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Marie Stavrovsky ’10 (Bethlehem, Pa.) is majoring in biology. Over the summer, she worked as an EXCEL Scholar with Donald L. Miller, John Henry MacCracken Professor of History. She gathered research for Miller’s upcoming book Supreme City: New York City 1927. The following is a firsthand account of Stavrovsky’s experiences.
“What will I find in The New York Times today?” I thought to myself as I walked into Skillman Library.
I performed research for Professor Donald Miller on his new book, Supreme City: New York City 1927. Some of the research that I performed for Professor Miller included finding articles about various subjects in The New York Times back-file. I had to find articles on different events that occurred in 1927. It was very interesting for me to read the newspaper from 1927 and I could really see how much life has evolved since the 1920s!
From doing this research, I have learned how to use the library’s resources at Lafayette. If Skillman did not have a book or article that I needed, I learned how to retrieve it with PALCI (Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium, Inc.) or through an Inter-Library Loan (ILL). The librarians at Skillman have been helpful if I need assistance locating a book or magazine. I also learned to use the library’s databases for research. This has really helped me because when I have to do research for my psychology classes, I know the best databases to find the information that I need.
Another job I was in charge of was keeping the bibliographies for books and articles. When working with the bibliographies, I actually never realized how many sources a professor uses for writing a book! Besides knowing how to write a bibliography like a pro, this job has taught me to be very organized with my work. If I was not organized, it would be very difficult to find things and know if I completed a certain task already. Also, I transferred my organization from doing research to having organization in all of my classes.
Working for Professor Miller has been such a positive experience for me because if I needed help with anything, like locating a book or how he wanted things organized, Professor Miller was always there. He was very easy to communicate with and talk to about what he needed done. Not only do I look to Professor Miller as a professor, but I also look to him as a friend because of how much advice he has given me in the field of research.