John Abregana
John’s project engaged the complex research question of how we learn through 3 areas: How does the brain learn? What are efficient learning methodologies? And using these concepts, how can college students prepare for our dreaded midterms or finals? John shared the great growth he experienced in the research process. Prior to coming to Oakton he was unaware of what an MLA citation was, but by the end of this project he published his work in the Honors Showcase. We were impressed by the depth and quality of his bibliography which included a wide range of sources from peer-reviewed literature to interviews with Oakton professors.
Alondra Alvarado Muñoz
Alondra’s project on the wellness of caregivers, who do the critical job of ensuring the wellness of others, demonstrated high quality and socially engaged research. She wrote about a profession in which workers put in long hours and receive low wages and precarious benefits for insurance or retirement contributions. Her passion about the topic, as well as the wide-range of research and library resources she utilized set her application apart. Alondra did independent research using library databases such as the ones from EBSCOhost, met individually with a librarian to get deeper into her resources, and her bibliography showed a diverse range of scholarly articles and resources!