Special Studies Capstone | PS 47000 (3 credits)

If you intend to enroll in the Special Studies Capstone, please follow these guidelines and submit the proposal form one semester prior to taking the course. Contact Dr. Mick to see models of previous capstone projects.

1. Secure a Poverty Studies affiliated faculty member to advise your work. Select an affiliated faculty member or talk with the director if the best match for your project is someone outside this list or outside Notre Dame.
2. Draft your proposal and share it with your advisor. Give your advisor sufficient time to consider your proposal and suggest meaningful revisions. Discuss the project details with your advisor. Confirm your approach, methods, deadlines, and deliverables. The advisor must submit a letter of support for the project.
3. Submit your proposal to the PSIM director following this timeline:
   1. ​To enroll in the Special Studies Capstone the Fall semester of your senior year, submit your proposal with a letter of endorsement from your advisor to the PSIM Director no later than the week after Spring Break in your junior year. 
   2. To enroll in the Special Studies Capstone the Spring semester of your senior year, submit your proposal with a letter of endorsement from your project advisor to the PSIM director no later than the week after Fall Break in your senior year.
   3. If you cannot meet these deadlines, enroll in one of the Capstone courses identified with the PSCP attribute.
4. Apply for internal funding if your research has expenses. Many Notre Dame units provide financial support for undergraduate research. PSIM does not provide funding for the Capstone.
5. Check with your advisor and the PSIM director to determine if you need to submit a proposal to Notre Dame’s Institutional Review Board. Research that involves human subjects must be considered by the IRB. See Notre Dame’s compliance page for details. Build time into your research schedule for the IRB to respond. If the research requires approval by the IRB, do the following:
   1. Complete the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI). 
   2. Submit IRB proposal through eProtocol once it has been endorsed by your project advisor and approved by the PSIM director. 

Proposal Guidelines

1. The introduction should provide a statement of the objectives of the proposed work and the anticipated significance of the work in lay terms. It should describe the project to be undertaken, the problem to be investigated, the hypothesis to be tested and /or the creative endeavor to be undertaken.
2. The background section should provide a brief discussion of the reading you intend to do as part of the project. For example, if your work were to be a research effort, this part of the proposal would refer to the type of literature review you will read. Any previous research you have done or experience you have had that is relevant to your proposal should also be noted in this section. If you intend to do a project in visual arts, music, theater or film, you may include two examples of previous work in the form of slides, photos, audio, or video.
3. The methods section should give a detailed description of the way you will precede toward your aims. For example, if you are doing a research project, here you will refer to the research methods to be used. If your desired outcome is a creative project, explain the techniques to be employed. If you intend your work to contribute to a local organization that is attempting to mitigate poverty related challenges, explain how you intend to make this contribution. Include a justification for your specific approach: how do your methods answer the questions that have been posed, test the hypothesis, or lead to the desired goal?
4. The schedule should include specific dates for the initiation and completion of each phase of the project.  Your final product should be submitted to your project advisor no later than the last day of classes.  Your project director must submit a grade to the PSIM director no later than the last day of final examinations.
5. Close collaboration with the faculty supervisor is essential. This section of the proposal should provide information on how you and the advisor will work together on the problem and how often you will meet. Please also explain in this section how the project relates to the advisor’s work.
6. A clear description of your intended output or product must be provided. What do you intend to be the outcome of this work? Do you expect it to contribute to a senior thesis or other class-based research paper? Do you expect to present your findings at a conference? Do you intend for the work to enhance the organizational capacity of a local non-profit or contribute to some other way to community improvement? Do you intend to submit your work for publication in a journal? Are you planning a public performance or presentation of your work?

Important Dates

In the semester prior to taking the course:

1. Submit your proposal and a letter of support from your faculty advisor no later than the Friday after Fall or Spring Break.
2. Apply for internal funding according to their due dates of the possible funding entities or as soon as the PSIM director approves your proposal, whichever date is earlier. 
3. Complete and submit an eProtocol to Notre Dame’s Institutional Review Board at least two months prior to the beginning of the semester in which you plan to conduct your research.

During the semester you’re registered for the course:

1. Make an appointment to meet with your project advisor during the first week of the semester and hit the ground running!
2. Plan to present your research in the Spring.
3. Submit your final product to your project advisor and the PSIM director via email no later than the last day of classes.
4. Instruct your project advisor to submit a standard grade (A-F) to the PSIM director no later than the last day of final exams.