Hi, it's been awhile.. like almost 2 years since I've graduated from NUS. But I realised I didn't post an FYP reflection / experience post. Not sure if this will still be accurate since it's been awhile but anything goes.
SO! I did my FYP under my prof who was stationed at CeLS, level 3 (that's all the info you're getting on my prof). I was interested in doing a microbio-related project and so I came to know of this prof through talking to my TA during a microbio mod. This prof was her supervisor and she recommended the prof to me so that's a huge green light because... it's not common for people to recommend their own lab unless they really think it's great. So moral of story, talk to your seniors / TAs / contacts. It's important to find out more before committing to a year long project which is bound to be stressful, likely full of failures and more stress.
so what was great about this lab?
1. the supervisor is nice and approachable. feel free to simply knock on the usually opened door and have a quick meeting about your concerns.
2. the lab culture was neutral. what i mean is that they aren't the friendliest people but they are also not intimidating. think of it as a lab full of nice, helpful introverts. Once you've established a friendship, life becomes brilliant.
3. flexibility of time - i can literally come in anytime to do my experiments / stuff and leave. no strict 9am-6pm thing but it means you're the limiting factor for your project - how many experiments you plan to cover in a day / week? your willingness to come in over the weekends / holidays to do your project etc.
4. assigned mentor (this may be a disadvantage if you're assigned someone who isn't a great mentor but mine was 👍). Because the prof will not be so free to entertain you all the time, so with a good mentor, you have someone who know's their stuff that you can consult, learn and seek help from. Like, my mentor comes on weekends to help me do stuff!! what a nice person, really.
2. the lab culture was neutral. what i mean is that they aren't the friendliest people but they are also not intimidating. think of it as a lab full of nice, helpful introverts. Once you've established a friendship, life becomes brilliant.
3. flexibility of time - i can literally come in anytime to do my experiments / stuff and leave. no strict 9am-6pm thing but it means you're the limiting factor for your project - how many experiments you plan to cover in a day / week? your willingness to come in over the weekends / holidays to do your project etc.
4. assigned mentor (this may be a disadvantage if you're assigned someone who isn't a great mentor but mine was 👍). Because the prof will not be so free to entertain you all the time, so with a good mentor, you have someone who know's their stuff that you can consult, learn and seek help from. Like, my mentor comes on weekends to help me do stuff!! what a nice person, really.
Ok, now to the project and the process. I basically got to choose my project between 2 options and I chose one where I could work with animals because it's always a + to have worked with mice. Looking back at my FYP vs UROPS vs current situation, I would say I am very lucky during my FYP - to have all my results in the first attempt and that these results were reproducible. Having people already optimise protocols that actually work for your case is a blessing!!! BLESS THEM PREDECESSORS!
But not every journey will be smooth, some experiments just won't work in your case / your hypothesis may just be wrong / you don't have any great guidance in your lab. But these are things you can't control so here's some advice that is within your control!
1. READ (damn it) - i hate reading so much, but it's impossible to do research / stay in acad without reading reading reading and reading! If you don't read, you won't know what's already out there. Get your foundation right and know what is the point of your research before jumping on board with experiments. Because if your direction and story are not clear, you're simply running experiments without thinking and this is detrimental to your poster presentation and report writing. Reading forms your foundation and knowledge in the field, giving you a clearer idea on what's going on and why YOUR research is IMPORTANT in the field.
2. Write your Literature Review First!!!! - this is the action to take after reading. While the ideas and thoughts are fresh in your head from all that reading, script your introduction draft and put it all into your own words. Paint your research story! even with negative results, you'll have a rough idea on the reason for it! Also, because you may not have sufficient time to do a last minute draft when datelines approach.
3. Logbook - you may find this a hassle but every small detail you do should be recorded so that you can look back at it when your experiment results are weird. You may think you can remember the procedures / the values used etc. but it's always assuring to have something that is 100% accurate there for you to refer back to. MUST OK? MUST!!!
4. Organise your data - even with negative results, you can notice a pattern through multiple failures. By the end of your FYP journey, you'll have so much junk in your files that it'll be difficult to fish out the important ones. Keep your data organised. I put mine in powerpoint folders where they are in "report-ready" format = all labelled / nicely arranged / description added. In the case of my lab, we have lab meetings and update sessions where we have to present and prepare reports so that's also a way of keeping your data organised.
5. Make friends - no more reagent? ask your friend in the other lab to spare some while your lab's orders are being processed. I have to admit, i'm not great at this... so i make friends with people who are HAHAHA so i would ask my friend to help me ask the other lab LOL. Well, it works for me so :)
6. Lastly, MANAGE YOUR STRESS!!! If you have any serious concerns or are too stressed, find someone to share it with. you need to learn how to cope with the stress and this includes relieving stress in healthy ways. Ventilate if you need to / take a break if you're dying / pamper yourself once a month etc. It is ok to give yourself a breather. Staying in the lab won't make your cells grow faster or turn you into a genius overnight.
The greatest takeaway from doing research independently and with time being a very stressful factor is that it allows one to see if they are suited for research. I loved my FYP lab, hence, I am pursuing a PhD in the same lab lol. You may also come to realise that you may like research but not in the current lab / field / style. It's ok to take time to find out where your passion lies. I wouldn't say my heart beats for my phd project but at least it's something i enjoy and can see myself doing forever. If you hate FYP, a PhD will be 100x worse so please consider carefully whether you can commit the next 4-5years of your life living that way. Lastly, learn to enjoy the journey - hard or easy, fun or suffering. At the end of the day, the sense of achievement from churning out your thesis will be the greatest reward of your uni acad life. (at least, that's how i felt). with that, all the best :)
Hi senior, I am currently a year 2 going to year 3 LSM major and I am considering to take up FYP. Firstly, would like to thank you for writing this blogpost. It is really insightful. I have a few questions and am wondering if you can help me.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, there is an LSM4199 project list that is available online. Did you look at it while you were considering your project?
When did you start finding a project and how long did it take to find one?
As there are many disciplines in life sciences, how did you realise that a micro project would suit you? Did you already have a research interest back in your UG days?
If I didn't understand wrongly, you've found project supervisor while you were talking to your TA right? Was the type of project that you worked on developed during the discussion or were there options given by the supervisor or was it from the project listing?
I think my general concerns for FYP would be how to find a project and the time it would require to find one as I currently do not have a specific research interest in mind, did not take up UROPS and not really sure which field I am interested in. Also, on a side note, if you don't mind, may I ask how did you come about deciding to pursuing a phd?
Really thank you for the blogpost and taking the time to read my comment.
Hello :)
Deletefirstly, thank you for reading my post haha didn't know people still interested. so let's go down the qns list
1. Did i look through the list : yes I did, but because i did UROPS, i know these project titles are usually just for show. 1. prof can offer you a completely different project as the list is sometimes not updates and its already taken or they're just not doing that project anymore. 2. they sound more fancy than the actual research work / methodology. but the good thing is it helps you shortlist a few people who seem to have interesting research fields of interest. then you can email them, set up a time to meet and discuss more about your potential fyp project.
2. When did i start finding an FYP supervisor: as I did my FYP in an odd semester, I emailed the necessary profs during reading week so I can meet them after the exams and get started during my holidays. BUTTTTT if you are doing your FYP in the normal sem 1, usually people will email the profs 1 whole semester before (especially if the prof is popular) since slots are limited. It may be easier to meet now since it's all online.
3. finding field of interest: I'm not really on fire for any field but I did have a few preferences like cancer / microbio / infectious diseases - knew i'm not into epigenetics and physiology. so, anything within my interested categories would be where I'm headed. And at that time, I did want to pick up other lab skillsets (like animal work) since i did a lot of molecular stuff during my urops. I think my UG & poly modules helped me discover fields I preferred.
4. project sculpting: my prof had 2 projects that she was offering for FYP but after I decided, the overall flow and what experiments to do next really depended on the results and the hypothesis that followed but ultimately, your research QUESTION remains, the aim may be slightly altered just to tackle the qns from a different angle. All so we can write a story for our thesis - tbh i didn't check her listing, I just looked into the papers her lab has published (will likely show you what kind of experiments they usually do in the lab as well).
5: PhD, why: tbh, this "why" was one thing I truly struggled with when writing my personal statement. Like i've shared, i'm not one to be on fire for research neither will my heart beat for my project. It's just, I like doing research and dont mind it as a career path. So if i'm going to stick around and do experiments in the lab everyday, why not do so as a Post doc rather than an RA (Very honest, but not what you should be writing in your statements). Overall, I think the beauty of UG FYP is that it really shows you the research world - not the well-put together nature papers but the real things that goes on behind the scenes (good and bad). It's ok to not have a specific interested but I hope you can find a lab that can let you learn to enjoy your FYP as I did.
Thank you for sharing your experience and helping me with the questions. The response is really comprehensive and covers all grounds. I would say that I now have a better understanding and idea of the process, and can think about the possible steps to take moving forward.
DeleteReally thank you very much and hopefully I would learn to enjoy my FYP while learning something that I want to learn like you did.
Also, hopefully all is going well for your phd studies and all the best! It was nice talking to you!
Hi there senior! Thanks for sharing with us your FYP experience, it's very insightful :)! Like the other commenter, I am also a year 2 going to year 3 life science undergraduate and thinking of doing FYP (I potentially have in mind a particular field that I would be interested in).
ReplyDeleteI believe a lot of things I wanted to ask have already been addressed by both of you but I would just like to seek some advise? Would you say it is possible for someone to do FYP without any prior research project experience (have not done UROPS etc.)? Will it be very challenging/ put you at a disadvantage because you lack experience? If it is disadvantageous do you have any suggestions to 'bridge this gap'?
Thank you so much for graciously sharing your wisdom!
hello, thanks for your comment.
DeleteOF COURSE you can do FYP without UROPS experience :) It's just like taking UROPS without any background in lab skills. I think there are several factors that determine how "challenging" it would be: 1. Your learning speed ; 2. The amount of guidance you'll receive from your mentor / lab colleagues ; 3. The type of experiments you will be doing (sterile / molecular / animal work all vary in difficulty).
I believe at the start, you may be overwhelmed by so many things to do and may feel the very stressed from being thrown into the deep end with little guidance, but FYP is a 1-year journey. So, slowly build your momentum and take your time with your experiments - one at a time instead of trying to rush a few in a day when you're still unfamiliar. Once you're better at what you do, you can increase your workload / do things more smoothly - things will start becoming a daily routine. and it is important to know that NO ONE expects you to be great at the beginning, so it's ok to ask for help and speak up when you need to. In terms of being at a disadvantage, maybe at the beginning but you can start early (during your summer break / immediately after your sem ends) so you have more time for the whole FYP.
But since you're only going into your year 3, you do have some time to consider taking up a 1-sem UROPS at one of your potential FYP supervisor's lab just to expose yourself to the environment / lab culture. Hope this helps :)
Thank you so much for being so detailed! Really appreciate the great advice you've given and for providing realistic examples of how to manage :) I feel like I have a bit more direction on how to approach FYP now so thank you so much!
DeleteWith mainly online lessons now, its hard to get to interact with seniors to get some insights about FYP or experiences with certain mods in general so I am really thankful that you have actively replied to us with some really solid advice!
Stay safe and healthy and all the best to you!
Hi senior and rach, thanks for covering about the challenges faced when taking FYP without UROPS experience. It has been insightful.
ReplyDeleteSenior, is it possible to ask a few more questions?
1. Would like to ask how applicable is the skills learnt in LSM2191 (the LS lab mod) e.g. report writing, not so much of lab skills per se since it depends on the types of projects right since LSM2191 covers mainly molecular cloning and protein purification?
2. I would also like to ask how did you balance FYP with the other modules? As I am planning to take FYP during the odd semester, I don't think I would be taking a 1 sem UROPS next semester so I don't know what it will be like to balance lab with other modules.
Thank you for taking the time to comment and help us juniors! Have a great Sunday!
Hello,
Delete1. yes, LSM2191 does cover some basic molecular work which would be useful in most research fields. In terms of report writing, i went back to look at my report... i think basic elements of what to include in your thesis are inside but since the lab report is ultimately JUST a report, it's simpler. A better guide on how to write your thesis should be journal papers that are already published in your selected field i.e. how they ease readers into the research question, the way they present the results and the table / figure legend, how detailed the M&M section should be written. Note that your thesis would have a wayyyy longer introduction than most papers though, because you need to give an introduction of almost everything. A very useful tool when writing your thesis would be to have either EndNote or Mendeley citation softwares because you'll have many references and these will help you organise and auto cite. They even update the numbering / order accordingly so you dont have to manually adjust everything when you include a new paragraph somewhere. They are not hard to use and most people in your lab should be using it or something similar. VERY IMPORTANT, make sure you get at least one draft read and edited by your prof before you submit, they know the standards of the marking scheme.
2. If you noticed my other posts, I didn't take a lot of modules during my FYP semesters. Just imagine your current semester schedule, but with EVERY BREAK, you're in the lab doing something. It will be extremely important to plan your experiment schedule with your timetable so you don't end up skipping classes because they clash with your experiments or you can use incubation periods for your lectures etc. While your FYP is important, they are NOT GRADED IN THE FIRST SEM, so prioritise your modules in the first semester. Take a lighter load (1 or 2 modules only) in your final semester so you have more time to squeeze out as much data as you can and for the report writing / organising your data (those take up a lot of time and energy). Ultimately, this was how I coped during my semester but end of the day, it depends on how heavy the modules you are taking are / how present your prof expects you to be during the FYP duration / how willing are you to come in extra early and leave late or even burn your weekends. But despite the intense journey, do remind yourself to take a break once in a while because if you overwork yourself and become too tired, there's a high chance you'll end up making more mistakes and have your efforts wasted.
What really helped me was having people to talk to about my stress / troubles, colleagues in the lab re-affirming me that my experiments are ok and that I'm on the right track, and an understanding supervisor who knows that I need breaks to study for my finals during the semester.
Hope i'm not scaring you all too much. FYP seems daunting but once you're in it, you're in it. Learn at your own pace, enjoy the process and know that there's a finishing line not too far away. JY!
Thank you for taking time to reply our comments, senior. The tips and advice are really insightful and useful and it will definitely help us. Will also bear them in mind. Thank you very much! Jiayou for your phd too!
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