UNG political science courses provide lots of information but perhaps their most important contribution is the opportunities they offer to students to finesse a wide variety of skills and acquire hands-on experience. Students in Dr. Sarah Young’s Public Policy class at UNG Gainesville last spring competed to assist in presenting research findings at the annual Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Dr.  Young received a grant that allowed the class to break into groups and compete to be included in the paper. Students wrote the literature review as part of a course assignment and the best literature review was incorporated into the paper, with the students receiving co-authorship with Professor Young.

Lana Goita (senior), Ashley Thomas (senior), Sam Walley (senior), Chris Ashmore (senior) and Kyle Brewer (senior) researched the different sections of the paper. Kyle Brewer along with researching also doubled as the editor for the paper as well. Arianna McCarthy (junior) was the primary research assistant on the project and Taylor Rickman Smith (senior) was the secondary research assistant.

Professor Young commended her students for their hard work. “They helped with the overall paper including interviewing and data analysis. Thanks to the support of the Department of Political Science & International Affairs, Taylor and Arianna were able to attend and present the paper at MPSA. They did a great job presenting and the paper sparked great interest from the audience!”

According to Taylor Rickman Smith, the class project provided an opportunity for the students to gain first-hand experience in researching, writing, and presenting original findings at a national conference. “I learned so much from this project. It was awesome to see that a college degree can actually be used to conduct research and come up with new ideas. I had such a great time being a part of this and am thankful Dr. Young reached out to me and pushed me to get involved. I’m excited to see where this project goes and what findings are discovered”. Lana Goita added, “This writing assignment was a great lesson in teamwork. For this project, we made sure to divide the work evenly among our team members. Additionally, this assignment benefited us in a variety of ways. First, we gained practical experience in academic writing and research. Second, we were able to learn how to write and research cohesively. I believe this paper helped to make us well-rounded and research-oriented students, which is extremely valuable”.

To learn more about opportunities to present research papers at UNG and at regional or national conferences and how the PSIA department can help, contact your academic advisor for additional information.