Engaging Undergraduates in Publishable Research: Best Practices

Book excerpt: Although many articles and books have been written about conducting research with undergraduates, there is a dearth of research on the process of publishing with undergraduates. Thus, in this research topic, we assembled a collection of 43 articles from 98 researchers worldwide who are passionate about—and have had success in—publishing high quality peer-reviewed journal articles with undergraduates. The diverse articles represent a wide range of practices to help researchers publish with undergraduates, including structuring the curriculum to promote undergraduate research and publication, optimizing research experiences for undergraduates, training students in implementing advanced techniques, accessing special populations, or conducting research in off-campus settings, addressing institutional and career challenges for faculty, and increasing inclusion and diversity. Each article provides a unique and diverse perspective that nevertheless resonates across contexts and situations. We hope that the ideas, models, techniques, and practices in these articles will motivate and inspire readers to begin, continue, or rethink how they engage undergraduates in publishable research; we also hope to stimulate empirical and quantitative research on the effectiveness of these ideas, models, techniques, and practices.