Prepare for Undergraduate Research

Do you think you might be interested in research but feel like you need to learn more? Are you wondering what exactly undergraduate research is and why you might want to do it? This page is for you. Click through the following tabs to learn more about what UR is, why students do UR, how to get prepared, and how to get support.

If you have a few questions or want to learn more about how to get started with undergraduate research, visit OUR during our Office Hours. See OUR's Office Hours for this semester below.

What is research, anyway? And how and why might a student get involved in research?

Defining Research

Research involves creating new knowledge and understanding through a scholarly or artistic discovery process.

Depending on the discipline engaged, a research project may involve:

searching for information in libraries and archives,
conducting surveys and interviews,
painting portraits,
building computational or physical models,
reading texts through particular interpretive lenses,
or analyzing datasets, among many other pursuits.

What fundamentally unites the researchers pursuing these disparate activities is a commitment to bringing new insights into the world.

Why Research?

Working on a sustained research project can provide you with distinctive opportunities for intellectual and personal growth.

Relevance: Shifting from being a consumer of knowledge produced by others to a producer of knowledge in your own right can deepen your understanding of the research methods and approaches commonly used in your fields of interest and the limitations of these methods and approaches. It can provide new perspectives on the scholarly work you encounter in your courses.

Professional Development: Research by its very nature involves grappling with uncertainty, coping with unexpected setbacks, and making multiple attempts to resolve or address problems. This experience can help to cultivate persistence and habits of mind that will be useful to you throughout your career (regardless of whether it ultimately involves research), and in life more generally.

While research can pose useful challenges to you as an individual, it also offers an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with others.

Relationships & Mentorship: Undergraduates conducting longer-term research projects typically work under the supervision of one or more expert researchers who provide ongoing guidance and feedback. One of the significant benefits of participating in a sustained research project as an undergraduate is precisely this opportunity to work in dialogue with and learn from a more seasoned researcher. Frequently, more senior researchers become mentors to undergraduate researchers with whom they work, serving not only as an advisors regarding immediate questions related to research but also as a source of guidance regarding graduate school and career possibilities.

Research frequently provides opportunities to connect with fellow undergraduates excited by the process of exploration and discovery; for instance, you might work on a research team along with other undergraduates, or you might participate in an undergraduate research program that provides regular opportunities for participating students to meet and discuss their experiences.

Undergraduate research thus holds out the promise of the challenge and a community; combined, the two can make for a compelling life experience.

Get Ready

Undergraduate Research Opportunities & Competencies
Open Educational Resource

With support from the Teaching & Learning Transformation Center, OUR developed an open educational resource for UMD students to learn more about undergraduate research, develop basic research skills and competencies, and develop a plan for finding their first research opportunity. Students who complete all UROC OER modules will earn a certificate of completion.

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities & Competencies Open (UROC) Educational Resource is a free, open-access resource hosted in Open Learning for University of Maryland students, faculty, and staff. UROC is also publicly available for individuals beyond UMD College Park.

Learn more here.

Get Support

Visit OUR During Fall 2024 Office Hours

Talk with an OUR staff member in person about strategies for locating and applying for research opportunities, approaches to disseminating your research, or other topics related to undergraduate research, please come by our office hours! Office hours for the fall semester will begin on Monday, August 26, 2024.

When: Mondays 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm, Wednesdays 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Where: The Atlantic Building, Room 2338

Office hours will operate on a "first come, first served" basis, with no appointments necessary.

No office hours will be held on Monday, September 2 or Wednesday, November 27. The last day of regular office hours for the semester will be Monday, December 9.