Guidelines for Special Studies Capstone
Special Studies Capstone | PS 40001 (3 credits)
If you intend to enroll in the Special Studies Capstone Option, please follow the guidelines below.
1. Identify a faculty mentor. This person should be selected from the list of affiliated faculty members. If you have identified someone who is not on the list, please obtain approval for this choice from the PSIM director before you enroll.
2. One semester prior to taking the course, discuss with your chosen faculty mentor the nature of the work you would like to do in this course and come to agreement about your approach. We recommend taking this course Fall of the senior year, which means that students should have the proposal approved Spring of the junior year.
3. Submit, before enrolling in the course, to the PSIM director a project description for the work you intend to do with written approval from your faculty mentor. You will not be authorized to enroll in the Special Studies Capstone Option until this project description has been approved. Guidelines for this description adapted from the UROP website (http://isla.nd.edu/for-undergraduate-students/) are provided below. If the format of the UROP proposal guidelines is inconsistent with the guidelines for independent research published by your discipline or by your college, please seek permission from the director of PSIM to substitute a proposal following these alternative guidelines.
Project Description Guidelines
The project description should consist of (1) no more than five typed double-spaced pages with minimum margins of one inch top, bottom and sides, and minimum font size 12; (2) a letter of endorsement from the supervising faculty member; and (3) the following six elements.
1) The introduction should provide a statement of the objectives of the proposed work and the anticipated significance of the work in lay terms. It should describe the project to be undertaken, the problem to be investigated, the hypothesis to be tested and /or the creative endeavor to be undertaken.
2) The background section should provide a brief discussion of the reading you intend to do as part of the project. For example, if your work is to be a research effort, this part of the proposal would refer to the type of literature review you will do. Any previous research you have done or experience you have had that is relevant to your proposal should also be noted in this section. If you intend to do a project in visual arts, music, theater or film, you may include two examples of previous work in the form of slides, photos, audio, or video.
3) The methods section should give a detailed description of the way you will proceed toward your aims. For example, if you are doing a research project, here you will refer to the research methods to be used. If your desired outcome is a creative project, explain the techniques to be employed. If you intend your work to contribute to a local organization that is attempting to mitigate poverty related challenges, explain how you intend to make this contribution. Include a justification for your specific approach: how do your methods answer the questions that have been posed, test the hypothesis, or lead to the desired goal?
4) The schedule should include specific dates for the initiation and completion of each phase of the project.
5) Close collaboration with the faculty supervisor is essential. This section of the project description should provide information on how you and the adviser will work together on the problem and how often you will meet. Please also explain in this section how the project relates to the adviser’s work.
6) A clear description of your intended output or product must be provided. What do you intend to be the outcome of this work? Do you expect it to contribute to a senior thesis or other class-based research paper? Do you expect to present your findings at a conference? Do you intend for the work to enhance the organizational capacity of a local non-profit or contribute to some other way to community improvement? Do you intend to submit your work for publication in a journal? Are you planning a public performance or presentation of your work?
