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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.
Category Archives: courses
The Age-Old Question of Crafting A Research Question
So, it’s the first day of the semester, and your professor is going over the course syllabus with your class. You flip to the assignments section and see, ‘30 PAGE RESEARCH PAPER DUE’ on the last day of the course. … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Faculty Mentors, Uncategorized
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Humility and Hegel: The Value of a Broad CC Syllabus
As I read through the CC syllabus in my sophomore year, I felt that I was riding along in a high-speed train, going too quickly to take in the scenery. The syllabus was so wide-ranging and fast-paced that I struggled … Continue reading
Where Philosophy Ends and Individual Inquiry Begins
One of my favorite shows of all time is The Good Place. If you haven’t watched it yet… What are you waiting for? If you already have, you’ll know how central the exploration of different philosophies is to the show. … Continue reading
Posted in courses, The Core, Uncategorized
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Camaraderie and the Core (on Zoom), Part II
In September I wrote a blog post on my first impressions of Zoom school. It has now been over a year since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I have taken nine classes over Zoom. As my senior year … Continue reading
Posted in courses, COVID-19, New York City, The Core
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Footnotes Are Friends, Not Fluff
“Read the footnotes,” many a humanities professor has intoned to me—I will admit, in vain. When you’re crunched for time and facing a steep amount of reading per day, as many Columbia students are, the footnotes or endnotes seem worth … Continue reading
Posted in courses, University Writing
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Paid Research isn’t Just a Dream, It Can Be Your Reality
For this blog, I interviewed Esterah Brown, one of my close friends at Columbia who’s also a graduating senior, like me! Esterah is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and studies Political Science and History. As someone with experience only in neuroscience research, … Continue reading
Posted in courses, New York City, postgraduation plans, Senior Thesis, Summer Research
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Changing Tracks: Why Transfer Internally?
The joke goes like this: by the time I graduate, I’ll have gone to all four undergraduate schools. Now that I’ve gone through the first three, having originally enrolled in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), transferred to … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Libraries, Senior Thesis, STEM research, The Core
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Group Research Meet and Greet
When I found out seniors wouldn’t be allowed back on campus this past semester, I was disappointed for a lot of reasons. Apple picking, on my bucket list since I was little, would have to wait for a post-graduate fall; … Continue reading
Posted in courses, COVID-19, Uncategorized
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Winter Break and All Breaks
This year winter break has been a bit shorter than usual. Finals ended late in December and we returned early in January. While this schedule change has been due to the unusual circumstances of this academic year, having less time … Continue reading
Posted in courses, COVID-19, New York City, Uncategorized
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The Dreaded Global Core Paper
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen a STEM-major post in the Columbia Facebook group, asking for a Global Core that required only a short paper or no paper at all, I’d probably have enough money to … Continue reading
Posted in courses, The Core, Uncategorized
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