Undergraduate Research in Dance ― A Guide for Students

Undergraduate Research in Dance: A Guide for Students supplies tools for scaffolding research skills alongside examples of undergraduate research in dance scholarship. Dance can be studied as an expressive embodied art form with physical, cognitive, and affective domains, and as an integral part of society, history, and vast areas of interdisciplinary content. To this end, the guidance provided by this book will equip future dance professionals with the means to move the field of dance forward.

Chapters 1–9 guide students through the fundamentals of research methods, providing a foundation to help students get started in understanding research protocols and processes. Students will learn skills such as how to choose a research topic, refine research questions, conduct literature reviews, cite sources, synthesize and analyze data, develop conclusions and results, and present their findings. Chapters 10–19 detail forms of undergraduate research in a rich diversity of fields within dance that are taught in many collegiate dance programs including dance therapy, history, science, psychology, education, and technology, in addition to public scholarship, choreography, and interdisciplinary topics. The book also includes a final chapter which provides annotated online resources, and many of its chapters are supported by examples of abstracts of capstone projects, senior theses, and conference presentations by undergraduate researchers across the United States.

Suitable for both professors and students, Undergraduate Research in Dance is an ideal reference book for any course that has a significant opportunity for the creation of new knowledge, or as an essential interdisciplinary connection between dance and other disciplines.

Lynnette Young Overby is Professor of Theatre and Dance at the University of Delaware and serves as Director of Research for Dance and the Child International. She has organized poster sessions for the National Dance Education Organization for several years.

Jenny Olin Shanahan is Assistant Provost for High Impact Practices at Bridgewater State University and has held numerous leadership roles with the Council for Undergraduate Research.

Gregory Young is Professor of Music at Montana State University and has held ongoing posts in conferences of undergraduate research and in curriculum development.