TruScholars Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Application Deadline: Sunday, January 29, 2012, 11:59 PM

2012 TruScholars Program Application

To apply for the 2012 TruScholars Program:

1. Identify a Truman faculty member to serve as a research mentor.
2. Work with your research mentor to prepare the application materials.
3. Ask one Truman faculty or staff member to submit a letter of recommendation. This should not be your research mentor. See instructions below.
4. Assemble all the application materials to be uploaded including:

• contact information for the student
• contact information for the faculty research mentor
• email and name of recommendation letter writer
• PDF or Word copies of items 1 through 4 (below)

2012 TruScholars Program Application Materials

1. Project Description
Specifications: 4 pages max. including references, written by student and mentor

• A research question or line of inquiry with research goals clearly articulated
• The rationale for researching the question
• A methodology or research plan that is appropriate to the scope of the proposed project and to the 8-week program duration
• If the research involves human or animal subjects, a plan to acquire approval from the Institutional Review Board (http://irb.truman.edu/) or the IACUC before the start of the TruScholars Program
• References to relevant scholarly work
• See the FAQ for answers to formatting and organizational questions.

2. Educational Benefits Description
Specifications: 2 pages max., written by student

Students should describe what they will learn and how this opportunity will help them grow intellectually. Students may address this as a generally but also how this proposed work relates to their declared major or their intended career goals.

3. Mentoring Plan
Specifications: 2 pages max., written by mentor

Faculty members should address how they will mentor their student in research. This will include practical communication mechanisms (e.g. frequency of mentor-student meetings? how often? in person? email? skype?), how the mentor will train the student in research methods and how the mentor will assess the student's learning objectives.

4. Faculty Mentor Availability Form

Mentors should fill out the PDF form available at here and upload the completed form along with the application.

Note that this is a PDF form, with fields that should be filled out in the PDF file itself. The completed form can be saved in Acrobat Reader using the "Save As..." command in the file menu.

5. Letter of Recommendation

Students should arrange for one faculty or staff member to email a letter of recommendation to osr@truman.edu by the application deadline with the subject: "TruScholars Letter of Recommendation for xxx", where xxx is the applicant.

The letter writer may not be the student's research mentor. It is prudent to give letter writers at least 2 weeks lead time.

Important: Letter should address the student’s maturity, motivation, and potential to benefit from the experience.

6. Student Transcript

The Office of Student Research will obtain the transcript from the Registrar's Office; there is no need to submit a transcript with your application.

2012 TruScholars Program Application

Application Submission Issues

If you wish to update your application with new information, you must submit an entirely new application via the online application form. Only the last application submitted will be considered; any earlier applications will be discarded.

Report any problems with or direct questions about the application process to the Office of Student Research at osr@truman.edu, or use the feedback form.