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Research

Overview

Coming into the Honors Program, I knew very little about the Research competency. Just like many college freshmen, I believed the misconception that research was something limited to experienced professionals working in high-end science labs. It was, both, shocking and terrifying when I was told that I had to create my own original research or creative project by the time I graduated from the Honors Program, especially as a music student who related less to this area. My perspective of this competency changed when I took the Intro to Honors (HONR 201) class where I learned that research can be done by anyone on any subject as long as it follows certain guidelines. It taught me that research itself is a simple process. However, there are ethical ways of completing it, which require the understanding and application of two main skills: 1) information literacy and 2) information synthesis. 

 

Although my understanding of the research competency increased after taking the HONR 201 class, I struggled for a long time to identify where to start my journey. I was surprised to learn that I had more research options than I thought as a music education student, but the possibilities and process of a research project were overwhelming. Then, I became part of a student organization on campus called Equity Ambassadors, which began as an advocacy group for domestic students of color in the Honors Program. Yet, over time, it evolved into a research group as we identified unanswered questions to issues affecting our community. This led to my first original research project, “Thoughts and Perceptions of Domestic Students of Color on Higher Education Involvement,” which showed me the complexities of disseminating a research project (i.e. finding a venue, submitting an abstract proposal, and presenting your results).

 

My experience with the Equity Ambassadors was influential in the development of my research competency, because it naturally modeled how most research projects begin. However, I wasn’t always involved with traditional research projects like this one. In the Fall of 2018, I became a student-producer for an audio research project titled “Finding Your Place College Podcast Series.”  Although this project didn’t develop from a research question I created, it was personal and intimate, because it featured my voice and story as an undergraduate college student. My participation in this project required that I evaluated and synthesized the audio clips of various student producers to create cohesive episodes for our podcast, which helped me develop my information literacy and synthesis skills. 

 

Towards the end of my undergraduate career, I integrated all these previous lessons on research into my own discipline by producing a Senior Recital titled “Sounds of Change.” This original creative project consisted of a one-hour benefit concert that followed a music concept: the power music has to make people reflect, act, and change. Besides rehearsing and memorizing the music for this event, I completed extensive research to find appropriate literature fitting to the concert’s theme and the recital program requirements. I also completed research on the background information of each piece to provide the audience context information and details that demonstrate the selected music's relevance to the theme. This experience extended my knowledge and practice of music, as well as my understanding of the research competency.  

 

As I graduate from Minnesota State University Mankato, the world of possibilities continues. Once again, I am not sure what my future in research entails. However, I am leaving with a handful of experiences that have extended my knowledge and practice of research as well as my contribution to fields within and outside my discipline of study. 

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