Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for undergraduate research in Religious Studies. I\u2019m pretty sure it is the first book which tackles the idea of directed undergrad research specifically in the field of religious studies. Interestingly, they drew on earlier efforts to design useful undergraduate research programs, specifically the \u201capprenticeship model of education\u201d first defined \u00a0in the field of chemistry (3). But Religious Studies isn\u2019t a hard science, so there\u2019s plenty of room for disagreement about how an apprenticeship model should work.<\/p>\nThe main objective, according to the authors, is to help certain undergrads conduct a specific inquiry or investigation which makes \u201can original intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline\u201d (6). Needless to say, they had difficulty defining exactly what might constitute such a contribution! Part II of the book examines a few ways undergraduates might contribute by exploring archival material, doing fieldwork (ethnography, etc.) and working with texts.<\/p>\n
But Part I is what really caught my attention. It consists of several essays regarding two points of criteria crucial for their model of undergrad research: \u201cselectivity\u201d and \u201ccollaboration.\u201d Regarding the former, they believe an undergrad research project \u201cis intended for those students with a certain curiosity and capability\u201d (7-8). Regarding the latter, faculty and student \u201cwork together\u201d in a \u201cunique relationship,\u201d a \u201ccollegial relationship,\u201d toward a coauthored, hopefully published, product (8). Several essays explore the ways such projects can help students, and acknowledge obstacles which stand in the way of such an idealized picture.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m interested to hear from people currently working in the academy regarding the feasibility of successful collaboration with undergraduates. The book\u2019s contributors recognize institutional, financial, and temporal considerations which stand in the way of such projects, and they also talk about the ways many undergraduates lack sufficient ground knowledge in order to formulate appropriate questions for research to begin with. Despite these and other problems, they see Undergraduate Research as an important way to prepare students for graduate work. My undergraduate work was in mass communications, and my professors all had large classes and many responsibilities. I don\u2019t know how possible it would have been for any of them to take a few students aside for a specific research project, and I don\u2019t know how they would successfully identify people who would benefit from such attention. I\u00a0benefited\u00a0from a few part-time mentors who responded to emails or spent some time on the phone with me, but I didn\u2019t have the close attention that this book prescribes.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that the book has some useful ideas for professors teaching undergraduates in Religious Studies. It includes a \u201cWorking Statement on Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u201d and a sample \u201cLearning Contract\u201d which professors might use on specific research projects with students to set deadlines, goals, and expectations. It seems to me that the two biggest obstacles to such research projects, aside from finding students ready to engage, are time and money.<\/p>\n
___________________________<\/p>\n
Bernadette McNary-Zak and Rebecca Todd Peters, ed.,\u00a0Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies,\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 193 pages. ISBN13: 9780199732869.
\n___________________________<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for undergraduate research in Religious Studies. I\u2019m pretty sure it is the first book which tackles the idea of directed undergrad research specifically in the field of religious studies. Interestingly, they drew on earlier efforts to design […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
"Train up a child in the way s\/he should go": a book on undergrad research in religious studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Train up a child in the way s\/he should go": a book on undergrad research in religious studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith-Promoting Rumor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-07T01:29:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i863.photobucket.com\/albums\/ab192\/lifeongoldplates\/51ipnlqa7ZL.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bhodges\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"bhodges\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Train up a child in the way s\/he should go\\\": a book on undergrad research in religious studies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-07T01:29:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-07T01:29:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#\/schema\/person\/27b84f4bde81e6fe00bf58182ec13ee2\"},\"description\":\"Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Train up a child in the way s\/he should go”: a book on undergrad research in religious studies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/\",\"name\":\"Faith-Promoting Rumor\",\"description\":\"Exploring Mormon Thought, Culture, and Texts\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#\/schema\/person\/27b84f4bde81e6fe00bf58182ec13ee2\",\"name\":\"bhodges\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/author\/bhodges\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Train up a child in the way s\/he should go\": a book on undergrad research in religious studies","description":"Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Train up a child in the way s\/he should go\": a book on undergrad research in religious studies","og_description":"Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/","og_site_name":"Faith-Promoting Rumor","article_published_time":"2011-11-07T01:29:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i863.photobucket.com\/albums\/ab192\/lifeongoldplates\/51ipnlqa7ZL.jpg"}],"author":"bhodges","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"bhodges","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/","name":"\"Train up a child in the way s\/he should go\": a book on undergrad research in religious studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-11-07T01:29:03+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-07T01:29:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#\/schema\/person\/27b84f4bde81e6fe00bf58182ec13ee2"},"description":"Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies\u00a0is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/2011\/11\/train-up-a-child-in-the-way-she-should-go-a-book-on-undergrad-research-in-religious-studies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Train up a child in the way s\/he should go”: a book on undergrad research in religious studies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/","name":"Faith-Promoting Rumor","description":"Exploring Mormon Thought, Culture, and Texts","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/#\/schema\/person\/27b84f4bde81e6fe00bf58182ec13ee2","name":"bhodges","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/author\/bhodges\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5288\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithpromotingrumor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i863.photobucket.com\/albums\/ab192\/lifeongoldplates\/51ipnlqa7ZL.jpg\")
<\/a><\/em>Teaching Undergraduate Research in Religious Studies<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is a\u00a0collection of essays from sixteen faculty members trying to formulate better approaches for undergraduate research in Religious Studies. I\u2019m pretty sure it is the first book which tackles the idea of directed undergrad research specifically in the field of religious studies. Interestingly, they drew on earlier efforts to design useful undergraduate research programs, specifically the \u201capprenticeship model of education\u201d first defined \u00a0in the field of chemistry (3). But Religious Studies isn\u2019t a hard science, so there\u2019s plenty of room for disagreement about how an apprenticeship model should work.<\/p>\n