All students in Psychology complete a research project in PSYCH 619. The 619 paper forms the basis for the 891 project. The 891 must be completed by the end of the fall term of the third year. The goal of the 891 is for students to consider how the 619 project might have been approached differently if it had been influence by Women’s and Gender Studies/feminist scholarship and to think about how it might have been different if more interdisciplinary in its conception.
The student forms a committee, which may be the same committee composition as the fourth term review. The committee must consist of:
- a faculty member affiliated with Women’s and Gender Studies
- a faculty member affiliated with Psychology
- a faculty member with relevant expertise from any department
Each committee member makes written comments on the 619 and recommends additional readings. At the outset of the 891 meeting, the student distributes a detailed outline of the proposed paper to the committee elaborating what the main points of the 891 paper will be. The committee meets with the student for one hour to explore possible strategies for contextualizing the 619 project within interdisciplinary and feminist approaches to the subject.
If 619 is a mainstream project:
- How does the literature need to be expanded in terms of theory and empirical literature in other disciplines?
- How can the method be critiqued from a feminist and/or interdisciplinary perspective?
- How could the results be interpreted differently?
If 619 is an interdisciplinary project:
- How is it already informed by Women’s Studies?
- How can what makes it feminist be made more explicit?
- How could it be made more interdisciplinary or incorporate a more feminist perspective?
After the meeting, the student writes a framing document (8-10 pages) addressing the issues raised in the meeting. This document is circulated to the committee within 6 weeks of the 891 planning committee meeting. The chair asks members for their approval, determines if the project is acceptable, assigns the student a grade, and completes the requisite form (WGS 891 form, available from the Women's Studies Graduate Program Coordinator). The form should be returned to the WGS Grad Program Coordinator. The form should be returned to the WGS Grad Program Coordinator to be included in the student file.
