Student Resources
We understand that reaching out to faculty members can be intimidating, so we have outlined the basic rules of email etiquette!
Biographical Sketches are a great tool to document an individual's qualifications, professional experience, and academic journey. Think of your BioSketch as a response to the question: “Tell me about yourself?”
VMock creates a centralized experience for students and provides continuous feedback to prepare their CVs and resumes
Writing and research consultants provide support with any type of writing project (class assignments, research papers, CVs/resumes, cover letters, job or scholarship applications, etc.) during any point in your writing process. We're excited to work with you on your next writing project!
Requesting a Letter of Recommendation
A letter of recommendation is a letter written on behalf of an applicant by someone who can vouch for that person's educational or professional performance. This can be used when interviewing to work in research labs, schools, or future jobs. Click here to learn more!
Research isn't linear! There are many different ways to get involved in research at OSU and we've laid out a few ways for you to get started.
Finding Faculty in your College
There are many faculty researchers working within OSU and some that share similar interests, this page will help direct you to who's doing what.
Interviewing to work in a Research Group
After choosing the faculty member you'd like to conduct research with, the next step is meeting with them to discuss joining their research group. Here you will find tips on how to construct emails, questions to ask, and more.
Maintaining organized and legible notes allows your research notebook to be a valuable resource to you and your research group. Click here to learn more about organizing notes, and note taking tips.
Eventually, there will come a time when you’ll have to leave a research group for various reasons. Here are some suggestions to consider prior to leaving a research position.
Oregon State University hosts two opportunities per year for students to present the research they have conducted. The Spring Poster Symposium occurs in-person in May where students will present on posters, while the Virtual Research Symposium occurs during Winter term where students will create a 3-10 minute presentation video to be posted on Canvas.
Students also have the opportunity to present their research at symposiums and conferences all over the world.
Preparing your Presentations
Maximizing your Conference Experience
Attending an in-person conference is an invaluable experience for professional and academic development. Click the link above to see more about strategic advice to help you successfully prepare for, participate in, and follow up after a conference.
An abstract is a brief summary of your research or creative project, usually about a paragraph long (250-350 words), and is written when you are ready to present your research or included in a thesis or research publication.
IN-PERSON
How to get your Poster Printed
VIRTUAL
Earn Money by Participating in Research Studies
Welcome to our research studies page, where anyone can discover and participate in research studies, and researchers can easily recruit participants. Participating in research studies can be a rewarding experience, allowing individuals to contribute to the cutting-edge research that happens at OSU and beyond. In addition, many studies offer compensation for participation. We invite you to browse our available studies and consider volunteering to participate in a research project today!
Explore a collection of student publications, including books, academic papers, journal articles, and blog posts. Access full texts via downloadable files or external links. We hope you find these resources helpful!
Publications from Faculty Research Partnerships
This is a list of publications that include undergraduate authors which have resulted from faculty research partnerships.
Additional Resources for Undergraduate Research Journal Submissions
Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR)
American Journal of Undergraduate Research (AJUR)
Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities
University of Nebraska- Lincoln Undergraduate Research Journals
Student Support
The ASC values collaborating with campus partners, believing that a unified campus effort can bring about the best opportunities for student success and engagement. We support our strategic planning and program delivery with local and national best practices applied by well-trained professionals committed to student success. We welcome students, staff, and faculty to stop by and learn more about our programs.
Engaging in research as an undergraduate can strengthen your CV, provide important connections for letters of recommendation, and increase your chances to obtain a research position once you graduate. This page is intended to help students leverage a research experience when applying for jobs or graduate programs.
LinkedIn Learning is an online educational platform that helps you discover and develop business, technology-related, and creative skills through expert-led course videos. With over 16,000 courses and personalized recommendations, you can discover, complete, and track courses related to your field and interests.
Bridge can be accessed under the Employee login and the required modules are:
- Environmental Health and Safety: OSU Laboratory Safety Training Program for students
- Student Wellbeing and Support: IT Security Program for Students
- Student Wellbeing and Support: Recognizing and Supporting Students in Distress (student-to-student)
- Information Technology & Security: Creating Secure Passwords
OSU students will use Bridge's Student Training site for trainings that are required for your OSU classes, such as lab safety.
The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) is an online training program made up of educational courses on a variety of topics relating to ethics and research. Maintaining good ethics while conducting research is a crucial part of maintaining the public's trust in research and may be included in a training requirement when joining research groups.
Need help navigating EmpCenter? Visit the EmpCenter training page for user guides and interactive training modules!
EmpCenter Overviews
EmpCenter Dashboard Overview - Classified Non-exempt, Classified Hourly, and Student/ Temp policy profiles
Policy Profile/Role Training
To find user guides and interactive training modules, select the link for your policy profile or role.
Video Tutorials:
Student FAQ's
Yes, many students who engage in undergraduate research are paid! However, whether you are paid (and the way in which you are paid) are specific to each research program and faculty mentor. Some organized undergraduate research programs give students one-time financial awards. Some faculty mentors formally hire students as OSU hourly employees. Some mentors expect that a student will volunteer on their research team for a certain amount of time before receiving pay to ensure the student is committed.
We recognize many students cannot afford to work without pay and encourage students to advocate for themselves and communicate with their faculty mentors about their needs. Attend drop-in advising hours if you’d like help navigating this conversation with your mentor!
If your mentor is unable to pay you, you could offer to work with your faculty mentor to apply for funding sources. You should also let your mentor know if you could be hired through the Federal Work-Study Program. Many faculty members are surprised to know that 75% of the student’s pay would be provided through Work-Study dollars, leaving the faculty mentor responsible for only 25% of the student’s pay. To learn more information about how to use Work-Study to fund undergraduate research visit the Federal Work-Study Information Page.
Yes! Doing undergraduate research in a discipline that is different from your academic major is a great way to explore career pathways you are curious about and learn about a new topic without having to change your major.
Lab meetings take different forms depending on how your mentor likes to structure them. In many cases, all available members of a research team (e.g. undergraduate researchers, graduate students, post-docs, faculty mentor) attend these meetings. They usually occur weekly. It is common for the attendees to go around the room and take turns updating each other on what they have been working on over the past week. These regular meetings serve as a space for everyone to communicate about the progress being made, to ask each other for feedback, and to inform the research team members about big updates (e.g. upcoming research presentations, safety trainings, dissertation defenses, etc.).
Research is for everyone! The wonderful thing about undergraduate research is that it is extremely versatile and flexible, allowing you to decide exactly when you want to get started. Some students start as early as their first term at OSU!
If the graduate program you’re applying for is a research-based program, then it’s very likely that previous experience in research will be expected. This may not be the case for all graduate programs, but having research experience can strengthen your CV, provide connections for letters of recommendation, and increase your chances to get a research position in graduate school.
Start exploring the types of research being done at OSU and think about how they align with your interests. Visiting resource fairs, events, workshops, and your professor’s office hours are all great options for networking and exploring the research happening within each college at OSU. You should also check out our list of organized undergraduate research programs to see if there are any you might be interested in applying for.
Find a system for organizing your responsibilities that works for you! One great way to organize meetings, courses, research hours, and deadlines is using your Google calendar. Block off chunks of time in your calendar for your research hours and meetings. Make sure to block off certain hours each day to get homework or projects done as well!
Your mentor should understand that coursework comes first. If coursework is getting stressful, reach out to your mentor, and explain the situation. Hopefully, you can work together to plan for when you will get caught up on the research tasks you’ve committed to completing. The most important thing is maintaining open communication with your mentor.
One of the most important aspects of a successful research experience is maintaining clear and open communication with your research mentor. It is important to ask questions if you are unsure about something and let your mentor know if something is on your mind.
You are also much more likely to be successful in research when you enjoy the work you are doing and are genuinely interested in the topic! Pick a topic you want to learn more about. If you find out you don't enjoy the topic, you can always try something else. Either way, it's a great learning experience!
Many faculty mentors do not expect undergraduates to have prior research experience when joining a new research team. Most of the faculty mentors we’ve talked with say they are simply looking for students who are self-motivated, hard-working, enthusiastic, positive, and are sincerely interested in the topic. They also appreciate it when students are easy to work with and eager to learn new things. You can be all of those things without having previous research experience!
You will likely connect with a mentor the same way that everyone else does! The only difference is that once you meet with a potential mentor, you will want to let them know that you are looking for an honors thesis project. That way, the mentor will know you are committed to a long-term project and they will be able to help you brainstorm ideas for a project that will be suitable for the honors thesis requirement.
If you aren’t able to join the research team you wanted, it is most likely because the mentor you reached out to does not have the available time or resources to mentor an additional student. Don’t get discouraged! You are building resilience and finding a mentor will be easier the second time! There are many amazing mentors at OSU. Reach out to someone new and visit us at our drop-in advising if you want support!
Important Things to Remember
When interacting with your mentor, it is important that you advocate for your needs. Do you feel that you're working too much or too little? Do you need to either start getting paid or find a different paid job? Is it a busy week and you need to focus on your studies? If you don't bring issues like these up, your mentor may not know something is bothering you. Stop by our drop-in advising hours to gain some tools to navigate these types of conversations.
Regardless of the field you're in, it's important to keep track of the work you've done. Having a record of your work will help you look back at the methods you used and remember the important thoughts and questions you had in the moment. Keeping a record of your work is also a great way to remember the new skills you've gained when updating your resume or CV!
Anyone at OSU can do research! It is not linear and there is no single way to do it. It can be conducted in many different types of fields and in many disciplines. If you are interested in conducting research, the Office of URSA will work to help you find a way to do it!