Mentor's Paper Requires a Subscription. Should I ask for a free copy?

[hsk013]

Hey guys,

I recently asked a physician if she can be my mentor and she said yes.

I want to read her publication before meeting her in person, but turns out her publication requires a subscription. I only found 1 publication and I think paying $32 for just 1 publication is bit too much.
Do you guys think it is ok for me to ask my mentor if she can send me a copy of her publication? That way I know what she wrote and can prepare few questions regarding her paper and her specialty as well.

Thanks for your feedback!

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[ih371990]

Hey guys,

I recently asked a physician if she can be my mentor and she said yes.

I want to read her publication before meeting her in person, but turns out her publication requires a subscription. I only found 1 publication and I think paying $32 for just 1 publication is bit too much.
Do you guys think it is ok for me to ask my mentor if she can send me a copy of her publication? That way I know what she wrote and can prepare few questions regarding her paper and her specialty as well.

Thanks for your feedback!

I think it will be okay. I've done it before, and all of them were nice about sending me a copy of their pub.

 

[xGeorgettex]

As an alternative to asking (which I'm all for, by the way), you might check to see if your university can order a copy for you. All the schools in my state use an inter-library loan system and are able to purchase articles on behalf of the student (your tuition dollars at work). It usually takes about 3-7 days to arrive though, so it depends on when you're first meeting her.

 

[sinombre]

Hey guys,

I recently asked a physician if she can be my mentor and she said yes.

I want to read her publication before meeting her in person, but turns out her publication requires a subscription. I only found 1 publication and I think paying $32 for just 1 publication is bit too much.
Do you guys think it is ok for me to ask my mentor if she can send me a copy of her publication? That way I know what she wrote and can prepare few questions regarding her paper and her specialty as well.

Thanks for your feedback!

Can you post a link to the pub?

 

[NeuroLAX]

There's no problem in asking. If your mentor doesn't have a copy I would check your school's library/medical library to see if they have the journal, in which case you just pluck it off the shelf and photocopy it yourself. ILLs are great, but if you're not a student then you might have to pay for it depending on the library's ILL policy.

 

[darkjedi]

your school library might already have access to the journals, so try to see if you can find it while on a campus network

 

[RocknRhoLim]

Or you can email your mentor and be like, "Hi ___ I am so excited to begin working with you and wanted to learn more about what you do. Could you email me a copy of your paper?" It should be fine. Also many schools have access to these things. If you are logged in at your school go to pubmed and search the paper and see if you can access it. Also, sometimes what I do is just run a google search and find that the paper is being offered for free from another website.

 

[smiley27]

You asked someone to be your mentor without meeting him/her in person? Does it usually work that way?

 

[911 Turbo]

If she could be your mentor to what??