Introductory political science courses are considered Gateway courses to student success in college, yet those courses rarely use high impact practices. This study investigated student-led research projects based on the idea of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) as a means to increase students' self-assessed learning gains and motivation to acquire critical thinking skills. This study used a quasi-experiment across two online sections of American Government taught at a large public university. The experimental section made use of a CURE project, and the control section did not. Pre- and post-surveys indicated significant differences in self-assessed learning gains. The section with the CURE project showed more confidence and a better understanding of political science. No difference was found in motivation for acquiring critical thinking skills.