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The CCRA blog is authored by Columbia undergraduate researchers, who are invited to reflect on all aspects of the research process and their own undergraduate research experiences, beginning (but not ending) with the Core.
Author Archives: cw2770
Dante, the “Neutrals,” and Us
For many freshmen, the most difficult Literature Humanities text to connect with personally is Dante’s Inferno. This was certainly the case for me. Many of the other second-semester readings—To the Lighthouse, Pride and Prejudice, Shakespeare—are easy to feel invested in: … Continue reading
Posted in Coursework, The Canon, The Core
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“Insistent Problems of the Present”
For most students, the familiar phrase “the insistent problems of the present” is a common throughline within and beyond classrooms dedicated to the Core Curriculum. It is both a critical tool in positioning the origins of the curriculum itself, and … Continue reading
Posted in Coursework, The Core
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Finding Mentorship at Columbia: Advice from a Professor
The benefits of mentorship from a professor are very clear, but the steps to finding a mentor are not always so obvious; Columbia is a large school in an even larger city, and it’s easy to feel lost in the … Continue reading
Posted in Faculty Mentors, Interviews
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To The Lighthouse and Back Again
Freshman year is the gift that keeps on giving. Untoward anxiety about your future, LinkedIn connections, friends you spend sixteen hours out of the day with, and most importantly, a hefty collection of Literature Humanities books. Many of us know … Continue reading
Posted in The Core, Uncategorized
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Canonization in the End Times
Since it was first taught in the years following World War I, Contemporary Civilization has navigated the tension between debates of the past and challenges of the present. Students read Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Machiavelli before tackling Martin Luther King, … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, The Core
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On Looking Closely
At the beginning of my semester abroad at Oxford, my tutor summoned me and the two other visiting students studying English to his office to give us some advice. We were going to be writing papers much more regularly than … Continue reading
Posted in Study Abroad, Uncategorized
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A Speaking, Bleeding Book: The Relevance of the Core Outside the West
My faith in the value of the Core has wavered on some occasions: during exam periods, while slogging through an exceptionally-dense reading, and in the last half-hour of any seminar discussion on a warm spring afternoon (to name a few … Continue reading
Posted in Summer Research, The Core, Uncategorized, Writing
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Interdisciplinary Beginnings: Getting Started with Research
In such an interdisciplinary field as urban studies, it can be hard to determine exactly one place or department in which to house or even propose a research project. In fact, the broad disciplinary foundations of the urban studies program—ranging … Continue reading
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Learning the Core Personally
We’ve all been in that room. Maybe it was your closest class friend. Maybe it was your unspoken class nemesis. Or maybe it was even you. But we’ve all been there when the professor cold calls someone in LitHum or … Continue reading
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The Art of the Research Interview
Conducting interviews for a research project can be difficult. As an undergraduate, you’ve only just started to learn about your topic—whether industrial-labor relations in the Old West or modern-day separatist movements in Catalonia and Quebec. Your respondents, on the other … Continue reading
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