Undergraduate Research Taxonomy

General Concepts

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Undergraduate Research	A mentored process of research, scholarly inquiry, or creative activity conducted by an undergraduate student that seeks to make a scholarly or creative contribution.	Use as the broad, interdisciplinary institutional umbrella. Avoid definitions that unintentionally restrict undergraduate research to laboratory or STEM settings.
Undergraduate Research Experience	A defined experience through which an undergraduate engages in research, scholarly inquiry, or creative activity with appropriate mentorship and responsibility.	Use when referring to the student's actual research experience rather than the broader enterprise, program, or opportunity.
Undergraduate Researcher	An undergraduate student actively engaged in an undergraduate research experience.	Preferred general term for a student conducting research.
Undergraduate Research Scholar	A student formally admitted to and participating in the Undergraduate Research Scholars Thesis Program.	Reserved program-specific term; do not use interchangeably with undergraduate researcher.
Undergraduate Research Ecosystem	The interconnected people, practices, policies, resources, curricula, opportunities, and institutional structures that enable undergraduate research.	Use primarily for institution-level strategy and planning.
Undergraduate Research Framework	University-level common language, expectations, and guidance for creating, coordinating, supporting, documenting, and assessing undergraduate research experiences.	Use for institutional infrastructure rather than an individual program or research experience.

Research Readiness

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Research Readiness	The developmental preparation necessary for a student to participate responsibly and productively at an appropriate level of an undergraduate research experience.	Readiness is developmental, not binary, and should be appropriate to the student's role and level of responsibility.
Research Preparation	Activities through which students develop the knowledge, skills, expectations, and awareness needed to enter or advance within undergraduate research.	Use for developmental activities occurring before or during research participation.
Research Orientation	Introductory preparation specific to a research environment, project, program, team, or institutional setting.	Distinguish from broader research preparation.
Scaffolding	Intentional, developmentally appropriate support that is adjusted as a student develops competence and independence.	Use when describing developmental design rather than a fixed sequence of requirements.
Progressive Independence	The gradual transfer of responsibility, decision-making, and intellectual ownership to the student as capability develops.	Independence is an outcome of development, not an expectation at entry.
Research Pathway	The sequence of opportunities and experiences through which a student enters, develops within, and advances through undergraduate research.	A pathway may vary by discipline, student, and research context.
Research Continuum	The broader developmental progression through exploration, preparation, participation, reflection, dissemination, and further engagement in research.	Use to emphasize that undergraduate research development is iterative rather than strictly linear.

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Research Opportunity	An available position, project, program, course, or other mechanism through which a student may engage in research.	An opportunity exists before or independent of a student's participation.
Research Experience	The activities, responsibilities, interactions, and learning associated with a student's actual participation in research.	Do not use interchangeably with research opportunity.
Research Project	A defined scholarly, scientific, or creative investigation organized around a question, problem, purpose, or objective.	A project may include one or multiple undergraduate researchers.
Research Program	An organized structure supporting one or more undergraduate research experiences with defined participation requirements, activities, supports, or outcomes.	Use for organized initiatives rather than individual projects.
Research Course	A credit-bearing course used to structure or formally document undergraduate research participation.	Research credit should not automatically be treated as evidence of a particular competency.
Independent Research	Research in which a student assumes substantive intellectual responsibility for the work under appropriate mentorship.	Independent does not mean unmentored.
Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)	An undergraduate research experience embedded within a course in which students engage in authentic inquiry as part of the curriculum.	Distinguish from individualized independent research credit.
Co-Curricular Research Experience	A structured undergraduate research experience occurring outside the requirements of a formal course.	May be paid, unpaid, program-based, or otherwise institutionally supported.
Summer Research Experience	An undergraduate research experience organized primarily during the summer term, often involving concentrated participation.	Use as a timing or program descriptor rather than a distinct form of research.

Roles

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Undergraduate Researcher	An undergraduate student actively engaged in an undergraduate research experience.	Preferred general student designation.
Prospective Undergraduate Researcher	An undergraduate exploring or preparing to enter research but not yet actively engaged in a research experience.	Useful for describing students served through entry-level programming and advising.
Research Mentor	A person who provides substantive guidance to an undergraduate researcher in the conduct of research and the researcher's development.	Broad mentoring term; the mentor's role may vary according to context.
Faculty Advisor	A faculty member with formal responsibility for guiding a student's disciplinary research within a program or experience.	Use when formal faculty oversight or disciplinary mentorship is intended.
Program Coordinator	A person responsible for the administrative or programmatic coordination of a structured undergraduate research experience.	Do not equate administrative coordination with disciplinary mentorship.
Peer Mentor	An undergraduate with relevant experience who supports another student's exploration, preparation, or navigation of undergraduate research.	Peer mentoring complements rather than replaces research mentorship.
Research Team	The individuals who collaboratively contribute to a research project or research environment.	May include individuals with different roles, levels of expertise, and responsibility.

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Research Mentoring	A developmental relationship through which a more experienced researcher supports an undergraduate's disciplinary learning, professional development, independence, and participation in research.	Use as the broad term for developmental mentorship within research.
Disciplinary Mentorship	Guidance concerning research questions, methods, evidence, disciplinary conventions, interpretation, scholarship, and communication.	Distinguish specialized disciplinary guidance from general research preparation.
Mentoring Expectations	Explicit expectations for responsibilities, communication, feedback, meetings, timelines, development, and independence.	Should be established early and revisited as the experience develops.
Mentoring Agreement	A documented shared understanding of expectations, responsibilities, communication, and working practices within the mentoring relationship.	A developmental tool rather than a substitute for institutional requirements.
Feedback	Information provided to support improvement in a student's thinking, methods, scholarly work, communication, or professional development.	Effective mentoring includes timely, developmentally appropriate feedback.
Student Ownership	The degree to which an undergraduate assumes intellectual responsibility, decision-making, and accountability for research.	Expected to increase as the student develops.

Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Research Knowledge	What a student understands about research, scholarly or creative inquiry, and relevant disciplinary practices.	Knowledge alone does not demonstrate the ability to apply it.
Research Skill	A learned ability used in conducting, managing, interpreting, or communicating research.	Examples may include literature searching, methodological practice, analysis, interpretation, scholarly writing, and presentation.
Transferable Skill	A skill developed in one context that can be applied in other academic, professional, civic, or personal contexts.	Examples include communication, critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, and project management.
Competency	The demonstrated ability to integrate and apply relevant knowledge, skills, and behaviors effectively in context.	Do not use competency as a synonym for exposure to or practice of a skill.

Career Readiness

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Career Readiness	Preparation to recognize, articulate, translate, and apply knowledge, skills, and experiences in professional, graduate, or other post-baccalaureate contexts.	Do not use as an automatic synonym for participation in undergraduate research.
Career-Readiness Competency	A demonstrated capability relevant to successful transition into and participation in professional environments.	When using a specific competency framework, identify the framework.
Skill Recognition	A student's ability to identify skills developed or practiced through an experience.	A precursor to effective articulation and translation.
Skill Articulation	A student's ability to explain a skill and provide evidence of its development or application.	Particularly relevant to résumés, interviews, applications, and professional conversations.
Skill Translation	A student's ability to connect knowledge or skills developed through research to another academic, professional, or community context.	Translation requires students to make the relevance of research learning explicit.

Research Responsibility and Integrity

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Responsible Research	Research conducted in accordance with relevant ethical, professional, disciplinary, institutional, and regulatory expectations.	Use as a broad developmental umbrella.
Research Integrity	Adherence to principles and practices that support honesty, accountability, rigor, transparency, and responsible scholarship.	Applicable across disciplines and research settings.
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)	Education and practices addressing responsible, ethical, and professional conduct in research.	Use RCR when referring specifically to established RCR education or requirements.
Research Compliance	Requirements governing particular research activities, participants, materials, information, facilities, funding, or methods.	Specialized requirements remain under the authority of the appropriate institutional units.
Required Training	Training that must be completed because of a student's role, research activities, environment, or applicable institutional requirements.	A readiness framework should direct students to applicable training rather than redefine specialized requirements.

Scholarly Products

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Research Product	A tangible scholarly or creative output resulting from undergraduate research.	Use broadly enough to include disciplinary differences in products and outputs.
Scholarly Communication	The communication of research processes, findings, interpretations, or creative contributions to appropriate audiences.	May take written, oral, visual, digital, creative, or performance-based forms.
Research Presentation	An oral, poster, exhibition, performance, demonstration, or other presentation through which research is communicated.	Use as the broad presentation category.
Research Poster	A visual scholarly communication format designed to summarize and facilitate discussion of research.	A specific form of research presentation.
Thesis	A formal scholarly work documenting a student's research, scholarly inquiry, or creative activity.	Use only where the experience or program formally designates the product as a thesis.
Publication	A scholarly or creative work formally disseminated through an appropriate publication venue or repository.	Do not treat publication as a universal requirement of a successful undergraduate research experience.
Undergraduate Research Journal	A publication dedicated substantially or primarily to scholarly or creative work produced by undergraduate students.	May serve both dissemination and student-development functions.

Assessment and Recognition

Key Terms

Term	Working Definition	Usage Guidance
Student Learning Outcome	A defined statement of what students should know, be able to do, or demonstrate as a result of an educational experience.	Outcomes should be defined before selecting assessment methods.
Assessment	The systematic collection and interpretation of evidence to determine the extent to which intended outcomes are achieved.	Do not use assessment as a synonym for student satisfaction or participation counts.
Direct Assessment	Assessment based on student work, performance, or other direct evidence of learning.	Use when the evidence demonstrates what a student can do or produce.
Indirect Assessment	Assessment based primarily on perceptions or reports of learning, including student self-assessment.	Useful evidence, but conceptually distinct from direct demonstration of learning.
Program Assessment	Systematic evaluation of whether a program's design, implementation, and outcomes are meeting stated objectives.	Distinguish program effectiveness from individual student learning assessment.
Documentation	Formal recording that participation, completion, or another specified activity occurred.	Documentation does not necessarily establish learning or competency.
Recognition	Formal or informal acknowledgment of participation, achievement, contribution, or accomplishment.	Specify what is being recognized.
Credential	Formal verification that defined criteria or requirements have been satisfied.	Distinguish a credential from simple participation recognition.
Distinction	A formally recognized designation associated with qualifying achievement or completion.	Reserve for formally established university or program distinctions.