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Undergraduate Research

Research is an important cornerstone of our department. Undergraduate students are encouraged to take advantage of the research expertise among our faculty, as well as our many linguistics research facilities both on and off campus. Engaging with research provides a richer understanding of linguistics as a discipline, and helps students develop skills that are valuable for future graduate study or employment.

Explore Ongoing Research

Linguistics Outside the Classroom (LOC) is a course requirement that connects students in some of our introductory courses with linguistics research happening on campus, and encourages them to consider cutting-edge findings in the context of what they are learning.

Student research positions allow students to get directly involved with research happening in the department.

During the academic year, graduate students and faculty members with a common research interest present aspects of their ongoing work in weekly meetings. Advanced undergraduate students may attend discussion groups relevant to their area of interest to discover more about the kinds of research being done in that field. Meeting times and locations can be found through Buckeye Link.

  • CaCL (LING 7890.12): Computational and cognitive approaches to linguistics
  • Changelings (LING 7890.06): Language change, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and contact linguistics
  • Clippers (LING 7890.08): Computational linguistics
  • Fieldwork (LING 7890.10)
  • Phonies (LING 7890.03): Phonetics and phonology
  • Pragmatics (LING 7890.04)
  • Psycholinguistics (LING 7890.07)
  • SoMean (LING 7890.11): Social meaning, sociolinguistics, anthropology, and semiology

Perform Independent Research

The Undergraduate Research Seminar (LING 4780) is a course that walks students through the process of completing a linguistics research project from start to finish. With substantial support from the instructor, their classmates, and a faculty mentor in the relevant area, each student in this course formulates their own research question, investigates it, and presents their findings in a mini-conference at the end of the semester.

This course is taught annually during spring semester. It is required for Linguistics majors enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences (ASC) Honors Program, and strongly recommended for any Linguistics students who are considering writing a research thesis and/or applying to graduate school.

Students investigating a particular topic in depth can earn academic credit via an independent study course arranged with a faculty member. The course number is LING 4999/4999H for work that is associated with a research thesis, and LING 4998/4998H otherwise. 

To enroll in an independent study course, written permission is required from the faculty member who will advise the work. A student who has obtained such permission should share it with their academic advisor to complete enrollment.

A student who writes and defends a research thesis in their final year can graduate with research distinction. The College of Arts and Sciences provides detailed information about requirements, procedures, and deadlines associated with research distinction.