Research in the Humanities

How do you conduct research in the humanities? Where do you begin? Here are a few tips to consider when thinking about research in the humanities.

Learn

Start early. You don’t have to know that you want to research medieval castles and building practices in 12th century England just yet! But you should be thinking about your interests. For example: Do you like American history, British literature, or Chinese art? What time periods interest you? These are great questions to start with. Identifying your exact topic of research takes some time, but once you know where your interests lie, it’s easier to find a specific topic to start researching. You can also review the Carolina Digital Repository, past SURF projects, and archives of past projects from the OUR’s Celebration of Undergraduate Research to get an idea of what kinds of projects other students in your discipline have
Many books offer advice on this topic, but especially helpful are Chapters 3 and 4 of Wayne Booth’s The Craft of Research (which can help you move from a broad topic to a specific research question) and They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing by Cathy Birkenstein and Gerald Graff—a very short book that offers an accessible introductory crash course in academic research. And you may also consider checking out the free research methods courses at the Odum Institute, especially if you are interested in engaging in work in both the humanities and the social sciences.
Take classes! Many students learn what interests them by taking a variety of classes taught by different professors, and these classes will also introduce you to research methods and recent scholarship in the field. Classes can offer some of the best preparation for starting a research project and starting to understand how to write literature reviews (which help you understand existing research on a topic of interest). Your classes can also introduce you to professors that you might be interested in working with.
Chat with professors and graduate students in your department about their research. We learn so much about our own interests by talking to other people about theirs. Everyone approaches their projects a little differently, and getting feedback from multiple people may help you figure out what approaches sound like ones you could adopt. These meetings will help you learn more about the instructors in your department, making it easier to connect when you want to start a research project. It may seem a little daunting to set up these meetings, but your professors usually love to talk about their research with an interested student.

Connect

The next step is to find a faculty member as a potential mentor. Think first about interesting professors you’ve taken classes with or worked with in other capacities. Did you take a 20th century U.S. history class and love how the professor teaches? Do they have some of the same research interests as you? Also look through your department’s faculty page and use Google to see who at UNC is doing research that’s interesting to you. It’s okay to reach out to professors you don’t know yet. Finding the right professor can take time, but don’t be afraid to talk to likely candidates about your potential research interests and learn more about theirs. Start talking to professors as early as possible so you’ll have a great network when it’s time to ask a faculty member to be your research mentor.
You can also talk to graduate teaching assistants about professors in their department. Graduate students know a lot about professors and their approach to mentoring students, and they can help you identify a faculty member who shares your interests and who might help you develop a project. Teaching assistants might feel more approachable if you’ve been in a large lecture class where the professor has interacted with you less than your TA.
If you have to decide between a mentor whose teaching you love and one whose research is exactly on your topic, you may want to consider focusing more on the former than the latter; other students’ experiences have suggested that a good interpersonal and intellectual fit with your mentor can matter at least as much as a shared research focus, but hopefully you can find a balance of both. Also keep in mind you can meet with faculty regarding subject expertise even if they are not the faculty mentor sponsoring your independent study or honors thesis. You can have more than one mentor on a single project.
Different faculty have different models for mentoring undergraduates in undergraduate research, but many will be willing to talk about your interests and theirs, and to give you advice and feedback on your research proposal, SURF application, or other forms of initial research It’s important to have a conversation with your faculty mentor about their expectations and yours. Will you schedule recurring meetings to review your progress? Will you check in informally on email? Will you work independently unless you have a problem? Clarifying these expectations at the beginning of the project prevents miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Engage

After you have gotten a sense of where your interests lie and have found one (or two or three) professors with whom you might work, start thinking about how you can proceed with your research. Do you want to do an independent study? Consider applying for a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) or Summer Award for Research Courses (SARC) to work with a faculty mentor on developing your project. Are you interested in writing an honors thesis? Talk to your departmental advisor or your department’s faculty liaison to see what that entails. Regardless, explore SURFs and other fellowships or funding opportunities to help fund your research, giving you more time to focus on what interests you.
Once you have developed a pathway to begin your research, work on crafting a specific research question. Use the library tutorials, schedule an appointment with a reference librarian in your research area, and use books like the ones mentioned above to help you navigate key words. Databases could also help you discover and define your topic and develop your research question(s). Keep in mind that it can take a while to develop and revise your exact research question, so give yourself plenty of time to plan and think things through, and use your conversations with faculty to help you in this process. Also be aware of deadlines if you are applying to certain programs like SURF or an Honors Thesis. Once you know what it is you want to research, develop a plan with your faculty
When you have figured out all of these things, it is time to begin tracking down and reading the actual sources for your research! For some, this can be the most exciting process of the entire project, but for others it can be frustrating. Give yourself plenty of time to consult resources, and seek help and advice from books like Booth and Birkenstein/Graff (above), librarians, and faculty mentors on where to begin this process, how to put your own ideas into dialogue with your sources, and how to structure your project. With all of these steps completed, you can successfully conduct research in the humanities!

(Prepared by Dr. Hilary Lithgow, Dr. Donna Bickford, and OUR Ambassador Sarah Faircloth in November 2014. Revised by OUR Graduate Assistant Aaron Pattillo-Lunt and Dr. Robert Pleasants in February 2024.)