I have worked on a project for 8 months and am due to submit it in a month. Recently I found a paper (by a professor from a different university) which is very similar to mine and even goes a step ahead. I missed this paper completely and now I am afraid to talk my advisor, though I know I have to.
This was my first paper as I am just completing my MS and will start my PhD in fall. I was pretty excited about it. Now I just want to cry and die. How do I tackle this now?
Take a deep breath. This type of thing happens all the time to everyone in the business. I'd say more than half of the citations that go into my literature searches are things that I discover within the last stretch of writing a paper. Often it's only your long experience trying to write the thing that gives you the perspective to spot these connections.
If you just discovered this new paper, take a break from the whole thing for a day or two over the weekend.
Then come back with a fresh set of eyes to your current work and see if you can identify where it differs with this previous paper. In my experience, it almost always does in some important way. Your adviser will have some ideas on how to proceed.
Being scooped this way is a common thing, and happens even for professionals log into their careers. That this is happening to you at this point in your career is to some extent a good thing; it means you are thinking along the same lines that some professionals are doing.
But what you should do: look over what they did carefully and see if any of your work is different. How different? It may be that differences in your approach make parts of yours still worthwhile. But you absolutely need to talk with your adviser about this. The sooner you do so, the sooner you can get more specific advice which will depend on exactly what is in your project and what is in this paper.
Depending on the area of research, you could rewrite some parts of your paper and reframe your paper as a verification of findings from the last year's paper. Perhaps if there are substantial differences in methodology, you could make some additional arguments. This will both preserve your academic integrity and increase the quality and importance of your paper.
Also, I think it might also be beneficial to come into contact with the professor, who wrote a paper that is similar to yours. Perhaps you might find career and/or academic opportunities that way, or perhaps some insight that could help you in your situation
With the amount of information out there, it can be easy for many topics to overlap somewhat. As long as you properly cite everything, you shouldn't worry too much.
In writing, the best way is to take a break from looking at your paper. After a while, go back and highlight the similarities and differences. Is it the writing style? Your ideas? What specifically sets yours apart? Remember your purpose/aim can be the same, but perhaps your methodology, discussion, results and conclusions are different.
If your paper is different enough, perhaps you can cite that paper you discovered just to be safe.
Of course, let your adviser know ASAP of this situation so you can work out something together. I wish you all the best!
How do I tackle this now?
You should be very pleased. You have discovered a source more credible than yours, that arrived at similar conclusions to yours - thereby bolstering your conclusions.
You are not required to be omniscient, and it's virtually impossible in the internet era to say something that hasn't been said before and is available, if you dig around enough.
Just explain to your advisor that you overlooked that particular paper, but are encouraged that 'so and so' also said something similar to you.
If your advisor, is reasonable, they should give you additional credit for 1 - being honest; 2 - arriving at similar conclusions to the paper you came upon late in your work.
