D. Directed Research

Students may enroll in a course of Directed Research. Students taking a Directed Research class receive credit granted commensurate with the time and effort required and the anticipated quality of the educational experience of the student; in addition, they work with a faculty member who oversees and evaluates the student’s directed research project.

To participate in a Directed Research class the student must obtain a Proposal form from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The form will ask for:

Student Name
Supervising Faculty Name and Signature
Course Credits Proposed
Summary of the Proposed Project (The summary must be at least 300 words and include an estimated word count of the final product.)
Proposed Timeline for the Project (The timeline must include agreed upon deadlines for project milestones: outlines, drafts, and final submissions.)

The form must be completed in consultation with the faculty member who will supervise the research. Directed Research credit may be approved only for a project in which the research proposal, the grading standards, and the credit hours have been agreed upon in advance by the supervising faculty member—provided that faculty member can give guidance during the development of the project.

Written notice of the approved proposal must be submitted by the faculty member to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs by the end of the drop/add period in the semester during which the project will be completed. Late submissions will not be accepted.

To receive credit for the directed study project, students must submit no later than the agreed upon deadline, to their supervising faculty member, written work consisting of a completed research paper or memorandum of law containing either criticism of the law relating to the topic area or synthesis of legal source materials into a statement of the law in the topic area.

A minimum of 50 hours of work is required for each hour of credit awarded. This amount of work per credit hour is consistent with Standard 310 and Interpretation 310-1.

Note: Directed Research may not be substituted for the advanced legal research and writing requirement.