Intro to Academic Research: Notes and Reflections from a Research Mentor
Last semester I served as a Research mentor in a mentorship program by Frontera Devs , and got the chance to mentor an undergraduate student one-on-one about academic research. At first I was a bit nervous because it was my first time doing something like that; I’d never formally taught or mentored anyone before, let alone “teach” about conducting research, but as soon as I read my mentee’s application (all mentees were asked to provide a brief description of what they wanted to learn during the program) all of my fears were replaced with excitement. My mentee, N, asked questions that many people, especially students, have about academic research: What is it? How do I get into it? What can I research? And where do I start? Reading her application took me back to when I first joined a research lab: Back when I was still figuring out what I wanted, I had no idea what I was getting into, and didn’t even know what to expect from my supervisor. At the time I was just looking to gain career ...