Using Independent Study Projects In Your Research And Teaching Program

Independent-study courses are offered by most institutions to allow a student to work one-on-one with a faculty member on a topic of interest to both. The rules vary widely with department and institution. They may be letter-graded, or graded pass/fail. Usually they are limited to three to six credits in a student's degree program. Sometimes the topics are constrained by the need to satisfy accreditation requirements. Many institutions require a syllabus, or a contract between the student and professor. Sometimes the contract is required to specify deliverables. An independent study usually addresses a topic that is not covered in a regular course. Faculty can use them to build up their teaching and research program. For example, an independent study may be used to introduce a student to a particular research area in which (s)he may pursue a thesis (though in some cases, students are not allowed to earn both independent-study and thesis credits on the same topic). It may also be used to assist another student on a thesis project, as when an undergraduate gathers data that a graduate student can use in writing a thesis. Independent studies can also be used to enrich existing courses. A faculty member may want to introduce a new topic into a course, but lack time to produce the necessary lecture and homework materials. An independent-study student can scout the topic in advance and produce lecture notes and problems that can be used in teaching the course. This helps both the independent-study student, who learns about a new topic earlier than other students, and the rest of the class, which has access to better course materials than they would otherwise.