Over the course of the summer, my view on the process of conducting research changed. In the beginning I had a relatively clear idea of what would be involved and the direction that I would take. However, once I began my research, I found that most of my preconceptions were not correct. As I learned…

A struggle I have been having with my research is how to convey its significance to an audience that is not already familiar with the topic. My research, an examination of the shift from dialect to national language in late 19th century Italy, is niche and not very generalizable; that means conveying its significance is…

This summer I am most interested to learn about the different topics that others are focusing on, which I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. I think it would help my own research to hear about the work that everyone is doing throughout the summer, even if there isn’t always overlap with what I’m doing….

My name is Sam Esser, and I’m a rising senior studying Politics & Philosophy and Italian, with a minor in Linguistics. For the fellowship I will research different contributions to the development of modern, standard Italian. The research mentor I’m working with is Professor Lina Insana. In Italy, in addition to a standard language, there…