Econ 499 - Independent Study courses

To enroll in an Econ 499 course and earn credit:

a.     The student must have a faculty supervisor.
         i.    The supervisor must hold a faculty appointment in the UM Economics Department.
         ii.   The supervisor will be the official instructor for the Econ 499 course, and will grant the official permission to register for the course once they have approved the proposed project.

b.     The student must write a project proposal on a topic in the field of economics.
         i.     Students are advised to have a project topic in mind when they identify and approach potential supervisors. 
         ii.    The project proposal should be developed in consultation with the supervisor.  The proposal must address the subject matter, timing, desired number of credits, and length of the paper to be written as part of the project.
         iii.   The project must be truly independent; it should not be work done in advancement of another researcher’s project.
         iv.   The project must meet the requirements for the number of credit hours requested.
               ·     In almost all cases, an independent study grants between 1 and 3 credits.  No more than 3 credits of independent study can be applied to the Economics major.
               ·     A credit hour is defined as one hour of classroom time and three hours of work outside the classroom each week. In a 15 week term, a one-credit Econ 499 therefore requires 60 hours of work in a semester.  Two credits, 120 hours; three credits, 180 hours.

c.     During the term student must:
            i.   Meet with their supervisor regularly over the course of the term.
            ii.   Write the paper defined in the project proposal.
            iii.  Submit that paper to the supervisor, who will assign a grade to the student’s work.

For the Econ 499 course to be included as an elective in their Econ major: 

d.     The student must meet with an Econ Department faculty advisor.  Faculty advisors are the department advisors who also serve as lecturers.  The advisor will evaluate the proposal, determining whether it…
            i.    meets the requirements for earning credit, described above.
            ii.   meets the requirements to count as an elective in the Econ major.
                   ·    If the proposed project requires skills learned at the principles level (Econ 101 or 102) but not the intermediate level (Econ 401 or 402), the course may be used as a 300-level elective in the major.
                   ·    If the proposed project requires skills learned in Econ 401 or 402, the course may be used as a 400-level elective in the major.

e.     Students will need to speak with an advisor at least twice about their 499 course. 
            1.     Around registration period for the term the student wishes to complete their independent study, the student must meet with a faculty advisor.  In this meeting, the project is either approved for use in the major, or the advisor identifies issues that must be fixed before it is approved.   
            2.     After the term is over, an advisor must take action to include an approved 499 course in the student’s major.  This can happen as drop-in Departmental advising, or when the student gets their major release, as part of the graduation process.

Helpful Links:

Economics Department advising
Economics Department faculty
Economics major rules and requirements
LSA course guide
LSA credit hour definition