Resources and References

Resources

Support the Research Process

• This brief Checklist for Supporting the Research Process summarizes the types of support mentors can provide mentees at different states of a research project (planning, executing, and disseminating).
• Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty — This free publication from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute offers guidance on developing scientific management skills such as staffing and leading a laboratory, getting funded, managing projects, and setting up collaborations.

Enhance Teaching Practices

• This handout provides example Questions for Conducting a Peer Review of Teaching.
• This Science Careers article by Stephen Cheung offers advice to new faculty on managing their teaching responsibilities.
• Several resources from the University of Minnesota Center for Educational Innovation are publicly available. These include online tutorial on topics such as designing smart lectures, applying active learning, and writing a teaching philosophy.
• Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty — This publication includes a chapter aimed at helping biomedical researchers improve their teaching, revise and design effective courses, incorporate active learning in their research labs, and assess learners.

Develop Career Management Skills

• This brief Checklist for Developing Career Management Skills summarizes the types of support mentors can provide mentees when they are searching for their first position and progressing in their chosen careers.
• The National Research Mentoring Network maintains a library of career development webinars and videos for creating a successful, satisfying career in science.
• Science magazine’s website offers career resources and an archive of articles on strategies for creating a successful, satisfying career in science.
• The National Postdoctoral Association’s website includes career planning and exploration resources for graduate students and fellows.
• Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty — This publication includes chapters on obtaining and negotiating a faculty position, understanding the university structure, and planning for tenure.

Identify Opportunities for Development

• The 12-item Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory (CRAI-12) can be used to assess the self-confidence of trainees in performing different aspects of clinical research. Robinson GF, Switzer GE, Cohen ED, et al. A shortened version of the Clinical Research Appraisal Inventory: CRAI-12. Acad Med. 2013;88(9):1340-5.
• myIDP is a web-based, career-planning tool for science PhD students and postdocs. It includes exercises to help users assess their skills, interests, and values.
• The following links can be explored to see how some institutions are using Individual Development Plans to help trainees assess their abilities and create a plan for filling gaps in their knowledge and skills.

  Stanford Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
  University of Minnesota
  University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Graduate Studies

Be an Advocate, Broker Opportunities

• This article from the journal Academic Medicine discusses the value of sponsorship, defined as public support by an influential person aimed at promoting another person’s talents and advancement. Mentors also act as sponsors when they are highly placed in an organization and can effectively advocate for their mentees. Travis EL, Doty L, Helitzer DL. Sponsorship: A path to the academic medicine c-suite for women faculty? Acad Med. 2013;88(10):1414-1417.

Promote Socialization

• This Science Careers article by Charles Stewart discusses some of the unwritten rules of graduate school that mentors can impart to their mentees through socialization.

Enhance Research Self-Efficacy

• The 2-page Self-Efficacy Toolkit offers tips for enhancing a mentee’s research self-efficacy. This resource was developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as part of a curriculum to train mentors to be more effective in this role.

Model Professional Behaviors and Attitudes

• A scientist’s guide to academic etiquette. Chronicle of Higher Education. November 11, 2009. http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Scientists-Guide-to/49080. Accessed November 10, 2017.
• Perlmutter DD. The etiquette of accepting a job offer. Chronicle of Higher Education. April 1, 2013. http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Etiquette-of-Accepting-a/138207/. Accessed November 10, 2017
• Online training materials that address ethical issues in publishing and research are available from the Elsevier Researcher Academy.

References

1. Kram KE. Mentoring at Work: Developmental Relationships in Organizational Life. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company; 1985.
2. Creswell JW. Concluding thoughts: Observing, promoting, evaluating, and reviewing research performance. In: Creswell JW, ed. Measuring Faculty Research Performance (Jossey-Bass higher education series). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1986:87-102.
3. Gardner SK. Contrasting the socialization experiences of doctoral students in high and low-competing departments: A qualitative analysis of disciplinary contexts at one institution. Journal of Higher Education. 2010;81(1):61-81.
4. Gardner SK. Fitting the mold of graduate school: A qualitative study of socialization in doctoral education. Innovative Higher Education. 2008;33:125-138.
5. Council of Graduate Schools. Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Policy, Numbers, Leadership, and Next Steps. Washington, DC; Council of Graduate Schools; 2004.
6. Cherry K. Self efficacy: Why Believing in yourself matters. https://www.verywell.com/what-is-self-efficacy-2795954. Updated June 12, 2017. Accessed November 11, 2017.
7. Adedokun OA, Bessenbacher AB, Parker LC, Kirkham LL, Burgess WD. Research skills and STEM undergraduate research students’ aspirations for research careers: Mediating effects of research self-efficacy. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 2013;50:940–951.
8. Byars-Winston AM, Estrada Y, Howard C, Davis D, Zalapa J. Influence of social cognitive and ethnic variables on academic goals of underrepresented students in science and engineering: A multiple-groups analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2010;57:205–18.
9. Lent RW, Brown SD, Larkin KC. Self-efficacy in the prediction of academic performance and perceived career options. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1986;33(3):265–269.
10. Lent RW, Lopez FG, Bieschke KJ. Mathematics self-efficacy: Sources and relation to science-based career choice. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1991;38(4):424–430.
11. Bandura A. Self-efficacy. In Ramachaudran VS. ed. Encyclopedia of Human Behavior. Vol 4. New York, New York: Academic Press; 1994:71-81.