I believe that there is a time in the life of most university students when someone talks of publishing a research paper and the first thought is confusion or fear. I experienced the same. It was as though it were a part of an entirely new world. A place of older professors, lab coats and complex scholarly terms that was not to be accessed by regular students like myself. I used to hold on to that belief a long time and no one around me bothered to rectify that. And that, I believe, is quite an indignity since the reality is quite different than I supposed.
I would like to tell you what I have learned about this to understand better. A research paper is not a long complex task. It is an opportunity that a student has to get serious about something he has studied, develop his original thought about it and present it before the rest of the world in a manner that is believable. By the time that paper is published it will mean that people outside your university, people who have no personal interest in taking the trouble to be nice to you, have read your work and found that it has some real merit. I believe that sort of validation is extremely uncommon and extremely strong to a young individual who is still trying to discover himself/herself in terms of academics.
Practically speaking the relevance of releasing a research paper in university years is an issue I am very much concerned with. The environment students are leaving in the present world is highly competitive. All people are degree holders. All are good students and have a resume of activities. Yet not all have made the leap of making something new to their discipline even when they are a student. It is a small difference on paper but it is felt. It is observed by universities that provide postgraduate programs. It is noticed by employers who desire individuals with the ability to think independently. I think it is one of the few things a student can accomplish in his or her university life that will indeed distinguish them among the crowd in any significant way.
I believe, though, the benefits that occur within an individual are no less important than the benefits that are posted on a resume. Composing and publishing a research paper can teach a student how to pose the correct questions concerning a problem. It educates them on the process of finding information that is real and not mere convenient. It teaches them to develop an argument carefully and make it sound in such a way that others can follow and believe it. I had been through this procedure and I will be frank to say that it has altered something in my mode of thinking. Not only during academic work but in normal situations as well. It helped me be more cautious on my opinion making and more serious on finding the right grounds before I believe in something.
It also has the confidence attached to it that I did not anticipate. Prior to the process I never felt that my thoughts and observations mattered enough to be shared outside my classroom. Having read it I no longer felt like that.
In all fairness I believe that each and every university student is entitled to learn about this opportunity much earlier than the vast majority of them do. I am sure that the right information at the right time can transform a lot of things.