FAQ: "I need an advisor! What do I do?"

Answer:  Advisors (sometimes spelled as "advisers," both are correct) are advocates for students, both during and after their graduate educations. The Graduate Student Handbook offers the following job description:

“Your advisor or Major Professor helps you plan your course of study and monitors your progress in the program. Your advisor helps you choose courses, develop the topic of your master’s thesis (if you are writing a thesis—see the Graduate Student Handbook for more details) or prepare the reading list for your comprehensive examination (if you are taking a comprehensive examination—see the Graduate Student Handbook for more details). Your advisor should be knowledgeable about your area of interest and be someone with whom you can work productively and professionally. Talk to your advisor at least twice a semester about your progress. Your advisor also conducts your Academic Review.”

http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/history/graduate/upload/gradhandbk.pdf

 Although it may not seem very elevated, one of the essential parts of advising is the signing of forms. Being a graduate student involves securing many signatures, and the most important forms require the signature of an advisor, including the form that indicates that you have completed the requirements for your degree. More importantly, advisors write letters of recommendation for graduate students, which are essential when applying for jobs, fellowships, and scholarships. Without strong letters of recommendation, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain funding as a graduate student or an academic job.

FAQ: “Do I really need an advisor?”

Answer: Yes. Advisors are not optional. 

It is not possible to earn a graduate degree without an officially designated advisor. The earlier a student acquires an advisor, the better.

Given the essential nature of an advisor for a graduate student’s success, you might expect that universities would assign advisors automatically to students. But such is not the case. Part of the explanation may lie in tradition. For better or for worse, universities are archaic institutions that still rely on social practices that have become largely extinct in other workplaces. In a business context, clerks (“customer service providers”) provide services or products to customers in return for a fee. Customers who pay the fee are entitled to expect that the promised service or product is delivered in the manner advertised by the business.

The relationship between an advisor and an advisee, in contrast, is more similar to an apprenticeship—a once common institution that is now nearly extinct in our society, except in universities and some very specialized trades. Students who pay tuition to a university have a right to expect what the university promises, including access to courses and university facilities and the possibility of fulfilling requirements that can lead to an academic degree. Students also have the right to enroll in any course, provided that they have the necessary prerequisites and space is available in the class.

In contrast, the advisor/advisee relationship is one that is established through mutual consent. Graduate students must take the initiative to invite professors to be their advisors, and professors may or may not be able to oblige.  No given professor can be required to work as an advisor with any given student, and no student can be required to work as an advisee with any given professor. A student may decide not to work with a given advisor or to cease working with a given advisor. But students do not thereby have the right to be the advisees of whichever professor they please.

Whether an advisor and an advisee decide to work together depends on a number of different factors, the most important of which is mutual respect. As the Graduate Student Handbook puts it, “Your advisor should be knowledgeable about your area of interest and be someone with whom you can work productively and professionally.”  

FAQ: “How do I choose an advisor?”

Answer:  If you are a PhD student, you were assigned an advisor when you enrolled. If you are an MA student in the Public History specialization, your advisor is the coordinator of the Public History Program.

If you are not a PhD student or an MA student in the Public History specialization, you need to take it upon yourself to find an advisor.

The Graduate Student Handbook provides the following guidelines:

• “Select an advisor who publishes in the field of history you are most interested in and with whom you have a good collaborative relation.”
• “Select someone who is enthusiastic about your work and readily offers help.”
• "Approach someone you respect as a scholar/teacher.”

Remember that it is your responsibility as a student to take the initiative to find an advisor. The Department can urge you to find an advisor, and the Director of Graduate Studies can offer suggestions, but the Department cannot require a given professor to work with a given student, or vice versa.

The best source of information about professors will always be other graduate students. Web sites and CVs will give you the basic information you need to know about a professor’s areas of interest and achievements. But if you want to know about the personality of the professor, you should consult your fellow graduate students. If you are new to the program and don’t know whom to ask, you can ask the DGS for suggestions of names of students you might contact.

The most obvious candidates for advisors are the professors from whom you have already taken or are currently taking a course. If you find that you work well with a given professor, keep the professor in mind as a potential advisor. The best time to approach a professor in such circumstances is usually immediately after you have received your final grade in the course. The longer you wait, the more the professor’s recollection of you is likely to fade.

But do not limit yourself to professors from whom you have taken courses. Explore the departmental web site and consult other graduate students. Graduate students should not feel awkward in any way about approaching professors about the possibility of serving as advisors. All professors have had advisors themselves, and they are thoroughly familiar with the process. 

FAQ: “How do I approach a professor about the possibility of serving as an advisor?”

Answer: There is no single best way to approach a professor about the possibility of serving as your advisor. 

The answer varies depending on the personality of the professor and the student.

I recommend that you begin by writing an email or putting a letter in the mailbox of the professor. In that initial communication, you should introduce yourself briefly, describe your research interests, explain why you think that you would benefit from the advising of the professor in question, and conclude by requesting a meeting.

If you would like, the DGS can make an introduction, but the responsibility is yours to initiate the process.

Offer to share your curriculum vitae and graduate transcript in advance, as well as an example of your work—ideally, a research paper based on primary sources. If the professor does not wish to see this material advance, bring it with you to your appointment and offer it at that time.

If you are considering writing an MA thesis, you should be able to state the proposed topic of your thesis concisely (for example, “marketwomen in nineteenth-century Jamaica” or “the relationship between Progressive Republicans and Socialists in Wisconsin in the early twentieth century”) in your meeting with the potential advisor.  Be prepared to explain why the topic interests you and why you feel qualified to produce new historical knowledge about the topic.  Be ready to discuss possible primary sources and to explain how your work would engage with existing, relevant scholarship. Finally, be prepared to explain why you think your work on the topic could benefit from advising by the professor in question.

If you are considering a comprehensive exam, be prepared to suggest possible topics for reading lists. The Graduate Student Handbook provides the requirements for comprehensive exams.

Be prepared to be flexible. The topic of a thesis or comprehensive exam list is often the result of a compromise between the student’s interests and the professor’s expertise. When you have that conversation, be clear about what you want to do, but also be prepared to listen to the professor’s advice.  A professor can give you advice on matters such as how to frame a topic in ways that take advantage of available sources or intersect with current trends in scholarship.

Remember that “know-it-alls” rarely produce original research, and they are also very annoying to others. This is true of professors, and it is also true of graduate students.

Questions that a potential advisor may ask include the following:

• What primary sources exist for this topic?
• How would your work on this topic contribute to the field (colonial North America, modern Latin America, colonial Africa, etc.)?
• What are the relevant secondary sources?
• When do you intend to defend the thesis or take the comprehensive exam?
• Do you have the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake research on this topic?
• How did you become interested in this topic, and what interests you about the topic now?

Questions that a potential advisee might ask of a potential advisor include the following:

• Do you feel comfortable advising a thesis or comprehensive exam on this topic?
• Do you have an approaching sabbatical or other form of leave that might prevent you from serving from my advisor during my time as a graduate student?
• What are the names of your recent or current advisees?
• What are your expectations for advisees?

Once a professor agrees to be your advisor, you should both complete and seen the “Advisor Designation and Academic Review Form.” (See below.)

FAQ: “What If I have never taken a course with the professor?”

Answer: If you have not had an opportunity to take a course from a given professor, you can still ask the professor to be your advisor. Ask if you can make an appointment with the professor so that you can introduce yourself and discuss your interests. Offer to share your curriculum vitae (CV or résumé) or graduate transcript in advance, as well as an example of your work—ideally, a research paper based on primary sources.

Whether the professor will accept you as an advisee depends on the professor and her or his evaluation of the promise of your topic. Some professors will not work with any student who has not taken a course previously from them. If the professor says as much, consider asking the professor whether they could consider doing an independent study before making a decision.

FAQ: “How is the choice of an advisor relevant for my prospects as a candidate for a scholarship, future graduate study, or a job?”

Answer: When potential employers or admissions committees for graduate schools evaluate candidates with a BA,  they generally focus on the quality of the applicants’ grades, extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and the quality of the college or university where the applicants their degrees. Those criteria also matter to committees who are evaluating job or fellowship applicants with MA or a PhD. But in the relatively rarefied world of academe, the identity of the advisor can also carry a great deal of weight. Ultimately, what matters most to committees is the quality of an applicant’s work and teaching. But for better or for worse, a positive letter of recommendation from a prestigious and powerful advisor will often make a greater impression than an equally positive letter from a lesser known author.

FAQ: “When should I seek out an advisor?”

Answer: Even before you apply to graduate school, you should think carefully about potential advisors. The quality of advising is probably the most important criterion that a potential student should consider before enrolling in a graduate program.

Once you begin your graduate education, it is imperative that you find an advisor as soon as possible.

In the History Department, you should secure an advisor no later than the first semester after you have earned 9 credits toward completion of your degree, the deadline by which MA students are to complete their “academic reviews.” Most graduate students complete the review no later than the end of their third semester in the program.

FAQ: “What paperwork is required?”

Answer: Advisors and advisees are required to complete and sign an “Advisor Designation and Academic Review Form” and return it to the Director of Graduate Studies.  The form may be downloaded from the departmental web site:

http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/history/graduate/forms.cfm

FAQ: “Can I change advisors?”

Answer: Yes. The Graduate Student Handbook provides the following advice:

“As your interests become more focused and you progress through your program, you may find that you want to change advisors, which is not uncommon. If you want to change advisors, ask the faculty member you want to work with if he or she is willing to be your advisor Explain the reason for your request. If the faculty member agrees, tell the Director of Graduate Studies. You also need to let your old advisor know about the change.”


FAQ: "I feel like I have tried all the above, and I am losing hope."


Answer: Do not lose hope. The DGS will help you to find an answer. But do start by making a good faith effort on your own initiative. A big part of success in academe lies in being able to clarify your thoughts, confront your years, and stick up for your itself. You can do it!

Some Final Dos and Don’ts

Do be independent. It can be exhausting to advise a student who needs approval or validation at every single step of the process. A professor can offer you advice on important questions but, ultimately, you are responsible for making the crucial decisions for yourself.

Do be determined. It is discouraging to advise a graduate student who is easily discouraged.  Everyone can have a lousy day in the archives. The best historians pick themselves up and keep on trying or find a more productive research strategy.

Do be polite—and expect the same treatment in return. It should be superfluous to say this but, in this day and age, it never hurts to emphasize. If you are trying to convince a professor to be your advisor, it can only help to treat that person with the same degree of respect that you would demand for yourself.

Do not ask professors to work with you on topics that fall outside their areas of expertise. The departmental web site gives brief descriptions of each professor’s research and teaching interests as well as a list of recent publications. Professors vary somewhat in the range of topics that they are willing to advise. For better or worse, some have a very expansive idea of their capacities, while others have a narrower vision. When in doubt, you can always ask professors if they would be willing to advise a thesis or comprehensive exam on a particular topic. You are more likely to receive a positive response, however, if you first demonstrate some familiarity with the information about the professor that is readily available to you on the departmental web site.

Do not wait “until the last minute” to find an advisor. When professors are considering whether to take on a given student as an advisee, among the things they least want to hear is, “I picked you because the Department says I need an advisor now, and I couldn’t think of anyone else.”

Do not be wishy-washy. Until the 1960s, many graduate advisors determined the research topics of their advisees. Graduate students themselves often had little or no say in the matter. Fortunately, that time has passed, and the vast majority of graduate students have much more say in determining the nature of their research.

While this new state of affairs gives greater independence to graduate students, it also gives them greater responsibility. Students have a right to expect advice, but they cannot expect to have research topics plopped in their laps.

When potential advisees come to me and tell me that they cannot make up their minds about a research topic for a thesis, my response is to tell the students to go home and return when they have developed a topic. Students who cannot devise research topics on their own or who are not sufficiently interested in any single topic are probably better off taking a comprehensive exam, which addresses a broader array of topics.