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Research Credit


Capstone seniors must take IDS 499R/AMST 499R Senior Research (1-3 credits) in the spring of their senior year, earning credit for work on the senior thesis. Graded, permission only. Student must obtain approval from their faculty research advisor, who will meet with the student and grade work.
 
Honors seniors must take AMST 495A/IDS 495A Honors (Fall: 3 credits), and AMST 495BW/IDS 495BW Honors (Spring: variable 1-8 credits). It must be taken both fall and spring. Graded, permission only. Student must obtain approval from their faculty research advisor, who will meet with the student and grade work.
 
As part of this research credit, both capstone and honors students must submit a prospectus of their research to the DUS. The prospectus should include:
  • frequency of meetings with advisors
  • writing to be submitted as part of the semester’s grade
  • deadlines for writing submissions

Please review the guidelines at the bottom of this page before preparing your prospectus.

Independent Study

 
Independent interdisciplinary study can be conducted under or IDS 490R/AMST 498R if a student’s proposed research and study is interdisciplinary in nature, and if the student is able to find a faculty member willing to supervise and grade the proposed work and research.
 
AMST 498/ IDS 498 generally carries 3 credits and is taken for a letter grade.
 

Guidelines

  • The student and faculty supervisor should discuss contact hours and the role of the faculty supervisor before the student prepares a prospectus of the independent study
  • A prospectus of the independent study must be submitted using the webform, with approval from the faculty supervisor, before a section can be created on OPUS by the undergraduate program coordinator for the research credit
  • The prospectus should explicitly describe the following:
    • The general research questions to be addressed across the semester of independent study
    • The authors and works to be read across the semester of independent study
    • The general amount and number of hours of reading per week
    • The general plan for meetings between the student and the faculty supervisor –e.g. bi-weekly, every three weeks, etc. (Note: meetings and time devoted to readings should roughly reflect the number of credits earned for the independent study)
    • The written work to be produced by the student during the semester—number of written assignments, number of pages of each assignment, due dates, etc.
 
Students interested in setting up independent study should begin by meeting with the DUS of the ILA. The meeting with the DUS is generally followed by subsequent meetings with the proposed faculty supervisor. Advance planning is necessary so that all these discussions can happen in time to create the course listing in OPUS by the end of Add/Drop/Swap.