Mentors & Advisors

A mentor or advisor is not required for the YES Competition, but can be extremely helpful in the development of your project. A mentor or advisor may help you formulate an idea and act as a consultant and offer advice, but the actual work on the project—the study design and analysis of the data—must be carried out independently by the student competitor. You must be able to demonstrate how you have advanced the project independently, and Research Reports must clearly describe the extent of any involvement by mentors or advisors.

A mentor or advisor should have a clear understanding of the YES Competition project guidelines. You, the student, are the researcher, and the project must reflect your own concept and content. Your mentor can help you evaluate your study design before you begin your research, aid you in figuring out how to get the data you need, and provide relevant feedback as you progress. Your mentor can also help you understand the application of epidemiological methods that you employ in your research, as well as assist you in thinking through future applications and directions for further research. You may also obtain help from others on tasks such as accessing data, learning how to do statistical analyses, or editing your report. However, in the end, what you produce must be your own question, thinking, analysis, and writing. In a nutshell, you must have complete ownership of your Research Report.

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