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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: Senior Thesis
FLI @ Columbia: Losing Your Mind In Seminar? Some Tips & Tricks
As the sixth week of the fall semester wraps up, I return to a feeling of frustration with my History seminars I know all too well. Despite enrolling in at least one History seminar every semester since my sophomore spring, … Continue reading
Posted in Archives, courses, Faculty Mentors, major research, postgraduation plans, Senior Thesis, Uncategorized
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Thank you to Chile, and Thank you to Columbia: Logistics for Successful Research Abroad
My summer research abroad as a rising junior (2023) provided me with the confidence to pursue international research within the social sciences. As a Laidlaw Scholar, I worked with the Tourism Federation of Chile to develop their sustainability guidelines. Here’s … Continue reading
Posted in Senior Thesis, STEM research, Study Abroad, Summer Research, Uncategorized
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Some Parting Advice
Since this is my last post on this blog, I thought it would make sense to talk about some of the principles that guided me to this point in my college career. I am graduating with a double major in … Continue reading
Posted in major research, New York City, postgraduation plans, Senior Thesis, Summer Research, The Humanities, Writing
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Literature as an Archive
In recent years, I have wrestled with certain dilemmas historical scholarship poses. A central one is how do we contemplate, write about, and represent people who do not appear within the archive? In the past, historical scholarship have been very … Continue reading
Posted in Archives, Libraries, major research, postgraduation plans, Senior Thesis, Uncategorized
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Meditations on the Archival Turn
Ann Laura Stoler described the shift in historical studies from “archive-as-source to archive as subject” as the “archival turn,” a shift in the intellectual paradigm necessitated, in part, by desires to write subaltern histories. Rather than reading archives along the … Continue reading
Posted in Archives, Historic Sites, Libraries, major research, Senior Thesis, The Humanities, Writing
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Reflections from the Archive: Stanford’s M0618 Arturo Islas Papers Collection
This winter break, as I pieced together the beginnings of my senior thesis on Arturo Islas’s novel The Rain God (1984), I stumbled upon an archival treasure trove—M0618, the “Arturo Islas Papers.” Comprising a hefty 56-box collection, M0618 chronicles four … Continue reading
Posted in Adversity, Archives, Coursework, Libraries, Life, major research, Senior Thesis, The Humanities, Uncategorized, Writing
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Senior Thesis Research: A Case Study Involving Two Case Studies
The first challenge I faced when I began formulating ideas for my senior thesis at the start of this semester was deciding on a project that could involve both my major fields of study. Classics and East Asian studies do … Continue reading
Posted in Coursework, Libraries, major research, Senior Thesis, The Humanities, Uncategorized, Writing
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Me and Research – A Mostly Affectionate Relationship
Whether it has been for a long-term project like my senior thesis or for a final paper, conducting research always has its highs and lows. I remember distinctly the first time I had to write a final paper for a … Continue reading
Posted in Archives, courses, Coursework, Faculty Mentors, Libraries, major research, Senior Thesis, The Humanities
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What’s the Research Symposium Anyway? A Guide From a 2x Winner
Every October, Columbia invites students’ families to campus for a weekend full of “intellectual, informational, and social events designed to let you experience, if only for a few days, what it means to be a Columbia student.” The highlight … Continue reading
Posted in conference presentations, Coursework, Faculty Mentors, major research, Media, New York City, Senior Thesis, Summer Research, The Humanities
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Where is the FUN in Funding? – Finding Funding as an Undergraduate Researcher in the Humanities
As Researchers in the humanities, we are all well aware that our noble pursuits, unfortunately, require one thing: money. We are also well aware that filtering through multiple databases to find that one niche fellowship that aligns with your … Continue reading
Posted in Coursework, Faculty Mentors, Funding, Libraries, Life, New York City, postgraduation plans, Senior Thesis, Study Abroad, The Humanities
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