Ten Simple Rules for Starting Research in Your Late Teens

Abstract

These Ten Simple Rules (TSR) aim primarily at individuals in their late teenage years--late high school (LHS) or early college (EC)--who are either considering or actively searching for a first research opportunity in a university lab. The Rules are motivated by empirical observations and our own experiences. First, and most immediately and practically, as university researchers ourselves (CM & PEB) we have been approached by HS students (JC among others) interested in securing a summer research experience. The requests have become more frequent in recent years and, while the general area has been computational biology, that's probably secondary: the Rules articulated here may apply equally well across many disciplines. Second, we note at the outset the astonishing increase in the intensity of today's HS students, on many fronts-- in terms of technical skill-sets (e.g., mastery of programming languages), academic preparation and scientific sophistication (e.g., courses in advanced math), and beyond (e.g., career-related ambitions, such as searching for research opportunities at universities!). Third, we should mention that we have had HS students in our laboratory who subsequently went on to productive and rewarding research careers, underscoring that this is a highly formative stage. We hope that this TSR supplies some useful tips on whether research is right for you, how to go about procuring a summer research position, and the broader topic of navigating the late-high school/early college (LHS/EC) stage of your own scientific trajectory.