McNair Research Seminar

One of the best ways you can prepare for graduate school is by learning to conduct graduate level research. Through McNair, we want you to

• Understand the professional value of conducting research as an undergraduate (and beyond)
• Learn what kinds of research or scholarly contributions people in your field are interested in
• Understand the basic research traditions and some of the technical terminology associated with each research tradition
• Learn typical steps in the research process
• Learn how to efficiently search for and evaluate resources related to your topic
• Become aware of the ethics and scholarly responsibilities of academic work
• Learn disciplinary standards for oral and written research presentations

In order to achieve this, you will participate in our McNair Research Seminar and the Honors Program (4 credits total). The seminars includes critical activities such as

• Identifying a faculty mentor
• Working with your faculty mentor(s) to 
  • identify a research question
  • design a research study to answer your question
  • conduct your study
  • disseminate your findings
• Preparing a research proposal for review by blind reviewers
• Completing an Honors thesis 
• Disseminating (sharing) your research in various ways (e.g., oral presentations in class, poster presentations at UNC Research Day)
• Preparing a final research manuscript ready to submit to a peer-reviewed journal

Throughout this process, we offer support through Individual Success Plan meetings, writing conferences, and reference to various UNC resources such as Subject Librarians, the Writing Center, and the UNC Research Consulting Lab.