The mandatory School of International Service class “Introduction to International Relations Research” now incorporates a voluntary poster presentation component for students to exhibit their semester-long research.
The first presentations were held April 20 and will continue each semester.
Professor Elizabeth Cohn, who teaches the class and organized the presentations, said students in the class gain an important researching skill set that many employers look for in applicants.
“Research isn’t only for grad students,” Cohn said.
Students have the freedom to choose a specific research interest, explore it through asking questions and find methods to answer those questions in their own way, she said. Topics are grouped into two categories: “culture, development and political change” and “conflict and inequality.”
The course concludes with a required 20-page paper.
Before these presentations, Cohn said many students wanted to continue their research. The SIS class now “provides students with the opportunities to extend their research after the semester’s end,” Cohn said.
Cohn and other SIS professors implemented the poster presentation model for the School of Public Affairs’ “Introduction to Political Research” course.
The mandatory SPA class also focuses on producing a research paper that is first presented to individual classes and then to the broader AU and D.C. community, according to Professor Kimberly Cowell-Meyers, who teaches a section of the course.
Several students said creating a poster helped them break down their research paper into the most important aspects.
“The presentations gave me a more in-depth perspective on my own research project,” SIS sophomore Rachel Howard said.
Students get the chance to share their knowledge throughout the community as well.
“I think it’s important to not just to write, but to talk about the research,” SIS sophomore Willem van der Mei said. “A lot of people will gain your knowledge just by talking about it.”
The presentations shine a positive light on the course, Howard said. This course is now one of her favorites at AU.
“It gets the course more publicized and well-known to break the stereotypes of it being a dreadful class,” Howard said.
news@theeagleonline.com
