By Kristen Mitchell
The GW Undergraduate Review (GWUR), a student organization that promotes research done by George Washington University undergraduates, is focused on building a strong support system for undergraduate researchers in its third year.
GWUR launched its first academic journal for student research in spring 2018. This year, the organization is expanding the types of articles it will accept to include three- to five-page informal research overviews. Traditional submissions range from 10 to 100 pages.
Claire Houchen, a third-year senior majoring in biology and president and editor-in-chief of GWUR, hopes this will increase the number of submissions GWUR gets from the science and engineering disciplines.
“In science, undergraduate research is often one piece of a larger faculty project that will eventually be published. That research can’t be published in two places,” she said. “In the research overviews, students can still write about the specific research and work they are doing in a condensed form. The hope is they can get that work out there in our journal, and they can still publish that in the paper it was originally going to be publishing in as well.”
GWUR is a student-led initiative supported by the Office of the Vice President for Research. The organization has been working closely with GW Libraries and Academic Innovation to iron out the details on any copyright issues associated with the research overviews, Ms. Houchen said.
Expanding submission options will better empower GWUR to reflect the breadth of research being done by GW students on campus and at off-campus institutions, Ms. Houchen said.
“Research is being done by undergraduates in all these different disciplines, and so we’re trying to adapt ourselves to figure out ways we can be reflective of that,” she said. “We want to be a research journal for all undergraduates, and we want to help undergraduates in any way that we can.”
Tena-Lesly Reid, a second-year student majoring in political science and economics and recruitment chair for GWUR, said writing an academic article is “really good practice” for students interested in graduate school and pursuing research in their future careers.
Students who want to publish their work can submit their paper or research overview by Jan. 31. More details on submission can be found on GWUR’s website. The journal will publish in spring 2020.
GWUR leaders recently began holding weekly office hours from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. three nights a week in Gelman Library room 456 in order to connect with fellow students about getting involved with research and finding research opportunities. In order to best help their peers, office hours are divided by disciplines. Tuesday office hours are specialized for STEM, Wednesday office hours are specialized for social sciences, and Thursday office hours are specialized for humanities.
The GWUR representatives also will help connect their peers with resources across the university who can help with questions about fellowships, graduate school, GW Research Days and more.
