DEVELOPING STUDENTS AS RESEARCHERS A practical guide to getting undergraduate students to disseminate and publish their work Professor Mark Griffiths Psychology Division Nottingham Trent University March 2010 ALTC Conference

OVERVIEW OF SESSION Personal account of different ways that undergraduate work can be used for potential publication. How I get students to produce high quality work that can be disseminated to a wide range of outlets The impact of those publications for the student, the academic, and the university

BACKGROUND (1) Ever since I became a lecturer I have actively helped students to publish their work As a third year undergraduate, I was fortunate enough to get a number of papers published from my own third year project and presented at conferences This has probably shaped my own attitude towards undergraduate publishing.

BACKGROUND (2) Most likely work to get published is the final year empirical research project. My aim is always to get as many of my students published as possible. Getting published in other non-refereed publications can do much to build student confidence and spark their interest in publishing their research.

BACKGROUND (3) With guidance, students gain insight into the dissemination and publication process They often become more enthusiastic and inclined to pursue publication. A side benefit for supervisors and module leaders is that they often enjoy joint publication.

STUDENTS AS A RESOURCE Students are an amazing resource and can be incredibly scholarly. By their final year of undergraduate study, many of them are motivated and determined to succeed via their written and/or oral work. With a bit of encouragement and structure from us as lecturers, we have the chance to turn some of their work into published outputs helping students to develop as scholars and researchers.

WHAT HAVE I DONE (TO DATE)? Refereed papers as UG project supervisor (n=17) Refereed papers where colleague was UG project supervisor (n=8) Refereed papers where I was external advisor to non-NTU UG student (n=7) Non-refereed papers and articles (n=7) SPUR project student (n=1) Masters’ project supervisor (n=15 – 3 as second SV)

NOT JUST ABOUT REFEREED JOURNALS! Other sources of potential publications can utilise coursework. Some of my final year undergraduate modules allow students to design their own coursework with a view to wider dissemination (oral and/or written outputs) As I will show, such practices have led to my students developing as researchers, and have led to a number of publications in various leading journals.

THE INITIAL MEETING (1) Every year I sit down with my newly allocated third year project students and discuss the impending research process with them. I ask them to tell me what they think signifies the end of the research process. All of them basically respond with a variation on the phrases “the day I hand my project in” or “when I get my project mark back.”

THE INITIAL MEETING (2) I ask them again what they think signifies the end of the research process. For the more astute students – and possibly those who may end up doing better projects – the penny starts to drop. They start to say things like:

THE INITIAL MEETING (3) “Tell everyone I know what I have found” “Present the findings at a conference” “Try to get the paper published in a journal” “Ring up the The Sun” I then re-frame what they have said by pointing out that what they are really talking about is dissemination of their work.

THE INITIAL MEETING (4) I ask them what is the point of spending over half a year on one piece of work only for it to sit in a room gathering dust once it has been assessed? Admittedly, many students probably carry out their projects as a means to an end Some of my students take their research very seriously when I tell them I always have one student a year who manages to publish their project

THE INITIAL MEETING (5) I let them see a selection of previously published projects. For keener students this is often very motivating For a small minority the aim is no longer to get a high mark but becomes an effort to produce a publishable piece of work. Furthermore, it increases the likelihood they want to do a project in an area of my direct expertise

THE INITIAL MEETING (5) I show my students published work where the overall project didn’t get a good mark I even have data from 2:2 projects that after re-working were published! The only difference here is that the student usually got second (instead of first) authorship. This captures the interest of less confident students who realise that if I think their work has merit, I will help them in getting their work into print.

HELPFUL RESOURCES I also give my students access to resources on writing, e.g., ‘Get students to write with confidence’ I am also happy to send these to anyone here in the audience I have never had a student who was not proud to get their undergraduate work into print.

SOME EXAMPLES OF PUBLISHED STUDENT WORK (REFEREED PUBLICATIONS AS SUPERVISOR)

SOME EXAMPLES OF PUBLISHED STUDENT WORK (REFEREED PUBLICATIONS WITH COLLEAGUE AS SUPERVISOR)

SOME EXAMPLES OF PUBLISHED STUDENT WORK (REFEREED PUBLICATIONS WITH STUDENTS OUTSIDE OF NTU)

SOME EXAMPLES OF PUBLISHED STUDENT WORK (REFEREED PUBLICATIONS AS SUPERVISOR – 2ii WORK)

SOME EXAMPLES OF PUBLISHED STUDENT WORK (NON-REFEREED PUBLICATIONS)

POST-SUBMISSION (1) The publishing of student work is subject to all the problems of publishing more generally. No guarantee of publication, and even after many revisions the work can still be rejected. However, it is important for students to see the publication process in action.

POST-SUBMISSION (2) However, it is important for students to see the publication process in action. Submission, external peer review, referee’s comments, editorial decision, manuscript revisions, revised submissions, etc.

POST-SUBMISSION (3) Even if students are not published, the learning that takes place in process is inevitably valuable. Students are very trusting as to where their work could be published and we are often given ‘carte blanche’ to do what we want with their work. We owe it to our students to get the best possible result for them we can in the publication process.

ORAL DISSEMINATION (1) It is also worth noting that there is another kind of developmental activity to be encouraged among undergraduate students (i.e., getting students to present their work at national and international conferences). Most psychology students in the Psychology Division become adept at giving oral presentations as a lot of their work is assessed in this way.

ORAL DISSEMINATION (2) Over the years, many of my undergraduate students have presented their research at academic conferences. Not all of these necessarily lead to journal publication However, most students really value the experience and it again helps them develop scholarly skills.

NTU SPUR INITIATIVE NTU also operates Scholarship Projects for Undergraduate Researchers (SPUR) initiative Allows undergraduates at the end of their second year of studies to become a paid research assistant over the summer period before the start of their final year. Expectation is that they produce work that has the potential to be published based on the data collected by the student. Whole process is mutually beneficial for both student and supervisor(s).

CONCLUSIONS Getting undergraduate students published and to orally present their research findings can brings benefits to the student, the lecturer, and the university

To get one student a year published is an admirable goal and is something that (on average) I have achieved. Students are a valuable resource that can help when your own time for research is limited Hopefully, disseminating my story here may inspire others to do the same.