Undergraduate research papers offer a difficult challenge for students to demonstrate primary and secondary research skills, knowledge of dance practices and their histories, and clarity of written communication. This article demystifies the research process specifically for use in dance studies and dance history classrooms by demonstrating common approaches to analyzing choreographic works. The authors take Katherine Dunham's 1949 choreography "Afrique" as a case study and model how to layer different research and writing approaches: movement observation and description as a foundation for humanistic dance analysis, historical contextualization within the dance field with reference to both primary and secondary sources, and cultural criticism that frames dance artists, practices, and choreographed works within an intellectual and cultural milieu.