Reflections + Moving Forward

Looking back to my first post, “A Letter to My Future Self”, I can understand how much I have learned in the short span of 10 weeks as a Research Assistant at the Institute for Social Research. One example of my growth during this time is my new ability of navigating large-scale literature databases and completing a literature review using a PRISMA table and Covidence. At the beginning of the summer, I was worried about learning these methods to completing a literature review, but I now know how to do so and am comfortable completing the process individually.

I was able to use my already existing skills of collaboration and communication to help learn these new processes. Throughout the learning curve, I had the opportunity to meet with my personal mentor on many occasions and her mentor, a highly esteemed research professor, to learn more about my future career path. By reaching out to others in times of stress for me was helpful in my learning of these new processes that I will use in my future career as a professor.

This summer I was empowered by my amazing research mentor who helped me understand the imperative research of a literature review. When I was struggling with the work provided, my mentor would graciously step in and ask if I needed support. I also felt comfortable reaching out to my mentor in-person or by email when I was confused, ensuring that I completed high quality work on time.

My advice for future WAGSFP fellows is to utilize the resources from the UROP program and within the internship that you are assigned to. Many of my resources (mentors, food services, workspace), were able to aid me during my work to ensure that I produced quality work that made a positive influence in the world. Ultimately, I am extremely grateful for the research opportunity that I was granted from the UROP WAGSFP fellowship. 🙂