G3.5 Independent Readings

Independent reading courses (also known as directed studies) are intended to enable graduate students to work with a faculty member in the area of their specialty either on a research project or on material that is not contained in courses regularly offered in the department.

Students interested in taking an independent reading should approach an appropriate faculty member and discuss the project they have in mind. If the faculty member agrees to direct the independent reading, the student shall provide the graduate program manager with documentation of its content and bibliography to be read, the number of credits, and the final requirement of the course (e.g., a paper or some other type of project). As stated above in “Minimum Credit Load for Residency and the Two-Course Rule”, PhD students may count an independent reading (899) designed to work toward the dissertation proposal as one of the two courses required for full-time status in the last semester before taking the preliminary examination, as long as the other course is taken in the department. This exception may only apply once, even in the case that the preliminary examination is postponed.

Departmental policy does not usually permit independent readings in areas in which courses are being taught concurrently, though they may sometimes be offered in lieu of graduate courses that cannot be scheduled owing to lack of demand. Students who take an independent reading and wish to apply it to satisfy a degree requirement must petition the Graduate Studies Committee to obtain the approval of the department for the course to have that effect. MA students may use only one 899 to fulfill credit requirements. PhD students in Portuguese & Spanish and Spanish Literature may use up to three 899s to fulfill requirements, while PhD students in the Spanish Linguistics program may use up to four 899s. See “Requirements and Guidelines for the PhD in Spanish Linguistics” for further details.