Dean of University Libraries Martin Halbert and Manuscript Archivist Jennifer Motszko presented the 2018 University Libraries Undergraduate Research Award to Jordan Richmond on April 26 at the Student Honors Convocation. The award focuses on the ability of a student to locate, select and synthesize information from library resources for the creation of an original research project or paper. The winner receives a $500 cash prize.
Richmond’s winning paper, “Crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh: Sociocultural Underpinnings and Political Barriers to the 2016-2018 Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing,” was part of a capstone assignment in the International and Global Studies program.
“Her 35-page project…was a true ‘tour de force’ of creative research, involving over 70 published pieces on the topic drawn from an extraordinarily broad spectrum of sources and source types,” said Robert Campo, Richmond’s professor and faculty sponsor.
He was similarly impressed by Richmond’s use of Jackson Library’s resources.
“In order to locate these many sources, Richmond made significant use of the Library’s many databases. Specifically, she cross-referenced the academic databases of EBSCO, JSTOR, ProQuest, Political Science Complete and SocIndex,” said Campo.
Due to the ongoing nature of Richmond’s research topic, she depended on the Library’s resources to obtain current information. In her application letter, she noted the assistance provided to her by Data Services and Government Information Librarian Lynda Kellam.
“I relied heavily on local and on-the-ground news reporting to develop my thesis. Lynda Kellam of the University Libraries directed me to LexisNexis to keep up to date with local developments, and I heavily relied on this to develop a current understanding of the crisis,” said Richmond.
Richmond graduated in 2018 with honors from UNC Greensboro and holds a double major in International & Global Studies and Political Science, and two minors in Chinese and Women’s & Gender Studies. These accomplishments have pushed her toward her goal of working in immigration law.
Richmond recently started work as a paralegal for an immigration law office. “I love the work that I get to do every day,” said Richmond.
Along with being the winner of the 2018 University Libraries’ Undergraduate Research Award, Richmond was also presented with the Student Excellence Award and an honorable mention for the Economics, Behavioral and Social Sciences division of the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Expo at UNC Greensboro.
Richmond’s award-winning paper has been added to UNCG’s institutional repository, NC DOCKS.
Written by Jules Miller
