Cynthia Prescott, Department of History, University of North Dakota
In his posting, “A Quick Review: Teaching What You Don’t Know,” Bill Caraher talked about challenges he faces teaching material he doesn’t know (or doesn’t know well) in undergraduate survey and introductory methods courses. That got me thinking about my responsibilities in directing graduate and undergraduate research projects. I regularly advise M.A. theses, and undergraduate capstone research projects, and also assign independent research projects in my upper-division undergraduate courses. With only ten full-time faculty in the history department, my colleagues and I are regularly called on to serve on graduate committees, or even direct theses, that lie far beyond our individual comfort zones of specialized expertise that we developed in graduate school. In my three years at UND, I have directed research on topics ranging from the 1680s to the 1980s, from the American Great Plains to Greece, and from military history to popular culture. Somehow my doctoral work on late-nineteenth-century gender ideology in the Willamette Valley of Oregon was supposed to prepare me to guide students in their individual explorations on all these topics, and more. On good days, this feels like a great opportunity to learn new things. On less good days, when my own research deadlines loom, I have piles of papers to grade, and my daughter’s teething keeps me up most of the night, I wonder why I should even pretend to care about student research projects that only seem to reduce my own scholarly productivity. And I begin to question why I bother to assign students research that they don’t want to do and I don’t want to grade.
I find that I have more questions than answers to offer about our proper role(s) as professors and advisors:
* How far afield from my specialization(s) can I reasonably advise students? At what point does my lack of knowledge hinder my ability to properly serve a particular student?
* Do I need to know a certain amount about their topic in order to direct a student’s research, and if so, how much? Or is my background in historical research methodology sufficient? Is the level of required expertise – if it exists – higher or lower for a master’s thesis (where the project is more complex, but the student should be better prepared to complete independent research) than for a sophomore’s term paper?
* How much reading do I need to do on each student’s chosen topic? Am I responsible for completing background research on the student’s topic to prepare to guide and assess their work? Or can I reasonably assume that the student has identified and dealt appropriately with all relevant sources?
* When I work with a student within my area of expertise, should I utilize that expertise to provide them with more guidance in narrowing their focus and identifying potential sources? Or does such guidance rob the student of valuable experience in formulating their topic and source base independently?
* Within a single class, does my greater level of preparation on some students’ individual research topics constitute an unfair advantage (in that I am better prepared to guide them) or disadvantage (because I am better prepared to critique their finished project)?
* Is it appropriate for students to select research advisors based on comfortable working relationships, rather than their research expertise?
* To what extent should the answers to the above questions vary depending on my academic discipline, the size of my department, and the type of institution (i.e. teaching- versus research-oriented) where I am working?
While the importance of instructional development has gained visibility within the academy in recent years, much of the attention at UND and elsewhere seems to have focused on improving pedagogy in introductory-level courses. Yet when it comes to directing our students’ independent research projects, my sense is that we tend to mimic our own experiences as graduate students. I think it is time for us to turn a more critical eye to the ways that we approach our advising and mentoring relationships with our more advanced students, and to try to answer questions such as these in ways that will better serve those students, and at the same time further our own development as scholars.
