Advice on Completing Your Capstone Project

 John Kamil, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completed major in Psychology

I completed my capstone project with Dr. Florette Cohen as my mentor, which was truly an honor because I learned so much by working vigorously with her. To all the future students worrying about this project, I advise you that you take a breath and take it day by day. Dr. Cohen helped me spread the paper out throughout the semester, so I did not get too bombarded with everything else going on with school. Writing a little bit every week and putting in the time helped me complete it with no major issues at all.

It is very crucial that you communicate well with your mentor and anyone else who is involved in your project. This goes without saying because we all know and understand how important communication is in college. Some things I learned from working with Dr. Cohen include professionalism, time management, multi-tasking, and online research tools. Assisting in research gave me hands-on experience in my particular field which was also very helpful.

You can explore your hobbies through research, learn something new, improve your problem-solving abilities, and present yourself with fresh challenges. You will have the chance to collaborate closely with a mentor, a faculty member, or another accomplished researcher, while you embark on your research project.

To get the most out of your college experience, you should aim to seize every opportunity. Working on projects, whether in a lab or somewhere else, is a good opportunity to hone your skills, identify the work you excel in, and be ready for graduate school or a profession. Such initiatives frequently result in presentations at academic conferences, which can be very helpful when you submit applications for graduate school, fellowships, or even jobs.

Each academic discipline has unique research issues and approaches. As a researcher, you look for solutions to problems that pique your interest. Your research question may be related to the arts, society, politics, science, or technology. You decide on the instruments, collect, and examine the data, then present your results to a larger group of people.

I recommend doing this capstone project because it is an excellent opportunity to develop relationships with faculty members who work in your area of interest and make connections with other students working on research. You will build a strong working relationship with a faculty mentor and be able to ask for a letter of recommendation. It is an opportunity to discover new knowledge and expand on what you already know. In my opinion, the most important aspect of completing a capstone is having the opportunity to hone your leadership and teamwork skills as you collaborate with others.