The Power of Fresh Perspectives

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It often becomes clearer when you change your perspective…

As winter break rolled in, I finally had the opportunity to focus on my thesis and make substantial progress. However, as always, it wasn’t going to be easy.

Generally speaking, the problem sets assigned in class have a solution.  You know that if you focus and spend time on them, it is (at least in theory) possible to come to the correct answer and complete the problem set. The challenge with research, however, is the very real possibility that the ultimate solution is unattainable with the methods/data that you have available to you.

It was precisely this problem that I encountered over the winter. Continue reading The Power of Fresh Perspectives

Engineering a New Outlook: The BSE Path

Posted on by Stacey Huang

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Deciding to bear the mantle bestowed by the Electrical Engineering T-shirt.

Last week, Melissa told us about her ruminations on and approaches to deciding a major. This week, I wanted to offer some of my own thoughts and reflections on why I chose to stick to the path to BSE two years ago.

To many people, engineering seems to be the hard way through college. Engineering classes notoriously lower GPAs, cause intense stress, and work you to the bone. I can’t deny I’ve had a generous share of that, as someone who’s far from the sharpest mind in electrical engineering. Sometimes it can really take a hit on my self-esteem—and it’s no lie that I’ve experienced first hand how engineering classes make you work at your limits, force you to think differently, and labor at solving problems that don’t have set answers. But that’s because the end goal is to make a coherent working system that will perform a task, which is often immensely complex, while working within physically possible limits. In other words, rather than only thinking and planning, the result is something that really works and that can interact with society in some meaningful way. And successfully creating such a system is a very satisfying feeling indeed.

The difficulty people associate with engineering often clouds that end goal.While it’s true that engineering certainly isn’t for everyone, engineering offers you a different outlook and approach to life that can benefit you far beyond the academic field. Continue reading Engineering a New Outlook: The BSE Path

Student Profile: Alexandria Herr, 2017!

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So far, PCUR bloggers have focused on what we’ve learned from our own research journeys. This week, I thought I would share an interview I conducted with another student last fall about what he/she is working. Princeton students are always involved in something interesting, and Alex Herr is no exception.

I met Alex in our freshman seminar, Earth’s Environments and Ancient Civilizations, in which we travelled to Cyprus and analyzed topics of climate, minerals, and topography using geophyics and other scientific methods. A proud Forbesian and member of the class of 2017, Alex is a tentative Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major and plans on getting certificates in Computer Science and Latin American Studies. Last semester, she was enrolled in JRN 440: Unconventional Foreign Correspondence, a creative writing poetry class, GEO 365, and SPA 103.

What are your favorite pieces of research from past classes at Princeton?

Last year, in Ancient Egyptian Archaeology, we went to the archives of the art museum and were assigned a certain number of Egyptian scarabs, or beetle-shaped amulets. Scarab beetles were used as seals mounted on rings or simply as amulets placed over the heart of a mummy. Our final project was to identify where the scarabs in the art museum were from and whether they were real.

Scarabs are the ancient world’s equivalent of an “I Love NY” shirt. As individual records, they are not that special, but as conglomerates, they tell researchers a lot about a time period. One of my scarabs had been listed as a fake, but I was able to make an argument for its authenticity. Continue reading Student Profile: Alexandria Herr, 2017!

Finding Passion in Past Semesters

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My home away from home; University College London's central quad!
My home away from home; University College London’s central quad!

Hello from London, England! This semester, I’ve left the comforts of the Orange Bubble, traveling 3,500 miles to study at University College London (UCL). While my spring semester in London began a few weeks ago, I know that back at Princeton, the new term is just beginning!

The start of a new semester is always refreshing – it’s almost as if we’ve been given a blank slate, a chance to start anew. I typically spend little to no time thinking about the past semester once a new one has begun, feeling as though the completion of final assignments signals the abrupt end to all thoughts relating to a particular course. However, this semester differed from past semesters for me.  One particular Dean’s Date assignment stayed on my mind long after its submission and ended up impacting me in an unexpected way. Continue reading Finding Passion in Past Semesters

Keep Calm and Write Outlines

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The last time you heard from me, it was 2014.  Holiday lights were on and deadlines were far off. Now that reading period is upon us, it’s time to start your research assignments if you haven’t already.  To find materials, organize, and finally write can be a time-consuming process – but a strong outline can both save time and prevent stress.  Outlines undoubtedly vary by discipline, but I use the same general strategy for all my classes: keep things concise.  As you can see, the strategy itself is concise.  And concision is effective.

It’s temping to write a stream of thoughts about your subject, but not always useful; so start by limiting yourself to a single sheet of a small piece of paper.  I use a lovely little clipboard that my sister gave me when I graduated from high school:

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Thanks, Jennifer!

Continue reading Keep Calm and Write Outlines

Choosing the Right Essay Topics: Dean’s Date Done Right

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Dean’s Dates can undoubtedly be daunting, especially if you are enrolled in one of the departments where the primary form of assessment is essay writing, rather than exams. For me, the most difficult step of completing Dean’s Date assignments is the very beginning—choosing a topic. I often struggle with the decision of whether to focus on something I know nothing about, or something I know a little bit about, and want to explore further. This is never an easy choice. Often, however, I find that the latter makes for a more thoroughly-developed question, as it offers a pre-existing lens through which to view an issue, and then formulate specific inquiries about it.

For example, last year in one of my Global Health classes, I read a book about off-shoring clinical trials to developing countries. It really captivated my interest, and had me asking many questions about efficacy, ethics, and feasibility. Continue reading Choosing the Right Essay Topics: Dean’s Date Done Right

Holiday research? Try topic lists

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As we approach the final weeks of Fall semester, we also approach the charming, challenging world of research papers and deadlines. Remember reading about those 10-12 page essays on the syllabus in September? They’re real, and they’re coming home for the holidays. You might want to make room at the dinner table.

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Like end-of-semester research papers, the Woodrow Wilson School fountain can be a good clue that the holidays are near. Especially when it’s frozen.

Of course, we haven’t hit December yet, so maybe it’s too early for holiday plans. But it’s not too early to start thinking about those final essays – even if the topics haven’t been assigned. Based on your engagement with a particular course during the semester, you can probably guess which themes might appear in the professor’s prompt. You can also easily notice where these themes intersect with your interests, and begin considering arguments without the pressure to immediately develop them. This might seem unrealistic, but it works: the questions you naturally raise about your day-to-day experiences make a great list of potential topics for future research papers.

I’ve always been guilty of raising a lot of questions, but it wasn’t until recently that I began keeping them in lists. Continue reading Holiday research? Try topic lists

Ready for Take-Off: A Pre-Departure Plan to Study Abroad

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The Office of International Programs helps students make their travel dreams a reality! (Photo credit: Morgan Celistan)
The Office of International Programs helps students make their travel dreams a reality!

Many people think about studying abroad while at Princeton, but only a select few actually apply. I seldom hear of research-oriented students studying abroad.  Many of us fear leaving behind the Princeton-centered academic research we’ve grown attached to. However, study abroad can be an amazing opportunity for student researchers to learn about their fields from an international perspective.

Next semester, I’ll be studying abroad at University College London (UCL). In addition to taking classes at my new university, I also hope to get involved in its research community. It seems easy to get caught up in the grandeur of being in a new location, focusing on exploring the area and forgetting to engage in meaningful and intellectual pursuits related to research. Therefore, I have spent the last few days trying to brainstorm ways to tie my research ambitions in with my plans for studying abroad. I’ve come up with a few pre-departure tasks that I feel will help me keep my research at the forefront of my mind while I traverse across the seas:

Continue reading Ready for Take-Off: A Pre-Departure Plan to Study Abroad

How to Write a Paper in Two Days: A Timeline

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Last week, Yuem wrote about keeping track of his progress on his senior thesis—a project with distant deadlines. As an underclassman, I usually face shorter-term deadlines for class essays and problem sets, and these require a similar, but condensed approach.

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This post has real-life inspiration. Next Thursday, I have a paper due for my philosophy class on Nietzsche. Weekdays are busy with problem sets and assignments. I do not expect myself to start consolidating material for the paper till this weekend, which leaves me plenty of time to plan an effective essay.

Here’s the schedule I successfully used last time, when I was looking at parts of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and the Gay Science. Granted, the whole process I’m proposing is longer than just two days, but I promise if you use the pre-writing steps I suggest, you’ll be able to do the actual writing in a much shorter period of time!

5 Days before Due Date: Finish the core readings!

I spent about half of my weekend finishing the readings for the class that I had not been able to finish in time for lecture. Surprisingly few people realize how helpful this is. In a paper-based class, certain prompts will lend themselves to specific readings. You can write a decent paper–maybe even get a “good grade”– by reading only what is absolutely necessary for a paper, but it will fall far short of your potential. You are surrounded by world-class facilities and faculty–don’t waste your time on something sub-par. The best part about writing a paper is finding unexpected connections, after all. Continue reading How to Write a Paper in Two Days: A Timeline

Stop and Smell the…Citations? Keeping Sharp Even in Stagnation

Posted on by Stacey Huang

Tired?
We all get into a lull sometimes.

Starting out on the path to research is always exciting. Poring over annals of literature and getting a taste of a mere fraction of the boundless knowledge the Internet and the library have to offer is very satisfying, and sometimes it feels like the stream of productivity and knowledge will last forever.

But what happens when you come to a roadblock? As the semester progresses, things can start to get slow, even feel like they’re coming to a standstill – that one piece of evidence you need to cite your argument just remains elusive, you end up waiting a week for a shipment for equipment you need to run some new experiments (as I currently am). Sometimes, you simply start getting tired of spending endless hours reading, writing, thinking, and then reading and writing again about the same topic. It can be difficult to maintain motivation in the face of those slow-moving moments. Continue reading Stop and Smell the…Citations? Keeping Sharp Even in Stagnation