What really a Research is ?

Introduction to Research
What Really Research is?
Dr.S.Shankar
Department of Mechatronics Engineering

Why Research is Needed?
What is Research?
Research Methodologies
Requirements for Ph.D
Quality for being a Researcher
Our Drawbacks
Brainstorming in Research
Improper Communication
Components of Research Problem
Good Research Topic – Characteristics,……
Contents

Objective – Ph.D
Requirement  Peer Reviewed Journals
3
Objective – Ph.D
Requirement  Peer Reviewed Journals

What is Research?
Searching
Repetitively
Extension of
previous work
New
Innovation
Extension of
previous work
Coining a new problem
Extends seniors
work (!)
Dr.S.Shankar Kongu Engineering College

Research Methodologies
1) Experimental
› Time consuming
› Accurate
› Depends on many factors like time, money etc
2) Mathematical
› Depends on knowledge
› Not applicable for all cases
› Depends on individual interest
3) Theoretical or Simulation
› Easy
› Does not depend on knowledge

Requirements for Ph.D
 Compulsory (1) or (2) and (3)
 Simulate and validate any one base results with previous paper
 Try to attempt experiments atleast minimal case
Journal Paper & Conference Paper
Journal is a regular periodical publication, printed say monthly or
bi-monthly, containing a collection of peer reviewed papers. A
high 'impact rating' helps, this being a measure of citations to
articles in the journal.
Review process, mostly no article processing fee, reputation
Conference is where you actually turn up to hear a paper presented
as a talk. The paper is later printed in the proceedings
Mostly no Review process, article processing fee, reputation (?)

What needed for Researchers?
Qualities for being a Good (!) Researchers
 Asking many questions
 Smart work-(not hard work)
 Search for different answers
 Try number of attempts
 High confidence (What we lack?)
 Avoid hesitation – Discussing with others
 Finally apply your basic knowledge

Our Drawbacks
 Not interested to discuss with others working in this area
(Not interested in Brainstorming?)
 First attempt expected 100% success
(Either paper or research work)
 Within 3 years should complete, because neighbour
submitted
How to overcome?
 Target minimum 3 reputed international papers
 Don’t expect a problem at beginning
“No researchers completed their work at the stated problems”

Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are
made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list
of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members
Brainstorming is a process for generating new ideas
Brain-Storming

Brainstorming - Examples
Problem – Sticking Phenomena
Needs – Low cost but effective solution

Creative Ideas - Brainstorming
Problem – How to identify
Parking Slot?
Needs – Low cost but
effective solution

An individual or a group with some difficulty or problem
 Objectives of research that are to be attained
The environment in which the problem exists
 Alternate means for attaining the objective
 Two or more possible outcomes
Components of Research Problem

Characteristics – Good Research Topic
Interest – The topic must be able to keep the researcher interested
in it throughout the research process
Data Availability – It must be ensured that the topic can be
investigated through the collection and analysis of data
Significant – The topic must contribute towards improvement and
understanding of an educational theory or practice
Adequate – The topic must be according to the skills of the
researcher, available resources and time restrictions
Ethical – The topic must not embarrass or harm the society

Selecting a Problem
Subject which is overdone may/may not be chosen
An average researcher must not choose Controversial topics
Too narrow or too vague problems should be avoided
The chosen subject should be familiar and feasible
Significance and importance of subject must be given attention
Cost and time factor must be kept in mind
Experience, qualification, and training of the researcher must be
according to the problem in hand

Formulating a Research Problem
Develop a suitable title
Build a conceptual model of the problem
Define the objectives of the study
Setup investigative questions
State the operational definition of concepts
Determine the scope of the study

Technique involved in defining a research problem
Defining the statement of the problem in a general way
Understanding the nature of the problem
Surveying the available literature
Developing ideas through discussions an brain storming
Rephrasing the research problem

Necessity of defining a Problem

Problem formulation
-Working in a problem
 Keyword selection
› Finalizes 70% work
 Literature survey
 Selecting paper for your research
 Solving 1 or 2 papers completely
 Citation study
 Implement new/ same concepts
 Solve using same methodology
 Paper writing

Reviewer Queries
› Accepted, What next?
› Rejected, n ideas to implement (or) submit to next
journal
Extend as much as possible
Publish Papers
Form Objective
Conclude your work
Not possible things – give as future scope

Keyword Selection
• What is a keyword?
• Finalize your keyword
› Finalize your Research
• Keyword
› Determines your Research
• Before starting keyword
› Finalize an idea
› What you know , either a software (or)
mathematics (or) available experimentation
• Based on that search for papers
www.scholar.google.com

Basics for selection of keyword
1. Area of Research
2. Classification in that part
3. Specific part
4. Available parameters (Refer literature)
5. Methodology
6. Search for papers in scholar.google.com
7. Read abstract and conclusion
8. Refine keywords
9. Restrict your literature to minimum

Cricket
Batting
Batsman
Height
Weight
Fast
response
Eye
contact
Bat
Bat
gripping
place
Material
Height
weight
Impact/in
juries
Bowling
speed
Bat –
ground
reaction
force
Joint
pain
Helmet
Design
Weight
Bowling
Bowler
Speed
Length of
travel
Left/right
hand
Spin
Speed
Off-
finger
interface
Leg-
finger
interface
Fast
Ball
finger
interface
Speed
Ball
Material
Shape
Rotation
Injuries
Fielding
Standing
Eye
contact
Health
Umpire
Eye sight
8hrs
standing
Distance
from
stump
language
Techniqu
es
D/L
method
Visualiza
tion
technique
Ground
maintenance
Ground
staff
health/pa
in
Working
methods
Case Study

Literature Selection
 Based on keywords
 Number of citations
› Number of citation difficult to proceed
› Number of citation increases – good ?
 Referred journals
› Don’t select conferences (may cause problem)
› Don’t select local journals
› Search and find upto your requirement
 Don’t expect 2017/18 alone
 If your taste matches with 2006/7 also ok. Select paper and
rework
 Search for cited by
 Read abstract, conclusion and findings of a paper

Literature Selection (Continued…)
 How many papers necessary to do a Ph.d?
 1 or 2
 Finalize a base paper
› Awareness & resources available
› Referred journals
› Citations
 Selected base paper
 Go to reference, if citation is minimum
 Feel the difference
› Now you can able to select atleast 5 /6 papers
 Note the difference
 Conclude the parameters & implement

Literature Selection (Continued…)
 Validate your results
 Prepare a paper
 Submit it to same journal
 Review queries (rejected?---No problem)
 Add the suggestions
› Split number of papers
 Accepted?
› Submit your thesis
› Else start from step-1

30
KE Model
ASME Journal of Applied
Mechanics (2002)
JG Model
ASME Journal of Applied
Tribology (2005)
1 Y variation not considered Y - Considered (up to 1619)
2 Effect of strain hardening
is considered
Effect of strain hardening
is not considered
3. p/Y reaches 2.8 p/Y does not reach 2.8
Ph.D Work Motivation
Outputs from Ph.D @ IIT Madras
Elsevier –IJSS-1
ASME Journal of Tribology -2
Is it a Plagiarism ?
Cite as much as possible if you take anything from literature
In KEC with PG Students
Taylor & Francis - 3
Inderscience -4

FEMORAL STEM WITH TRAPEZOIDAL CROSS-
SECTIONALAREA (Base Model)

von Mises stress plot
Newly Designed Trapezoidal Cross-Section at Proximal End of Femoral
Stem with hollow and drill hole of 1mm diameter with 14 holes.

Problem Formulation
Ideas From Literature – Bio Mechanics
1. Base Paper
2. Idea 1
3. Implementation – PG Student
Ideas From Literature - Composites
1. Base Paper
2. Idea 1
3. Implementation – PG Student

Some Success Outputs from PG Students
Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3
Role of Co-Authors
MBEC
How the limitations in the paper can be helpful?
BMR

Journal Work Flow Process

Points to consider while selecting journals
Based on area of research
Based on impact factor
Based on previous publications related to the work
Time taken to review (similar work)
No’s of issues in a year/ no’s of papers per issue
Journal with specific topic/general area
Vibration/mechanical engg.
Materials/ mechanical engg.
Based on publisher/other access
Increases citation in future.

 www.scimagojr.com
 Journal ranking
Area –search
Category –search
Country –search
 Check Anna Univ Annexure-I
 Engineering
Nature materials – IF 35.7
 Rankings
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4
 Ex:
1. Engineering
2. Biomedical engineering
Journal rankings

 UK, US, Netherland, Germany, Switzerland, South Korea,
Italy, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Poland, China *
Check your paper availability
My area is vibration
1. IJV- Elsevier
2. ASME J V & A- ASME
3. JVC- Sage
4. Advances in vibration-India
5. Shock & Vibration- Netherland
6. The open medical device journal
 Publication charge ( US $800)
7. Don’t go for open access journals
Publishers Countries

Paper
1. Why should readers be interested in this paper?
2. What does the article add to existing literature?
3. Will it be of interest to a broad readership?
4. Does the method succeed? What are its failings and why?
5. Is it marginal requiring other input for success?
6. What is its refine of applicability?
7. Are there major practical limitation?

 Clear and concise
 Avoid abbreviations and acronyms
 Avoid use of surplus works
 Avoid novel in title
 Not more than 10/15 words
 Should replicate the contents in the paper
Title

 Last part to be written
 What is the research about?
 What methodology adopted?
 What is the result novelty?
 What is the conclusion?
 Your succeeder will read only your abstract
 Clearly state what you have achieved and what is described in
paper
 Key results should be highlighted not simply common theory
 Not more than 250 words.
Abstract

 5 to 6 keywords
 Area of research
 Equipment/software
 Technique
 Applications
Keywords

1. Why should people be interested in your paper? Why should
they read?
2. What is the motivation for the work?(At the end of
intro/literature)
3. What is the relevance?
4. To whom is it relevant?
5. Who is the audience for this paper?
example: Tribology / Biotribology- (medicine)
6. What has done before in this field?
7. How you are different from previous?
Introduction
Answer these questions

 Explain abbreviations
 Symbols should be explained
 Use SI units mostly
 Figures should be clear and legible
 Figures should illustrate the text
 Each axis should have a scale and an axis label & units
 Figure size reduction - still font should be visible
 Convert as image
 Colors and figure styles, use bullets in figure
 Single column format
General Points

 Author order, address affiliation
 Corresponding author, email id
 All pages should be numbered and requires insert line number
 Check reference, figure, table, examples are cited properly
 English is not a big worry but check carefully
 Avoid we, you
General Points (continued

1) I para- Introduction
2) II para- Literature -10/15 papers
(with general papers can be modified later- 5 papers)
3) III para
What lacking
Why this paper
What you used
Literature survey

1) Reported
2) Studied
3) Used
4) Presented
5) Extended
6) Developed
7) Derived
8) Further converted
9) Solved
10) Emphasized
11) Measured
12) Investigated
13) Proposed
14) Established
15) Obtained
16) Determined
17) Examined
18) Applied
19) Utilized
20) Employed
21) Analyzed
22) Relates
23) Provides
24) Performed
25) Showed
26) Compared
Words in Literature
(Review Paper)

1) Clear statement about your assumptions and experimentation
2) Samples tested
3) Sample preparation
4) Methodology followed
5) Boundary conditions
6) Clear Photograph not a line diagram (?)
7) Physical properties
8) Testing equipments used and availability
9) Not more than one page of the manuscript*
Experimental Methods

1) This decides the acceptance of your manuscript
2) Not more than 8/10 figures & tables
3) Don’t repeat the same in figure & table
4) Validate your results as much as possible from previous
researchers result
5) Emphasis your comment for the deviation in results
6) Figures should be clear and visible if it shrinks
7) X/Y axis label with units
8) Discuss each and every points clearly
9) More than 3/4 pages of your 5/6 paper
10) No stories XXXXX
Results and Discussions

1) Start with what is the paper about?
2) Short discussion about the work and methodology
3) Major conclusions found, not like asusual lab conclusions
4) Finally major limitations in the study
5) If possible impossible scope and future (!)
PROPER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Conclusions

1) 100% should be in the standard journal format, else they
doesn’t even consider for review process
2) Citation inside the paper should be proper format
3) All the references and figures/tables should be atleast cited
once
 MLA - Shankar, S., and M. M. Mayuram. "Effect of strain hardening in elastic–plastic
transition behavior in a hemisphere in contact with a rigid flat." International Journal of Solids
and Structures 45.10 (2008): 3009-3020.
 APA - Shankar, S., & Mayuram, M. M. (2008). Effect of strain hardening in elastic–plastic
transition behavior in a hemisphere in contact with a rigid flat. International Journal of Solids
and Structures, 45(10), 3009-3020.
 Chicago - Shankar, S., and M. M. Mayuram. "Effect of strain hardening in elastic–plastic
transition behavior in a hemisphere in contact with a rigid flat." International Journal of Solids
and Structures 45, no. 10 (2008): 3009-3020.
Try to use EndNote as much as possible
References & Minor issues

26-Sep-18
58
All the Best
Thank You and Please send your feed back
shankariitm@gmail.com
94436 96035

 PG/Ph.D Projects (First 2 Years)
 Publish in SCI Journals (1/2 in that area) (3rd Year)
 Submit the project proposals to funding agencies
 Less than 15 Lakhs – Minor equipments
 Investigator Profile (30 %), Proposal (40%), Institute (30%)
Advantages
 Experimental Facility
 Easy to Publish a paper in SCI journals
 Reputation, Individual Profile Value Increases
When to write R&D Proposals?

 Objective should be clear and achievable
 Select a topic – society/local issue based
 Methodology should be clear
 Facility available (Don’t ask for available experiments)
 Don’t go for highly advanced topic which needs latest costly
equipment
 Principal Investigator should have Ph.D
 Investigator role and their profile
 National and International work status
 How outcome can be effectively applied – Industry?
R&D Proposals

Funding Agencies in India
AICTE
AR&B
BRNS
CSIR
DBT
DIT
DOD – Earth Science
DRDO
DSIR
DST
ISRO
LSRB(DRDO)
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy
Naval Research Board
NRB (DRDO)
Petroleum Conservation Research Association
UGC

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