Motivation:
You plan to do a software engineering research and want to make some minor authentic contributions.
Guidelines:
1. You may present a problem and corresponding existing solution using your own understanding.
A method to do this is to
- Read papers and books about a concept (for example backpropagation or distributed transactions), then
- Write down the concept and some related terminologies, then
- Try explain the concept with examples using your speech, and
- Record your presentation, then
- Write down your transcript, then
- Rephrase your transcript.
2. You may try to replicate an existing result. When doing this you may need to make minor changes due to specific technology or environment conditions. Then you can compare your result with the original result.
For example, you may compare your business workflows with existing business workflows to determine which solution may solve a specific problem faster or more reliable.
In case you do not make any minor changes, the replication process may also inspire you some technical ideas. You may get errors while replicating the result. Try to fix these errors and document your experience.
For example you may get errors when upgrading an existing system from Node.js 12 to Node.js 18, or when upgrading an existing deep learning model code from Python 3.9 to Python 3.11. Try to fix the errors, then document your inputs, errors and solution.
3. The core idea to be creative is to do something that you have not done before. You may use trial and error method but be sure that you have a hard unsolved problem first. Trying to search for partial solutions to a problem will inspire you some ideas which may be the starting point for your minor authentic contributions.
4. Each individual’s creativity will need to be developed over time rather than in accordance with any kind of set formula.