Independent Study Guidelines

Independent Studies are intended for advanced student who want to explore a problem in greater depth than allowed by the standard course offerings in the department. There are not intended to substitute for courses already offered and certainly not to be used to solve scheduling conflicts with student enrollment in existing courses.

Only juniors & seniors with at least a B average in LHCS can take IS courses.

Students are required to obtain the approval of the faculty member they hope to work with PRIOR to enrolling. Faculty members are encouraged but not obligated to agree to these projects. This must be done by the end of the semester PREVIOUS to the semester in which the IS will be done, preferably by pre-registration.

Majors in the department may take a maximum of two IS courses. For minors, only one may be applied towards the requirements.

Faculty and student must develop a clear written justification for the IS and a plan that specifies readings, requirements, dates, etc. before the end of the semester previous to the semester in which the IS will be done. All IS plans need to be reviewed and approved by the department chair.

IS courses should result in a TOTAL of approximately 25 written pages of work. These may be presented in the form of a large research project at the end of the semester of shorter, more frequent papers during the semester.

Students must meet with their advisors weekly to discuss their progress and present their work.