SPIRaL Undergraduate Applications Open

SPIRaL: Student Partners for Information Research and Literacy undergraduate research program is accepting applications for the 2026-2027 academic year!

SPIRaL is a year-long research program where students work as a research team to conduct original, qualitative research about information challenges affecting society. This coming year, SPIRaL researchers will examine the role of humans and AI in the future of creative professions.

Past SPIRaL research teams have studied the perceived relationship between social media algorithms and democratic participation (2023-2024), information challenges affecting the work of university student journalists (2024-2025), and how students use information to talk about climate change (2025-2026).

SPIRaL researchers earn academic credit through enrollment in ILS 335 (2 credits in fall) and ILS 336 (1 credit in spring) to learn about information literacy research, collect and analyze qualitative data, and produce a scholarly output that they present in the second semester of the program. Previous SPIRaL researchers have shared how the experience connected with their other areas of study, made them feel more prepared for graduate or law school applications, and encouraged interest in other career opportunities after graduation.

Applications are open January 1-March 26th. Students who are interested in applying to the program can learn more about the program and the experiences of past SPIRaL researchers at the SPIRaL webpage and the linked undergraduate researcher position description.