Honors Thesis

From May 2024 to May 2025, I worked on a 75+ page honors research project in the Bowdoin College History Department titled “Understanding the Truce of the Irish War of Independence Through Regional Newspaper Editorials.” My project looked at the editorial landscapes of three regional newspapers across the Republic of Ireland following the truce of the Irish War of Independence in July 1921. This truce began a six-month treaty process that led to a schism in the Irish Republican movement that triggered a civil war.

While the Republican movement was already starting to split before the truce of the Irish War of Independence, the terms of the treaty and the truce process were considered key contributors to the formation of the pro- and anti-Treaty factions present during the subsequent conflict. I wanted to know how local papers both reported on the events of the truce and expressed their opinions on the matter in the weeks following. I selected three papers as case studies: the Mayo News, Drogheda Independent, and Connacht Tribune. Each paper tended toward the Republican viewpoint, but I wanted to know more about the nuances of each paper based on their varied geography and societal makeup.

Ultimately, I found that each paper began with more idealistic perspectives on full independence, but as the truce process shifted toward Commonwealth membership, all of them eventually acquiesced to agree with the treaty’s outcome, despite their previous hopes.

Beyond reading dozens of 1921 papers and editorials, I evaluated the extensive secondary source landscape around the Irish War of Independence and the regional Irish newspaper industry during the period, familiarizing myself with authors such as Ian Kenneally, Felix Larkin, and Christopher Doughan. I organized hundreds of pages of research into a final paper that I defended to three History and Government professors from Bowdoin. As a culmination of my four years of history scholarship, I was proud to try my hand at longer-form research and primary source work while exploring a place and topic I am passionate about.

Read the whole project at this link.

AlphaSights

During the summer of 2024, I interned in the research department of AlphaSights, a New York-based short-term consulting firm that assists investment, consulting, and business clients in their fact-gathering processes. As a research intern, I produced “Primers,” which are briefs of 10,000 words or more about companies, customers, and industries in which AlphaSights clients were interested.

I compiled this information from interviews with experts in these industries, internal research done by other associates, and fact-finding from public sources. I learned about the functions of countless sectors, including fast food inventory management and health records systems. I also worked on tight deadlines, producing roughly one Primer a week throughout the summer, and collaborated with my managers and VPs during the editing process.

This experience provided me with a new perspective on the functions of consulting and investment and strengthened my business research and writing skills. Learn more about the type of work I did and the AlphaSights research team at this link.