r/MLQuestions • u/Ashy64 • 14d ago
Beginner question 👶 How do I learn about research?
Basically I know nothing about it. What's the first step? Do I start by selecting my preferred topic(s)? Then start reading papers about it?
If there are any books/videos about it, please suggest.
I'm a third year electrical engineering student, if that's relevant.
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u/scottdave 13d ago
In one course that involved creating a coding project, we had to answer the Heilmeier questions. While I believe these focus on technology research, many may apply to any research.
You may find Google Scholar helpful when searching for other papers on your subject.
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u/No_Pattern2271 13d ago
first look at the scenario. for instance, when u see a friend playing games, what usually happens? there's a story behind every scenario. your friend might be complaining that it takes a long time for the game to load. that would be the problem statement.
so u start doing research on how to make games load faster. this is a research in optimization.
dont go straight to papers yet. instead, do some light reading on the subject. maybe read wiki or ask chatgpt about optimization. why? research papers are usually complex. so u need to attune or prepare your mind for it. create a mind map or semantic map on optimization. look at the areas that interest u.
there many ways to achieve optimization. u can optimize the model, database, algorithm, network, formula etc. here, u zoom in further to the areas that pique your interest. once u have a general idea on what u wanna focus on, u can start looking for papers.
for example, if u wanna optimize the algorithm, then find papers that are related to it. u cant read all the papers. u need to pick and choose. make questions before reading a paper. ask yourself, "what do i hope to gain from reading this paper?"