If you are planning to apply for the Oxford Brookes University BSc in Applied Accounting you will need to submit a Research and Analysis Project. But first you will need to find a mentor. Pippa Riley explains what to look for.

The role of your mentor is to:

• hold three half-hour meetings with you to talk through your plans and progress while you are working on your Project
• certify on your Submission Form that these meetings have occurred and that as far as the mentor is aware the work submitted is entirely your own and has been completed in accordance with the University’s regulations.

Your mentor is not meant to act as a tutor or a supervisor, but more as a sounding board to discuss ideas and problems with and reflect upon the progress you have made. This undertaking sounds relatively straightforward and this is why many students make the mistake of underestimating the role of their mentor and fail to think carefully about who they should choose.

Who can act as your mentor?
Your mentor must be one of the following:

• an ACCA member
• your employer or line manager, either current or previous
• your tutor at college or university.

The majority of students approach either their employer or tutor (both of whom are also quite likely to be ACCA members). There are positive and negative points about both.

Your employer will probably understand the technical content of your Project if it is based on the company that you work for or the industry in which it operates. This means that they are more likely to understand your analysis and arguments within the Report. However, they are less likely to have any experience of research techniques and vital skills such as referencing, so will not necessarily realise if you go off track.

Your tutor, on the other hand, may have some experience of research and the associated academic skills, yet know nothing about the technical content of your report. This means that they cannot comment on whether your arguments seem sensible. If you are researching one of the more technically-demanding topics on the Oxford Brookes list, you will probably find it more useful to have a mentor who at least understands what you are talking about.

The external examiner for the Research and Analysis Projects has reported that in some instances it seems the choice of mentor has let students down. In some cases, students appear to have been misled by their mentor. There is also evidence that some mentors have insufficient experience to be able to advise students properly, for example on the issue of referencing work. The external examiner has commented that ideally the mentor should have some experience of research.

When thinking about who to approach to act as your mentor you should consider these factors and assess which skills and qualities are essential for you to succeed. If possible, it is desirable to find someone who has acted as a mentor for this or a similar scheme before. They will be more familiar with the requirements and the potential pitfalls.

How can I make the most of my mentor?
In practice, you may not have much choice as to who you can ask to be your mentor. If you are in such a situation you should arm yourself with the following techniques to ensure that you make the most of your mentor.

Tell them about the Guidelines
Appendix 5 of the Research and Analysis Guidelines consists of three pages of Notes to Help Your Mentor. The notes outline the role of the mentor, explain the structure of the three meetings and suggest the types of questions that will be raised. However, the Notes don’t explain to your mentor what you have to do in the Project. By explaining what you need to achieve, your mentor will be in a much better position to guide you.

A good starting point is to show them Section 2 of the Guidelines, where the precise structure and criteria for assessment for both the Report and the Key Skills Statement are detailed. A mentor who has read this section will know, for example, that you must submit a spreadsheet as part of your Report, and will therefore probably ask what you intend to put in it. Similarly, your mentor will know that the Key Skills Statement must contain five specific headings, and will therefore ask if yours does. Another advantage of showing the Guidelines to your mentor is that it will clarify and consolidate in your own mind what you have to do and what rules you have to follow.

Confessions of a mentor
I have met many students who have not read the Guidelines properly and thus do not really appreciate precisely what format their Project should adopt. They are genuinely surprised when I point out that a spreadsheet must be included or that the second meeting demands an interim progress report. If you don’t follow the rules in the Guidelines your Project is highly likely to fail.

Similarly, if you show your mentor Appendix 1 of the Guidelines, on the essential skill of referencing, they will be much better placed to help you if you run into difficulties with it. One student I acted as mentor for was resubmitting his Project having failed the first time. The first attempt at the Report, which he had shown to his first mentor, contained virtually no references, and what was there had not been completed properly using the Harvard system. I showed the student Appendix 1 and he was able to solve the problem.

Ask your mentor to read your work
Although your mentor is not acting as your tutor and should not direct you or tell you what to do, it is worth asking them to read through your Report and Key Skills Statement before you submit the Project. This is not compulsory – the Guidelines do not specify that your mentor should read your Project. In addition, the mentor certainly does not, and should not, act as any kind of reviewer, marker or judge of your work.

Some of my students don’t show me any part of their Project, others ask me to read their first few pages to check if they are working along the right lines and others ask me to read the whole thing. Students have said that some of my most helpful comments have been:

• “I think you should run the spell-checker on this”
• “I think you should run the grammar-checker on this” (especially where English is not the student’s first language)
• “have you checked that the word counts for each section are within the parameters set out by the Guidelines?”
• “perhaps you should just look at the referencing rules in the Guidelines again”
• “this looks great: I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t pass”.

The technical content of most students’ Projects is admirable, and in many cases the depth is beyond their tutor’s own expertise. However, your mentor’s questions will generally focus on the requirements of the Guidelines, guiding you to consider whether you have undertaken everything specified.

Don’t forget the Key Skills Statement
Many students don’t investigate the Key Skills Statement until they have finished the Report. This is a mistake. You should focus on the Key Skills Statement at every meeting with your mentor. You will need to write about the meetings, including aspects such as questioning, listening and your interaction with your mentor.

Students often fail to make notes during meetings with their mentor, especially the first one. This means that they have nothing to draw on for the Key Skills Statement. When they come to write it, some months later, they cannot remember what was said. It is vital that you take notes at your meetings, and particularly important to note down the questions that you ask each other. If your mentor doesn’t object, record the meetings, so that you have a complete and accurate record to refer to.

Appreciate your mentor
Show your mentor that you appreciate that they are helping you to obtain this prestigious degree. In most cases, mentors are acting for free and giving up a fair amount of their valuable time for you. If you thank them for their efforts they are far more likely to agree to do more, for example hold additional meetings, read through your Report or participate fully in discussions. Good luck in your Project!

Checklist
What makes a good mentor?

Qualities to look for when finding a mentor:

• experience of research and knowledge of referencing
• ability and willingness to set aside the time required without interruptions
• willingness to hold additional meetings if necessary
• enthusiasm and sufficient interest to want to participate fully in the discussions
• enough common sense to realise when your timescale is too tight or the scope of your Project is too vast
• experience of acting as a mentor in a similar capacity before.