What is research, specifically in Computer Science? I have a Bachelor's in Computer Engg from India but the education system here is pathetic and I have no idea about research.
I'm about to join an Ivy league university in the US for the Master's program and I'd like to experience research now that I'll have the perfect opportunity to, but I'm not even sure if I know what research is. So I have a few questions:

When you say you're into research, what do you exactly mean? What are you doing? Why are you doing it? If not this, what else could you have done that would still be classified as research? How did you come up with the idea of what you're doing right now? What can I publish and what can't I but I'm likely to think that I can being a rookie? And most important, how do I come up with an idea to carry research on?
[This answer is colored by the fact that I'm a theoretical computer scientist.]

As an undergraduate, you are (usually) given crisp, well-formulated problems with definite correct answers that you can reasonably expected to discover in a relatively short time period, using only a very narrow range of knowledge and skills.  If you get stuck, your instructor can give you useful hints, because they already know how to solve the problem.  Moreover, the instructor can probably explain the complete solution to you fairly quickly (in, say, less than a week).

Research involves vague, half-baked, open-ended problems that may resist progress after months or even years of hard work, regardless of how many classes you've taken or books/papers you've read.  Nobody else knows the answer to the problem you're working on (or it isn't really research); nobody can even give you a hint how to proceed.  Nobody has a clue what other results or techniques will be helpful, or if you're just going to have to make up a completely new technique on the fly.  You don't know if the solution you're aiming for is actually useful or interesting, or even if the problem is formulated so that it has a definite answer.  Still, you'd better find something interesting, or you'll never graduate.

If that sounds like fun, research might be for you!