Research@Honors kicked off the first of its four workshops during the 2015-16 academic year by having Jule Wallis, the director of the WRT Zone, and Judith Arnold from the Undergraduate Library come and present on the research proposal.

Titled, "The Research Proposal," the workshop highlighted the objective of a research proposal, the genre conventions of the proposal, and explained how students could find support during the research process. It also focused on how to find and use proposal research and presented research and citation tips.

This was the fourth time Wallis and Arnold have shared this presentation with Honors students.

"We enjoy presenting each time," Wallis said. "The student demographics and disciplinary focus changes for each workshop, so making sure we respond to unique student needs makes each workshop slightly different and exciting. I think the students responded quite positively to the workshop and I always enjoy working with the students."

A research proposal should do two things - present and justify a research idea that should be solved and analyze/synthesize research to show gaps or problems. Additionally, a proposal should be able to answer the following questions: what the project is, why it is important, and how it will be examined.

Wallis offered the following advice for students interested in research: work with professors (mentors) in one's field of study and read research articles within one's field of study.

"Many students do not take advantage of professors in their field of study," she said. "Professors want to help students, want to share the deep pools of resources and knowledge they have, and want to mentor students who are driven and dedicated."

The presentation from the Research@Honors workshop can be viewed here.