Humanities Research Intensive

This course, taught over spring break, introduces freshmen and sophomores to the excitement of humanities research. It will prepare you to develop an independent summer research project, to work as a research aide for a Stanford professor, or to apply for undergraduate research grants.

Over seven days, you and your fifteen classmates will take a deep dive into some of the most important methods and questions driving scholarly research in the humanities today. Your laboratory will be the Special Collections archive at Stanford, where you’ll work closely with Professors Rowan Dorin (History) and Sarah Prodan (Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages) doing hands-on research on ancient and modern books, manuscripts, and other artifacts.

You will learn the following about humanities research:

• How to formulate a solid research question
• How to gather the evidence that will help you to answer that question
• How to utilize Stanford archives, museums, and collections
• How to write up research results
• How to evaluate the research of your fellow students and offer useful feedback
• How to deliver your results in a public setting
• How to write an effective grant proposal

Why Participate in HRI?

Participating in research is one of the best ways to discover your interests—including a potential major—because it allows you to develop a personal stake in a subject: you are learning about something not just because it is on a course syllabus, but because it resonates with you. Research can also help you develop closer relationships with faculty than you might in class. And it teaches you an entirely different set of skills. As a researcher, you need to learn how to discover new knowledge: how to practice inquisitiveness, ask good questions, and interpret evidence. These skills will serve you well in a wide range of potential careers. If you are new to humanities research (or wonder what it even is!) HRI will give you the tools and connections you need to get started.

Program Details

• Two-unit course. Pass / No Credit. Units count toward winter quarter. (Note: you must be enrolled during winter quarter to participate in HRI).
• Frosh and sophomores only. Transfer students are also eligible if they have completed 1 full-time quarter at Stanford and no more than 1 full year at their previous institution (or transferred in no more than 60 units, not including AP credit) by the time of application.
• Open to all majors, as well as undeclared students.
• Program dates: Spring Break 2026: Sunday, March 22 through Saturday, March 28.
• Contact email: jschweg [at] stanford.edu (jschweg[at]stanford[dot]edu)
• See our FAQ for more details.

Application

To apply, fill out the online application by 11:59 pm on Monday, November 3, 2025.

Apply

2026 HRI Faculty

Rowan Dorin is an Associate Professor of History as well as Director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies. A scholar of western Europe and the Mediterranean during the high and late Middle Ages, his research explores how law and society interact with each other, as well as the history of economic life and economic thought. He is the author of No Return: Jews, Christian Usurers, and the Spread of Mass Expulsion in Medieval Europe (Princeton University Press, 2023), which uses the banishment of Jewish and Christian moneylenders to explore the rise of mass expulsion as a widespread practice in the later Middle Ages.

Sarah Prodan is an Assistant Professor of French and Italian in the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages. Her research explores Michelangelo, lyric poetry, and the literary and religious culture of medieval and early modern Italy. Her publications include Michelangelo’s Christian Mysticism: Spirituality, Poetry and Art in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2014), and she is also currently writing an historical fiction novel set in fifteenth-century Florence. She received the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2023 for her outstanding commitment to undergraduate education.

Questions? Email the HRI Program Coordinator, Jeff Schwegman: jschweg [at] stanford.edu (jschweg[at]stanford[dot]edu)