Undergraduate research (UGR) has grown in prominence and stature over the past 25 years as it has been embraced at institutions of all types. The enormous changes that have been made to support these endeavors have led to many success stories but also have created many challenges for faculty operationalizing these activities. In this article, the successes and challenges of institutionalizing UGR at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) are described, and the concerns that still need attention are addressed. .'assisting faculty in remaining student-oriented rather than becoming research-oriented, the primary reason to do research at PTAs and valuing the process of doing UGR along with the products of the work are probed. The creation of scaffolded, backward-designed, research-rich curricula is discussed, and some of the remaining challenges to institutionalizing UGR are considered.
The national prominence of undergraduate research arises from both the myriad benefits offered for a wide range of stakeholders and the variety of modes in which this scholarly endeavor may be pursued. The evolution of undergraduate research in the United States parallels that of a social movement, with an array of participant entities that aspire to incorporate the research process into undergraduate curricula. Throughout its history, the Council on Undergraduate Research has contributed significantly to the extraordinary development of this form of engaged learning. Although it is thriving, the undergraduate research movement must address emerging as well as potential challenges facing higher education today to continue to flourish and serve greater numbers of students.
Communication is a diverse discipline that includes many social scientific, humanistic, and critical modes of inquiry. After elucidating several challenges to teaching a communication research methods course, this article describes a four-credit, one-semester "research incubator" that was piloted by two faculty members and seven students at a midsize, private, New England college in spring 2017. The incubator built upon the methods class, involving students in one of three projects: content analysis of race/ethnicity and character deaths in The Walking Dead, textual analysis of mortality and morality in The Walking Dead, and focus group analysis of podcast listener motivations. Assessment of students' research and soft skills revealed that the course involved valuable experiences with methodological rigor as well as critical thinking, analysis, and group communication skills.
Student research clubs provide a forum to help students not only be successful researchers but successful graduates as well.This model provides leadership experience, student institutional involvement, social enrichment, collaboration, and peer accountability in addition to research training.Benefits of a discipline-specific research club include training tailored to the particular field (for example, ethical animal use for those disciplines that have research involving animals), increased collective interest in peer projects, exposure
