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Ask HN: How to Write a Research Paper Without an Academic Institution?

1 pointsby 15charslongover 4 years ago
Hey everyone, I&#x27;m not sure if this is the correct way to ask this question.<p>I recently found out that I am not eligible to apply for the Computer Science masters program in my country at my previous University. (GPA is too low) While disappointing, it is understandable, way too much happened at my uni stay that honestly glad I was just able to graduate.<p>I took a look at their Masters&#x2F;PhD programs and under their Research section the topics they consider that is noteworthy for them, I&#x27;ve actually worked on in the past. While I&#x27;m not sure how my previous work would compare to what they currently are researching, it does make me interested in a few questions.<p>1) Can a genuine piece of work or research be used to demonstrate enough knowledge that the GPA requirement no longer matters? I know this is probably a case by case basis, but is it even possible?<p>2) Can I, without the oversight of any academic institution (here being only Universities, and not Academic Foundations and the like), submit&#x2F;publish genuine research papers? And to where? Would it be less important than those coming from Universities?<p>I&#x27;m sure there are a few things I over looked when considering if this is even remotely possible. And I&#x27;m speaking solely from a Computer Science perspective, I know for a fact Universities would be needed for more involved sciences to ensure that ethics are properly followed.<p>Thanks for reading. And I&#x27;m sorry if this has a simple answer that I&#x27;m just not seeing, I am curious about it though.

2 comments

mdifrgechdover 4 years ago
Get to know a sympathetic university professor in the area you&#x27;re interested in. They can help you publish, including, vitally, providing feedback on the work that you&#x27;ve done and how it fits into the current state of the art in the discipline. And they can advocate for you and get you into a grad program at their schools. Honestly just find a few that have research areas that match what you&#x27;re doing and email or call them.
stevageover 4 years ago
2: yes, it happens all the time. School kids publish research papers. Retired people do. People who have no connection with academia but are in the workforce do.<p>It can obviously be harder, because you don&#x27;t have access to people to help write the paper, comply with requirements etc, but I think for many (most?) journals there is not a specific requirement that contributors have academic qualifications or are employed as researchers.