Junior Paper

Paying it Forward: A Faculty Perspective on Mentorship in Research

Posted on April 18, 2025April 15, 2025 by Shannon Yeow

David Walker is a Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University whose research focuses on programming languages, formal methods, and computer systems. Known for his commitment to advancing both theoretical and practical understanding in the field, Professor Walker also plays a central role in mentoring students.

As someone who completed my junior independent work under Professor Walker’s guidance last semester, I’ve had the chance to witness his thoughtful mentorship firsthand. In a research culture where both the technical challenge and emotional uncertainty can feel overwhelming, I’ve come to appreciate how crucial the human side of research is—how we learn from and grow with those who guide us. With that in mind, I sat down with Professor Walker to explore how he thinks about mentorship: what it looks like, why it matters, and how he helps students, like me, find their footing in the world of research.

Insights and Interests: An Interview with Cevina Hwang

Posted on March 21, 2025March 7, 2025 by Rebecca Cho

Hailing from Saipan and South Korea, Cevina Hwang is a junior in the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department. With a longstanding interest in the field of dentistry, she chose to expand upon this passion through her junior work, where she will be exploring the evolution of the human jaw and teeth.

Join me below to read about Cevina’s journey in the junior work process.

Cevina Hwang, Princeton University ’26

A Guide to JP-Writing in the Humanities

Posted on November 15, 2024November 5, 2024 by Ignacio Arias Philippi

Books in Library — *Finding the right sources within a literary field is a key part of all independent work*. *Photo credit: Olena Bohovyk.*

Writing a Junior Paper (or two, depending on your major) can be a stressful process. But it does not have to be that way. Below are some strategies to help you minimize JP-induced stress and streamline your research process.

Getting it Done: Balancing your JP with a Full Course Load

Posted on February 26, 2024February 26, 2024 by Amaya Dressler

A laptop with a notebook and pen set aside from a coffee mug.

While it may feel like the semester has only just begun, classes are in full swing and, already, junior paper (JP) deadlines are fast approaching. For many majors, the spring semester is where the bulk of the JP work actually takes place. Whether that means writing thousands of words, crunching monstrously large datasets, or debugging hundreds of lines of code, I think we all can agree that a JP draft is better not left to the last minute.

One of the biggest challenges all Princeton students face with independent work, however, is figuring out where they can even find the time to start. With a full course load, weekly assignments, and a myriad of extracurricular obligations, just when exactly is a student to work on their JP? Read on for three tips on how you can fit your JP into a hectic schedule. With the right daily habits, supports, and mindset, you may even find that you enjoy the process more than the final product.

Looking at Qualitative Research through Junior Papers: An Interview with Albert Lee ‘24

Posted on December 4, 2023November 21, 2023 by Alexis Wu

Albert Lee ‘24 is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Chair at Colonial Club, a member of the Students for Prison Education, Abolition, and Reform (SPEAR), and former Senior Writer for The Daily Princetonian.

As a junior, a hot topic for many of my friends lately has been their junior research and senior theses. In brainstorming ideas for this piece, I also thought about the incredible amount of learning that takes place in just a semester. That’s when I got the idea for this paper—to hear from seniors about their recent experiences conducting research for their Junior Papers. So, I reached out to Albert Lee ‘24, a senior majoring in Sociology and pursuing a certificate in Journalism.

Reading Courses: A Guide

Posted on November 29, 2023November 21, 2023 by Shane Patrick

As course selection begins, you might find yourself searching endlessly through the Course Offerings webpage, trying to craft the perfect schedule for next semester. You’re probably weighing a number of different factors— the professor, the class topic, the reading list, the different requirements it fulfills— and trying to balance these in the best way possible.There is another possibility here, which you can’t find in the course offerings: reading courses. Not advertised on department websites or listed with course offerings, reading courses are some of Princeton’s hidden academic gems. The University defines a reading course as a specially designed course not normally offered as part of the curriculum that is arranged between a student and a faculty member. These courses count for academic credit, and focus on a topic of the student’s choosing. If you’ve ever dreamed about designing your own course, this is your opportunity.

Students walk across McCosh Courtyard at Princeton University.

McCosh Courtyard in November

Researching in Princeton’s Special Collections

Posted on November 8, 2023October 30, 2023 by Shane Patrick

If you want to take your research in the humanities to the next level while here at Princeton, one of the best ways you can do that is by availing yourself of Princeton’s Special Collections. Home to vast stockpiles of manuscripts, rare books, coins, and other materials, Special Collections is a great place for students who want to pursue rigorous and impressive humanities research while making use of the excellent resources that Princeton has to offer. Many of these articles were donated by benefactors or acquired by the university specifically so that they could be researched by professors, students, and other researchers. In this article, I’ll present some reasons why you might consider checking out Special Collections, and then follow that up with a basic “how to” for when you visit.

Image shows an Ethiopic book, opened to pages featuring pictures of saints and text in Ge'ez (Classical Ethiopic)

A manuscript of an Ethiopic Synaxarion in Special Collections

How to use a Reference Room

Posted on October 25, 2023October 20, 2023 by Shane Patrick

Most people probably know Trustee Reading Room as that large room with big glass windows on the first floor of Firestone, where you go when you want a really quiet study space. Perhaps you’ve recently studied for midterms or worked on a paper in its sacred silence. Maybe you’ve wondered if there’s more to Trustee than simply providing a quiet atmosphere for study. The answer to that question is: yes, there is. It is the primary reference room of Firestone library– and if you read to the end of this article you will learn how to make the most of this tremendous resource.

Trustee Reading Room in Firestone Library has many reference works

Wright Library: An Under-utilized Resource for Students

Posted on October 2, 2023September 29, 2023 by Shane Patrick

When I first walked through the doors of Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library at Princeton Theological Seminary (PTS) on a sweltering September day a few weeks ago, I was struck by three things: the great size of the library, the small number of students there, and its remarkably-strong air conditioning. As I set my things down and cooled off in a quiet study area, I began to work on an assignment for one of my classes. My gratitude for the engineers who designed the building’s cooling system was quickly superseded by my admiration for those who worked together to produce the largest theological library in America and the second largest in the world after the Vatican Library in Rome.

Image shows the facade of Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library in Princeton, New Jersey.

Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library is the main library at Princeton Theological Seminary.

A Figure Speaks a Thousand Words

Posted on October 3, 2022October 3, 2022 by Amaya Dressler

Example boxplot titled Boxplot of Magnesium, Ashwaganda, and Melatonin with Deep Sleep. The boxplot analysis indicates statistically insignificant variations among supplement types. The author describes the follow-up question after their ANOVA analysis: how does my sleep vary with a magnesium pill vs. without a magnesium pill? — The boxplot comparison accurately reflects the variation between different sleep supplements and their effect on deep sleep quantity. As seen above, the boxplot demonstrates the presence of a single outlier under the Magnesium group which could have easily skewed and misrepresented the data in another type of figure.

As anyone who has taken one of Princeton’s introductory statistics courses can tell you: informative statistics and figures can and will be incredibly useful in supporting your research. Whether you’re reworking your R1, writing your first JP, or in the final stages of your Senior Thesis, chances are you’ve integrated some useful statistics into your argument. When there are a million different positions that one can take in an argument, statistics appear to be our research’s objective grounding. The data says so, therefore I must be right. Right?

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