Undergraduate Research
Research in the Humanities
If you hear the word “research” and automatically think of a scientific laboratory, you are only thinking of part of the definition. Research in the Humanities, which includes subjects like English, Philosophy, and History, has as much to offer the students who pursue it as it does to the field of scholarship to which it belongs. When you conduct research in the field of English Studies, what will you discover?
Research in English Studies
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Something New...Something You
When you conduct research in English, you will produce an original way of analyzing, connecting, applying, or uncovering new theoretical or practical applications of various cultural texts including novels, short stories, poetry, film and television, imagery, or other cultural products of interest.
You will learn and use discipline-specific research methods to pose your research question. Throughout the semester as you explore the topic broadly and then begin to narrow your area of interest, you will work closely with your faculty mentor to frame and construct your analysis.
In addition to critical inquiry and literary scholarship, research projects in English can be creative endeavors. Under the mentorship of published authors in the English faculty, students can pursue their own creative writing projects including short story collections, novellas, novels, chapbooks, memoirs and more.
Research in the English major is highly individualized. Students tend to pursue research during their junior and senior years after taking upper division courses (300-level and 400-level) and finding a topic of interest that warrants further exploration beyond the classroom.
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Connecting with Faculty
The independent study gets its name from being a self-governed pursuit that does not require regular classroom meeting times, but rather is created, elaborated, and executed by you and your faculty mentor. This mentor guides your project and provides questions, support, and revisions along the way; they will be there to support you as much or as little as you need.
Great ways to get connected to faculty members who can help guide your research include:
- Get to know faculty in the department and their own scholarly and creative research interests. Use the faculty directory to browse faculty publications and experience.
- Select classes in your major with topics that appeal to you. Use the detailed course descriptions or visit XE Registration, UIC’s online course scheduling tool for current semester options.
- Attend office hours of your professors. Ask any questions related to a recent class, what you should be reading, about their own research, etc.
- Explore the UIC Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) website to see which faculty have put out calls for research assistants on their own projects.
Resources to Start
Earning credit for research
Earn credit in your English major via ENGL 399 or ENGL 398 (or both!)
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ENGL 398
In English 398 Senior Honors Thesis, students will produce a sustained piece of critical or creative writing and present their work in an intimate group celebration at the end of the semester. The senior thesis is a great opportunity to create a writing sample for employers or graduate school. Students will arrange regular meetings with the faculty sponsor to discuss research methods and project progress.
This course counts toward the limited number of independent study hours accepted toward the degree and the major (8 hours maximum from one department, 16 hours overall). Please discuss any questions about degree progress with an advisor.
Distinction:
Please note that English 398 is not required in the major, but it is required for students to be eligible to graduate with Highest Distinction. While Honors College students can opt to enroll in ENGL 398 for credit in conjunction with their uncredited English-focused Honors Capstone project, students do not need to be in the Honors College in order to pursue ENGL 398.
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ENGL 399
English 399 is an Independent Study that allows students to pursue intellectual and creative interests that cannot be accommodated through regular coursework or workshops. Students who wish to take an independent study should have a substantial and well-defined set of texts and problems on which they intend to work, and they should choose to work with faculty whose expertise and research interests are plausibly linked to those issues.
This course counts toward the limited number of independent study hours accepted toward the degree and the major (8 hours maximum from one department, 16 hours overall). Please discuss any questions about degree progress with an advisor.
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Spring 2019
Name Project Title Faculty Mentor Rana Awwad What Happened to the Good Guy?": An Exploration into Television History Walter J. Podrazik and Jennifer Rupert Carlos Catalan Queer and Trans People of Color Visual Cultures in the Age of Neoliberal "Migrant Crises" Jennifer Rupert Angelica Garcia The Brontë Sisters: Rebelling Against Victorian Norms for Women Anna Kornbluh Sarah Giles Does the written word reveal an ever post-truth America? - The complications of Truth and Reality in American Literature David Schaafsma Khaleah Griffin The Impact of the Military on Environmental Pollution Rachel Havrelock Britanny Hamling The Art of Suffering: Representations of the Psychological Struggling Christina Pugh Jennifer Hernandez Navigating the Labyrinth: The Influence of Large University Policies on Community College Transfer Students Todd Destigter Morgan Lonergan Research on marijuana legalization and its rhetoric Jennifer Rupert Nick Malone Minin g Right-Wing Aesthetics and Rhetoric for a New Radical Left Nicholas Brown Temitope Odedoyin Original fiction and poetry project Vainis Aleksa Marcela Ruiz Poetry: Using Religious Beliefs to practice Shunning Daniel Borzutzky Kristen Simmons Mississippi, Goddamn: Researching Mississippi’ s Historically Racist Past Margena Christian John Steffen The Research and Development of A lternative Assessments for Theoretical Students in a High School Classroom David Schaafsma Kaielle Sykes Original creative non-fiction Hannah Green and Jennifer Rupert Melissa Torres Poetry of Women, Social Justice & Social Justice for Women Vainis Aleksa Maria Vargas Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes": Film and Television adaptations Marsha Cassidy Matthew Ziuzia Robinson Crusoe's Heart of Darkness and the Lasting Effects of Empire Anna Kornbluh -
Fall 2018
Project Title Faculty Mentor Rana Awwad What Happened to the Good Guys?: An Exploration into Television History Walter Podrazik Emily Baggio Sentence Diagramming and the Cultivation of Student Voice Todd Destigter Pooja Baxi Creation of Story Stories with the influence of Theory & Criticism Models Joseph Tabbi Carlos Catalan Research for project on rhetoric and migration Ronak Kapadia Syada Hasnain Shakespearean History in the Making: Tyranny and Leadership in Shakespeare's Histories and Roman Tragedies Jeffrey Gore John Kim Research on Community of Pilsen Neighborhood David Schaafsma Jack Leick The Narrative of Stories David Schaafsma Nick Malone and Amir Abdur Rahim Film project: Mad Dogs Marsha Cassidy Circe Mcnaughton Novella on escapism and self-paralysis Mary Anne Mohanraj Rhys Renken Speculative fiction writing project Mary Anne Mohanraj Alexander Richardson Short fiction portfolio Christopher Grimes Maria Vargas Research on Sherlock Holmes and James Watson: Film and Television Adaptations Marsha Cassidy Spring 2018
Name Project Title Faculty Mentor Jack Alkire Detective Fiction and Utopia Ainsworth Clarke Andrew Calvo The Application of Professional Writing in Marketing Margena Christian James Erickson Superpolitik: Superheroine Representation and U.S. Social Climate David Schaafsma Hoda Fakhari Disability Studies and Memoir Lennard Davis Tyler Grand Pre The Politics of Language in Joseph Conrad's 'The Secret Agent': Metaphor, Metonymy and the Individual Anna Kornbluh Aleena Haider Gender Disparities in South Asia Mark Chiang Sheila Kelley Collection of Poetry Christopher Glomski Noah Lemke Speculative Fiction Vignettes Mary Anne Mohanraj Abigail Resek A Pendantic Analysis of the Immigrants Protective League and the Language of Immigration in the 1940s Robin Reames Charli Rogers Late-period Jean Luc Godard Steven Marsh Fall 2017
Name Project Title Faculty Mentor James Erickson Superpolitik: Superheroine Representation and U.S. Social Climate Philip Jenks Tyler Grand Pre The Politics of Language in Joseph Conrad's 'The Secret Agent': Metaphor, Metonymy and the Individual Anna Kornbluh Levi Jenkins Effective Teaching Strategies in Middle and High School David Schaafsma Daniel Jolls Mental Illness and Contemporary Cinema Sara Hall Omar Maradiaga Hyphenated Identity: Literature of the Developing World Madhu Dubey Winifred Obanor Millenials: Mental Health, Marriage, and the Family in the "American Dream" Andrew Young Emma Rade Social Justice and Education David Schaafsma Abigail Resek Rhetorical Analysis of The Immigrants Protective League Robin Reames Jean Rodvong Modern Iterations of Artuhurian Romance in Literature and Film Alfred Thomas Spring 2017
Name Project Title Faculty Mentor Amanda Algarra Speculative Fiction Mary Ann Mohanraj Ameer Ayoub How America Got Worked by a Club Comic Hack Marc Baez Kit Borgard Terrorism in Literature Chris Messenger Kalina Fleming-Lopez Martial Arts in the English Classroom Todd Destigter Olivia Hutto Late 20th Century American Women Writers Jennifer Rupert Benjamin Kaplan Contemporary literature Mary Ann Mohanraj Rachel Knowles Co-Influential Relationship Between College Academic Writing and Social Media Writing Vainis Aleksa Hugo Novales Historic Traditions of Short Story Writing Christopher Grimes Michelle Pena Queer Theory in Victorian Literature Anna Kornbluh Alexander Richardson Fiction Writing Mary Ann Mohanraj Melanie Sneed Morton Non-fiction essay collection Luis Urrea
ENGL 398 Application
ENGL 399 Application
Use primary sources to research at the Newberry Library
Earn 6 credit hours towards your degree and conduct research in the Humanities at the Newberry Library alongside a select cohort of students from other Chicago universities. The topic for Spring 2019 is “Modern Literature and Art in Chicago: 1900-1960”
Want to get paid for doing research?
Liberal Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Initiative (LASURI) is an optional competition whose winners receive funding to apply to their research. Competition for program awards is open to any full-time LAS undergraduate who has earned at least 24 semester hours with a minimum 2.5 GPA.
