Mentoring Syllabus

As mentioned in our general recommendations, having an official research assistant (RA) syllabus will help you structure and communicate your goals and expectations for this mentoring experience, as well as serve as an accountability tool you can keep referring back to. 

The document below is a suggested template for an RA syllabus. We broke down the main components into 1) a brief overview of research and training goals, 2) general timeline and communication logistics, 3) semester contents at a glance, and 4) an explicit statement of mutual expectations to be signed by both the mentor and the mentee (this can serve as a “contract” of sorts).

While you should try to work out most of the content of the syllabus prior to the RA’s start date, some details could be ironed out during the RA’s first couple of weeks (e.g., which skills-building workshops to offer based on interest and experience level) and more detailed schedules can be built and disseminated week to week.