# I just hired my first research assistant! What next? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035 "2015-06-09T02:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/1 "2015-06-09T02:47:43Z")
Academics of the Dope, I need your help. I won a grant, allotted money for a research assistant, and just made my first hire. I’m really excited, but…it’s been a long time since I’ve worked for a professor, and I’m not sure what to do to make this a useful and pleasant experience for the student I just hired. The work I need done is pretty much just grunt work, and I wouldn’t need to give him much instruction in order to do it, but he seems interested in learning about my subdiscipline. So, I thought I’d spend the first half-day or so giving him some basic instruction in it and getting him to read through some of the standard reference guides. That way, he’d have context for the work he’s doing and be able to look up answers to some of the questions that might come up. But, I haven’t really thought this through, so please share your experiences and give your advice! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/2 "2015-06-09T03:30:41Z")
What \*kind \*of research assistant will he be? Humanities or a social science, or biology or a hard science? If he’s the type who’ll be doing searches for scholarly literature, please show him how to capture cites using Google Scholar. I do psychology related lit searches for our director a few times a year as she works on grants and I wish I’d known about it earlier because looking up articles is fun (YMMV), but listing the citations in MLA format is **tedious**. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/3 "2015-06-09T13:12:28Z")
Those pails aren’t going to fetch their own water. Oh, and keep him away from your blue pointy hat. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/4 "2015-06-09T13:31:07Z")
> [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](#): > > …I’m not sure what to do to make this a useful and pleasant experience for the student I just hired. If you figure it out, you’ll be the first professor in history to do so (or possibly just the first to try.) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/5 "2015-06-09T16:12:01Z")
Speaking as someone who had to write (and review performance in relation to) job descriptions, I’d say, have a clear idea of what you want this person to achieve for you, how you’re both going to know whether it is being achieved as you go along, and whether that suits any wider institutional constraints and requirements (e.g., seeing the mention of citations, make sure they know if your institution has a house style requirement on citations - that sort of thing). Agree what sort of proportion of time might be allowed for things that are more about their longer-term self-development: it sounds as though you’ve made a start on working out how that can be done and related to the job, but you need to make sure you’re not thinking more about suiting them than the job you got the money for. There’s nothing more problematic than a boss who’s trying to be considerate but only causes confusion over what someone’s expected to do, because in the long run it risks leaving everyone dissatisfied and discontented - the assistant, the boss, and whoever the boss is accountable to. I know, I did it myself once. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/6 "2015-06-09T18:01:58Z")
Grad student, paid undergrad, or paid worker with a BA/BS already? ---
**Author:** ![F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/7 "2015-06-09T23:02:24Z")
Just graduated this spring with a BA, but he’s still classified as a student worker. > [@elfkin477](#): > > What \*kind \*of research assistant will he be? Humanities or a social science, or biology or a hard science? If he’s the type who’ll be doing searches for scholarly literature, please show him how to capture cites using Google Scholar. I do psychology related lit searches for our director a few times a year as she works on grants and I wish I’d known about it earlier because looking up articles is fun (YMMV), but listing the citations in MLA format is **tedious**. Humanities/social science. Thanks for the tip! I love Google Scholar for citations. It’s kind of hit or miss in my field, and sometimes contains errors, but still, it’s usually faster than just doing the citation myself. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Speaking as someone who had to write (and review performance in relation to) job descriptions, I’d say, have a clear idea of what you want this person to achieve for you, how you’re both going to know whether it is being achieved as you go along, and whether that suits any wider institutional constraints and requirements (e.g., seeing the mention of citations, make sure they know if your institution has a house style requirement on citations - that sort of thing). > > Agree what sort of proportion of time might be allowed for things that are more about their longer-term self-development: it sounds as though you’ve made a start on working out how that can be done and related to the job, but you need to make sure you’re not thinking more about suiting them than the job you got the money for. There’s nothing more problematic than a boss who’s trying to be considerate but only causes confusion over what someone’s expected to do, because in the long run it risks leaving everyone dissatisfied and discontented - the assistant, the boss, and whoever the boss is accountable to. I know, I did it myself once. Thanks for the advice! After his first day on the job, I think I’ve come to a better understanding of how to set things up-- he’ll work on what I give him most of the day, but I can teach him over lunch, and give him a half-hour of articles to read here and there to break up the monotony. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/8 "2015-06-09T23:37:43Z")
I use Zotero to citations. It’s like EndNote, but free. You can import directly from Scholar, EBSCO, etc. I haven’t done it with MLA but it does APA fine so I can’t imagine why not. And can even import formats for obscure single-journal formats if they have the template. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/9 "2015-06-10T01:53:45Z")
You may want to compare the pay rate with the living wage in your area. If the pay rate is below that, you may want to consider ways to cut the RA some slack. ---
**Author:** ![F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@F.Pu-du-he-pa-as](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.Pu-du-he-pa-as)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/10 "2015-06-10T02:02:35Z")
Good thought. He’s working the maximum hours allowed (but the job is very part time), and I’m paying him the maximum allowable rate, so I think I’m doing the best I can on that front. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/11 "2015-06-10T04:35:42Z")
Never had a research assistant, but I did have several interns when I worked at a non-profit. There was some grunt work that just needed to be done, and they were lowest on the totem pole, so they did it. There was also some interesting stuff appropriate for their abilities, so they got some of that. Finally, I made a point of including them in practical training experiences–let them sit in on client interviews, let them go to court with me, that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2015, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-hired-my-first-research-assistant-what-next/722035/12 "2015-06-10T05:27:15Z")
I’ve never had an academic RA, but I was one in grad school, and I’ve mentored plenty of interns all of who took a job with us when possible. I enjoyed being an RA, so there. My question is, what are his goals? Is he registered as a grad student, or is this just a job? What are yours? If you are doing research, can you send him out to scare up some supporting material? He might need coaching on how to do it effectively. He can take notes on it - ditto. If he is going for a degree pretty soon you should assign him something to write. You’ll have to edit it of course, and be a co-author, but getting started would be helpful. I give my interns interesting projects to do - one who worked for someone else got grunt work, and though he came to my company he wasn’t interested in that group. I don’t blame him. I give them something they could put their name on, and make sure they get to present to our VP before they leave. So, when your RA is up to speed, see if he can do a departmental talk. It is a delicate balance between stuff you need to get done and stuff good for his intellectual growth, but the proper balance helps the RA work harder and happier.