Independent Study Research with Professor Butler
Independent Study (POLS 499) is available for Political Science majors and minors at UNM. The department guidelines are listed here.
Students interested in doing independent study with me should further be aware of the course requirements that I would agree to:
- Your independent study topic will be linked to my current research. Please look up my research before approaching me about an independent study. You may request an up-to-date copy of my curriculum vitae (or academic resume).
- You will read literature associated with one project that I am working on. This will usually be rough drafts of my work, the references included in my work, and other related literature.
- Your independent study will entail doing some research, such as model development, data collection, data analysis, simulation programming, etc., in addition to reading and writing. I will make sure that you can succeed at the research tasks given to you.
- There will be weekly meetings of about one hour related to your independent study. I strongly recommend signing up for three credits of independent study for the semester. (The default is one credit; so, you have to change that when you register for POLS 499.)
- You are likely to be part of a research team working on the same project. A graduate student or an advanced undergraduate may be the project leader under my direct supervision. As such, some of your meetings will be held with the project leader; you may not always meet with me directly for these team meetings. (You may always talk with me about how the independent study is progressing and any questions or concerns you may have.)
If you are interested in doing independent study with me next semester, email me with the following information (putting "Independent Study" as the subject line):
- What project or topic do you propose working on?
- What is your current GPA?
- List the POLS classes you have had, which professors taught them, and what grades you received for each.
- Write one paragraph describing your current research skills and stating what research skills you hope to use or learn on this project.
- Include your Banner ID.