Introduction to Economic Research
ECON 4389
Andrea Szabo
Class overview
To expose students to common tools that are essential to academic research in economics, Introduction to Economic Research offers a comprehensive series of lectures and workshops. Topics include (1) introduction to economic journals, finding the relevant literature and how to effectively summarize them, (2) introduction to various data sources used in economic research, locating datasets and creating surveys, (3) data management, including data entry, merging, cleaning datasets, creating graphs and tables using STATA, (4) introduction to writing in economics, and (5) how to prepare presentation slides for an academic audience.
The class is complemented by a 3 week individual research assignment linked to ongoing research by faculty and PhD students at the department, and allows you to gain hands-on experience with skills acquired during this class.
Interested students have the opportunity to develop their own research proposals and seek faculty advisors for future semesters to conduct independent research.
This class requires a separate application. Application deadline for Fall 2024: May 30, 2024
advice from past students
Curious about what other students' experience looked like and what to expect? Read advice for future students from past students.
Student research
The class teaches you research skills in a class format. An individual research paper is not required, but many assignments are customized to students' research interest. Some of the students take advantage of their new research skills and start their own projects.
Research assistantship
The class teaches you how to be a great research assistant in an academic setting, opening opportunities to work for faculty or for yourself. There is a dedicated 3 week period during the class when students receive individual assignments to work on as an RA with faculty / PhD students.
Some additional resources to help you decide about taking the class: