Navigating Undergraduate Research and Publication: A Liberal Arts Student’s Story

As an R1 research institution burgeoning with progress and innovation, Tulane University offers numerous opportunities for undergraduate students to get involved with research and pursue their academic interests beyond the classroom. While research as an undergraduate is a preliminary experience characterized by guidance and learning, students are frequently encouraged to pursue independent study to implement and further hone acquired skills. The Tulane Undergraduate Research Journal is a multidisciplinary publication that offers students who have completed independent research the opportunity to get their work published in a peer-reviewed research journal, which affords students numerous academic, professional, and personal benefits.

Although research in STEM fields is highly salient at Tulane, opportunities in humanities and liberal arts are plentiful and no less important, both to students in these domains and to the intellectual development of these disciplines overall. There are many ways to find opportunities for non-STEM research, and I spoke with Juniper Windham, a fourth year Asian Studies student whose research was published in TURJ’s 2025 issue, to gain insight into the process of conducting research and getting published as an undergraduate in a non-STEM field.

Juniper’s path to getting published in TURJ, although unexpected, demonstrates how accessible research and publication is to all students in every discipline. Juniper’s research journey began in a 6000 level Asian studies art history course entitled “Art of Death,” taught by Dr. Fan Zhang. Her final exam for the class took the form of a paper arguing—through historical, archaeological, artistic, and religious evidence—that the Famen Temple in China should also be identified as a tomb.

“I was taking a class on funeral practices and architecture in ancient China. My research paper was on a pagoda, which is a Buddhist structure, that had Buddhist relics in a tomb-like structure underneath. My research was a comparative analysis between the chamber under the pagoda and a traditional Chinese tomb...My professor was the one who suggested that I publish it after I wrote it.”

Indeed, publication with TURJ can be sought after deliberately undertaking an independent research project, but this need not be the case: outstanding performance on assignments already done for advanced courses might also be apt for submission to the journal. Juniper emphasized, however, the importance of choosing a topic she was personally interested in, despite completing the research for a specific course.

“It makes the research process so much easier because you’re motivated to do it. It’s not just for a class, or for a grade, or for the sake of academia. There’s a personal factor in there that makes the work easier and more fun, and if you’re more motivated to write something, the product comes out better.”

This attitude can transform a class assignment into something greater, and lead to the production of a paper suitable for publication and further recognition.

In terms of resources available for non-STEM research, Juniper emphasized that students seeking materials in these disciplines are not alone:

“Howard Tilton has so much information that I’m not even sure a lot of students know about.”

She described how helpful the library search databases were in locating information for her paper, but her focus on area studies came with some unique challenges.

“I’m an Asian studies major, and this topic was a little niche in terms of Western study, so a lot of sources that maybe I could have had access to were not in English and were not even in our databases.”

Seeking assistance from professors and other individuals with research experience is a valuable strategy for overcoming challenges:

“Creating relationships with your professors and networking with other experts is really important. Especially as a young scholar or someone who doesn’t have all the professional influence and resources that people more experienced in academia have. So, use the resources you have and using them as much as you can. For me, that was   contact with my professors and the Tulane library database.”

This is essential in all aspects of the undergraduate experience, but especially because the research process comes with no shortage of obstacles.

“This was honestly probably my hardest semester at Tulane, partially because of this class. I very early on this project and gave myself plenty of time to do everything before the end of the semester.”

Juniper was studying abroad the following semester when her professor reached out to her with the information for getting published in TURJ, and she said she almost didn’t do it.

“I was in a foreign country, and the paper I wrote last year was the last thing on my mind, but I went ahead and did it because getting published is a big deal. [The process of getting published] was pretty easy and smooth.”

It has certainly paid off, and Juniper agreed that something as simple as getting an assignment published in TURJ has opened so many doors of possibility for her future academic and professional endeavors.

I’m applying for language schools in China right now, and I have the option of putting my publications on my application and going for fellowships. It helps to show people that you have an interest in more than just the language. I have all this background and personal interest and initiative to do more with this afterwards.”

She closed our discussion with an encouragement to other liberal arts students:

“I know that Tulane does have a pretty big focus on STEM. For the people who are in liberal arts, even though it's hard, just keep going. Just do what you love.”

Research and publication are not exclusive to STEM students, or even to students who undertake independent research with a deliberate goal in mind, and all students should seek to take advantage of the multitude of opportunities at Tulane for unique research engagement. Publication of TURJ is suspended for Spring 2026 but will resume in Spring 2027 after a new editor-in-chief is hired. In the interim, publication can still be pursued through more specialized journals within departments at Tulane, which can be found at https://journals.tulane.edu/.