Hey
Can anyone tell me what the general responsibilities that an undergraduate research assistant might have? Do you come up with a research topic? Do you have to write a paper? What usually goes on? I know these sound like dumb questions.

Thanks!

What faculty/department are you in?

You are assisting your professors research, so you are not coming up with your own topic. Depending on how much work you have completed, or if you discovered anything particularly interesting your professor might want to publish it, but there is no guarantee.

Your prof gives you your project. You will most likely be given a supervisor who is a grad student doing a similar project. No you will not be writing the paper. Most likely you will be responsible for writing a report at the end of your term. This may or may not be included in a paper if the prof decides to publish it

Some labs hire "research assistants" to do technical work in the lab, not any actual "research".

I have heard of a few profs who allow their thesis students to come up with their own project, as well as a few profs who don't have undergrads working under the supervision of a grad student, but in most cases you'll be given a project that's an offshoot of what a grad student is doing, or directly a part of the grad student's project.

Your research will involve optimizing the process of going to get coffee and subsequently returning with said coffee.