Start broad: what are you interested in learning more about?

• Think about your favorite classes, and the content or experiences in those classes that most enlivened you.
• Look at the descriptions of faculty research in your department. Whose work piques your interest?
• Reflect on the topics you are most excited to talk about with your peers. What problems or questions do you love to puzzle over?
• Consider your personal reasons for wanting to do research in the first place. What are you personally invested in learning more about over a sustained period of time? Is there a topic that has impacted your life in a meaningful way? (Perhaps an illness faced by a loved one, a social cause you’re committed to, or a literary work that resonates with your lived experience?)
• Think about what kind of work you enjoy doing: reading archival materials, working in a wet lab, creating films, interviewing people, performing data analysis, etc.
• Meet with a reference librarian for guidance on exploring what research has already been done in an area of interest to you.

Once you’ve identified a general area of interest, work on narrowing your focus:

• What do you already know about this topic?
  • Take note of the elements or areas of this topic that you are most interested in developing further knowledge about.
• Look for gaps in the research.
  • Peruse secondary sources. What has already been said about this topic? What hasn’t been said?
  • Gaps in the research might look like:
    • Knowledge/content: we don’t know much about X (e.g., no one has collected data on this phenomenon).
    • Methods/framework: no one has looked at this problem from Y perspective (e.g., no one has applied a critical race framework to the study of this issue).
    • Connections: no one has made the connection between A and B (e.g., no one has examined the relationship between this political phenomenon and this social one).
• Identify your primary “text(s)” or “source”
  • What text(s) (artwork, book, theory, phenomenon) or “source” (cell, protein, population) will be the focus of your analysis?
• Pose a research question.
  • What will you seek to discover through researching your primary text/source? What problem are you trying to solve?
  • A research question should be:
    • Answerable but complex
    • Specific
    • Concise

Self-enroll in our Canvas course, Undergraduate Research Resources, for further information and guidance.

The right mentor for you is the one who will provide the kind of support you need. Sometimes this person will not be the faculty member whose research interests align most closely with yours, or who is the most famous in your field. It is most important to have a good working relationship, so focus on finding someone who believes in your project and is enthusiastic about mentoring you. Follow these five steps to get started:

• Step 1: Identify potential mentors
  • Ask around!
    • Talk to your professors and TAs (if you’re taking a class in a related field)
    • Ask peers in your field, including reaching out to current undergraduate researchers (listed on the URSCA, HOUR, and Sheridan Libraries websites) 
    • Talk to your academic advisor, reference librarians, grad students – anyone in the know about the research landscape on campus
  • Peruse faculty profiles in your target department
    • Go to the department website, click on People, and filter for Faculty
    • The list of faculty should include a brief synopsis of each person’s research interests
      • Often you can click through to a full profile, which will include their publications, as well as the courses they teach 
    • See who’s working on what you’re interested in (or something close to it)!
  • Google JHU + your research interests  
    • You may find a faculty member, a research center/institute, or some other resource that can point you in the right direction 
  • Check ForagerOne, a database of researchers at Hopkins 
    • Log into this site using your JHU credentials 
    • Filter your search for faculty and by research interest(s)
• Step 2: Make contact
  • From the list of people you identified in Step 1, start sending emails! 
    • Always use your Hopkins email  
    • Every email should be addressed to a single faculty member (do not bulk-email) 
    • Start your email with a greeting and address them by their professional title (e.g., Dear Dr. ____). 
    • Close your email with an appropriate sign-off and your full name (e.g., Thank you, _____; Sincerely, ______). 
    • Keep your message short (3-4 sentences) 
    • Do not ask them in the initial email to be your mentor! 
  • Your message text should include: 
    • An introduction: your name, major, and year, and any personal connection if you have one (e.g., a course you took with them, an event where you met) 
    • A brief explanation of why you are reaching out to them (what you’re hoping to do, how their work aligns with your plans/goals) 
    • A request for a brief meeting to discuss your research interests  
    • Sample message:
      Dear Dr. _,
      My name is __________ and I am a first-year student planning to major in _. I am particularly interested in _________, and I am working on developing a research proposal to apply for an undergraduate research grant. Your work on ______ is exciting to me because _____________ . I would love to meet with you to discuss my research interests. I would be happy to drop in to your regular office hours or to schedule a time to meet this week or next. Please let me know what works best for you.
      Thank you,
      ______
  • If you don’t get a response within a few days, you may politely follow up by replying-all to your initial email.
    • Sample message:
      Dear Dr. _____, 
      Following up to see if you might be available to meet with me next week.  
      Thank you, 
      _______
      
• Step 3: Prepare to meet
  • Compile the following materials and bring a printed copy with you to the meeting: 
    • Bullet-point summary of your research interests and goals. What do you want to work on? What are you hoping to achieve?
      • Example:
        • I would like to investigate ____ topic
        • I have to have a mentor, project proposal, timeline, and budget by ___ date
        • I have to complete the whole project within a ___ award period (one-year, summer, etc.)
    • Information about the grant/fellowship you’re applying for
      • Application requirements and deadlines
      • Grant/fellowship terms (amount of money, award period, requirements) 
      • Mentor commitment (monthly meeting, approval of research reports and budgets, review of final paper)
    • Questions for the faculty mentor
      • Some things you may want to ask:
        • Where would they suggest you begin your research on this topic? 
        • Would they be willing to look over your project proposal draft (when it’s ready)?  
        • Could they help you steer your project design to ensure feasibility? 
        • (If you have worked with this professor before) Would they be willing to write a letter of recommendation for you? 
        • Would they consider serving as your faculty mentor on this project?
          • Do they have sabbatical or leave planned? 
          • Are they around in the summer? 
          • Are they currently supervising any undergraduate researchers, or have they before? 
          • Could they commit to meeting with you monthly throughout your award period?
          • Do they have any contacts at an international research site where you might pursue your project?
          • Discuss IRB needs if your work involves any engagement (survey, interview, etc.) with human subjects.
        • If they are not willing/able to be your mentor, can they recommend other faculty in the same/similar field whom you could contact? 
• Step 4: Meet with faculty
  • Show up on time!
  • Bring your printed notes and something to write with! 
  • Start by reminding them why you asked for the meeting: summarize your research interests and goals 
  • Ask your questions and take notes on the answers 
  • Establish next steps
    • Some examples:
      • You will send the faculty your proposal draft for feedback
      • The faculty will send you a reading list to help you get started
      • You will meet again in a few weeks to discuss further (set this meeting time now!)
      • The faculty will send an email introducing you to another professor who would be a good resource 
      • You will reach out again if you are awarded the grant/fellowship 
      • You will send them the mentor-mentee agreement to look over 
  • Thank them for their time!
  • Repeat these steps with as many faculty members as needed until you find the right mentor for you
• Step 5: Follow up
  • After the meeting, send an email thanking them for their time and summarizing your agreed-upon next steps
    • Sample message:
      Dear Dr. ________, 
      Thank you again for meeting with me today to discuss ___________. I appreciate your advice/feedback/guidance on ___________________. As we discussed, I will _____________________ (send you my draft by the end of next week; reach out again after the pre-application phase; contact you in the spring if I am awarded the fellowship). Thank you for offering to ____________________________ (put me in touch with Dr. _____; write me a letter of recommendation; send me a bibliography to get started).
      Sincerely,
      ______ 
  • Then, follow through on what you agreed to!

When you are ready to undertake an independent research project, you may wish to pursue a grant or fellowship to cover the associated costs — research materials, research subject compensation, travel to research sites or conferences, and more. The following offices offer grants and fellowships to Johns Hopkins University undergraduates:

• URSCA (Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity)
  • Awards 14 different research grants and fellowships
• HOUR (Hopkins Office of Undergraduate Research)
  • Awards five different research awards
• Sheridan Libraries
  • Awards four different research awards
• National Fellowships Program
  • Supports JHU students in applying for national grants, scholarships, and fellowships awarded by external entities

An abstract is a summary of your project that concisely explains the problem, aims, methods, and implications of your research.

Whether you are pitching a project to a potential mentor, applying for a grant or fellowship, or submitting completed research to a journal or conference, you will need a sharp abstract that conveys your project succinctly — either its aims and potential outcomes (for a proposed project) or its findings and conclusions (for a completed project). In either case, you want to convince your reader of the importance of your research.

As the brief guide below indicates, there is a general pattern that is often very effective for communicating why your research matters. First, you establish what the conventional wisdom is about your subject — what “they” say — and then you contrast it with what “you” say that moves the field forward. 

• Start with the current state of knowledge. What do we know about your topic? 
• State the problem you will address. What gap is your research filling? 
• Explain your methodology. What will you do to get your results or arrive at your conclusions?  
• Share your goals. What do you aim to learn/discover/demonstrate/produce? (Or, for a finished project, share your findings and outcomes: what did you learn/discover/demonstrate/produce?)
• End with a conclusion and a statement of the larger implications of your project. (This part should answer the question, “So what?”)

Abstracts are brief — for URSCA grants and fellowships, they are capped at 250 words — so it is important to get the language right. Revise, revise revise!

For sample abstracts from current URSCA grantees, along with commentary from URSCA staff on what makes them successful, please see our Canvas course, linked below:

Self-enroll in our Canvas course, Undergraduate Research Resources, for further information and guidance.

When applying for research funding through URSCA (and often through other entities), you will be expected to submit a full research proposal. The length, format, and content of the proposal is likely to vary depending on the opportunity, but in general, the proposal should do the following:

• Introduce the research topic
• Give an overview of existing scholarship on this topic
• Present the research problem or question your project will address
• Establish the aims of the project
• Outline the approach to answering the research question and achieving the project aims
• Express the potential impact of the proposed project

Below are the application elements required for URSCA grants and fellowships, and tips for writing them. (Please note: for URSCA awards, an abstract is still required but it submitted separately from the rest of the proposal and is not part of the 6-page proposal limit.)

• Title
  • Elements of a good title include:
    • A hook: a creative or catchy element that draws in the reader
    • A set of key terms: crucial words or phrases that are essential to the topic and orient the reader to the concepts/content of the project
    • A source: the location where the concepts/content under discussion are to be found (i.e., the object(s) of study — a text, a geographical place, a protein, a person, an existing debate)
• Background
  • Provide an introduction to your topic. Think of this like the introduction you would write for a research paper. Remember to consider your audience: reviewers are not necessarily experts in your specific field, so make your summary of the topic accessible. What do the reviewers need to know about your topic so that they can understand your intervention?
• Literature review
  • Give a brief overview of trends in the scholarly conversation. You will need to explore secondary research on your topic in order to write this section. Very briefly summarize the work of a few key scholars. The goal is to demonstrate that you are aware of the research that has already been done on your topic and that you understand how your proposed project contributes to the scholarly conversation.
• Problem/question
  • As you conduct your literature review, identify a gap in the existing research. What hasn’t been studied yet? What do we not yet know? What needs more analysis? What frameworks, methodologies, or approaches have not yet been applied to this topic? What connections have not yet been made?
  • Here is where you will state the problem that your research will address. It is helpful to frame your project around a question that your research aims to answer. That question should be complex but answerable.
• Goals/aims
  • Describe the anticipated outcomes of your project. Are you developing a novel medical device? Writing an original play that will be performed at Hopkins? Producing an analysis of a body of artwork?
• Methods
  • What materials, approaches, frameworks, and sources will you use to conduct your research? Are you running experiments in the lab? Analyzing data? Applying a feminist framework to a literary analysis?
  • How are you engaging with current scholarship? Are you replicating an existing experiment? Are you building on another scholar’s ideas? Are you offering an alternative perspective to a dominant interpretation?
  • It is helpful to provide a justification for choosing the approach you are proposing. In some fields, it is also expected that you address potential limitations of your methods as well.
  • Provide a step-by-step explanation of how you will achieve your research aims. Include a timeline and be as detailed as possible within the constraints of application length.
• Implications
  • Describe your project’s future value. What are you contributing to the field? How will your work impact our understanding of or approach to your topic? What future research might come out of your project?
  • This is the part of the proposal that answers the question, “So what?” Being able to articulate why your research matters is an important step in convincing reviewers to fund it.
• References
  • Cite sources you mention in your literature review or elsewhere in your proposal. Your reference section should be brief — it is not a comprehensive bibliography of every text you have reviewed or will examine, just a list of the ones cited in your proposal.
  • Be sure to use the citation style that is required by the specific application. If no particular citation style is listed in the application requirements, use the one that is standard in your field (typically APA, MLA, or Chicago). The Sheridan Libraries have comprehensive guides for using each style.

Our Canvas course, linked below, has sample proposals from current URSCA grantees with commentary by URSCA staff on what makes them successful. It also includes instructions for putting together the other elements of a grant/fellowship application, including a CV, a personal statement, a letter of recommendation, and more.

Self-enroll in our Canvas course, Undergraduate Research Resources, for further information and guidance.

As a researcher, when you apply for a grant, you must include a detailed budget indicating how you will use the money. It is your responsibility to ensure that your budget aligns with the funding regulations associated with the grant or fellowship.

For URSCA grants and fellowships, all budgets must comply with federal and Johns Hopkins regulations for undergraduate research funding.

URSCA grant or fellowship funds may be used for research-related expenses only. These typically include:

• Research materials: lab materials, equipment, software, books, subscriptions
• Fees and compensation: admission to research sites, conference registration fees, research subject compensation
• Summer living expenses: lodging, utilities, meals
• Travel to research sites or conferences: airfare, lodging, meals, ground travel, visas, passports

Please bear in mind the following rules:

• Lab purchases cannot include capital expenses — e.g., equipment or other items that would stay in the lab after you leave.
• Living expenses are only allowable in the summer, and only when you are dedicated full-time to your research (35 hours per week).
• Travel expenses should not exceed the per diem established by the government for the location(s) you are visiting.
• Tech purchases must be approved by URSCA research staff. Laptop purchases require documentation that your existing laptop is at least four years old or is irreparably damaged. Laptop purchases are not allowed in your graduating semester.

If you are applying for an URSCA award, you must use the URSCA budget template to estimate your expenses. Follow the instructions at the top and in the far right column and provide as much detail as possible. Be sure to discuss your budget with your faculty mentor, especially when it comes to estimating lab material expenses, expectations around research subject compensation, conferences where you may wish to present your research, and any needed equipment, software, or subscriptions.

Self-enroll in our Canvas course, Undergraduate Research Resources, for further information and guidance.

We rely on the expertise of JHU faculty to assess applications to our undergraduate research grants and fellowships. Faculty reviewers will be asked to evaluate up to 10 applications in their field, broadly defined – humanities, social sciences, natural sciences (though we make every effort to match reviewers with their specific area of expertise, e.g., neuroscience, public health).

URSCA provides an evaluation rubric and thorough instructions for assessing the applicants 4- to 6-page research proposals. All reviews are done fully online in our application portal.

If you are willing to serve as a reviewer, please email [email protected].

Our undergraduate research award grantees are provided the unique opportunity to work one-on-one with Hopkins’s greatest asset – its faculty. Faculty mentors work directly with grantees to ensure that they are aware of the current scholarship on their topic and that their work is making a unique contribution to the field.

For most awards, faculty mentorship is a one-year commitment; for the University Undergraduate Research Fellowship and the Ethan M. Posner Fellowship, faculty mentors supervise the undergraduate researcher for up to three years. URSCA provides a mentor-mentee agreement that both parties sign at the beginning of the award period; it lays out the standard responsibilities and expectations for both the student and the faculty member, and allows mentor-mentee pairs to add their own commitments to the list before signing.

The faculty mentor role includes but is not limited to:

• Budget supervision: Mentors assist researchers in budgeting their funds, and ensure that the student’s expenses are directly related to their independent research.
• Advice and counseling: Mentors must meet with their researcher on a monthly basis, and must maintain communication during Intersession, summer, sabbaticals, and research trips. Mentors should provide the first source of problem resolution for their student researcher, and give careful guidance and support in the context of their student’s relative inexperience as a researcher. Mentors should also advise their student on appropriate venues to disseminate their research, and should be prepared to support their student’s pursuit of graduate education or related professional endeavors.
• Project supervision: Mentors are responsible for ensuring the safety, ethics, and academic rigor of their student’s project. They are also responsible for evaluating the student’s final product (typically a research paper) and assessing the student’s overall research competencies at the end of their award period.
• IRB participation: If a student is conducting research with human subjects, IRB approval is required. A faculty mentor must serve as the principal investigator on the IRB application, which must be submitted to the IRB corresponding to the faculty member’s appointment (e.g., Homewood or SOM).