Policy on Independent Study Courses in Asian Studies

Independent Study in Asian Studies is available to students who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a focused research project on a topic not regularlrly offered in the Program's curriculum or in the curriculum of an existing department. Because Independent Study is one option in a varied curriculum, Independent Study in Asian Studies is restricted to declared Concetrators and cannot normally be used to fulfill distribution requirements within the Concentration.

To enroll in an Independent Study, a student must prepare a proposal in consultation with a member of the Asian Studies faculty (faculty members listed on the Asian Studies homepage) who has suitable expertise and is willing to work with the student over the course of a semester. The proposal of roughly 2-3 pages should include: a statement of the particular topic or questions the student plans to explore, a preliminary bibliography, a schedule of reading and writing assignments, a schedule of meetings with the supervising faculty member, and a description of grading criteria. In other words, the proposal should look something like a syllabus. The student should also briefly describe prior coursework that particularly qualifies him or her to pursue the project independently.

The program director must approve the proposal. The director will ensure that proposals meet program guidelines and that individual faculty members are not overburdened by directing multiple IS projects.

At a minimum, the program expects the student to meet regularly with his or her instructor at least the equivalent of one hour per week. At a minimum, the amount of work submitted for a grade in an IS should approximate that required, on average, in a 200- or 300-level course in a department in the humanities or social sciences with faculty participating in the Asian Studies Program. Individual projects will vary, but students pursuing an IS in Asian Studies should probably plan to read about 100 pages (or 20 pages in a non-native Asian language) or more a week and to write at least 30 pages over the course of the semester.

Becuase students must enroll for Independent Studies by the seventh day of classes in a given semeseter, they are urged to begin discussion of their proposed Independent Study with the supervising faculty member and the program director the semester before they hope to undertake the project. The program director must receive IS proposals by the fifth day of classes.Edit date: 1/14/11