The exploration of ideas and perspectives are fundamental to finding new ways to understand — and support — the human experience. Undertaking research in the humanities and social sciences in the first year of college gives a student a toolset to apply throughout their life. The Source Project is a program that I began in 2018 to develop course based undergraduate research experiences at Binghamton University. It is a sequence of two, four-credit courses in fall and spring semesters where first-year students have the opportunity to discover sources, and from them, gain new knowledge about the messy and ever-changing world we inhabit. Students ask questions and seek answers, guided by experienced faculty who engage in these practices as their profession. Students produce original projects that express their findings and learn how to communicate and disseminate the relevance of what they have found with classmates as well as others outside of the classroom. Students go on to publish work, go to professional conferences, work to make a difference for societal issues that are important to them, and go to graduate school.