Supporting Graduate Students in Becoming Productive Scholars

Sally Grapin, Montclair State University

Training graduate students in research is an important activity for many faculty members. Depending on their interests and career goals (e.g., securing an academic job), students may need to develop a record of scholarship. Supporting these students in achieving their research goals is important for ensuring the profession’s continued vitality. Moreover, in many cases, helping students enhance their productivity can lead to greater productivity for mentors as well.

This blog post describes potential considerations and strategies for supporting students in becoming productive scholars. Notably, the appropriateness of these strategies depends on students’ individual goals, personal needs, and institutional contexts. Nevertheless, we hope that faculty will find these tips helpful for supporting their graduate students in building the foundations of a productive research program.

When possible, hit the ground running with research early. Whether students are pursuing doctoral or specialist training, their time in graduate school passes quickly. Research can be a longwinded process, especially when starting with project conceptualization, moving through institutional review board approval, research assistant training, data collection, analysis, and finally, manuscript writing. The peer review process also can be lengthy when manuscripts undergo multiple rounds of revision. Encouraging students to hit the ground running is ideal, as it gives them opportunities to participate in as many stages of the research process as possible.

Encourage students to use course assignments wisely. Particularly in their first few years of a graduate program, students spend a significant amount of time completing coursework. This can sometimes make research involvement challenging, so encouraging students to overlap research and course activities to the greatest extent possible can be helpful. For instance, when completing assignments in methods and data analysis courses, students may wish to use publishable data if permitted by the instructor. Additionally, when asked to select topics for presentations and papers, they may choose to align them with topics they are planning to explore in their own research. Coordinating research and course activities can go a long way in supporting students’ involvement in research while also reducing the stress of balancing multiple program requirements.

Encourage students to take methodology and data analysis courses whenever possible. Methodology and data analysis coursework is extremely important for conducting research, and opportunities for professional development in these areas are often much more limited and/or costly outside of graduate programming. While there is some funding for training in specific methodologies and analytic approaches beyond graduate school (e.g., trainings funded by the Institute of Education Sciences [IES]), these opportunities can be competitive. Other venues for this training (e.g., stats camps) can be expensive in regard to tuition and travel/accommodation costs. Thus, taking advantage of methodology coursework in graduate school is important and equips students with critical tools for building their own research agendas. At times, students may be hesitant to enroll in demanding or difficult methods courses due to concerns about grades or managing program responsibilities. Nevertheless, when making decisions about elective coursework, they should have a clear plan for how they will obtain the methodological/analytic expertise they will need for their own research.

Encourage students to attend professional conferences and network. Connecting with other researchers and future colleagues can foster socialization to the profession and encourage students to identify potential research opportunities and partners. It also affords students opportunities to learn about other institutional environments and approaches to research beyond those represented at their own universities. When possible, faculty members should facilitate introductions for their students. Given the significant expense associated with conference travel, faculty should help students identify potential sources of funding to support attendance; they can also help students identify local and regional conferences for networking and presentations if attending national conferences is cost-prohibitive.

Encourage service to student editorial boards. A number of journals in school psychology and related fields have established student editorial boards whose members review manuscripts under the supervision of a more experienced scholar. Encouraging students to participate in this work can help them orient to the peer review process in general, which may be helpful as they build their own record of scholarship. It also allows students to observe how authors respond to reviewer feedback as well as how they frame strengths and limitations of their work.

Encourage applications for graduate student and early career funding. The graduate school and early career phases of one’s career are a unique time, as many funding and training opportunities are geared toward scholars in these early professional stages. Nearly all (if not all) national and international school psychology organizations offer research, travel, or scholarship awards for graduate students and/or early career professionals. Encourage students to utilize these funds while they are eligible, as seed funding outside of one’s university can become increasingly difficult to obtain beyond the early career stage. Click here for examples of awards offered through the SSSP.

Encourage students to branch out and collaborate with other faculty and scholars when feasible. While some students may collaborate only with their respective doctoral advisors, others may benefit from working with multiple mentors. Working with multiple mentors can expose students to different (potentially related) areas of research while providing multiple opportunities for them to contribute to publications and other scholarship. Working with multiple mentors may also afford students access to a wider range of collaborative networks, more diversified guidance on academic publishing, and opportunities to observe different styles of research supervision.

Help students learn the flow of research. Most research projects (particularly larger ones) are marathons and thus require long-term planning to sustain an active agenda. While some projects may be at a standstill (e.g., under review by funding agencies, institutional review boards, or academic journals) others may be in more active phases (e.g., participant recruitment, data analysis, and writing). Learning to manage multiple projects and research activities to maintain a steady pipeline is an important skill, particularly for pre-tenure faculty. Mentors should intentionally model and speak openly with students about their approach to managing multiple projects and research responsibilities.

Model resilience and provide support. Research can be a difficult process characterized by roadblocks, challenges, and rejection. Helping students understand that rejection is an inevitable part of grant applications and academic publishing may help them build resilience. Moreover, as noted above, the intensity of research projects ebbs and flows, and encouraging work-life balance through these fluctuations is critical for establishing a successful and sustainable career. Being transparent about your own approach to balancing personal and professional endeavors may be helpful to students as they find their own rhythm.

Importantly, research productivity is only one measure of scholarly success. Taking time to focus on becoming a thoughtful scholar, to do research well rather than expediently, and to focus on professional tasks that are personally and professionally meaningful is more important than striving for productivity in and of itself. Additionally, an excessive focus on productivity may create considerable stress for students. Ultimately, mentors should encourage students to thoughtfully and continually evaluate their professional priorities in planning short-term and long-term goals.