Final Projects

Fall 2008 Final Project Forms

Important Dates:

September 19, 11 a.m., Ballantine 005: Mandatory meeting for IMP seniors graduating in December

November 14: Final project deadline. All materials must be in their final forms and approved by your sponsor(s).

December 1-19: Final Project Reviews

December 20: Commencement


Each student is required to complete a final project — the culmination of the IMP. The final project is directed by the student's faculty sponsor from start to finish and is generally carried out during the senior year. It may take any number of forms ranging from a scholarly paper or analysis of field research to a performance, film, exhibition, multimedia presentation, or internship. The project must reflect the successful fulfillment of the educational goals embodied in the student's individualized curriculum. After the student has completed the final project, has prepared the other documents comprising the Senior Review Dossier, and has secured his or her sponsor's approval, the IMP office will schedule the student's Final Project Review. At the conclusion of the interview, the committee will decide whether the work required for the B.A. degree has been successfully completed.


Submitting a Final Project Proposal

Students are required to enroll in at least three tutorial credits covering their work on final projects. The tutorial contract represents the student's sponsor-approved final project proposal and is submitted prior to registration for the semester during which the student will be starting work on the project. In special cases, at the request of the student's admission committee, the content of the proposal is circulated to the members of the committee for approval.

IMPORTANT: Students whose final projects involve human subjects must abide by the procedures set out by the Human Subjects Committee.

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Senior Review Dossier Components

Each student must also submit a Senior Review Dossier. The major components of the dossier vary from student to student depending on the nature of the final project, but may include:

  • A Research Paper
  • A Videotape of a Performance: Although members of the review committee will generally attend performances, exhibits, or other transient final projects, the videotape is a required component of the review.
  • An Analytic Component: Students who present projects that do not inherently include written elements are required to submit a piece of analytic writing as part of their dossiers.
  • An Internship Statement: Internships can serve as final projects when they are not only learning experiences but opportunities to put into practice the sum total of what the student has learned in the IMP. Students must submit an internship statement approved by their sponsor that provides a detailed account of the activities carried out in the internship.
  • Internship Supervisor Statement: If the final project centered on an internship that was not observed or directly supervised by the student's sponsor, the student must solicit an evaluation from his or her supervisor using the Internship Evaluation Form.
  • A Retrospective Statement: The retrospective statement is a two-paged, double-spaced document in which the student reflects on the various elements that comprised his or her program of study and evaluates how these elements relate to one another and the overall program.
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Creating a Senior Review Dossier

Students should use the following guidelines when assembling the components of the Senior Review Dossier:

Research Project

If the final project is a research paper or other report on research, the dossier will contain the following items:

  • Final Project Approval Form indicating that the sponsor has seen and approved the final version of the project
  • Four copies of the senior project
  • Four copies of the retrospective statement
  • Sponsor Schedule Sheet and Student Schedule Sheet

Creative Project

If the final project is a performance or other creative production such as a film, videotape, or CD-ROM, the dossier will contain the following items:

  • Final Project Approval Form indicating that the sponsor has seen and approved the final version of the project
  • Four copies of the retrospective statement
  • Four copies of a videotape of the performance or four copies of another creative production such as a film, video, or CD-ROM. If the creative project was an exhibit that is reasonably portable (such as an exhibit of photographs or drawings), the student can bring the project to the Final Project Review. However, it is still necessary to provide the IMP office with the four copies of the videotape.
  • Four copies of the analytic essay
  • Sponsor Schedule Sheet and Student Schedule Sheet

Internship

If the final project includes an internship, the dossier will contain the following items:

  • Final Project Approval Form indicating that the sponsor has seen and approved the final version of the project
  • Four copies of the retrospective statement
  • Four copies of the analytic essay
  • Internship Evaluation Form
  • Internship Statement
  • Sponsor Schedule Sheet and Student Schedule Sheet
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Approval by Sponsor(s) and Submission of the Final Project

Students must follow these steps when submitting their final project for review:

  • The student must secure his or her sponsor's signature on the Final Project Approval Form. Sponsors and cosponsors must also complete the Sponsor Schedule Sheet, just as the student must complete the Student Schedule Sheet.
  • The student must submit schedule sheets and the rest of the Senior Review Dossier by the announced deadline for the semester during which he or she wishes to schedule the Final Project Review.
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Scheduling the Final Project Review

Students targeting December or May graduation must meet the posted deadlines for submitting schedule sheets and final project materials (see Events and Deadlines). Once these materials are submitted, a Final Project Review will be scheduled and the student and faculty sponsor will be notified.

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Final Project Review

With a few exceptions, Final Project Reviews are 90 minutes long. The time given to each section of the review will vary, but the following outline offers a sense of what may take place:

  • Pre-discussion Conference (15 minutes): Before the review begins, committee members, sponsor(s), and the IMP assistant director exchange their views of the project, conferring briefly on its overall quality. Identifying and discussing areas of concern in advance enables the chair to structure the review in the most relevant and helpful way.
  • Discussion with the Student (30 minutes): This segment often begins with the student summarizing the work that went into the final project, suggesting what he or she learned from the project, and showing the project's connection to the larger IMP experience. This segment is followed by a group discussion of the final project's strengths and weaknesses with the goal of clarifying the project's significance and value.
  • Confidential Faculty Evaluation (15 minutes): In the light of their assessment of the project itself and of the student's comments on it, the committee will consider whether to accept the project as is or whether to require revision or expansion. For projects that are judged to be acceptable, the committee will consider possible nominations for honors and prizes.
  • Conclusion (15 minutes): The committee members will explain their decision to the student and offer their recommendations and advice.
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