Undergrads Receive Library Research Awards

~ By Pamela O’Donnell

Two undergraduate library research awards were presented by Kelli Hughes at the Undergraduate Symposium at Union South on Thursday, April 16. The recipients are Gretchen Miron for her critical analysis of the Roman philosopher Senaca’s 47th Moral Epistle and Jinghao Yang for his research on the relationship between parents’ patience and altruism and household education investment and child skill formation.

The undergraduate library research awards were developed to recognize the part of the research process that includes such efforts as seeking primary sources from the State Historical Society or conducting a comprehensive review of secondary literature to inform a research project; something that we often refer to as “library research.”

Gretchen Miron worked with faculty mentor Dr. Marc Kleijwegt, Associate Professor of History, on a project entitled, Seneca’s Epistle 47: An Instructional Attempt for Improved Treatment of Slaves in the Roman Institution of Slavery. Gretchen’s research involved a thorough analysis of secondary literature and primary source material that she accessed through several UW-Madison Library databases as well as the library catalog. Dr. Kleijwegt wrote this about Gretchen’s research: “Her literature review on the subject is a clear example of the critical acumen and the respect with which she treats the views of scholars in the field.”

Jinghao Yang worked with faculty mentor Dr. Steven Durlauf, Professor of Economics, on a project entitled, Patience and Altruism of Parents: Implications to Children’s Education Investment. Jinghao worked with Tom Durkin, the Social Science Reference Library librarian, to gather relevant historical and recent research for his literature review. He also conducted cross-reference literature searches to locate other relevant research on his topic. Dr. Durlauf wrote this about Jinghao’s research: “This research contributes to the growing literature on skill formation by exploring how heterogeneity in parental preferences may be linked to heterogeneity in skills. The analysis shows a mastery of intertemporal decision problems and some originality in thinking through what a culture of poverty (for example) might mean operationally.”

Librarians involved on the review committee this year include Kelli Hughes, chair, Raina Bloom & Janice Rice from College Library, Lia Vellardita from Ebling Library, Jessica Newman & Lisa Wettleson from Steenbock Library, and Troy Reeves from the University Archives.