Path of inquiry: What books did you read and how did it relate to the research mentoring experience?
The book I read was entitled, On being a scientist: A guide to responsible conduct in research (National Academy of Sciences, 2009). This was a very interesting book and I believe applies to our research mentoring experience as we are in a helping, guiding position with other students regarding research. Knowing the ethical practices and professional standards is important as we are modeling and or informing others what a research experience and all that entails looks like. We are showing them process and resources around the discovery of information, how to tell if data is credible, what is “peer reviewed”, citations and doing them properly and avoiding plagiarism in their writing by following citation and writing standards. This book is geared towards students and those who are venturing for the first time into research. It was helpful for me to learn about ethics, and the case studies and discussion questions the book provides I think would be a great add on to this class.
Mentee update: Last night at 12:42 am I received an email from one of my mentees with her historical essay attached asking me to review it. I emailed her back to see when she needed it. I then sent a text to my third mentee to ask if she needed me to review anything for her. I had the opportunity to review all 3 papers once, earlier in the quarter, then I think last week or the week before one of my mentees asked me to look at her paper again so now I have reviewed papers for 2 out of 3 a second time; my 3rd mentee seems like she is doing fine since the first paper review. Honestly, part of texting my 3rd mentee was just to get an idea during a busy week, one more paper – a long 12-14 pager due at the end of the week, 3 more classes this week and one final next, I wanted to be able to anticipate any extra demands on my time so I could be resourced enough to get everything done. I have to confess this as my earlier texts and emails were a plea to engage in their process and get some real mentoring work done. I don’t anticipate there will be any more needs before the end of the quarter. I am thankful I was able to have hands on experiences and with the class discussions and blogs; I feel like I gained even more throughout the quarter through our collective dialogues.
Final thoughts: Such a great class! I learned so much and loved being in collaboration with all of you. My first “real” service learning (Lib 397) was very rewarding thanks to our community of learners. I enjoyed meeting you all, learning from everyone, the readings, the processes and sharing stories. Good luck on the rest of your quarter and have an awesome year. I hope to see you again sometime in the new year around campus.
Christina, thanks for your enthusiasm in this and other blog posts. You've got a lot of good ideas and thoughtful interaction with your classmates going on, which has been great to witness.
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