What is ever better than getting an exciting research result? Understanding why it's important!

Learning the background information associated with your project is an essential step to understanding the full significance of your research project. Background information includes learning the basic information about your project, why it's important, and how it supports the overall research goals of the lab. The more background you understand, the more you'll be able to contribute to all parts of your project.

To get started, ask your research supervisor to explain what the lab's big picture is and how your project supports it. Take lots of notes and don't worry if some of it doesn't make sense at first. Research is complicated stuff and it will take time to get it.