For those students who are living in an apartment and conducting summer research for the first time, maintaining a balanced life can be a new experience. Here are a few tips to make your survival easier:

1. 1.  Create a routine in the beginning of summer.

During the regular academic year, each day of the week can be different depending on the courses you are enrolled in. In full-time summer research, however, you can create a routine which you can follow every day. This could entail setting aside an hour each day for a workout because you are on a weight loss mission. Following a routine is excellent practice, as it provides structure and a sense of purpose, builds good habits, and also negates the need for willpower. By negating willpower, I mean that instead of waking up and thinking “should I go for a run today,” you think, “time for my daily run”.

2. Make your own meal plan.

By creating a meal plan, you can eat healthier foods as well as save money. You can cook something different every day. If you do not have the time to cook lunch and instead plan on eating out, try relatively healthier and cheaper options such as the soups or salads at Courtyard Café. Incorporate this meal plan into your routine, so that you feel more obliged to follow this plan and are less likely to impulsively eat outside.

3. Plan your research.

If you’re feeling motivated and productive, set some research goals and deadlines for the upcoming week. You should already know what the end goal of your research is, but the steps necessary to achieve that goal can sometimes be elusive. Hence spend some of your spare time pondering over your research. This will help you gain more control and decrease the likeliness of thoughts such as “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

4. Ask questions.

Although a cliché, it is true that research is all about asking questions. This is a skill that is useful in all aspects of life. Don’t understand how an interferometer works? Google it. Cannot find it online? Ask your peers or mentor. Train yourself to ask questions that don’t solely address the “What”, but also the “Why”.

I hope you find these tips helpful. Good luck, and have fun researching!

As undergraduates, we attend classes, complete homework assignments, follow weekly routines, and have deadlines by which we must finish certain tasks. Generally during the school year, the goals we set are short-term, whether they be reading a physics chapter or writing a recommendation report. There is a clear path and purpose to this routine; each class will last for a quarter, there will be homework and midterms, and our knowledge will be tested at the end of the quarter. Although learning continues throughout one’s lifetime, the specifically targeted goals regarding a particular subject area may last for a relatively short time.

This can be vastly different from research. Without a clear question that needs answering, as well as at least a general idea of the means necessary to achieve an end goal, one will lack a sense of direction when conducting research. Here, the goals one sets are more independently drafted than those in a course-filled routine. When conducting research, one is his or her own boss and has more control on their actions and behavior on a day-to-day basis. Hence one must set goals in a manner that maximizes productivity without sacrificing much enjoyment.

When setting goals for research, I found that planning ahead to a few weeks was beneficial. This does not mean creating a strict daily schedule where one accurately approximates the amount of time required to complete each individual task. I tried this, and felt too confined to this schedule. It is important to be flexible in case an experiment takes longer than anticipated or needs to be repeated due to an erroneous lab setup. However, because research is a long-term process, having a general idea of the progression of tasks on a weekly basis is important. At the beginning of each week, one should also set goals for each day of that week.

Whether one wants to complete this by creating a to-do list using post-its or a smartphone app is their choice, as long as it is easily accessible. By having a list, one validates the tasks at hand, and more importantly, can refer to the most important objectives that need to be accomplished. At first, this could seem overwhelming. However, it is ultimately an excellent means of reducing procrastination and the likeliness of dates being pushed back.