The research project I undertook under Professor Daniel Beland was centered around several different projects, mostly relating to the welfare states and their utilization of social policies to combat high levels of inflation. The project sought to analyze the different varieties of liberal welfare regimes by contrasting the Canadian and United States’ labor market policies. The research concluded the relationship between social policies and federalism heavily affected policy design within regimes. Latin American countries’ policies were taken into consideration to draw further comparisons on the differing social policies used throughout the world. The research held a focus on the economic and political aspects of policies enacted by countries to combat high levels of inflation. Examples of policies utilized by Canada are price controls, inflation indexation and removing the fuel tax. I was tasked with formatting and editing articles Professor Beland looked to submit to the Taylor & Francis Group and the Political Science Quarterly scholarly journals. To do so I was tasked with formatting sources to match the style guide required by the two journals, which required me to switch in-text citations into endnote formats and re-format the sources to fit the required style guide.
I was interested in participating in this project as I believed it could heavily improve my research skills and allow me to further my understanding surrounding preparing an article to be submitted to a scholarly journal. I also believed working with a professor would provide great experience for my resume, I plan on pursuing a master’s degree following the completion of my bachelor’s at McGill, therefore I knew having such relevant experience would be important for my applications. In addition, doing an internship within a field which is relevant to my major was important as it provides relevant experience for my resume. My learning objectives coming in were to refine my research skills, Professor Beland required very specific sources as we undertook different projects throughout the summer. Therefore, whether I was always combining different words through my research, for example ‘’welfare states, social policies, and inflation’’ or ‘’public pensions, welfare, and unemployment insurance.’’
Some of the highlights throughout my project were utilizing the many tools and starting to understand how to make use of relevant tools which are available to us as McGill students. The various databases we have access to are surely going to be of use for my research projects both in the next academic year and in the near future as well. Developing a relationship with Professor Beland was also a great part, he was very helpful in providing guidance and remained understanding for the time I needed to complete certain projects. Working with someone who is so accomplished in the field of academia was a very fruitful experience.
I faced challenges particularly surrounding finding relevant sources relating to the research, it was initially difficult to find relevant sources relating to the niche topics required. Because some of the words like ‘’federalism, welfare or social policy’’ bring out so many results it remained challenging to find sources which specifically tied those topics. Over time I was able to find ways to heavily reduce the levels of results from my searches through the use of different databases and the elimination of certain types of sources. In addition, the technique of finding articles which cited another relevant article I found allowed me to stay within the scope of what I was initially searching for. I used the virtual tip sheet from the library workshop provided by the Arts Internship Office to overcome some of these challenges, as they provided important links and resources to help us.
The ARIA projected will shape my future education path because it has expanded my interest in research and writing, it allowed me to realize I have heavy interest in research and enjoy doing it. This will surely provide me with relevant skills to utilize during my master’s degree next year and further down the line if I decide to pursue research in the professional world.
I’d like to thank Professor Beland for undertaking me through this project as his research assistant, it provided me with an invaluable experience that will allow me to grow both academically and professionally. I’d like to thank Anne Turner for providing us with guidance throughout the ARIA application process and reminding us of our responsibilities concerning the project. I’d also like to thank David Greene and Sandy Hervieux for the library workshop which allowed me to overcome various of the challenges I faced and provided me with important resources to use going forward.
