Frequently Asked Questions
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Questions and Answers for Students
Questions and Answers for Faculty
Questions and Answers for Students
See the types of research projects students can do at Santa Fe College.
The Research and Creative Scholarly Projects Festival accepts several types of projects. Listed on this page are descriptions and resources for each of the types. Projects may be submitted individually or by a group.
Undergraduate research at Santa Fe can help for transfer to a university such as UF.Undergraduate research can also help students win scholarships such as The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education. Participation in symposiums can help to build academic skills and lead to recognition by instructor, other students and/or other SF faculty.
Most RUE participates are doing a poster that is related to a class assignment. Instructors of the class should choose only the best projects to participate in the RUE poster symposium. Use the poster template as a guide for creating a poster in your discipline. View winning posters from past RUE events to give you ideas. If you are not in a class but still want to participate, your first step is to find a faculty mentor (link). You and your mentor should decide on an appropriate project for research in your subject area.
You do not have to do this as part of a class. Your first step is to find a faculty mentor. You and your mentor should decide on an appropriate project for research in your subject area.
See successful projects from past RUE festivals.
Yes. The best entries for each category at the RUE symposium (Humanities& Social Sciences, Mathematics, Creative Projects & Oral Presentations) are awarded a first, second or third place prize. 1st - $100, 2nd - $75, 3rd - $50.
No, All subject areas can participate. Look at past projects to see what types of things have been done in your subject area.
You may use any faculty member at SF as a mentor. Choose an instructor that you’d like to work with and ask them about possibilities. If you do not know anyone in an area you’d like to do research in ask Claire Orenduff-Bartos or Ramona Miller-Ridlon for suggestions. You may also use UF faculty members that are willing. You can look for a list of faculty members and their research areas through the University of Florida homepage. Identify a few people of interest and go and talk with them about possibilities. A good undergraduate project will take you less than a month of information/data collection and an additional few weeks of analyzing, writing and poster creation. Projects of a longer scope can also be done but not necessary to participate in RUE. See a list of departments at University of Florida.
A good undergraduate project will take you less than a month of information/data collection and an additional few weeks of analyzing, writing and poster creation. Projects of a longer scope can also be done but not necessary to participate in RUE.
Choose an instructor that you’d like to work with and ask them about possibilities. If you do not know anyone in an area you’d like to do research in ask Claire Orenduff-Bartos or Ramona Miller-Ridlon for suggestions. You may also use UF faculty members that are willing. You can look for a list of faculty members and their research areas through the UF homepage. Identify a few people of interest and go and talk with them about possibilities. A good undergraduate project will take you less than a month of information/data collection and an additional few weeks of analyzing, writing and poster creation. Projects of a longer scope can also be done but not necessary to participate in RUE. See a list of departments at University of Florida.
You may UF faculty members that are willing. You can look for a list of faculty members and their research areas through the UF homepage. Identify a few people of interest and go and talk with them about possibilities. A good undergraduate project will take you less than a month of information/data collection and an additional few weeks of analyzing, writing and poster creation. Projects of a longer scope can also be done but not necessary to participate in RUE. See a list of departments at University of Florida.
Anything extra you can do in your first two years of college, including RUE, will increase your chances of getting into your program of choice at UF or another state institution. Participating in clubs, student government, going on a study abroad, participating in the honors program and/or getting an international certificate are some other things you can do to help increase your transfer possibilities.
No, you cannot receive formal credit for the time devoted to undergraduate research. If you participate in the RUE festival you will get a certificate of participation.
Questions and Answers for Faculty
Santa Fe College defines research as creativity-, discovery-, or inquiry-based learning that leads students to new scholarly insights or the creation of new artistic work, which is then effectively communicated back to their community. Research can be both/either: curriculum based or under the direction of a faculty researcher at SF or UF, collaborative or individual, or discipline based only or interdisciplinary.
See the types of research projects students can do at Santa Fe College.
One possibility is for interested students to expand on a project already assigned for class credit to include more information gathering, more data analysis, etc. This could be done for extra credit or extra points. Another possibility is to require all students in a class to do a project that practices the scientific method and includes data collection, statistical analysis, graphic presentation and written/ oral presentation. Students that do an especially good project can participate in the Research in Undergraduate Education Spring or Fall Festivals. A third possibility is to include them in your own research. Not many SF faculty actually do their own research, but if they are this is a perfect way to get students involved in learning research methods. One last note, at the RUE festivals, projects are judged based on the student assignment. Therefore, different types and levels of research can be judged together and equivalently.
No, since extra work would be necessary to develop and finalize the research objective, the instructor can propose such research to be done by interested students only.
Yes students can work on a project outside of a class but they cannot receive formal credit for this. If they participate in the RUE festival they will get a certificate of participation.
If the time constrains of a semester long is not enough to complete a research project, the students could continue with the research proposal outside of a class as long as they and the instructor can agree with meeting times. Some of the most successful research programs are developed outside specific class sessions with students that are motivated to continue with their research project.
SF administration encourages faculty involvement in mentoring undergraduate students with research. The SF Provost’s Research as Teaching (PRAT) Award will pay up to 500 dollars towards salary stipend and relevant conference registration fees and/or travel to involved faculty that apply for the award.
No. Santa Fe College does not have an ethics committee. The college does have an Institutional Review Board for faculty, but students the mentoring faculty member is responsible for determining ethics.
At Santa Fe College we are most interested in exposing undergraduate students to the scientific methods involved in doing research for the different areas of study that they are interested in. The research does not need to be original, but the students need to go through all the steps involved in research from literature research to presentation of the analyzed data (results obtained). A table with more detailed explanation of the type of undergraduate research projects is available here.
Yes, projects presented in past RUE festivals are available here. These samples are from projects students presented in the RUE festivals. Also available are resources such a templates for poster preparations here.
Faculty involvement should be that of a mentor. Each faculty has the responsibility to access how much guidance students need. It is the expectation of this program to prepare students to think critically about research subjects, find ways to answer specific hypothesis/objectives and implement the necessary methodology to obtain data. As students research progresses, one may anticipate that students will get more independent.
No, any research time offered by the faculty will not be considered instructional credit hour. Instructor can apply, however, to receive the SF Provost’s Research as Teaching (PRAT) Award which will pay up to 500 dollars towards salary stipend and relevant conference registration fees and/or travel to involved faculty that apply for the award.