Resources:
Prospective Students
Current Students
Faculty

Contact US
Scholars Home

Spring, Sophomore Year

The second component of the Scholars IRP is the "Topic Statement & Bibliography" (TS&B).  This page specifies:

• what is expected of students for the TS&B;
• how mentors evaluate these items;
• how and to whom students submit the TS&B; and
• how and to whom mentors submit their evaluations of these items.

Follow these links to learn:

• the deadline for student submissions of the TS&B;
• the date when mentors are requested to submit their evaluations of these items; and
• why these evaluations matter; what consequences they have for students.

1. Expectations

Topic Statement

The Interdisciplinary Research Project is an original investigation of important intellectual questions. In preparing it, students study sources and collect data, ideas, and information. Their aim is to develop and defend persuasive answers to their project’s leading questions.

In her Topic Statement, the student formulates her project’s leading questions and sketches her plan for exploring them. In it, then, the student states both:

• the main questions she will be investigating in her research; and
• how she intends to investigate them (i.e., by means of what sources and methods).

The IRP is an interdisciplinary research project; the student investigates her leading questions using sources and methods from two distinct academic disciplines (e.g., Spanish and Psychology; Biology and Religious Studies, etc.). Topic statements must make clear how the student’s paper will integrate the two disciplines she has chosen.

Students should ask each mentor for help in conceiving the subject, sources, and methods of their projects. If, for example, a student’s project combines the disciplines of Psychology and Physics, he should ask his mentors to help him design his project in such a way that its subject, sources, and methods engage both disciplines.

Bibliography

This is the list of works that a student will use to begin his project. The expectation is that he will study these works over the summer between his Sophomore and Junior years, as he prepares the first draft of your paper.

The bibliography is to be comprised of no less than ten "distinguished bibliographical items". Such items are ordinarily not internet sources, but books or articles published by major journals or academic presses.

Bibliographies must include at least five items from each of the two disciplines that a project combines. It is imperative that students consult their mentors about these sources; they can help students to find those items that are most pertinent to and helpful for their projects.

Advice to Students

How to proceed:

1. Prepare in writing a draft of your Topic Statement. The draft should offer a rough sketch of the subjects you would like to study and the questions you would like to address.
2. Prepare in writing a draft of your Bibliography, with help of Library Staff. Be sure to look for sources from each of your two disciplines.
3. Schedule meetings with each of your mentors at least two weeks in advance of the due date.
4. Share your draft Topic Statement and Bibliography with your mentors, and ask for their recommendations.
5. Revise your drafts in accordance with the advice of both mentors.
6. Once your revisions are complete, submit them in the manner described below.

2. Evaluation
Mentors assign a grade of “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory” to the TS&B of their students.

In awarding grades, mentors are asked to consider the following:

• Does the Topic Statement formulate clear and important questions for research?
• Does the Topic Statement explain how the student intends to investigate them (i.e., by means of what sources and methods)?
• Does the Topic Statement make clear how the student's paper will integrate the two disciplines he or she has chosen?
• Does the Bibliography contain at least ten "distinguished bibliographical items" (e.g., books or articles published by major journals or academic presses)?
• Are there at least five items from each of the two disciplines that the student's project combines?

In order to earn a grade of Satisfactory, a student’s Topic Statement must:

• state the main questions she will be investigating in her research; and
• state how she intends to investigate them (i.e., by means of what sources and methods).
  

Moreover, the Bibliography must:

• be comprised of no less than ten "distinguished bibliographical items" (Such items are ordinarily not internet sources, but books or articles published by major journals or academic presses); and
• include at least five items from each of the two disciplines that your project combines (e.g., five “Philosophy” sources and five “Biology” sources, etc.).

Students are expected to confer with their mentors regularly while preparing the TS&B.  They are also expected to consult them after their TS&Bs have been evaluated. At a minimum, students should confer with each mentor at least once prior to submitting the TS&B and at least once after they have been evaluated.

If a student earns a grade of Unsatisfactory from either mentor for his work on TS&B, he is entitled to rework it and submit for a second evaluation, according to a defined procedure. If a student earns a grade of Unsatisfactory from either mentor for resubmitted work on IRP Notes, he faces dismissal from the Scholars Program.

Click here for information about the procedures governing submissions and resubmissions.
 
3. Student Submission Procedure

Students submit this component via e-mail to four people:

• their Primary Mentors;
• their Secondary Mentors;
• the Scholars Assistant; and
• the Scholars Director.

Students must state their full names in the e-mail accompanying the submission as well as the names of their mentors (e.g., “Attached are the Topic Statement and Bibliography for my Scholars Interdisciplinary Research Paper. My IRP mentors are Prof. Ostrow and Prof. Flynn. —Jane Doe”).

The e-mail is due by midnight on the due date. Click here for the due date. Failure to submit the TS&B by the deadline is grounds for dismissal from the Program; click here for further information.

Students with questions or concerns about the Submission Procedure are asked to contact the Scholars Assistant.

4. Grade Submission Procedure for Mentors

Mentors are asked to submit a grade of Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory for work on the TS&B.

The criteria governing evaluation are specified above (see § 2 above).

We request that grades be submitted via e-mail to the Scholars Assistant and copied to the Scholars Director. Once grades from both mentors have been received, the Scholars Assistant will forward them to individual students and their mentors.

Grades for the TS&B are due from Mentors within two weeks of their submission by students,

Click here for the exact date that grades for IRP Notes are due.

If a student earns a grade of Unsatisfactory from either mentor for his work on the TS&B, he is entitled to rework it and submit for a second evaluation, according to a defined procedure.

Click here for information for the procedures governing Unsatisfactory first submissions.

If a student earns a grade of Unsatisfactory from either mentor for resubmitted work on IRP Notes, or fails to submit work as required, she may be dismissed from the Scholars Program.