“Faculty Expectations” Interviews
Information Sheet
Purpose
We are conducting research on undergraduates in order to understand what they really do when they write their research papers or complete their research assignments. Once we know this, we will be able to provide even better resources that we already do.
Background Information
We will be talking with students and studying them in several ways, many of which are detailed in the research statement in DocuShare. You can find this information in DocuShare/Projects/Undergraduate Research/Shared UG Project Information/Info about undergrad research project .
Preparation
Our first step is to talk to faculty members so that we have some idea of what they expect students to do. Do faculty members expect students to find only secondary sources, or are students supposed to find primary sources as well? How do they expect that students will find these resources? What is a good research paper, anyway?
It is these sorts of questions we hope to answer by conducting interviews with faculty members who are currently teaching courses in which students must complete research papers.
Conducting the Interviews
Here are the steps to take to conduct your interviews.
| · | Select one faculty member who has assigned a research paper this semester. (You may have to ask around to find one.) Note the number and name of the class and whether it is a lower- or upper-level class. | |
| · | Contact the faculty member in person or with an email message, as you prefer. We will send out an email that you may use if you like. Please do not give too much information to faculty before you begin the interview. For example, we get much better information when they do not know the questions before the interview begins. | |
| · | When you meet with the faculty member, first make sure that you put them at ease. Faculty members don’t know how other people teach and may not be fully confident in their own teaching approach. Assure them that you are not there to judge or compare – you really just want to learn what they are doing and what they expect of students. | |
| · | Take notes as the faculty member answers the questions, either by hand or on the computer. Go at a human pace – the faculty member can wait for a moment while you catch up. Write down as much detail as you can without getting a cramp. The details will give us a finer grained understanding of what people meant. | |
Reporting on Your Interviews
Transfer your notes using the reporting form in the DocuShare folder. Save your document as “Faculty Name UG Interview Notes.”
If You Need Help…
If you have any questions or want to talk about this before you plunge into it, ask Nancy, Ann, or Judi. It’s also great to talk with others on the team to see what is working for them. No one will be graded – relax and enjoy it!
Questions
| 1. | You are getting some research papers handed in within a few weeks. When you get these papers, what will you look for as the hallmarks of a good research paper? |
| 2. | How do you expect students in this class to find books and articles for the research paper? (Probe – materials given to them by professor? Expect students to find everything on their own? Expect students to seek out help from peers? Librarians? Others—who? |
| 3. | What is the most helpful thing that I or the librarians at the reference desk can be doing right now to help your students finish this paper? |
| 4. | Think about the research papers you got in some recent semester. What was the biggest obstacle to students writing successful research papers? (Probe: What about finding good books and articles – was that one of the major obstacles?) [If the answer to #4 has already come up in previous answers, you do not have to ask.] |
“Faculty Expectations” Interviews: Information Sheet
University of Rochester, River Campus Libraries
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