Program for Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE)
This guide is intended to support students participating in the Program for Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) program as well as their supervisors, at the University of Calgary..
Resources for Working with Undergraduates
- EBook: Engaging Undergraduates in Publishable Research: Best PracticesDownload ebook of best practices. 44 chapters. Published 2019.
"Although many articles and books have been written about conducting research with undergraduates, there is a dearth of research on the process of publishing with undergraduates. Thus, in this research topic, we assembled a collection of 43 articles from 98 researchers worldwide who are passionate about—and have had success in—publishing high quality peer-reviewed journal articles with undergraduates. The diverse articles represent a wide range of practices to help researchers publish with undergraduates, including structuring the curriculum to promote undergraduate research and publication, optimizing research experiences for undergraduates, training students in implementing advanced techniques, accessing special populations, or conducting research in off-campus settings, addressing institutional and career challenges for faculty, and increasing inclusion and diversity. Each article provides a unique and diverse perspective that nevertheless resonates across contexts and situations. We hope that the ideas, models, techniques, and practices in these articles will motivate and inspire readers to begin, continue, or rethink how they engage undergraduates in publishable research; we also hope to stimulate empirical and quantitative research on the effectiveness of these ideas, models, techniques, and practices." (p. 2)
- Article: Good undergraduate dissertation supervision: perspectives of supervisors and dissertation coordinators Roberts, L. D., & Seaman, K. (2018). Good undergraduate dissertation supervision: perspectives of supervisors and dissertation coordinators. International Journal for Academic Development, 23(1), 28-40. "There is a paucity of research, training, and material available to support supervisors of undergraduate dissertation students. This article explores what ‘good’ supervision might look like at this level. Interviews were conducted with eight new supervisors and six dissertation coordinators using a critical incident methodology. Thematic analysis of interview transcripts indicated that both supervisors (themes ‘directed and clear advice’ and ‘instilling confidence’) and students (themes ‘interest in topic’ and ‘ownership’) contributed to ‘good’ supervisory experiences (theme ‘evolving relationships’). Issues affecting this process were identified. Resources developed from these findings may be adapted by academic developers for supporting new dissertation supervisors."
- Article: Initial Suggestions for Supervising and Mentoring Undergraduate Research Assistants at Large Research Universities Whiteside, U., Pantelone, D. W., Hunter-Reel, D., Eland, J., Kleiber, B., & Larimer, M. (2007). Initial Suggestions for Supervising and Mentoring Undergraduate Research Assistants at Large Research Universities. International Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education, 19(3). Undergraduate students attending large research universities often have the opportunity to participate in the design, conduct, analysis, and dissemination of research initiated by faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. To date, guidelines for the conduct of this specific type of relationship – that of an academic researcher to an undergraduate research volunteer in a large team- based research laboratory – remain absent from the peer-reviewed education literature. The Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University recently called for further integration and depth of experience for undergraduates into the research process. Although not impossible, in order for large research universities to respond, it is necessary to act in a strategic and well-planned manner. Included are specific suggestions for success in facilitating this relationship within the context of a large, research-oriented university department.
- Article: Ten Salient Practices of Undergraduate Research Mentors: A Review of the Literature Shanahan, J. O., Ackley-Holbrook, E., Hall, E., Stewart, K., & Walkington, H. (2015). Ten Salient Practices of Undergraduate Research Mentors: A Review of the Literature. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 23(5), 359–376. "This paper identifies salient practices of faculty mentors of undergraduate research (UR) as indicated in the extensive literature of the past two decades on UR. The well-established benefits for students involved in UR are dependent, first and foremost, on high-quality mentoring. Mentorship is a defining feature of UR. As more and different types of colleges and universities strive to meet student demand for authentic scholarly experiences, it is imperative to identify what effective UR mentors do in order to ensure student engagement, quality enhancement, retention, and degree-completion. We offer an original analysis of the literature on UR mentoring in which we identify 10 significant "lessons learned," or evidence-based practices of effective UR mentors that apply broadly across disciplines, students, institutions, and mentoring approaches."
- Article: Tips for Undergraduate Research Supervisors Garcia, S. R. (2020). Tips for Undergraduate Research Supervisors. Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, 10(1), 337–346.
- Article: Understanding the role of the mentor in developing research competency among undergraduate researchers. Davis, S. N., & Jones, R. M. (2017). Understanding the role of the mentor in developing research competency among undergraduate researchers. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 25(4), 455-465. "Undergraduate research and creative activities are established high-impact practices that provide students with both advanced knowledge of their academic disciplines and the ability to apply that knowledge to creatively answer questions. At the center of these experiences, is the close relationship between a student researcher and a mentor. Using survey data from 69 recent undergraduate researchers at one university, we investigated the characteristics and impact of these mentor–mentee relationships. We found that active mentoring practices were a significant influence on how competent students perceived themselves as scholars. These practices were more influential than practical aspects of mentoring. Our findings reflect the complicated nature of mentoring in higher education and identify key characteristics of successful mentoring relationships. With greater understanding of this essential component of undergraduate research, we are equipped to make more informed decisions regarding faculty and administrative support for future undergraduate research and creative activities."
- Case: A Practical Guide to Working With Undergraduate Research Assistants "Working with undergraduate research assistants is an integral part of teaching and research at many academic institutions. While graduate training prepares researchers with a wide range of methodological skills to conduct empirical research, very little attention is given to how to utilize research assistants in this pursuit. Furthermore, there is little information in the extant literature detailing practices for selecting and managing these assets. As such, academics early in their careers come ill prepared to address the unique set of challenges that undergraduate research assistants present. This case relates to my PhD dissertation research examining the impact of legislative pay in the American states and focuses on my success and failure in hiring and managing a team of undergraduate research assistants for data collection purposes. It provides a set of best practices, whether working with one research assistant or multiple, intended to yield both a quality final product for the researcher and a quality mentoring experience for the students involved."
- Ebook: Supervising and Writing a Good Undergraduate Dissertation Download ebook for 21 days, or download specific chapters. Supervising and Writing a Good Undergraduate Dissertation, edited by Roisin Donnelly, et al., Bentham Science Publishers, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central. "This text is presented through a series of case studies from a wide variety of subject disciplines in the sciences and arts and is enlightened by research perspectives; it comprises of a focus on development needs for supervisors of undergraduate students, using updated information, modeling exercises and interaction in the form of a series of individual activities, along with a selection geared at programme team development in preparing supervisors for their role, choice key readings, and exploration of online resources. This eBook is intended as a guide for academic staff across various disciplines who are involved with dissertation supervision."
- Article: Supporting students during their undergraduate research projects using audio recordings. Voelkel, S., Mello, L. V., & Varga-Atkins, T. (2018). Supporting students during their undergraduate research projects using audio recordings. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 55(4), 433-440. "Undergraduate final year research projects are part of many degree programmes and help students enhance a variety of transferable skills. A challenge for supervisors is encouraging students to develop as independent learners, while simultaneously providing support and structure for a successful, timely completion. In this project, we trialled a student-centred supervision approach where all supervisory meetings were concluded by producing audio recordings of students summarising the discussion. The recordings were emailed to the students who were instructed to write and return a short reflection to the supervisor. Students found that the audio summaries ensured that they stayed engaged and focused during the meetings. The recordings helped them understand and remember the issues discussed and encouraged them to take ownership of their project. Willingness and ability to reflect, however, were patchy, indicating that students may need more training in the skills of reflection earlier on in their studies."
- Article: The final year project supervision in online distance learning: assessing students and faculty perceptions about communication tools. dos Santos, H. L., & Cechinel, C. (2019). The final year project supervision in online distance learning: assessing students and faculty perceptions about communication tools. Behaviour & Information Technology, 38(1), 65-84. "Communication in Online Distance Learning courses revolves around two distinct forms: synchronous and asynchronous. A lot of work has been already developed focused on better understanding the roles that each of these forms of communication plays in Distance Learning and to which extent they are sufficient to provide rich and in-depth interaction experience for students and professors. The present paper focuses on better understanding the perceptions of Online Distance Learning students and supervisors about communication tools available for them during the Final Year Project supervision (FYP). A total of 262 students and 62 professors were surveyed about their impressions related to three different aspects of communication during FYP distance supervision: preferences for one form of communication over the other (synchronous versus asynchronous), appropriateness of both forms of communication to different types of discussions, and the sufficiency of these forms of communication as the sole forms of communication in the FYP discipline. Among other things, results point out an explicit preference from students and supervisors for using the asynchronous form throughout the discipline (even though the synchronous form also received good ratings). Moreover, both forms of communication were more used by students and supervisors for the discussion of academic and important topics. At last, both students and supervisors consider distance supervision as efficient as face-to-face supervision, and less experienced students consider more important to have face-to-face meetings with their supervisors than more experienced students."
Subject Librarians
Encourage your student to contact their subject librarian for guidance. Your subject librarian can set up remote consultations via Zoom to ensure you have what you need. To find your librarian, you can use the subject drop-down from this link:
If you can’t find your librarian, you can also use this online form and we will connect with you.
- Last Updated: Jan 31, 2023 5:29 PM
- URL: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/PURE
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