Sophomore Research Seminars

Writing Seminar Students

The Sophomore Research Seminars are specially designed to give sophomores the opportunity to explore disciplinary ways of knowing and the practical work of scholarship as they prepare to select their major. Students participating in this yearlong, single-credit course (paced at half the usual intensity) benefit from a close community of twelve peers and regular feedback as they define their research projects and navigate the writing process.

Meeting once a week throughout the fall and spring semesters, students practice disciplinary methods as they work with datasets, evaluate source materials, and workshop drafts.

The yearlong 1-credit format also allows students to fulfill the ninth credit they need by splitting their 5th course over two semesters. Satisfies EC requirement.

Enrollment by application

No audit. No PDF. Credit earned only upon completion of full year sequence.

Fall 2023 - Spring 2024 Seminars

WRI 220/221: The Writing’s on the Wall

Emma Ljung

Grounded in humanistic disciplines, this seminar invites students to explore Princeton’s campus as a material archive, first introducing them to different modes of textual, visual, and cultural analysis, before guiding them through the writing process as they complete an original research project of their own design.

WRI 230/231: Is Talk Cheap?

Alexander K. Davis

Grounded in social scientific inquiry, this seminar invites students to experience and gain expertise in conversation-based approaches to social research; it first introduces them to in-depth interviewing, qualitative surveying, and focus group methods, then guides them through producing an original research project of their own design.