February 10, 2014

First-year students honored for outstanding research skills

Each spring, first-year students write research papers as they complete their final semester of Lewis & Clark’s core course, Exploration and Discovery. To honor the memory of former library director James J. Kopp—and to offer an incentive for these students to immerse themselves in scholarly sources—Watzek Library offers an award of $200 to two students who demonstrate excellent research techniques.

Each spring, first-year students write research papers as they complete their final semester of Lewis & Clark’s core course, Exploration and Discovery. To honor the memory of former library director James J. Kopp—and to offer an incentive for these students to immerse themselves in scholarly sources—Watzek Library offers an award of $200 to two students who demonstrate excellent research techniques.

The 2013 award winners are Kristina Dill ’16 and Isaac Goldstein ’16. Dill, a violinist, chose to focus her research on Mozart’s final three violin concertos while enrolled in the Mostly Mozart section of Exploration and Discovery. Goldstein addressed the brief vice presidential campaign of Thomas Eagleton as a student in the Scandal, Sensation, and Fraud section.

Students who apply for the award are asked to provide written summaries of their research processes, detailing their methods of finding and evaluating sources. Winners are selected based on evidence of their thoughtful and deliberate approaches to research, which must involve careful use of Watzek Library’s resources and collections.

“This project helped me to improve my writing skills, supporting and developing my ideas with research,” Dill said. “The resources and collections of Watzek Library were invaluable in writing the paper.”

Kopp served as director of Watzek Library from 1999 until his death in 2010, when the award was established in his name. During his time at Lewis & Clark, Kopp was dedicated to the library’s fulfillment of its role as an essential component of a liberal arts education and was passionate about the library’s duty to facilitate scholarly inquiry.

Katrina Staaf ’16 contributed to this story.

Watzek Library Exploration and Discovery