Each is done under the supervision of a Major Professor, together with a Committee. The very nature of a new idea is that it is a departure from past practice. Education gained by experiencing research permits innovation by ensuring that it is done with the best possible assurance of safety and success, with the person in charge best able to steer clear of pitfalls. It is difficult to get started. Until the student is actually involved in research, it can seem forbidding.
Research starts with examination of the literature.
The basic mechanics of the literature search. Building the literature search into a proposal for research. For many students, particularly in engineering, graduate school is the first time that they must write long, coherent, comprehensible reports. In many cases, a great difficulty arises because complicated technical documents must be generated without the student's having facility with graduate-level prose. An excellent recommendation is to seek out authors who have a reputation for excellent English, but in whatever genre of literature suits the student.