Finding a mentor

A mentor saves you months. They know which questions are open, which methods are a dead end, and how papers get published. Most researchers are happy to help students who show real effort.

Who can be a mentor

• A professor or lecturer at your college
• A PhD student or postdoc (often more available, and closer to the daily work)
• An author of a paper you read closely
• A researcher in industry
• Senior members of a research community such as APJ-RAISE

Writing a good first email

Busy researchers get many emails. Short, specific ones get answers.

1. One line about you. "I am a third-year B.Tech student at ..., interested in low-resource speech recognition."
2. Show you did the work. Mention a specific paper of theirs and one thing you found interesting or a question you have about it.
3. A clear, small ask. "Would you have 20 minutes for a call?" is easier to say yes to than "Please guide my research."
4. Something to look at. A link to code you wrote, or a one-page proposal.

Keep it under 150 words. If there is no reply after about two weeks, one polite follow-up is fine.

What not to do

• Send the same generic email to fifty professors.
• Ask them to give you a topic, with no ideas of your own.
• Attach a long CV and nothing else.

Being a good mentee

Come to each meeting with progress, a specific question, and a plan for the next step. Write down what was agreed and send a short summary afterwards. Respect their time, and say thank you when it helps.

RememberA mentor helps you think. The work, and the responsibility for it, stay yours.