George Mason University

Please read through the guidelines that follow and then write up the independent study proposal using the steps listed.

GUIDELINES                                                                                                

Independent studies are meant to give students the opportunity to tailor course work to their specific interests, talents, goals, etc., in ways that normal courses do not. They also allow students to work more intensely on a subject or in a particular field than a regular course does. This includes summer work. Thus, an independent study can allow a student who was introduced to a writer as part of a survey course in, say, spring semester to dig more deeply into that writer’s work through a summer independent study. For students with demanding jobs and work schedules, including TA’s, summer independent studies can help keep the student on track in progressing through the program.

However, independent studies should not duplicate course subjects or materials offered during the regular academic year or summer courses. The MFA faculty believe that studying literature plays a vital role in the development of a writer, and that this study is best facilitated most often in literature courses. Independent studies are not intended as a replacement for the two literature courses required by the program.

Independent studies also can be writing based rather than literature based, or they may blend reading and writing. In these cases, the courses are not meant to substitute for writing workshops or for courses that blend together reading and writing.

FACULTY INVOLVEMENT

Each independent study needs one faculty member willing to serve as mentor. Early in the process of thinking about an independent study, a student should consult faculty members with expertise or interests in the area proposed to be covered and should let discussions with the faculty member help shape his or her ideas for the study. The student and faculty member should discuss ideas about what reading and written work is to be carried out, and the criteria by which the work is to be evaluated. The student and mentor also should discuss possible schedules for meetings or discussions or the submission of work in general. Fewer contact hours may be more appropriate for some independent study topics or work than they are for others. Students should bear in mind that faculty members are not separately compensated for mentoring students in independent studies, either in monetary terms or course release time; while most faculty are quite willing to do independent studies with students, if the work load for them becomes the equivalent of another course, it can pose problems. Those who are most interested in the field of study or writing that a student is considering, or those with whom the student has worked in the classroom are more likely to agree to mentor an independent study.

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Independent studies may be created for one to three credits of English 798. For the maximum of three credits, the volume of reading and written work to be undertaken should mirror the levels required in a normal three-hour course. While this is a variable standard, a typical graduate-level literature course will encompass ten or more books and require at least one major paper and exam or two major papers or a detailed in-class presentation and major paper or exam. Comparable standards for writing courses are even more varied, but in a writing-based independent study, a student normally would be expected to complete at least one major project of roughly the size of a small book or the equivalent, depending on the field (a chapbook of poems, for example, or a collection of four to six essays, or four to six short stories or a small novel or novella).

Work should be scaled from the three-credit standard to create two- or one-credit independent studies.

PROPOSING AN INDEPENDENT STUDY                                                    

After thinking through his or her ideas and reading and considering the guidelines here, and discussing them with the faculty mentor, the next step is to formally propose the independent study. This is a process that begins with the student’s writing up the proposal and then getting the faculty mentor to approve it. The faculty member mentor should sign the student’s proposal prior to its being submitted to the English Department. Where circumstances do not allow for the faculty member’s physically signing the proposal, e-mailed approvals from the faculty member are sufficient. Those e-mails should go to Jennifer Stone, the graduate programs manager, at jstone22@gmu.edu.

Once the faculty member has approved, the student must submit the proposal and a completed individualized study form to the MFA program director through Jennifer. The MFA program director plays an advisory role to the students, faculty, and the chair of English and so may ask questions or seek additional information and then will forward the finished proposal to the chair of the English Department for final approval. Once the chair has approved the independent study and signed the individualized section form, it will be sent to the Registrar’s Office, which then will officially register the student for an individual section of English 798 (or appropriate alternative).

In writing up the proposal, students give as much detail as possible, including any background information that puts the proposal in a context that can be understood by those who have to approve. Give specifics about the amount of reading or written work to be undertaken, about the start and end dates for the proposed independent study (especially during the summer), the learning goals for the independent study, and the proposed evaluation criteria for the work that is produced during the independent study.

WHAT SHOULD YOUR PROPOSAL INCLUDE? Click here for word doc with the following info to start drafting your proposal.

Student Name

Student G #

Semester for proposed  independent study

Number of credit hours proposed

Proposed title (also put this on the individualized section form)

Proposal (must include the following)

Overview

Background of knowledge or interest in the proposed topic

Written work or reading to be completed, including bibliography

Learning goals or possible uses of the material to be written or read (including annotated bibliographies)

How the independent study will count in the student’s program (as an elective, usually, or as a literature requirement,  possibly)

Signature of approval from faculty member serving as mentor (include a space/line at the bottom of your proposal for this faculty signature)