Sample Proposal: Independent Inquiry

McCombs School of Business

Please direct all questions about the flag proposal process to the Center for the Core Curriculum.

FIN 371: Advanced Studies in International Finance

Department of Finance

How does the proposed course satisfy the flag requirements?*

FIN 373.1 is entirely based on independent inquiry: the students must identify their career and personal interests, work with other students to refine the research goals, and then with the guidance from supervising faculty undertake the research and develop a formal paper capturing their findings.

Describe typical assignments related to Independent Inquiry.

Research product: This course is built around a substantial written research project. The product of each group will be a joint research paper submitted by the entire group. These research papers should be of the quality and format to qualify for submission to the University of Texas Undergraduate Research Journal…. UT students will be combined with students at partner schools into research groups. The specific number of groups and their structure will be tailored to meet the research needs of each group. Each group, with guidance from the appropriate supervising instructor, will select a major topic of interest to their entire research group. Students will conduct focused research into this topic.

Please explain how at least one-third of the course grade is based on content related to Independent Inquiry.

The UT students will be graded on individual success at writing, their contributions to their group’s research, and the overall quality of the group paper. Individual grades will be based on the evaluation by the supervising professors as to the paper meeting the standards of the UT Undergraduate Research Journal. UT students’ grades will be determined as follows:

• 25%: Individual student efforts, including contribution to the research effort, leadership in the group process, and individual writing skills.
• 75%: The quality of the research paper, including the focus of the research topic, the quality of the group’s research effort, the usefulness and intellectual value of the research findings, the structure and content of the research paper, and the quality of the completed writing assignment.

*The questions on the Independent Inquiry proposal form have changed since this proposal was submitted. Please see the Independent Inquiry Proposal Tips page for the current questions.

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