Student Research Assistant Luo

*All student employment positions on campus are covered by a negotiated contract with the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW).

RESEARCH ASSISTANT : The student assists a faculty member in descriptive, exploratory or experimental research; publications; performance activities; project creation; data collection, management and/or data analysis. Knowledge of administrative and/or clerical procedures, specialized software systems, managing files and records, designing forms and/or other required procedures. Requires strong time management, oral and written communication skills, and ability to problem solve.

Project description: The research assistant will help build an online primary-source collection for The Historian as Detective, a 100-level History methods course scheduled for Spring 2027. In this Intro class, students will use small primary-source case files on a dedicated website to compare incomplete, uneven, and sometimes contradictory evidence and develop historical interpretations. The research assistant will handle source research, scanning, and documentation. A separate Vivero Digital Fellow will handle the website platform, design, templates, uploading, and technical work. Professor Luo will provide guidance in research, source evaluation, and teaching-collection design. The assistant may recommend sources and case-file groupings and will be credited for contributions.

Responsibilities:

• Work with Prof. Luo to identify topics and source needs for pilot case files.
• Search catalogs, databases, archival portals, digital collections, and published source collections for primary documents and essential background resources.
• Evaluate sources for relevance, provenance, readability, scan quality, transcription or translation needs, and copyright or reuse restrictions.
• Record complete citations, stable links, rights information. Scan pages of physical copies when necessary.
• Write a short note on the value and possible use of each source. Flag gaps, contradictions, and items that need more context.
• Log searches, decisions, progress, and hours; communicate regularly via email with Prof. Luo. Meet in person when necessary and beneficial.

• Strong research skills, or the ability to learn them quickly.
• Careful attention to citations, source provenance, file organization, and detail.
• Ability to work independently, communicate reliably, and explain research choices clearly. Previous History coursework, relevant language skills, or experience with archives or digital collections is helpful but not required.