I was wondering how exactly a student could get an internship helping a professor with research?
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hey there,
as with all things at university (and in life), there are two ways it can happen: you can go about it the official way, or you could just sort of fall into it.
1. the Official Serious Business way
you can get involved with a professor’s research in two main ways: through class work, or through work-study.
many departments offer research courses called 299’s as part of the Research Opportunity Program. these are research courses geared specifically towards second-year students.
299’s are a really cool opportunity because you get to do real research for credit; it’s class time and work experience all bundled together. two birds with one stone.
these courses tend to be for science students, so it’ll be trickier to find an opportunity as a humanities or social science student, but you can take a look at the courses available this year to get an idea of what’s out there. there are also similar courses for third and fourth year students (called 398/399s and 497/498/499s, respectively – take a look on the timetable to find out what departments are offering each year).
the second Official Way that you can get involved in research is by being a research assistant through the work-study program. loads of professors advertise RA positions through work-study, for both undergrads and graduate students. just take a look on the CLN for opportunities – they’re being uploaded every day now, and applications close in late september.
2. the sneaky back-door way
of course, doing things the proper way is all good and well, but sometimes we just fall into stuff without knowing quite how we got there.
sometimes, keeping your ears open is enough. get to know the professors you like. talk to them about their interests, their research. if you feel comfortable, let them know you’re excited about what they’re studying and ask if there’s a way for you to get involved. if you’re lucky, they might like you so much they’ll offer it to you – stranger things have happened.
i hope you get to do some snazzy annotated bibliographies.
cheers,
aska