5 minute read
Why is research important?
Melissa Eriko Poulsen, Assistant Professor of English
Dr. Poulsen supervises research projects from students’ first years through their senior projects. She says:
"In my courses, students are asked to select a topic within our course focus, develop a central research question they’re trying to answer, and build a research-supported argument. Students choose all kinds of fascinating topics. I’m excited this semester to read my student papers on approaches to eating for athletes, the dangers climate change poses to our food systems, the impact of food on mental health, and others.
Some of the research principles I teach include:
1. Research is always about inquiry! We start with questions, not answers, and see where the research takes us.
2. Research is a process, not a product: it’s an ongoing cycle of engaging and reengaging with information.
3. Persuasive researched writing is a conversation, where we think about our readers and consider how to engage readers through emotional appeals while also writing and researching credibly.
One of the greatest satisfactions is seeing students begin to feel like “experts” in their topic; through the writing process, and eventually an oral presentation, I see how students begin to feel really confident that they can engage with an audience in interesting, inspired ways. Students also gain confidence in how much they can sit down and write (the page count is usually a bit daunting at first). And I always appreciate learning about the topics that students are most passionate about."
Faculty Perspective
Conducting and teaching research methods has frustrations and many joys. We at the magazine surveyed our faculty and other mentors about their research experiences, and, like many good investigators, we gained a greater appreciation for our topic. Please join us in admiration for the dedicated professors and librarians who are preparing our students to answer questions for themselves.
Dima Leshchinskii, Professor of Finance
Dr. Leshchinskii mentored student Sam Baker ’20 through the research on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) scores that resulted in their joint paper, “Risk-Adjusted Performance of ESG Portfolios in the S & P 500: The Poor Functionality of ESG Scores.” Leshchinskii is also supervising Jake Tranter ’23 for follow-on research and Elijah Genin ’21 in pursuit of data on the performance of companies with dual class shares. Dr. Leshchinskii remarks:
I think all three students now have a better understanding of important steps in the research process. Also, they personally learned the limitations that data availability imposes and that researchers need to be flexible and creative in collecting data.
I learned that when working with students on a research project one needs to be more specific communicating expectations and providing a clear outline of the immediate steps.
One of my greatest satisfactions was learning something new for myself and sharing new knowledge with the students. I was happy to see how students grow and learn in their research experience.
Tricia Soto, Librarian, Bowman Library
Tricia Soto, recently retired, helped students working on literature reviews of their own choice of topic for senior psychology theses.
Student researchers very often make an assumption or start with a conclusion, then look for research that will support their assumptions. As a librarian, it is a struggle to have them understand that there is often not one single answer to their research question. I encourage students hunting for expert articles on their topic to:
1. Ask questions,
2. Think about alternative words and phrases that could be used,
3. Think about who else in the world cares about the topic.
My greatest joys have been students who have returned to me with questions, bounced ideas off of me, and were open and eager to look at the different directions their research could take.
- Erik Bakke, Executive Director of International Student Services
Faten Ben Bouheni, Assistant Professor, Finance
Dr. Ben Bouheni and Dr. Mouwafac Sidaoui, Dean of the Business School and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer, mentored Zandanbal Arslankhuyag (Zach) ’22 and Samuele Mian ’22 through the research resulting in their joint paper, “Fintech and Islamic Banking Growth: New Evidence” (Journal of Risk Finance).
The students collected data, contributed to the discussion of the findings, wrote an introduction, served as the corresponding author to submitted journals and, when the article was in the final stages of acceptance, contributed to answering the referees’ comments.
They learned how to correspond with a peer-reviewed journal, and they completed and submitted a research paper within 6 weeks. We all celebrated having the work recognized and published.
- Pamela Gullard, Adjunct Professor of Literature and Humanities
