Summer Research Project

Under the supervision of a faculty member who has standing in the Philosophy Department’s graduate program, students will produce a paper that will not exceed 10,000 words on a topic agreed upon in consultation with the Graduate Chair and the project supervisor. The project could, but need not, be based on a paper for a course that was taken and completed in one of the previous two terms. (The paper may not significantly overlap with work done or being done on any course that was taken but not completed in either of the previous two terms.) Toward the end of the second term, the graduate chair will be available to meet with each student to discuss their ideas about the summer research project and to help with arranging a supervisor (unless, as often happens, a student has already set up a project with a supervisor).

The paper must show substantive engagement with the topic and with the relevant literature and must be submitted to the project supervisor and Graduate Program Coordinator by August 15. The project supervisor will assign a grade of pass or fail to the work, depending on its quality.

The summer research project appears as a “milestone” on each student’s academic record. Grades must be submitted by project supervisors to the Graduate Program Coordinator before the end of August to ensure deadlines for MA students to graduate are met.