Honors Research Microcredential

What is a microcredential?

A microcredential is a way to showcase your research skill development to a prospective employer, internship supervisor, or graduate or professional school admissions committee. Upon earning the microcredential, you will be able to display it on your ePortfolio, LinkedIn page, or resume.

What is research?

Research is defined broadly to include honors students from all academic disciplines. We rely on the definition of creative activity and research approved by the campus in November 2023, which lists the following:

  • Laboratory-, field-based, and other empirical hypothesis- or objective-driven explorations
  • Public scholarship and community engagement
  • Interpretation of texts, data, or other media; development of theoretical models, datasets, and technologies
  • Testing and replication of existing models and research
  • Curation of collections and exhibitions
  • Exploration, preservation, and interpretation of historic documents, artifacts, languages, literatures, performing, and fine arts
  • The creation of new literatures, performing, fine arts, and design at IU Indianapolis

Why earn the honors research microcredential?

Honors students often participate in mentored research and creative activities with faculty on a wide range of topics. This research microcredential allows you to document and reflect on what you’re learning about the research process in ways that set you up for internship, career, graduate, or professional school success.

Engaging in research not only helps you develop communication and problem-solving skills, two areas that employers list as critical skills for today’s graduates, but it also contributes to learning in the areas of creativity, innovation, data-informed decision-making, and in discipline-specific research in your field of study.

According to an AAC&U survey “How College Contributes to Workforce Success,” 85% of employers indicated they would be “much more likely to consider” or “somewhat more likely to consider” hiring a college graduate who completed “a research projected done collaboratively with faculty.” Eighty-nine percent of employers indicated they would be “much more likely to consider” or “somewhat more likely to consider” hiring a college graduate who completed “a portfolio of work showcasing skills and integrating college experiences.” And 87% of employers indicated they would be “much more likely to consider” or “somewhat more likely to consider” hiring a college graduate who had “experience working with mentors and/or individualized advisors.”

What will you learn?*

By completing this research microcredential, you will be able to:

  • Formulate research questions or identify scholarly or creative problems in a manner appropriate to your discipline
  • Develop and implement a plan of inquiry to address research questions or scholarly or creative problems
  • Organize, analyze, and evaluate research data, texts, and/or artifacts appropriate to your scholarly question or problem
  • Convey your research findings in appropriate format(s)
  • Publicly convey your research findings
  • Document and reflect on your learning in an ePortfolio

*These learning outcomes are adapted from the Council on Undergraduate Research.

What will I do to demonstrate my learning?

Each semester during which you are involved in research toward earning this microcredential, you will add a research entry to your ePortfolio to demonstrate your progress in achieving the learning outcomes above. For the culminating experience after at least three semesters prior to earning the microcredential, you will create a research showcase in your ePortfolio which will be assessed based on the learning outcomes above. In the showcase, you should include at minimum:

  • The research question, scholarly, or creative problem the project addresses
  • The plan of inquiry to address the question or problem
  • The data, texts, or artifacts under scrutiny
  • The research findings
  • Next steps
  • Reflection on what you learned about the research process and how it will apply to graduate/professional school or career placement

The ePortfolio entries will be evaluated using the sample rubric at the end of this document.

By the time you submit the final showcase, you should achieve at least a proficient level on each area of the rubric to earn the microcredential.

The process

To earn the Honors Research Designation microcredential:

  1. Notify the Honors College of your intention to complete the Honors Research Designation microcredential no later than the midpoint of the first semester in which you are completing a documented honors research experience you want to apply toward this microcredential.
  2. Complete at least three semesters of documented honors research experiences.
  3. To document each research experience:
    1. Enroll in HON-H 398 Research, or
    2. Enroll in a credit-bearing research course in your school and apply to receive honors credit for that course by completing an honors contract with a research focus, or
    3. Enroll in a credit-bearing honors research course in your school, or
    4. Complete an honors contract in any credit-bearing course where the primary purpose of the contract is to conduct research, or
    5. To document a non-credit bearing research experience in line with the learning outcomes identified in this microcredential, submit a proposal developed with your research mentor and enroll in HON-H 398 for 0-credit hours.
  4. Each semester, add each research experience to your ePortfolio (paper, poster, artifact, etc.) and reflect on what you learned in each experience according to the learning outcomes and rubric included in this document. Submit the link to your ePortfolio to the Honors College Canvas Resource site at the end of each semester.
  5. Publicly present a poster or ePortfolio showcase of your research project(s) and findings at the Honors College Showcase. Students should participate at least once at the culmination of their microcredential and are encouraged to do so every spring.
  6. Create a final research showcase as part of your honors ePortfolio and reflect on what you've learned about doing honors research and how you've engaged the learning outcomes by completing these research experiences as an honors scholar. Submit the link to your ePortfolio research showcase once completed to the Honors College Canvas Resource site. Use the rubric to guide your showcase.