Winners ...Please what is the best way

Hello ladies and gentlemen
I am very happy to hear that you have succeeded this year ^_^ all the research students for monbosho

I am planning from a long long time to continue my master and my higher education in Japan

of course through university recommendation
I have already specified my list of universities and supervisors i am going to contact soon

but here is the problem ..... after finishing my bachelor , I do have a field that i love to continue in it
but i don't have a specific subject , you know like i don't have something accurate to do a research proposal
so i would like to ask you the help , already recipient of mext scholarship or who do have good info
1- do you think it is good to contact a professor whom i read about his researches and try to ask him about papers or things he would advice me to make my research proposal about (just sending my cv and asking him if he can recommend me any papers or even some paths ,subjects or good points he may accept me if my research proposal is about them
2- do you think i should short my list and read about every single prof and his works and then try to come up with good research proposal and then send it in my first email ?
3- do you think i should ask the prof for help and ask him what he would like me to research about .....like you know continuing previous students (masters or phds ) work ?

and here I am taking about good univs top 20 ^_^
thanks a lot for reading and please help with any info you know

please any one participate by any peice of information you know
窶堋ｨﾅ?ﾃｨ窶堋｢

rethink your goals?

I'm sorry to be so negative but maybe you should forget about doing graduate school. It seems obvious you just want to go to Japan. We all do, but why would a professor choose you over a student who has a strong interest in a certain topic and contacted that specific professor for that reason?

You're literally trying to ask a professor to give you a research topic. That would be a red flag for me were I a professor because that would mean that not only would you be clueless as to how to continue the project, but would require a lot of time and tutoring.

So maybe you should reconsider why you want to do graduate school at the first place. If you end up finding a topic that strongly interests you, then start reading the most important works on the topic. Don't go right away to very specialized academic articles. Search for the most famous books and scholars on the topic. Then look for something that catches your attention, then look more into it. Once you've read 30-40 articles/books - of course critical reading - try to find something that either is missing or you think could potentially be wrong. Then that could be your research proposal.

The research proposal would then write itself because you'd be able to explain precisely what is missing from the current literature on your topic and why you think it is important to delve more into what you are proposing to do. Then finding professors who study a topic related to yours would be easy.

But critical reading is not easy and if you find the task of reading 30-40 articles/books on your topic (if there are that many), or related topic, then that would be a good indication that maybe grad school is not for you. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I am sure there are other ways to go to Japan such as the Jet program or working holidays which you may want to consider.

Do NOT ask Japanese profs what you should do research on. They will only tell you to do theirs.

No, do NOT contact profs and ask what they are researching. The Internet has enough of that information on them already. Find out which ones interest you, then think about what topics within their research field intrigue you, or have gaps of information you would be willing to study to fill. Design a 2-year study plan around that.

If you ever DO contact a prof, DO include information about your background. Otherwise he has nothing to go on except your nationality.

I would add to Glenski's comments

Glenski;743972 1) The Internet has enough of that information on them already. Find out which ones interest you said:

1) Read that profs publications, and make sure your proposal indicates that you have read and understood (to some degree) their research.

2) Add why you think that you will be a good addition and "fit" to their lab. HIGH ENGLISH proficiency is a huge plus (means that you can contribute more in the publication stage) TOEIC and TOEFL scores are important.

Click to expand...

What is your field of study? The first reply you got to this thread was not a fair one in my opinion as you say that you have a field of interest that you would love to continue on, so that's great.

About contacting professors: I think it depends on the field. As for me doing a PhD, I contacted a laboratory of which I knew the main research topics and sent the professor my cv and then a dialogue started what specific research to do. I think not in all cases you need to have a clear research proposal at all (that is, esp. in your first e-mail), as by dialogue you get the best ideas, especially because you might not be 100% into the exact research done at a certain lab on the other side of the world. But, that goes for my field of study.

Additionally, I would say that I think there is no "perfect way" or golden path of contacting a professor, each field and each professor is different. Tell her or him e.g. that you would love to study in a certain field and that you are interested in her/his research and send your cv. That's one of the global ideas for a first e-mail - depending on the field of study,

It is great to hear you wanna study in Japan, so please try your best!

Thanks everyone

Michel Marion
after many many search and many many reading i have kind of figure out how to ace Japs profs acceptance
You are not negative at all .I liked your honesty and integrity.NO , I am not trying to go to Japan by anyway ...I am just asking what is the method here ..
actually I have applied to USA and UK before and believe me eachone has its own method
In UK you have only to tell (you may not do that too) your prospective supervisor about your research topic, the rest will be done after you get accepted by uni admission
In USA you have to do everything with your supervisor . I mean you should give him a very specific research topic (about PhD i am talking )
Here in Japan i differs; you have to give them something in between
I have tried both methods (giving topic only and give a simple research proposal) and both worked perfectly ,depending on your smartness and assessment . you should read your supervisor thoughts and know what he want..
I have contacted 11 profs and i got positive responses from 7 (two was going to retire soon +1 is too young + 1 i don't know why he didn't reply)
but anyway your reply Mr Michel is a very good one and i really appreciate your help
Glenski
sometimes you should let them do it for you ...you should know everything about that supervisor (not everything precisely you are not FBI ) but their age and if they took foreigners before in their labs ...
tomoni
I agree with your tips ..they will help sufficiently
shiinaringo
I am a mechanical engineer and i do think same like you ...there is no golden path ...indeed but you can have a good one

to complete my story and why Japan
In fact i have got a scholarship in USA but it needs some money for travel and visa (about 5-6 thousands $) and in where i live know , i need about one year , and the field i want to get my master in is found in Jap and US , and Jap have many full scholarships + I know Japanese (JLPT N2) ,never forgetting the culture and how rewarding it would be to have such experiences

Shingi said:

Michel Marion
after many many search and many many reading i have kind of figure out how to ace Japs profs acceptance
You are not negative at all .I liked your honesty and integrity.NO , I am not trying to go to Japan by anyway ...I am just asking what is the method here ..
actually I have applied to USA and UK before and believe me eachone has its own method
In UK you have only to tell (you may not do that too) your prospective supervisor about your research topic, the rest will be done after you get accepted by uni admission
In USA you have to do everything with your supervisor . I mean you should give him a very specific research topic (about PhD i am talking )
Here in Japan i differs; you have to give them something in between
I have tried both methods (giving topic only and give a simple research proposal) and both worked perfectly ,depending on your smartness and assessment . you should read your supervisor thoughts and know what he want..
I have contacted 11 profs and i got positive responses from 7 (two was going to retire soon +1 is too young + 1 i don't know why he didn't reply)
but anyway your reply Mr Michel is a very good one and i really appreciate your help

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Sorry if my answer appears "not a fair one" ^^ For one, I assumed you were in the humanities, which is very different than engineering I am sure. I definitely stands by what I wrote because too many assume that going to grad school is just yet another type of "job" they could do, and they rarely appreciated their own fit within the graduate world, together with the potential financial burden this will eventually be, scholarship or not. To me it sounds strange to want to "read your supervisor' thoughts and know what he wants" because after all that is your research...in the humanities or social science. In labs, which I didn't really get at first from the email, you of course join the prof' personal research, so an interest in a field might be more than enough and might end up sparking your interest in the very field after working on it for 2 years ^^ Good luck with everything!!!