Brett Auerbach-Lynn
"Illusions and Delusions of Grandeur: The Politics of Grand
Duke Ferdinand I de'Medici (1549-1609)"
History 101
Professor Thomas Dandelet
Senior history major,
Brett Auerbach-Lynn wrote his thesis on, "Illusions and Delusions
of Grandeur: The Politics of Grand Duke Ferdinand I De'Medici
(1549-1609) and
has this to say of his research experience:
"When I determined
my general topic (a biopic of the late 16th and early
17th century Medici Grand Duke Ferdinand I), the library became
immediately necessary, not only for the volumes on the Berkeley
campus, but even more so for those stored in the NRLF facility
in Richmond. Given the relatively obscure subject matter with
which I was dealing and the fact that the vast majority of it
was in Italian. I gained notable intimacy with the process by
which one may request books from this off-campus storehouse,
as well as the efficiency with which they are delivered. I was
also able to access a Swiss Ph.D. dissertation in French through
NRLF's collection of foreign theses, and this proved to be an
important addition to my work."
History Professor
Thomas Dandelet states:
"The work
is based first and foremost on a rich and assorted collection
of primary sources such has letters, diplomatic correspondence,
histories, and memoirs. All of this is made possible because of the excellent
command of Italian that Brett brings to this task, and it deserves
stressing that virtually all of his primary texts and many of
his secondary texts were in the original language. The translations
that he provides are very solid, and they add yet another level
of sophistication that is unusual in undergraduate research.
Perhaps the most
impressive accomplishment of Brett's work is that it
provides a promising road map for future research on the topic.
In this regard, he is at a point that many students only reach after
three years of graduate study."
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YinPing
Apple Lo
"Non-Profit Affordable Housing Developments in Oakland, CA:
A Comparison of Asian and African American Experiences"
Political Economy of Industrial Societies
Professor Ingrid Seyer-Ochi
Apple Lo's senior
thesis in Political Economy of Industrial Society entitled, "Non-Profit
Affordable Housing Developments in Oakland, CA: A Comparison of
Asian and African American Experiences"
blends historical research with data and survey interviews to
create a unique analysis of local housing conditions.
In her research essay
she describes the link between research and critical thinking:
"By reading
a broad range of secondary sources on housing and education,
I learned to identify the critical arguments that were conveyed
in each of the literatures. Because some authors critiqued other
authors' research, I also learned how to evaluate the bias,
strength, and weakness in different academic writing as well
as my own primary research.
In order to contribute
to the existing literatures on affordable housing in Oakland,
I finalized my research questions after a long period of research."
Education Professor,
Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, who has known Apple since she was a high school student,
states:
"When she
asked me to serve as her honors thesis advisor, I was honored
and pleased. Though it is hard to believe, I know I can honestly
say that Apple's research "mind" and the focus and
diligence she combines with it make her as strong a researcher
as many of my doctoral candidates."
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