Civic Engagement at Scholars
Traditional Discovery Research
The traditional Discovery model (differentiated from Community-Based Discovery and Library of Congress Discovery) was first developed at College Park Scholars and has been used at Scholars for the past eleven years. It is designed to teach you five primary research methods and give you the experience of implementing, analyzing and presenting a pilot study on a topic and research question that you choose.
Class sessions throughout the semester will provide you with the essential research skills you will use for your study. A friendly, peer-supported environment will also be present to brainstorm on approaches and to assist you in reflecting on your experiences in implementing the study.
During the course, you will complete a series of brief writing assignments corresponding to the steps in the research process, write three journal reflections, complete an annotated bibliography and produce a display poster that will be presented at the campus-wide Undergraduate Research Day on April 23rd and the Scholars Academic Showcase on May 2nd . There are no tests or quizzes in this course.
You will come away from the Discovery course able to define a workable research question, develop a scholarly research plan, utilize one or more of five research methods, identify and evaluate background and contextual secondary information in support of your research question, implement and analyze a full primary research study, communicate your research results to a general audience, and reflect on the process of research and knowledge creation that you've completed and on the way human knowledge in general is created.
Student evaluations of the course have been overwhelmingly positive. Some comments include: "I really like the chance to study something that I wanted to for a change", "You need to start early on in the semester, but it is worth it -- by the Showcase you have learned something that no one else knows".
For more information, please contact Patty Alvarez by phone at 301-314-2777, or by e-mail at palvarez@umd.edu.
