The URC Research Projects
In the past, the Undergraduate Research Club (URC) conducted team-based research based on members' interests. If you are interested in learning more about those research teams, please check out the information below.
In the past, the Undergraduate Research Club (URC) conducted team-based research based on members' interests. If you are interested in learning more about those research teams, please check out the information below.
What will students learn?
View the list of student learning outcomes associated with undergraduate research on the faculty index page.
Below are the ones that are relevant to URC research projects. At the end of this research experience, you should be able to:
Although these outcomes are harder to measure, the literature suggests that after an undergraduate research experience, students tend to experience improvements in the following areas:
What are the responsibilities of the team members?
What are the responsibilities of the team leader?
What are the responsibilities of the faculty advisor?
What is the general timeline for URC research projects?
Below is a general timeline for URC research projects, although the details may change depending on the project. Note that it is always good if you can do tasks faster than this timeline!
Fall Semester
August/September:
URC officers will administer a survey asking for interest in conducting research.
Students will be placed in teams based on similar majors/interests. URC officers will
help find faculty mentors for each team. All undergraduate researchers need to complete
an online ethics module before they are allowed to begin.
Learn More Details
September:
Teams meet and brainstorm about their topic. Often, the topic chosen is broad, and team members have a lot of latitude in terms of how to investigate the topic. The eventual research project should make a unique contribution to the field, so at this point, team members should be reading articles on the topic that they’ve located through the library. The faculty advisor will also weigh in regarding how to make a project different from past studies.
October:
Teams should be designing their research project. For instance, if you are administering a survey, what will the survey items look like? If you are conducting interviews or focus groups, what questions will you ask? If you are conducting an experiment, what do the experimental and control groups look like? Don’t worry if you don’t know what some of these terms mean; that’s what the faculty advisor is here for.
October/November:
All projects involving human subjects must get IRB approval. Teams should be preparing
their IRB proposals during this time. Proposals are required to be submitted by the
faculty advisor on behalf of the research team.
November/Early December:
One of the goals of this project is to present your research in a professional venue. URC aims to present at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) each year for several reasons:
Because the NCUR deadline for submissions is always late November/early December, teams should be writing abstracts in November in order to have time to make changes based on feedback from the faculty advisor and to proofread before submitting. Also, you may need to undergo a pre-review process to be funded through the Office of Undergraduate Research (deadline typically in November).
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Spring Semester
January-February:
Teams should be collecting data during this time period.
Early March:
Teams should be analyzing data at this point.
Mid-March:
Teams should submit an abstract to the Symposium of Student Scholars (it can be the same abstract you submitted to NCUR if you want).
Mid-to-Late March:
Teams should be creating their poster or oral presentation in preparation for NCUR
(if accepted) and the Symposium of Student Scholars (all projects are accepted).
Learn more Information about making posters, and creating effective oral presentations.
Also, consider attending a workshop on making posters and making oral presentations;
these are offered for free by the Office of Undergraduate Research. If you are making
a poster, it can be printed for free. If you procrastinate too long, you can get it printed for a small fee at KSU’s Teacher Resource & Activity Corner (TRAC).
Late March/Early April:
Start packing if you’re heading to NCUR! There will be information sessions prior to the trip, so you’ll learn more about NCUR then. As a general rule, always remember that you are representing Kennesaw State University and the Undergraduate Research Club at this conference. You might be even more scrutinized than most students because you are a representative from an NCUR host institution (KSU hosted in 2019). So have fun at the conference, but remember that it is a professional event, and professional behavior is expected.
Mid-to-Late April:
Start preparing for the Symposium of Student Scholars. Remember there are prizes for top posters and oral presentations, so prepare well if you want to be in the running. For example, if you’re giving an oral presentation, team members should practice their parts and give each other feedback. If you’re giving a poster, have you prepared an “elevator speech” about your research project (in other words, a 2-minute or so summary)? Are you prepared to answer likely questions about your project? Do you have an outfit picked out for the occasion? (judges aren’t supposed to judge on clothes, but some of them are likely unconsciously judging on this anyway!).
May:
This is a good time to reflect on this whole experience since it’s still fresh. What have you learned? What skills do you have that you didn’t have before (or that maybe are now more advanced than they were before you started)? How can you leverage this experience into getting a job or getting into grad school? Make an appointment with Career Services to learn more about how to display this information on your resume, how to talk about your project in an interview, and how to write about this experience in a cover letter.
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What are some examples of previous URC projects?