A Lonely Sailor's Guide into the Research World

Table of Contents

• What Exactly is Research?
• Types of Research Papers
• Understanding The Fundamentals Through Free Online Resources
• Final Words
• Resources & Tools That Helped Me Along The Way

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We have all been there. When we first hear the word "Research", we have absolutely no idea what it means or what its purpose is. In this blog, I tried to collect all the information I learned as a newbie in the research world, and hopefully it will help you find your path faster.

What Exactly is Research?

Research is the process of asking a question nobody has fully answered yet, and then answering it in a way others can check. That's the whole idea. It isn't about being a genius or working in a lab with a white coat. It's about being curious, being systematic, and being honest about what you find.

In practice, it usually looks like this: you notice a gap or a problem, read what others have already done about it, form a question or hypothesis, design a way to test it, and share what you learned so others can build on it or challenge it. The sharing part is why papers exist. Research that nobody can read, verify, or reuse doesn't move the field forward.

If you're coming from a technical background, think of it as debugging at the scale of a whole field: you're not just fixing your own problem, you're documenting the fix so the next person doesn't start from zero.

Types of Research Papers

Not all papers serve the same purpose. Some propose a new idea or a tool; others may suggest a new way of thinking about a problem. Here is a list of paper types you will find when navigating.

• Empirical/technical research paper: proposes a method or tool and evaluates it with experiments (for example, a new debugging technique tested against baselines). This is the most common type at top venues.
• Position/vision paper: argues for a new way of thinking about a problem, with limited evidence.
• Survey/literature review: collects and organises existing work on a topic. A systematic literature review does this with a strict, repeatable search method, and a mapping study gives a broader overview of the field.
• Case study/experience report: describes what happened when something was applied in a real setting, and what was learned.
• Replication/reproducibility paper: repeats a previous study to check whether the results hold.
• Negative results paper: reports that an idea didn't work, which saves others from repeating it.
• Tool/demo paper: presents a tool, focused on what it does and how it's used.
• Theoretical paper: builds models, proofs, or formal frameworks.
• Benchmark/dataset paper: introduces a new dataset or evaluation setup for others to use.

Understanding Research Through Free Online Resources

I came across a number of resources which can be your first guide to understanding research.

📚 Scientific Research Basics - Egypt Scholars (In Arabic)

One of the best Arabic resources to understand the fundamentals. The book starts with the genuine question of what research is and why it is needed, followed by understanding your research interest and the steps starting from the idea till publishing. Additionally, it contains some of the tools and skills you will need in your journey.

You can download the book through their website here.

Egypt Scholars also has a Research Lab where you will get hands-on research experience. It is announced to open for accepting participants by December.

🎓 Applied Research Methods - Maastricht School of Management (In English)

The Lutfia Rabbani Foundation and the Maastricht School of Management recently announced a collaborative initiative providing a limited number of full scholarships to attend this course online.

You can find the link to the announcement here.

Note: Applications are currently closed, but keep an eye out for future announcements.

🎓 Research Fundamentals for Early Researchers and Advanced Students in the Arab World - Academic Network for Development Dialogue (In Arabic)

This online course helps participants develop essential skills in formulating research questions and hypotheses, designing research, publishing findings, and upholding research ethics.

Deadline: 5th of October. You can apply via their form.

Final Words

You may hear the word research in your first years as an undergraduate, or in your final year when someone asks, "Have you thought of applying for a master's after graduating?" Either way, the first step is the same: stop treating it as something that belongs to other people.

Nobody starts out knowing how to read a paper, find a supervisor, or write a research proposal. You will spend some time not knowing what you are doing, or whether you are making progress, and you will get things wrong, but the important thing is to "Keep Moving Forward". Start with one resource from this list, read one paper this week, and reach out to one person who's a few steps ahead of you.

The sea is big, but it's a lot less lonely once you realise other sailors are out there too.

Resources & Tools That Helped Me Along The Way

• Google Scholar: Your first destination in reading research papers
• Tools to find open access for research papers legally
• Anara: An AI-powered research assistant to help you understand papers
• Understanding Academic Authorship
• Citation Tree: A web-based visualisation tool and conceptual model that maps the historical reference and citation relationships of academic research papers.
• Gehad Salem's blog for her first research experience. She is currently a master's student at the University of Jena.