Undergraduate Research and Curricular Enrichment Opportunities

Opportunities for Independent Study

Directed Reading/Research Courses allow students to pursue research or independent study under a sponsoring faculty mentor.  For some students, this may involve gaining "hands-on" laboratory or field experience working on a research project under the guidance of a faculty member or a member of his or her research group.  For others, it may involve in-depth reading and library research, followed by discussion sessions or a research paper.   However you choose to design this opportunity, the experience will help you to develop a self-directed and independent view towards learning, strengthen your communication, research, and presentation skills, and allow you to practice applying information that you have learned in classrooms/textbooks to real-life problems. 

Students can register for directed reading/research credits in nearly every department. As an example, here’s how the Psychology Department describes this courses:

“For those of you considering graduate school or just wanting to be involved in the field of psychology, we highly recommend you to take up Psy499, which is a course that is not listed in the catalogue but is offered by our department. It basically involves the student in research work and a faculty member or graduate student usually supervises you. For instance, if you do take a clinical psychology research course, you may be given the opportunity to work in the field as in a clinic to collect data. To find out more about Psy 499 opportunities, you can look around the bulletin boards in our department because it is usually posted up there, ask us about it or directly email the faculty member who you wish to work with. Research credits are highly favored when selecting candidates as graduate students. ” –

Source: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~psychadv/opportunities.html

In addition, most academic departments offer courses designed to introduce students to research methodologies and expectations in their specific fields.  The Inventory of Research Courses Offered in Undergraduate Programs provides a list of these courses.

Source: Office of the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs -  http://manoa.hawaii.edu/ovcaa/undergrad/research_opportunities.htm

Students can also pursue internship and summer research opportunities locally, nationally, and abroad.

Here are useful links to assist you in you in your search:

Created by Lynne Higa, Christine Kirk-Kuwaye

[ previous page ]  [ site map ]




Copyright ©2009  Colleges of Arts & Sciences Student Academic Services