This post stands for your personal, professional, and academic goals as well.

If you've been following us for a while, you know we often emphasize the importance of setting goals for you research experience. (If you started following us recently, welcome!)

Whatever your goals are for your research experience, you'll have a much easier time achieving them if your mentor knows about them, and if you ask what you need to do to achieve them.

It doesn't matter if you want to present your ‪research project at a scientific meeting, earn an authorship, or gain enough bench skills to be employable as a researcher after graduation.

Your research mentor can be your most important ally in the lab who helps you understand what you need to do and where you might need to improve. But, this information isn't often volunteered--and if it's not, you'll need to bring up the subject and ask for guidance.

To get the conversation started say, "I'd like to accomplish X, what do I need to do to make it happen?"