Research in History, Anthropology, and Classics
Anyone can do research in History, Anthropology, and Classics! There are opportunities to work with archives, conduct ethnographic fieldwork, and study cultural artifacts, among many other things. Whether you have a class project you want to take even farther, have an intellectual interest you haven’t been able to explore in the classroom, or want to explore opportunities to join an on-going faculty-led research project, undergraduate research is a powerful way to make the most of your Butler education.
Why do a research project?
There are lots of advantages to completing a research project while you are at Butler.
Your research might be part of the Butler Summer Institute, a Departmental or Honors Thesis, or a stand-alone, independent project, and you can leave Butler with:
- Honors or Departmental Distinction on your transcript.
- A writing sample in hand if you plan to apply for graduate school.
- Research skills that look great on your resume.
- Research in History: Explore archives, journals, and digital repositories to inspire your research in History.
- Research in Anthropology: Investigate ethnographies, field schools, and museums that will bring your Anthropology research to life.
- Research in Classics:
Finding a Research Mentor
Before beginning this process, it is helpful to sit and think carefully about your own interests, goals, and needs in conducting undergraduate research. Write them out. They will no doubt change, but it’s useful to have a concrete list in front of you. Sometimes what ends up there may surprise you. Some areas you should consider include:
- General Interests: What are you most interested in? These topics may emerge from your general intellectual interests, disciplinary study, class readings and discussion, contemporary events, or personal interests. Don’t worry about brainstorming actual research questions at this point. Instead, focus on identifying those things that you are most passionate about knowing more about.
- Research Interests: Consider your general interests in light of your specific discipline and the training that you have received so far. How might your discipline (or disciplines if you are double majoring) guide you towards a particular area of research? You may want to do some reading and preliminary research to help clarify some of the areas you initially think you are interested in. You do not need a specific research question before seeking out a mentor, and in many cases, locking into a question too early can be problematic when it comes to finding a faculty member who can successfully mentor your research. But you should inform yourself of the general areas of research you are most interested in.
- Goals: What do you hope to get out of your undergraduate research experience? You should consider both tangible and intangible products as you consider this question. As with all of these prompts, be honest with yourself.
- Needs: What do you think you will need the most help with? Becoming familiar with the literature? Scaffolding the work? Identifying appropriate methods? Setting deadlines? Making connections to other scholars doing similar work? Consider what you need most out of a mentor and consider how you might rank the various criteria listed in the section below.
Once you have thought about your own interests, goals and needs, you should begin to search for faculty mentors who might have the interests and skills to be able to mentor you. Remember: there are many different models for how a student and a faculty mentor develop and carry out a project together. Here are some things you might consider, but don’t let this list deter you (see the “Caveat” at the beginning of this document).
- Begin by learning as much about the faculty in your discipline as possible. The kinds of things you will want to consider are listed in the section below titled “Criteria: What to Look For.” Also, talk to other students who are currently doing research to get a sense of how different faculty approach undergraduate research.
- Read the scholarship of the faculty members you think align most closely with your own interests.
- Set up a meeting with these faculty members in which you discuss their scholarship as well as your own interests, to see if there are shared interests.
Funding Research
University Research Funding
- Undergraduate Research Grants: The university offers a number of grants to support thesis research and conference travel.
- Butler Summer Institute (BSI): Offers summer financial support to students pursing a significant research question, contributing to a scholarly conversation, or producing creative work while being mentored by a faculty member.
- The Seitz Award is designed to financially assist Natural Science students who desire to study science and conduct research abroad, outside the normal academic classroom setting. For our department, this would include students studying Archaeology.
Department Research Funding
- All students who are either History, Anthropology, and Classics (HAC) majors or minors or who are working with a faculty member in the HAC department are eligible to apply for funding to support their research and conference presentation travel up to a total of $500 while at Butler Students in other majors are encouraged to seek funding from their home department first. Application materials can be found on the HAC Student Canvas page.
Writing a Thesis
Any student can write a thesis! Here’s what to do.
*Note: everyone, regardless of whether they are in the Honors Program or writing a departmental thesis, must go through this process.
Think about topics you are interested in and/or projects from your classes – or even from high school – that you want to continue researching. It’s never too early to start, and you can propose a thesis into the fall of your senior year.
Check out this handy document for tips on finding the perfect faculty mentor.
Meet with your mentor and make a plan to complete a proposal and choose a second reader. This can be done as early as your first or second year but should be underway in your junior year. Thesis proposals ideally are submitted in the spring of your junior year or earlier. Under special circumstances, they can be submitted in the fall of your senior year.
Check out what is required for an Honors Thesis Proposal. As you are working, make sure to complete any other requirements that might be needed, like an IRB protocol.
When you complete a draft of your proposal, be sure to send it to your mentor for feedback. You may even want to make an appointment at the Writers Studio so that another set of eyes can read the proposal.
When the proposal is ready for submission, have your mentor complete the Proposal Cover Sheet. Be sure your last name is at the beginning of the file names and send both documents to Dr. Jason Lantzer for feedback from the appropriate Honors Board. Having other faculty read and comment on your proposal can be extremely valuable, and, by getting officially approved for thesis work, you become eligible to apply for funding to support your research and presenting at conferences.
*Note: each college has an Honors Board that reads and assesses thesis proposals. Likely, yours will go to the LAS Honors Board, but depending on the topic and outcome, it could go to the board of another college.
- You will receive feedback from the Board in a few weeks, and your proposal will either be accepted, accepted with small revisions, or returned for major revisions. Don’t be upset if you get feedback or if your proposal is returned!! This is an amazing opportunity to have other faculty read your work and consider your ideas. Your work will improve immensely when you share it and incorporate feedback from other learned readers, even if they don’t work in your area.
- If your proposal is returned, you must resubmit it to the Honors Board. Resubmit it as soon as possible, but ideally no more than two weeks after you receive the feedback so that there is plenty of time for your readers to get it back to you and for you to get going on your research.
- If your proposal is accepted, get started with your work! You should also be sure that you have a second reader for your thesis.
You should submit a full or penultimate draft of your thesis to your advisor preferably by February so that they have time to read it and return comments. By March, you should be ready to share the revised draft with your second reader for additional feedback.
The final version is due by graduation.
- Annual Meeting of the Society of Applied Anthropology
- University of Tennessee Knoxville Undergraduate Classics Conference
- American Historical Association
- Every annual conference offers an undergrad poster panel. Deadline to apply in December. Conference in San Francisco early January 2024.
- McNeil Center for Early American Studies
- Offers a spring undergrad workshop and conference to present at. Usually for juniors or seniors working on capstones. Get partnered with a graduate student to check in about your project and fly out to Philadelphia for a weekend (covered by Penn) to present at the conference at the end of April 2024. Applications due December 1.
- World History Association
- Offers undergraduate presentation opportunities and essay prizes! Conference will be in San Francisco in June of 2024.
While the basic steps to completing a thesis are often the same, there are lots of pathways to conducting undergraduate research. Here are a few pathways that some recent students have undertaken:
Capstone Models
- Pathway 1: Anthropology Capstone Model
- Fall Senior year: In preparation for senior seminar, student reviews projects completed in other classes or for Honors thesis and considers whether they want to develop a related, in-depth continuation of this work.
- Spring Senior year: Enrolls in AN 460 Capstone Seminar and completes research project.
- Pathway 2: History Capstone Model
- Junior year: Enrolls in HST 301 and develops research project ideas.
- Fall Senior Year: Enrolls in HST 401 and completes research project.
Independent Models
- Pathway 1: Early Start / 2+ year. Ericela Sahagun:
- Fall sophomore year. Took a course on Language and Culture and became interested in ethnonyms: terms used to identify ethnic groups. Approached professor and began talking about research opportunities. Began initial literature review of research on the topic. Developed BSI proposal.
- Spring sophomore year: Ericela registers for 1 credit hour of undergraduate research (AN481). Submits BSI application in January. Accepted in March. COVID hits and BSI is canceled. Ericela picks up remote internship for the summer instead.
- Fall Junior year: Ericela registers for 3 credit hours of undergraduate research (AN483). Ericela and her faculty mentor continue research plans. Develops a quantitative survey and qualitative interview instrument. Submits project proposal to Honors program to receive funding. Proposal approved and funding secured. Survey sent out.
- Spring Junior Year: Ericela registers for 2 credit hours of research (AN482). Completes data collection. Completes analysis. Continued literature review. Drafts preliminary claims.
- Fall Senior Year: Ericela registers for 1 credit hour of research (AN481). Drafts and completes thesis. Finished.
- Pathway 2: Project related to Faculty Research: Aidan Gregg
- Summer after first year: Discussed research with faculty mentor; participated in Archaeological Field Work abroad. Decided on a topic.
- Fall sophomore year: Registered for an Independent Study to begin background research.
- Spring sophomore year: Continued his Independent Study and applied for BSI. Presented preliminary work at the URC.
- Summer after sophomore year: Completed his BSI.
- Spring Junior Year: After a semester of study abroad, chose a second reader and submitted completed thesis.
- Pathway 3: Late start – 3 semesters: Lindsay Marohn
- Spring junior year. Lindsay decided she wanted to do a senior thesis. She crafted a thesis proposal around her interest in disability identity and submitted it to the Honors office in March. Began working on an IRB proposal and expanded her literature review.
- Fall senior year. Lindsay received IRB approval to begin her research. Lindsay chose a qualitative survey for her research methods in part because of COVID-19 restrictions. She sent the anonymous survey out through the SDS office.
- Spring senior year. Lindsay analyzed results of her qualitative survey through January. This involved some qualitative methods like creating tables around the demographics of respondents and also coding the qualitative responses for themes. In February and March she wrote her thesis and then sent it to readers for feedback. Lindsay made edits in April and submitted her thesis before graduation.
- Department website with list of faculty
- General Questions? Check in with our department chair.
- Department website with thesis info
- Info on Butler’s Honors Program
- Prestigious Fellowships and Scholarships
- Director: Professor of Biology Chris Stobart (cstobart@butler.edu)
- Zach Scarlett (zscarlet@butler.edu).