Purdue Resources for Mentors

Planning to mentor undergraduate student researchers consists of steps completed by the mentor (or research program coordinator).

Core Documentation

Before recruiting new undergraduate students to conduct research with you, we recommend planning to mentor by drafting the following:

• A brief description of your research agenda/interests.
• Lists of prior outcomes of your research (publications, awards/honors, etc.).
  Standard operating procedures (such as non-negotiable space/lab expectations, safety procedures, etc.).
• A list of prospective research opportunities for undergraduate students.
• How/when you prefer students to contact you regarding research experiences.
• A timeline for an undergraduate research experience.

Many faculty publicly share these details within their professional or campus website. We recommend scanning peer faculty websites for prospective content you might adapt to meet your needs, particularly if your department/school/college uses formatting you should follow.

Basic Undergraduate Student Researcher Roles and Logistics

To ensure undergraduate students fit your current program, consider:

• Which tasks and responsibilities can be completed by an undergraduate student? For example:
  • Which parts of your research can be delegated to undergraduate students?
  • Is there a study you would like to pilot for preliminary data?
  • What do you need done but do not have the time?
  • Do you want to start a new research area but need a literature review completed?
• What is your mentoring/supervising plan to engage undergraduate students with you? How will you integrate graduate students, post-docs, and/or peer undergraduate students into mentoring?
• How much of your time is available/needed to support an undergraduate student? To what extent will you need undergraduate students who can work independently or collaboratively?
• When (date range and specific times) is the student needed?

Campus Resources

Next, identify the offices and specific people in your unit (program, department, or college/school) or at the institution who can help you with:

• Processes for recruiting student researchers. Please note Purdue Human Resources offers this comprehensive guide to recruitment and selection. The tips on this site suggest adaptations for recruiting and selecting undergraduate student researchers.
• Processing hiring paperwork and payroll (if student researchers are paid).
• Enrolling students in research credit (if student researchers earn credit). 
• Identifying required trainings your student researchers must complete such as CITI, RCR, or Purdue Enterprise Certifications (via WebCert). Its best to complete these before your students to enable adapting your onboarding/orientation with the content of these trainings.
• Creating/modifying IRB applications.
• Writing grant applications.

Funding UREs

Internal funding for students may exist through:

• The Office of Undergraduate Research offers the OUR Scholars scholarship program to support $1,000 to the student for one academic year. 
• Students who are completing undergraduate research during the summer should seek out various Purdue programs that are available that could help financially support the researcher.
• Your unit may also offer grants/scholarships to students conducting research at Purdue. Seek advice from others in your department or college/school to identify these resources.
• Students within the John Martinson Honors College may be eligible for grants.

If you are writing a grant proposal for external funding and would like assistance with budget suggestions, text, or structures for including an undergraduate research experience in the proposal, please contact the Office of Undergraduate Research for a consultation.

Within this phase of mentoring, students become aware of undergraduate research opportunities through various methods. Formalizing recruitment – including sharing of position descriptions for apprenticeships or syllabi for course-based experiences – helps all subsequent phases by ensuring mutual understanding and fit to an experience. Recruitment through a formal application step makes research experiences available to a diverse audience.

Creating position description for research apprenticeships

Formally posted position descriptions typically include:

• Brief description of your research agenda/program.
• List of responsibilities/experiences.
• List of qualifications (distinguish between required and preferred).
• Compensation.

Depending on how you disseminate this description, also include:

• Process to apply (including how, documents expected, etc.).
• Specific dates (application deadline, start/end dates).
• Contact information or “for more information” references.

Creating a syllabus for course-based research experiences

Besides the typical syllabus content, CURE-specific elements of your syllabus may include:

• Brief description of your research agenda/program.
• Course- and assignment-level outcomes inclusive of research knowledge/skill development.
• At least one assignment that includes:
  • An authentic research experience and 
  • Key components of a holistic experience.
• Guidelines for group/teamwork (if expected).

While one assignment is the minimum, CUREs typically include multiple assignments that work progressively towards completion of the research experience.  

When developing your CURE, also consider:

• Mentoring demands: Can you manage the extent of research mentoring needed? Some instructors decrease this demand by:
  • Using Teams (ex: its easier to manage 10 teams of 5 students instead of 50 individuals).
  • Integrating graduate teaching assistants or undergraduate peer mentors into the course.
• Research Skill Development: Ensure either:
  • Course prerequisites include prior development of research skills or 
  • Course materials/references include development of targeted research skills.
• Dissemination and Evaluation: Regardless of format (oral, visual, or written) ensure students can share their work and are evaluated appropriately.  
• Reflection: Well-rounded research experiences include a reflective component encouraging students to connect their research experience to prior and future experiences.

For additional course-based support, please refer to our site for CUREs and/or contact the Office of Undergraduate Research for a consultation.

Promoting research experiences

Many faculty recruit undergraduate student researchers from the pool of students who contact them or from courses they teach. Other informal promotion options include:

• Soliciting recommendations from peer faculty, in particular, faculty who teach courses containing content that prepares students to conduct research.
• Asking for recommendations from academic advisers or current/former student researchers.
• Asking colleagues to announce the opportunity in relevant courses or with their advisees.
• Posting fliers where students congregate.
• Using disciplinary/major listservs. These may be particularly useful for recruiting students from outside your discipline.
• Contacting former undergraduate researchers or students you are connected with to ask them or for recommendations.

Formal promotions may include the following, which include resources for recruitment and selection:

• OURConnect
• SuccessFactors

Creating an application process

If you wish to create your own application process, be sure your promotions indicate specifically what students should do to apply. For example, rather than "email me if interested" you should specify the information students might send in their first contact with you, such as a resume/c.v., statement of interest, etc. Self-designed processes might include a form that enables you to multiple applications consistently and fairly.

TIP: To help students prepare to apply, consider referring them to the Center for Career Opportunities for general assistance. 

This phase presumes the mentor is using a formal selection process among a pool of applicants. In some cases – such as course-based research, honors project mentoring, or informal research experiences – these steps may not (or not all) apply. Selection may include application review, interviews, recommendations, or other steps that help to identify students best fit to learn from and succeed in the experience.

Reviewing and screening applications

These steps enable you to narrow a large pool of applicants and ensures you only consider prospective undergraduate students who fit the experience you can offer. We recommend drafting a review rubric based on knowledge/skill qualifications. Within this rubric, distinguish between what knowledge or skill a candidate must possess versus knowledge or skill development you can provide. For example, if candidates must have prior knowledge of a specific programming language, then make this qualification explicit.

While screening is best done objectively, other considerations beyond qualifications may include:

• Which applicants’ research interests best align with your research interests?
  • If students being recruited for interdisciplinary or targeted skills, alternatively consider which applicants’ goals best align with the position.
• Which applicants fit expected availability (including amount of time and specific days/times)?
• Which applicants present knowledge and skills fit your needs? (In particular, skills for which you do not have time or skill to train the student.)

Interviewing candidates

Interviewing students should serve to ensure you know which candidate(s):

• Meet or exceed all your minimum needs (e.g., are prepared to work with you with on-boarding and training presumed), and 
• Best fits the context of the research experience (e.g., your program, environment, others, etc.).

A well-designed interview also helps the applicants determine the extent to which the experience you offer fits the knowledge/skills they want to gain trough research.

While there are numerous resources for general interview questions (such as these from Purdue HR or these from the Purdue Center for Career Opportunities, we recommend drafting and using interview prompts that align with the position description. For example:

• If you need someone to have specific prior experiences, create behavioral prompts (see the CCO’s STAR method).
• Clarify specific interests/goals, create prompts that enable students to describe alignment between prior, current, and future experiences.
• Ensure you and the candidate can determine if this position is a mutually good fit. For example, create prompts that allow you to both receive a response and follow-up to provide additional information.
• Ensure your prompts are not inappropriate as listed by Purdue HR.

Selecting

If prior steps are done well, then the final step is usually clear; however, whether your process is informal or well structured, reuse your application review rubric and be sure to select a person who:

• Can at least meet minimum expectations.
• Is best fit to the position and the position fits them. (This may not be the most qualified person, For example, this student might not fit availability.)
• Is able to learn from and/or benefit from the experience.

Specific hiring steps/processes should align with your unit (e.g., program, department, college/school).

If students are less experienced than you hope (e.g., less knowledge or skills than needed) for a research experience but otherwise seem like a good fit, you might engage them in different ways while they complete coursework or other experiences that better qualify them. For example:

• What other ways can these student work with you that use their existing talents (e.g., complete a literature review) but engage them in research-related experiences?
• Which courses would you recommend?
• To which other research mentors or programs might you refer them?
• Which journals, clubs, organizations, or other experiences could you suggest they pursue?

Most on-boarding steps are one-time tasks that establish the general framework for success in the undergraduate research experience. For these steps, be sure to follow requirements of your program/unit. Additional tips here are specific to undergraduate research.

Initial Training

This training should consist of knowledge/skill gains required to get started. In general, design a training that ensures your mentees are prepared to work on specific project. Typical training content will cover:

• Required certifications (such as CITI, RCR, or WebCert).
• Standard operating procedures and processes.
• Initial knowledge/skill gains necessary before starting work on specific projects.
• Scheduling availability and arranging accommodations.
• Assigning tasks.
• Other initial administrative steps (such as assigning or setting up equipment, creating accounts, obtaining keys, etc.).

Other initial training topics vary based on the program and/or meeting students’ immediate needs. We recommend using training resources that may save you time. (See Project-Orientation.) For example:

• Does an OUR seminar or OUR course meet your mentee’s needs?
• Do Sage Research Methods modules or SageCampus Courses cover initial (or on-going) training needs? Note the following:
  • Purdue University has a license to access these resources at no additional cost.
  • Courses allow you to assign and track progress; the methods modules are not tracked.
• Are there peer faculty with whom you can partner/co-facilitate training?
  • Alternative: how can you engage experienced students or graduate students in training?
• What other print or electronic resources are available for self-study or reference? For example, resources for:
  • Coding languages?
  • Resources for research-related apps (such as SPSS or NVivo)?
  • Primary articles/books for specific aspects of a study design?
  • Foundational articles in your research agenda?

Setting/Negotiating Expectations

We recommend setting and negotiating expectations by drafting a learning contract through a mentor-mentee discussion. A well written and discussed learning contract may prevent or minimize future issues but also becomes a reference when issues need to be addressed. The OUR provides two Learning Contract versions:

• A “living” editable version in OURConnect, and
• A “fixed” version via Qualtrics. The full list of questions in the Qualtrics version appear in this PDF.

When using a learning contract:

• Its important to revisit non-negotiables first communicated during the recruitment/selection phases. Remaining elements of a learning contract should result from agreement between the mentor and mentee.
• Consider phases of the research experience and/or the sequences of tasks.
• Identify how/when the learning contract will be revisited. Revisions typically occur within phases of the experience or specific time frames (monthly, academic periods, etc.).

For course-based research experiences, the course syllabus establishes expectations. However, if you draft a syllabus that leaves some expectations vague, be sure to leave time to discuss and confirm these expectations within a written agreement. For example, if research experiences will occur in teams, give these teams time to discuss and write expectations of each other.

Project orientation consists of:

1. Identifying tasks and responsibilities.
2. Accessing existing resources (e.g., data, artifacts, articles, etc.)
3. Additional training required for successful completion of a project tasks.

We recommend using or adapting existing training resources that may save you time:

• See "on-boarding" for resources that may overlap between these phases.
• Are there peer faculty with whom you can partner/co-facilitate training?
  • Alternative: how can you engage experienced students or graduate students in training?
• What other print or electronic resources are available for self-study or reference?

Identifying Training Needs

Mentees' training needs emerge during:

• Interview questioning.
• On-boarding (as part the learning contract).
• Other required training (e.g., CITI) that expose mentees' current knowledge or skills.  
• Phases of the research experience when the first-time mentees experience something "new" to them (such as a research method).

Its best to recognize and address needs during any phase of active mentoring; needs left unaddressed weaken the mentee's experience and may weaken the research outcomes.

Characteristics of a great mentor-mentee relationship may include:

• Mentees feeling comfortable sharing gaps in their knowledge/skills, 
• Mentees pursuing self-study of training materials,
• Mentors recognizing likely training needs based on prior mentees' experiences,   
• Mentors providing the means to meet training needs and/or suggesting external resources for training, and 
• Mentors preparing additional professional development aligned with the phases of the research experience.

This phase is when the mentee engages in time on research tasks. Since research experience are broad, we can only provide general tips. 

General Engagement

In brief, mentors should:

• Continue to provide support as guided by any previously established expectations.
• Address needs newly identified by the mentee.
• Recognize the mentee for their work done well, provide constructive feedback, and/or redirect when needed.
• Address problems as they occur, encouraging the mentee to be solution oriented.
• Address work not done well (consider quality, timeliness, etc.) and discuss with the mentee strategies to improve. Revisit the learning contract as needed.

Mentees should:

• Complete their work within the expectations previously set.
• Document their progress/work.
• Communicate successes, problems, issues and needs with the mentor.
• Pursue on-going training as needed.

Mentors concerned about time spent supporting mentees might use strategies that maximize use of time or minimizes unplanned mentoring time. Consider:

• Scheduling specific time for support on a regular basis (e.g., weekly meeting, office hours, etc.). 
• Integrating experienced undergraduate students as peer research mentors or using graduate students as secondary research mentors.
• Creating groups of student researchers who could support each other.
• Identifying steps a mentee might follow before seeking direct help, such as:
  • Referring to your standard operating procedures (if you have one).
  • Asking another person in the research group (peer student, graduate student, lab manager).
  • Consulting professional resources

Professional Development Plans

Within this phase, mentors and mentees may pursue in parallel other professional development opportunities, such as:

• Identifying and attending seminars, conferences, etc.
• Completing conference presentation abstracts/proposals.
• Preparing to present a research poster or talk.
• Writing journal articles.
• Communicating about the research experience into their resume, graduate school applications, internship/job interviews, etc.
• Discussing career goals/interests, and then reviewing:
  • Graduate school options or
  • Post-graduate job postings.
• Offering support as needed.

To save time and effort, we recommend:

• Working with other mentors within your unit (program, department, college/school, etc.) to prepare professional development experiences and/or
• using OUR seminars, OUR courses or OUR presentations to meet needs of groups of student mentees.

Some mentors say they do not have time for mentees professional development that is out of scope of the project. In these cases, mentors should identify these limitations no later than the learning contract and then:

• Refer mentees to campus offices (CCO, academic advisors, etc.),
• Support the mentee engaging with others (graduate students, peer students, etc.) who can advise, and/or
• Suggest the mentee design their own professional development plan and identify resources that may meet their individual needs.

Throughout the engagement phase, the mentor should offer feedback to guide the mentee through the project. This formal evaluation phase is for the mentee’s professional and personal development. Visit Evaluating UR Experiences at Purdue to learn how the OUR may be able to help.

Evaluating the Mentee

At the end of the project (or at key milestone within the project), this phase typically includes formal mentor evaluation of the mentee and often includes a mentee self-evaluation. Possible evaluation frameworks may include:

• Revisiting the content of the learning contract.
• Formal feedback about the products of their research experience.
• Published UR frameworks. The OUR is cultivating evaluation criteria covering:
  • Learning gains 
  • Perceptions of the experience
  • Proficiencies
  • Benefits of research
  • Self-efficacy and confidence
  • Interest in research
• Drafting a letter of recommendation.

Evaluating Undergraduate Research Experiences

Evaluating the mentee often informally exposes improvements to the research experience for current and future students. Strategies may include:

• Formal evaluation of the mentor (akin to a course evaluation).
• Mentee feedback for or editing of the:
  • Position description (or syllabus if course-based).
  • Recruitment materials.
  • On-Boarding and training materials/schedule.
• Focus groups with undergaduate research students.

Many research experiences are cyclical within a project (e.g., stages of research), between projects, or over time (e.g., academic terms). Following evaluation, if the mentee is continuing, the phases of mentoring repeat accordingly.

Undergraduate student mentees engaged in more than one cycle of an experience with you will be looking for progressively more challenging experiences. For these mentees, we recommend:

• Identifying the gap in knowledge/skills between where the mentee is presently and where you would expect them to be if they were working with you as a first-year graduate student or new professional. These gaps may be targeted areas for development.
• Defining prospective peer mentor responsibilities. To support undergraduate students' in this role the OUR offers ILS49500 which is a one-credit Research Peer Mentorship Training course. 

All mentor-mentee partnerships in undergraduate research must end by graduation. Earlier separation is justified for numerous other reasons as well. 

Following evaluation, if it is determined the partnership is ending, the separation phase consists of defining what is next for the mentor and mentee. For undergraduate students, this could be quite broad but often consists of:

1. Networking (and professional organizations),
2. Professional recommendations, 
3. Future collaborations (within a different partnership context), and
4. Authorship agreements.

Other key considerations for this phase include:

• What documentation do you need from the mentee?
• What resources does the mentee need to return (e.g., keys, etc.)?
• Removal from payroll (or assigning grades if course-based).
• Reminders of on-going agreements (e.g., non-disclosure, consent, etc.) that extend beyond the undergraduate research experience.
• Other steps required by the unit (e.g., program, department, college/school).