The Apprentice Researcher: Using Undergraduate Researchers' Personal Essays to Shape Instruction and Services

Abstract

Little is known about the intellectual journey of advanced undergraduates engaged in the research process. Moreover, few studies of this population of library users include students' personal essays as a point of analysis in their scholarly pursuits. To gain insights into the research trajectory of apprentice researchers at the University of Michigan, the Library examined the personal essays that students submitted for its inaugural undergraduate research award. These essays chronicled students' intellectual growth and development throughout the research process. Drawing on observations about the unique needs of these students, the authors analyze the implications for library instruction and services.

A Survey of Instructional Support for Undergraduate Research Programs

“…47 While well-documented and successful efforts of course-integrated instruction and embedded librarian models will continue to provide ample opportunities to work with faculty and students, high-impact educational practices open new doors for collaboration. For example, in partnering with writing and tutoring centers, instructional designers, campus information technology, media and visual resource centers, student services organizations, and even student groups, librarians may be able to insert information literacy into previously unexplored areas while taking inspiration from the experiential learning of undergraduate research.…”

Foregrounding the Research Log in Information Literacy Instruction

“…In addition, the forms taken by "research logs/research journals" can run a wide gamut: simple description, such as lists of keywords and tables of results (e.g., Bolner, Poirier, Welsh, & Pace, 2013); responses to guide questions (e.g., Hlavaty & Townsend, 2010;Lacy & Chen, 2013); worksheets (Carter, 2013); double-entry journals or twocolumn note-taking (e.g., Ballenger, 2015;Evering & Moorman, 2012); and more comprehensive reflective search narratives (e.g., Bonnet et al, 2013;Detmering & Johnson, 2012;Mackey, 2013;Tuttle & McKinzie, 2007). In physical form, research logs can be created as written text, paper or electronic; in blogs (Land & Meyer, 2010, p. 70) and ePortfolios (Jefferson & Long, 2008); as "think-alouds" or oral reflections (Frey, 2011, pp.…”

“…This review of the literature on the use of research logs in IL instruction yielded multiple citations to Kuhlthau's work, among them Bonnet et al (2013) writing on the use of undergraduate personal essays; Bowler (2010) on adolescent metacognition; Cahoy and Schroeder (2012) on affective learning in IL instruction; Deitering and Jameson (2008) on "information literacy portfolios;" Detmering and Johnson (2012) on "information literacy narratives;" Hepworth and Walton (2009) on inquiry-based learning; and Torras and Saetre (2008) on IL education. Willson (2012) used research logs analogous to Kuhlthau's to study one-shot IL instruction.…”

“…1). They make students conscious of their research process (Bonnet et al, 2013;Corbett, 2010;Detmering & Johnson, 2012;Gilchrist, 2012, p. 17;Hlavaty & Townsend, 2010;Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 147;Mackey, 2013, p. 23). In the words of Emmons (2013), research logs "make students mindful" of their research process (p. 44).…”

“…Other authors use a variety of metaphors from the material world to describe the effect of research logs: For example, research logs "shape the complex and sometimes chaotic realities of academic research into coherent stories" (Detmering & Johnson, 2012, p. 6); they "[structure] experience so that we can make sense of it" (Detmering & Johnson, 2012, p. 7); they "[map] the information landscape" (Hepworth & Walton, 2009, p. 154); they "concretize the intellectual work of the research process" (Torrell, 2010, p. 95). Another set of metaphors relates to shedding light on, to making visible: Bonnet et al (2013) examined students' "personal essays" which "provided insights into the nuts and bolts of students' research processes [and] illuminated their thoughts about the nature of engaging with and creating scholarship" (p. 38). Bowler (2010) wrote that "keeping a search journal helps to make the evolution of thinking explicit" (p. 40).…”