Introduction
Faculty advisors play an essential role in the Undergraduate Research Scholars (URS) thesis program. While the Office of Undergraduate Research provides the structure and administrative support for the program, the faculty advisor provides the disciplinary mentorship that makes the thesis experience possible.
As a faculty advisor, you are not expected to manage the URS program for your student(s). You are expected to help your student develop and complete a meaningful undergraduate research project, understand the expectations of scholarship in your field, and grow in their ability to work and think independently.
Successful advising of a student in the URS program does not look exactly the same in every discipline or for every student. It should, however, include clear expectations, regular communication, timely feedback, and increasing student ownership of the work.
Responsibilities
Faculty Advisors
Faculty advisors provide the primary disciplinary guidance for a URS student's research and thesis. This includes helping the student develop a project that is appropriately scoped and feasible, providing guidance on research methods and disciplinary conventions, monitoring scholarly progress, and providing substantive feedback as the research and thesis develop.
Advisors should also help students understand what good research looks like in their field. That may mean helping a student learn how to frame a research question, evaluate evidence, make methodological decisions, interpret results, situate their work within existing scholarship, or communicate findings according to disciplinary conventions. Advisors also help students learn how to make those decisions for themselves as their ownership of the work increases.
Students
Participation in URS requires students to take responsibility for both their research and their participation in the program.
Students are responsible for knowing and meeting URS deadlines, completing required program activities, preparing for and participating in meetings with their advisor, completing agreed-upon research and writing tasks, and communicating when they need guidance or encounter a problem.
Students are also responsible for giving their advisors adequate time to provide feedback. A program deadline is not necessarily a reasonable deadline for sending a first draft to a faculty advisor.
Ultimately, the thesis must represent the student's scholarly work. Faculty advisors should provide meaningful guidance and rigorous feedback, but students are responsible for writing, revising, and taking ownership of the final product.
Summary
Faculty advisors are generally responsible for:
- Providing disciplinary and research mentorship throughout the program
- Helping establish an appropriate scope and direction for their students' project(s)
- Meeting with their student(s) regularly enough to assess progress and address problems
- Providing substantive and reasonably timely feedback on research and thesis drafts
- Helping their student(s) understand disciplinary standards for scholarship, research integrity, and scholarly communication
- Communicating with UGR when significant concerns may affect a student's or team's progress or ability to complete the program