I took this class in Summer 2026. The class consists of two papers that you work on simultaneously: an individual project proposal and a group literature review. You make updates to those papers every week and peer review other groups/individuals in between. There are also module quizzes but these are just 5 questions quizzes with unlimited attempts going over the lectures so you can get full points there.

This is a relaxed class that you may enjoy if you want to research a specific topic in more detail, take a break from programming heavy classes, improve/maintain you GPA, or improve your academic writing. The course is graded very leniently. It will be difficult to get anything less than an A unless you do not turn in the assignments.

I usually dread large papers and procrastinate but the weekly logs help you say on track and makes each portion manageable. The peer reviews can get boring and monotonous over the semester but not a big deal.

If your goal is to perform real research immediately and or get a publication consider taking a shortcut and jumping straight into a research group or doing an independent study (8903 course). This class is not strictly necessary but can help learn academic writing or create a proposal to present to a professor for faculty sponsorship.

Overall, this was a decent course. I've never done research before, so it opened my eyes to the tiny mechanics that are present at so many of the pre-experiment phases.

The course revolves around two main projects - an individual project and a group project. The individual project is a research proposal about a question of your own choosing. The student discovers the question, the relevant literature, the current gap in the scientific field, and the possible schedule that covers the future semester. The group project is a Systematic Literature Review of a narrow question. The group will come up with a question to read the about in the existing literature, figure out the different methods used to answer the question, and find potential gaps in the literature.

The professors and TA grade the class leniently. I get the feeling that they didn't really want to take away points, but also didn't want to give 100% to everyone. Most the class got 90+ on most of the assignments. Another chunk of the grade comes from the peer reviews that are required, but most of the students are very generous with their feedback.

My advice for people is to come into the class with two subject you want to research already. That way, you can hit the ground running by only reading relevant papers. The second subject comes in handy if you need to be the one in the class that generates the group project idea. Mostly a straightforward class that you can get elective credit for completing. I would take this class if you have a heavy class as well, but it would be too easy alone. However, I wouldn't recommend this class to beginners because they do not have as many knowledge about their interests yet.

I really enjoyed the course. You will get out of it what you put into it.

Assignments

• For 12 weeks you will have some quick lecture videos and a small quiz. The quiz is repeatable and very easy. You don't really even need to watch the lectures, but they provide a general overview of the academic research process.

• First half of the course has you reading research papers and writing summaries. 3-5 a week. Not too bad. Usually knocked em out in an afternoon. You can read whatever you want so long as its from a journal or conference proceeding. Pro tip: Get Zotero setup early so you can keep your eventual bibliography organized.

• Second half of the course is working on two papers: an individual paper proposal and a group systemic literature review. Your readings can feed into these assignments. You can select your topic fo the individual paper propsal. Group projects were proposed and then assigned based on interest in the proposals.

• Each week for the second half of the course you are expected to provide peer feedback. In general, the peer feedback was AI slop. Seldom did I receive any productive notes after week 6,7 in the course.

Outcomes The group project will vary based on the group. I enjoyed the course and would recommend it. Its not a huge time commitment and I was able to find a faculty member who is mentoring me through my paper proposal.