What I Learned in the Academic Research Course

Throughout this semester in the Introduction to Academic Research course, I learned a great deal about research. We covered a wide variety of topics that encompassed topics such as methods of field research, the unknowns when conducting research (the Black Box activity), the differences that exist among fields when using the word “research”, and many others.

I’ll begin with what I learned about myself. Throughout this course, I learned a great deal about my future interests and the characteristics I exhibit when participating in a group project. When working with Rob Geis and Martin Castro, I searched constantly and relentlessly through the CIA database to find any information relevant to our project and the argument we wished to make. Certainly when dealing with a History project, this is strength. It takes a great deal of time to sift through the necessary amount of information to make a sound conclusion. However, when deadlines are firm and very near, this type of research method is very time consuming and could result in an unfinished or inappropriately approached end product. I also found that in the course of the project I was attempting to micromanage certainly elements of the project. For example, Sam had trouble finishing his part of the PowerPoint because his Mac didn’t have office. I texted him a few times within a few days to see if he had finished his portion. During the final rehearsal, I asked both Drew and Sam to re-word things simply because I didn’t like the way they sounded or felt they weren’t serving their necessary purpose. Sometimes this type of person is needed in a group in order to help perform quality control. This type of behavior reflects my behavior and value in a group project. In terms of resea...

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...roject was simple historical recitation because you could find the information we provided on through a cursory glance of various websites and google. However, the originality lies within the collection of these facts and examining how underlying factors connect said events and cause a chain of events that lead to a present point. I feel like the program would be more successful if the classes were divided by potential majors. Each student interested would be assigned to a group of students within the same discipline and an advisor in said discipline. The group would function in the same manner our current Honor’s class does and a completed project would be the end goal. For those who are undeclared, an inter-disciplinary professor would be assigned to those individuals. I feel like this would be a better direction for the program in the future for all involved.