Tag Archives: undergraduate research

Apply Now for The Ames Library Scholarly and Artistic Research Proposal Award

Posted by on February 13, 2020 No comments

Applications are now open for The Ames Library Scholarly and Artistic Research Proposal Award. Offered each year, this award provides a funding opportunity for an IWU student, under the supervision of a faculty sponsor, to propose a significant research or creative project in their specific fields of study, and complements the broader opportunities offered at IWU for undergraduate research.

First awarded in 2009 to Rachel Miller (’09) for an essay prepared for the “Spanish for Social Justice” course taught by Professor Carolyn Nadeau, this award has supported undergraduate research conducted both as part of coursework and as part of independent research outside the classroom in fields including Hispanic Studies, History, and, most recently, Environmental Studies.

Details about the award are available on the library web site, and applications are due by March 1st. Please contact your liaison librarian with any questions about how to apply for this award.

Fact or Fiction Course Cluster Open House (December 4th)

Posted by on December 2, 2019 No comments

Student presents at Course Cluster Open House 2018

Please join us on on Wednesday, December 4th, from 11am to 1 pm, for an Open House for students and faculty participating in the Fact or Fiction Course Cluster. Each year, faculty in programs across the curriculum design courses and assignments aligned with Illinois Wesleyan University’s Annual Intellectual Theme, a strategic initiative designed to bring the campus community together around a common intellectual experience. Experiences such as these have been identified as a high-impact educational practice and provide important opportunities to advance the library’s mission to “[foster] inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge, intellectual and ethical integrity, excellence in teaching and learning, and respect for diverse points of view.”

Fact or Fiction is IWU’s intellectual theme for 2019-20, and invites multidisciplinary study of the critical need in the contemporary political environment for “an informed citizenry … equipped to discern between fact and fiction.” Students in Fall 2019 cluster courses such as Human Nature (Gateway 100), Human Nutrition (HLTH 230), Artificial Intelligence (CS 338), and Visual Ethnographic Methods (ANTH 380)  explored issues of inquiry, critical thinking, and the construction of knowledge as part of the “Fact or Fiction” discussion, as well as the connections between these issues and the intellectual skills and concepts associated with The Ames Library’s information literacy program. At this week’s Open House, more than 100 students from 15 different courses will present research and creative work based on the annual theme.

With one-hour sessions scheduled to begin at 11 am and 12 pm, we encourage all members of the IWU community to join us at the Course Cluster Open House to learn how our students have engaged with the ideas and issues at the heart of the “Fact or Fiction” discussion and how this experience supports our mission as a liberal education institution to “[foster] creativity, critical thinking, effective communication, strength of character and a spirit of inquiry.”

Ames Library’s Stephanie Davis-Kahl Makes Reading List

Posted by on August 30, 2018 1 comment

Earlier this month, Credo profiled “4 Essential Summer Reads for Librarians” on their blog. Second on the list? The Ames Library’s own Scholarly Communications librarian Stephanie Davis-Kahl with her co-edited book Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian: Case Studies and Best Practices. Says Credo:

This edited volume contains over 50 contributions on how academic libraries can plan new services and resources, and collaborate across departments to support new modes of research including the creation of undergraduate journals, managing data services, or organizing undergraduate research conferences. These activities can be considered high-impact practices to support student success and retention as well.

Whether you’re a librarian or an undergraduate research yourself, you’re sure to find this book helpful. To read it, drop by Archives and Special Collections on the 4th Floor and ask for call number Z682.4.C63 U534 2017!

Student Scholarship at IWU Earns Millions of Downloads!

Posted by on November 7, 2017 No comments

You may have noticed a headline in the October 23rd Campus Weekly reading “Digital Commons @ IWU Exceeds 3 Million Downloads.” Digital Commons is Illinois Wesleyan University’s institutional repository, and it is here that students can deposit faculty- or peer-reviewed research. Additionally, Digital Commons also contains selected works from faculty, staff, and university departments, offices, and programs.

So what kinds of materials are available for download through Digital Commons?

“Student work deemed outstanding will be included in DC@IWU. These include honors theses, work presented at the John Wesley Powell Undergraduate Research Conference, works published in peer-reviewed IWU student journals and outstanding creative works as determined by faculty in a sponsoring department. Acceptable formats include text, images, video and audio files.”

http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/student_guidelines.html

“The DC@IWU accepts a wide range of materials including text, images, video and audio files. Examples of content include, but are not limited to:

  • Articles, pre-prints and post-prints (distribution rights permitting; please see SHERPA/RoMEO for more information
  • Book chapters (distribution rights permitting; please contact publisher for permission. Templates with suggested language for communicating with publishers are available for your convenience.)
  • Audio files
  • Conference papers
  • Dance performances
  • Datasets
  • Faculty course related output
  • Musical scores and composition recordings
  • Poetry and creative writing
  • University produced journals
  • Video files”

http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/faculty_guidelines.html

Student work has comprised much of the 3 million downloads between 2008 and 2017. If you’re interested in making your own research available through Digital Commons, you can find the guidelines for submission here.

A live map of the downloads in real time is located at the bottom of the Digital Commons homepage: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/. In the past week alone, users from places as far-flung as India, China, Africa, Finland, and Australia have downloaded IWU student research!

Read more about the 3-million download milestone here: https://www.iwu.edu/news/2017/digital-commons-at-iwu-exceeds-3-million-downloads.html

Ames Librarian Stephanie Davis-Kahl Co-Edits New Book

Posted by on November 6, 2017 No comments

The Ames Library is proud to announce the publication of a new book, Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian: Case Studies and Best Practices, co-edited by our very own Scholarly Communications librarian, Stephanie Davis-Kahl.

Published by the American Library Association and available both in print and as an e-book, this new collection explores research as an integral part of undergraduate learning.

“In 25 chapters featuring 60 expert contributors, Undergraduate Research and the Academic Librarian examines how the structures that undergird undergraduate research, such as the library, can become part of the core infrastructure of the undergraduate experience. It explores the strategic new services and cross-departmental collaborations academic libraries are creating to support research: publishing services, such as institutional repositories and undergraduate research journals; data services; copyright services; poster printing and design; specialized space; digital scholarship services; awards; and much more. These programs can be from any discipline, can be interdisciplinary, can be any high-impact format, and can reflect upon an institution’s own history, traditions, and tensions.”

Source: http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=12283

Illinois Wesleyan students will no doubt find the book a vital resource as they undertake original research during their four years on campus. Similarly, faculty overseeing that research will benefit from the book’s detailed case studies. As we’ll mention in an upcoming blog post tomorrow, one of the many advantage of The Ames Library is that outstanding undergraduate research can be deposited with Digital Commons @ IWU. Stay tuned to find out more! In the meantime, Davis-Kahl’s edited collection will soon be available for checkout through Ames, so be sure to keep an eye on our catalog.