1. THE INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECT (ISP)

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1 1. THE INDEPENDENT STUDY PROJECT (ISP) 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Consulting an advisor 1.3. Deadlines 1.4. Format options 1.5. Submission and evaluation Appendix 1: Sample title page Appendix 2: Sample evaluation form 1

2 1.1. Introduction The independent study project is intended to give students an opportunity to familiarize themselves with a particular issue of interest in the broad area of Children and Families, Health and Social Care, or Community and International Development. Driven by the student s own queries or curiosities, the independent study project entails a thorough review and synthesis of published research and theoretical debates in order to better understand and evaluate professional social work practices, programs, and/or policies. The independent study project (ISP) culminates in a written report in appropriate scholarly form. The scope of the project should be appropriate for a 9-credit course. The ISP invites students to: analyze a specific social problem and contemplate responses to it integrate self-directed learning with coursework and field placement learning in the context of the student s area of specialization contribute to the advancement of social work practice 1.2. Consulting your advisor Upon acceptance into the MSW program, and as indicated in the letter of acceptance, each student is assigned an advisor, a member of the School's academic staff. Your advisor is expected to help you to: Plan your course selections Articulate your preliminary ideas about your thesis or ISP Assist you in conceptualizing the topic for your ISP and the strategies for addressing that topic Advising for the ISP entails: Meeting to discuss your topic, help you focus on that topic and design a relevant and manageable thesis or ISP Overseeing the conceptualization, development, and completion of your thesis or ISP Providing scholarly direction to the project, including literature review strategy, design of the study, and format of the document Offering feedback on draft sections or suggestions for improvement, according to a jointly agreed upon deadline. At minimum, a section of the ISP can be submitted for review by the advisor for detailed feedback. the frequency and timing of meetings the submission of a written proposal for the project and the expected timeframe to completion. Expected completion date. Faculty members may take sabbatical leave or embark on other commitments, and thus your assigned advisor may not be available beyond an agreed completion date. This may mean finding another advisor, and possibly revising some of the work completed up to that point. If your advisor takes a leave of absence, retires, or goes on sabbatical leave, the MSW Graduate Program Director will assist you in finding a new advisor Deadlines Aim to finish your Independent Study Project in the time you have planned. Most students find it much easier to finish before leaving the School than to finish once they have started a job, especially if that job is located in another city or province. If you do not finish your project by the end of your third full-time term (for part-time students, when your course work and field work are completed and you have registered for an ISP) you must register for an additional 2

3 session to maintain your student status. This additional session involves the equivalent of full-time fees; it is strongly recommended that you aim to finish your project within the time frame set out in the MSW program. For each graduation date, there is a deadline for submitting your ISP, and you should plan to meet this deadline: For graduation in: Winter (Feb.) Deadline is: November 15 Spring (June) March 31 Fall (Oct. / Nov.) August 15 All finishing students must also sign on to MINERVA and apply to graduate. Please check the McGill Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies Office website for specific deadlines for this procedure Format Generally speaking, the ISP entails a comprehensive literature review with implications for practice, program development, policy initiatives and/or further research. On occasion, students pursue their query through the collection and analysis of empirical data. In this case, the review of the literature need only be extensive enough to lay groundwork for the particular question under investigation. The overall length of the ISP in essay format, including appendices and list of references, is between pages (50 pages maximum). The style requirements are as follows (see Appendix 1): A title with a maximum length of 55 letters; a subtitle is optional Your name given in full The date shown is the month of convocation. Should you wish to submit your paper for publication, and should you wish to discuss co-authorship with your advisor, this discussion must take place only after the requirements for your MSW degree have been met Submission and evaluation Submitting your ISP One copy of your final ISP must be submitted to Lillian Iannone (Room 300) on or before the deadline date. Your ISP may be submitted in a folder, duo-tang, binder, or stapled. Your name and your advisor s must appear on the cover page. Evaluation Your ISP will be evaluated by your research advisor, who will record her/his comments on a standard evaluation form (Appendix 2). The spaces for recording reactions to various sections of the report are merely intended to provide helpful feedback it is not intended that a reader necessarily arrive at an overall grade by a mechanical averaging of individual item ratings. Evaluation standards are the same for the journal and essay format options--the expectations for content, relevance, logic, usefulness, etc., should be the same for both options. After your advisor has assigned a grade, the form will go in your file, and a copy will be given to you. 3

4 APPENDIX 1 (SAMPLE) McGILL UNIVERSITY THE SINGLE-SESSION GROUP: A NEW APPROACH TO THE WAITING ROOM A Research Report Submitted to The School of Social Work Faculty of Arts Graduate and Post-Doctoral Studies Office In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for The Master's Degree in Social Work by Full name of student Montreal, Month, Year Adviser s Name 4

5 APPENDIX 2 ISP Evaluation Form RE: (name of student) FROM: (name of evaluator) SIGNED: (signature of evaluator) DATE: GRADE: INTRODUCTION Clear research or practice question Clear scholarly rationale Clear practice rationale Clearly laid out format for the ISP UNSATISFACTORY SATISFACTORY GOOD VERY GOOD EXCELLENT N/A LITERATURE REVIEW Thorough review Empirical Scholarship Thorough review Theoretical Scholarship Identified Theoretical Framework Well Organized literature review Demonstrates need or gap in literature related to the research or practice question CONCLUSIONS Implications for further research Implications for practice (broadly defined) Clearly related to research or practice question Identified contributions & limitations of study FORMAT Well organized ISP Clearly written ISP Logical flow from section to section Free from grammatical errors Free from typographical errors Consistent reference style Appropriate reference selection IF DATA COLLECTED & ANALYZED ADD: METHODOLOGY Appropriate to topic Clearly described Appropriately supported by a review of literature on chosen methodology MAJOR FINDINGS Thorough in presentation Coherent in presentation Freedom from error (quantitative) Freedom from bias; explicit assumptions Clearly related to research or practice question & methodology 5

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