects tend to be those with applied relevance, and it highlights “green” impact as a guiding direction: research should be designed to support environmentally friendly goals, use fewer resources, and still produce meaningful results. After visiting and collecting responses, students should analyze the questionnaire results and categorize labs into tiers (A, B, C) based on which ones align best with their needs and expectations.

The second major decision is supervisor selection, framed as a career-defining choice. The supervisor is portrayed as the person who trains the student from the beginning, provides guidance through research writing and collaboration development, and whose vision the student may need to adopt. Strong supervisor-student interaction is presented as the top quality: how often the supervisor meets the group, how much time they give each student, and how structured the research plan is. The supervisor’s own research activity matters too—what their research focus is, how active they are in their field, and what national and international collaborations they have. Support for research writing and collaboration building is treated as a practical indicator of mentorship quality.

Finally, the transcript stresses that selecting a research area and research topic should be specific and aligned with a broader theme. “Green chemistry” is used as an example: it’s not enough to choose the general label; students should pick a focused principle (such as one of the 12 principles) and then narrow further into sub-areas like ionic liquids. The process ends with developing research objectives, identifying research problems, and shaping a research proposal through consultation with the research group and supervisor. The overall message is that the right lab environment, the right mentor, and a focused topic selection reinforce each other—and together they determine how feasible and rewarding the research journey becomes.