Everyone has a supervsior but me

November 2, 2009 4:36 PM

How to find a research supervisor?

I've looked through a lot of previous askMe's but there don't seem to be any covering this. I am a little over one year into my MA and I have about a month to get all my stuff together for a major research project. It's not even a thesis, just a paper, and I'm not planning on going on to do a PhD, so it should be more or less no big deal... but I seem stuck. Mostly, at the moment I'm lacking a supervisor which would probably help me refine my research proposal. I haven't had great relationships with any of the professors from my courses - not bad, but I'm not really any good at the sort of academic networking and chitchat that seem to go into establishing this sort of thing. So, I guess my question is, outside of classes (which I'm pretty much done with at this point) how do you approach people re: supervising?

FWIW, I'm in a large interdisciplinary grad program in the humanities. Most students I know found a supervisor (seemingly) ages ago.

posted by anonymous to education (5 comments total)

I know this is going to sound obvious, but do you have a topic yet? When I was seeking a supervisor, I talked to our graduate coordinator, who pointed me toward people in our department who were doing related research.
posted by futureisunwritten at 4:49 PM on November 2

IANYS, but I have supervised multiple MA theses, and I am a graduate coordinator.

1. Make sure that you can clearly articulate the core idea(s) of your research project. It doesn't matter if you change them later (that's inevitable)--just make sure that you've got something concrete to discuss.
2. Track down the faculty who specialize in your field and who will be sympathetic to your approach. (As futureisunwritten points out, if you don't know, ask the coordinator.) Because this isn't a doctoral dissertation, some professors will be flexible about the latter; however, it's best to avoid as many methodological clashes as you can. Don't approach somebody out of your field--they'll just say no. Ideally, you should choose someone with whom you've taken a class, because the professor will be familiar with your writing and research skills.
3. Remember that professors get asked to do this sort of thing all the time--in fact, it's very likely in their contract somewhere.
4. Send an e-mail that briefly and clearly lays out your project; request a one-on-one meeting to discuss the project further, if the professor would be amenable.
5. At the meeting, be able to explain what you're doing and what you've done. If you've drafted a proposal (even if it needs more work), say so, and bring it along. Show some familiarity with the rules and regulations for this project. If you've got a timetable, that's also helpful.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:53 PM on November 2

I am not in graduate school, but when I had to find supervisors for a project in undergrad I made a list of who had done work similar to mine or in related fields, conceived a statement relating my work to theirs and the responsibilities they would have (brief for email and longer for the in-person meeting -- I didn't necessarily write it all down, but had it ready just in case), and asked. I emailed first to introduce myself and frame the request, and see if they had a time when we could meet. I knew one from a class and so just went to their office and asked; another I knew not at all; and another I had met but did not know well. If one of them had declined, I would have asked if they knew of anyone else or had general advice on finding a supervisor. I started relatively late, too, but my first advisor said yes and it went quickly from there.

For other projects, I spoke with my general advisor about what I was doing, and she gave me names of people who could help, and even contacted some of them (small school).

Since this is just a small project, I don't think you need to worry a lot about getting the exactly right person. It could be a good chance to get to know one of these faculty members better and find out whether or not you would work well together in the future. Re: networking and chitchat, if you are friendly, have an interesting project, and are ready to work, I don't think you need to try to charm the supervisor. However, I am not in academia.

So my steps are: 1) Know what you are doing. 2) Know what you are asking the potential supervisor and why. 3) Ask. 4) If the answer is no, ask them if they have any tips for finding a supervisor (your question above) or if they know of anyone else.

I don't know if this is correct for your context; maybe someone else can verify.
posted by ramenopres at 5:07 PM on November 2 [1 favorite]

I'm currently a grad student, and I also came to my adviser late so I can feel what you're going through. I chose mine based on his ability to teach me stuff (not the best reason), but it's different for everyone. Regarding your case, here's my bottom-up perspective:

You know what you know, and you may know what you're interested in researching, but do you know what your professors are interested in researching? The likely reason you're not good at the academic chit-chat has less to do with you not relating to the professors and more to do with you not knowing what they are interested in. Check out their published works, and them ask them questions. Seriously, professors love to talk about what they do. If they didn't, they wouldn't have become professors in the first place. What you need to do is find a professor whose interests coincide with yours and then approach them about being a research supervisor. It's seriously as easy as that. Most programs insist that faculty be ready and willing to take on supervisor positions for the graduate students, especially when the faculty incur no financial burden due to said graduate students so you shouldn't feel awkward about approaching them at all.

I'd recommend either forming a project outline to present or at least find some common area of interest with a professor and approach them about doing a research paper focusing on that area. I should be clear that the latter course is acceptable, but far from preferred. Researching the literature and creating an interesting question on your own is an important part of a graduate education and even if you do a completely different project than the one you propose to the faculty, the experience is worthwhile and, considering how much overlap there generally is in academic fields, will probably make completing your actual project easier.
posted by scrutiny at 5:26 PM on November 2

I haven't had great relationships with any of the professors from my courses - not bad, but I'm not really any good at the sort of academic networking and chitchat that seem to go into establishing this sort of thing.

My experience as a grad student, at least in my field, is that professors are unlikely to make the first move on this sort of thing, but very likely to be receptive if you do. If nobody has asked to be your advisor, that doesn't mean you're Doing It Wrong or failing at networking — it just means they're waiting for you to declare an interest.

Look at it from the prof's point of view. An enthusiastic, inspired student is great; an unenthusiastic, undermotivated one is a pain in the ass. They're not gonna try to recruit you to their project or research area until they know it's something that inspires and motivates you.

So let them know! Just ask flat-out: "Hey, I'm working on such-and-such. Do you have any advice?" And if that conversation goes well, ask the next question: "Would you be willing to be my advisor for this project?" (And then if the answer is no: "Who else should I ask?" — but like scrutiny says, if it's a small project and you don't need any of their funding, odds are they won't say no unless they're really overworked or convinced you'd make a bad match, and if either of those is true you didn't want to work with them anyway.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:25 PM on November 2