Having read the previous sections (link) and chosen a professor making a good first impression is key. A good idea is to approach your professor late in the spring semester of the summer before you plan to work with them. If you currently have the professor in class, I would recommend approaching them after class with a 1 minute elevator pitch. The below is a script you can use
Hi Dr. X do you have a minute for a question? (if yes) I wanted to talk to you about potentially doing an independent study with you. I’m interested in working on a project related to [example] (e.g. schooling in Ghana, health care in West Virginia, or fair trade coffee and farmer income). I know you teach [Y], (related class) and I looked at your CV and see you do work on [Z]. Would you potentially be open to talking about this more? (if yes) I can send you an e-mail to schedule a time to meet [of if you are both free then meeting right then can be good too]
You can use the same script for e-mail if you don’t have the professor in class. Here is an example e-mail that I would love to receive:
Dear Dr. Gitter,
I’m a junior Economics major at Towson and I wanted to meet with you about potentially working with you on an independent research project. I’m interested in working on women’s labor force participation in Afghanistan. I studied related topics in my development and labor classes. My hope is to use this independent study as preparation for graduate school
Would you be available during your office hour 1-2 on Monday or Thursday afternoon?
Regards,
Chris Smith
Below I discuss each sentence and some additions you might want to make. In the first sentence I now know the student’s year, they are at my university, and what the e-mail is regarding. If you have taken a class with me, you might adjust the line to say. “I’m a junior Economics major at Towson and was in your Economic Development class last fall.” You could then make the “I wanted to meet ….” a separate sentence.
In the second sentence you indicate you have some idea of a topic. If you have two somewhat related ideas or want to be more general that is fine for the next sentence. The final sentence of the first paragraph tells me why it would be valuable to you to do the research.
Note I put a new paragraph to ask when they would be available to meet. This makes it really easy for the professor to see. Offering time during their office hour and alternative or two means it is much more likely your e-mail gets answered.
Once you meet with your professor (note you might need to be ready to talk to them if you approach them after class).
- Be prepared to be able to talk about why you are interested in the topic you propose for a couple a minutes.
- Know the course work you have that prepared you and talk about your ability to use a statistics program.
- Also have a good response to what you might want to do after graduation. It is fine to say you are considering graduate school or a job that uses data analysis.
- Ask your professor if they have done these types of projects before and how they set up their project.
- You might outline a timeline for the professor, will they be available over the summer. Ask if they will they be on campus next year?
If you contacted your professor and are using this blog as a resource, please tell your professor. It shows that you have done prep work, plus if this guide is useful to you it could be useful to other students and professors. If your professor has told you they are familiar with the guide, you should tell them you know about the brown m&ms. If you do not know about the brown m&ms story google Van Halen and brown m&ms. In short it was a way for the band to make sure someone had read carefully. If your professor gives you a strange look when you reference the brown m&ms explain the I put this paragraph in so students could signal they read the paper.
For the Professor:
First, be kind the students. They have worked up the courage to ask a professor to work with them. If you are not able to work with them, but still think the student would be a good fit for an independent study think about potential colleagues to recommend. If the student is not qualified to do undergraduate research point them to classes they need to take. Students with low GPA would likely benefit from focusing more on courses than individual study so steer them in that direction, though gently.
Second, read the is the student a good fit for research section (see section 2). In your first meeting with a student you need to get a sense of if they are someone you want to work closely with. At the end of the meeting if you think you are interested give the student the below assignment. Think of this as a cost you are imposing on them so separate out the less dedicated students. This will also help you evaluate their potential. Make sure to set a due date (this also gives you a test if the student is able to meet deadlines). Also talk with them a little about their research ideas and help them narrow down a little bit what they want to work on.
The assignment for Students:
In one page double space. Describe your qualifications to undertake an independent research study and your motivation for doing so. Describe one or two topics you would be interested in studying. Discuss a general timeline you envision including your availability during the summer and next academic year. You may add a second page if you have a specific research idea (ask your professor before doing this). The second page would describe the intended data set, the relationship of interest and a brief discussion of the related literature.
Evaluating the Assignment
As the professor when reading over the one or two page research proposal does it seem like the student will be able to dedicate a full year to the project. Does the project or topic sound interesting to you? Note in the assignment neither of my students had a data set in mind just general ideas around study violence against refugee and the negative effects against terrorism. In both cases I tracked down data sets and helped formalize the questions with the students.