Independent Project Advisors

The Independent Project (IP) represents the capstone of the Honors curriculum. The faculty of the Honors Program believe strongly in the importance of undergraduate research as integral to our students' maturing educational experience and preparation for their continuing work. So we require completion of the IP, along with the four colloquia, for our students to graduate "with Honors in Honors." We also encourage students to choose a topic, learning objectives, and an advisor all of which will have multiple benefits for them. The single most important feature of the IP is that it is independent, both in its formulation and in its execution.

Your role as advisor is voluntary. The rewards of assisting with undergraduate research are various, including:

• supporting promising undergraduates who may be considering your field of study
• involving students in work related to your own, and
• working directly with the University's most talented under-graduates.

As teachers, we recognize that these important if intangible rewards justify our dedicating a certain amount of time to our students. We leave it to each potential advisor to judge how much and whether the moment is propitious, and we thank each of you -- and you have been many, from many parts of this institution -- for your invaluable contribution to this important learning effort, both now and then again as the individual IP concludes.

The project itself can take many forms, as appropriate to the discipline(s) involved. Students may register for credit either under a disciplinary independent study rubric (usually xxx 395) or the HON 395 option. Timing of the registration for the IP does not always coincide exactly or completely with the time dedicated to the project; in fact, we know from long experience that most of our students spend considerable time and effort, on the order of 20-33% of the entire project's work, before completing the IP proposal and registering for credit. We encourage flexibility here, to underline that learning does not usually take place in neat 15-week packages and to maximize convenience and efficient use of student and advisor time, and other resources.

The Honors Program distributes a set of general guidelines and suggestions for the IP to all our students by way of assisting them in their first thoughts about the project; this information is contained in the Honors Program Student Handbook, while specific guidelines are distributed to all students enrolled in the fourth and final colloquium, HON 202, a semester when most of our students have begun to think seriously about the IP. All students planning to do an Independent Project must attend an orientation session (several are offered each semester), which goes over the ground rules for the IP and provides some brainstorming work. It also offers the occasion for students to ask questions and raise concerns, as well as to hear from students who have already completed the IP. At any time after attending the orientation, students may submit the IP proposal (contract) for approval.

The Honors Program distributes a set of general guidelines and suggestions for the IP to all our students by way of assisting them in their first thoughts about the project; this information is contained in the Honors Program Student Handbook, while specific guidelines are discussed in the first semester sophomore-level colloquia in all tracks, a semester when most of our students have begun to think seriously about the IP. All students planning to do an Independent Project must attend an orientation session (several are offered each semester), which goes over the ground rules for the IP and provides some brainstorming work. It also offers the occasion for students to ask questions and raise concerns, as well as to hear from students who have already completed the IP. At any time after attending the orientation, students may submit the IP proposal (contract) for approval.

We also urge students to confer regularly with you the advisor during the progress of work, as well as during the planning and concluding stages. This kind of communication eases the students' transition from the more traditional student role to one of greater collaboration and also establishes patterns that lessen the possibility that they become or feel isolated when problems or other unforeseen complications arise. We stress the importance of good communication throughout the IP, including that students respect your schedule and your other obligations. Successful planning done in mutual consultation will avoid most problems by clarifying and, where there is difference, resolving expectations, time tables, and goals.

The completed contract is your mutual record of that agreement; we urge you and the student each to keep a copy. The original is read carefully by the Director of the Honors Program when received. The Director approves proposals when all criteria are met, when the proposal is professionally presented, and when it is written clearly enough for someone outside the discipline to understand its main principles and goals. Proposals defective in any of these regards are returned to the student for further work. Once approved, a copy of the proposal, with any comments, is returned to the student and the original kept on file with others in the Honors Program Office, where other students may consult them as models or inspiration in thinking about their own projects.

Funds are available from the Honors Program, with deadlines once each semester, to support expenses involved in the Independent Project. There are also other sources for funding on campus and elsewhere; we try to keep our students apprised of all relevant possibilities. Students may apply for Honors Program Independent Project grants only after their contract has been approved and filed with the Honors Program office. These funds are not meant to underwrite expenses already covered internally (that is, not to pay some other part of the University) but to permit the student to travel, obtain equipment not otherwise available, or cover expenses associated with the work that the student would have to bear individually. Guidelines for these grants are available in the Honors Program office and on the Honors Program Website.

By the time the contract is approved, most students are well on their way with the real work. Good planning to this point generally provides for most situations that arise, but often the student discovers that her/his timetable was overly optimistic, or some other kind of intrusion forces a renegotiation of the schedule. If this means that the project does not conclude within the grading period originally anticipated, the student should work with you the advisor to complete an "Incomplete Grade contract" exactly as for any regularly scheduled course. Copies should go to the Registrar, the department involved (if the student is registered for departmental credit), and to the Honors Program.

During the course of the IP, students receive graduate privileges from the Library (extended loan periods and access to interlibrary loan). Students should be certain that their names have been forwarded to the Library for these purposes once they have registered for the IP by checking with the Honors Program staff.

When the project has been completed and a grade awarded, you the advisor may file the grade in the department in the usual manner at semester's end, or, if the IP was done for credit as HON 395, inform in writing the Director of the Honors Program of the grade so that the grade sheet may be issued from this office. We ask students to file copies of finished work in whatever form it takes -- papers, publications, or programs in which they made presentations or did poster-talks -- with the Honors Program. We also encourage students to consider making on-campus presentations (particularly as practice for presentations in more formal settings) and to invite their Honors Program peers and teachers to attend wherever practicable. We can assist in publicizing, making arrangements for the venue, and so on, if sufficiently far ahead of the date of presentation. Independent Projects must be completed and grade submitted before a student graduates in order to meet HP requirements and to be acknowledged on the student's transcript and diploma.

If a student does not complete the IP prior to the last semester before graduation, it may not be possible for us to verify her/his completion of Honors Program requirements early enough for her or his name to appear in the various print materials during the graduation ceremony. However, students will graduate "with Honors in Honors" and will receive the appropriate recognition on transcript and diploma, as well as via the Honors certificate as long as work is completed before the date of graduation.

At all times, we encourage you as an IP advisor to refer your questions to the Honors Program, particularly to the Director. We are grateful for your support of the University's undergraduates, and the Honors Program's goals, through your participation in this effort, and we will work with you to assure that the experience is productive, positive, and as unencumbered by difficulties as we can make it. We appreciate your assistance and welcome any suggestions that you care to offer based upon your work as an Independent Project advisor.