How to start research and how to present it? (Peter Kondor):
What is research?
- figuring out stories, mechanisms about the economy which should be
- original: prove by relation to existing structure
- logically precise: any logically consistent story can be mathematically formulated: role of assumptions, chain of logic
- consistent with data
- papers → peer review process (several revisions) → best papers into best journals → some gets forgotten, some gets challenged by other papers → if idea survives: textbooks
- process can take 5-10 years or decades
- each (surviving) paper is a brick in the structure
How to start?
- Find your topic
- iterate: read, think&work, throw away, read, think&work, present, read, think, throw away,read
- when your results are sound, you write up the paper
Do you really have a research? Try to write the following:
- Tell people your research question immediately.
- Justify its importance.
- Spell out the deficiencies in previous work.
- Explain what you are doing that’s better.
- Summarize your results right up front.
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