Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Independent Study

Mural

Independent Study (I.S.) provides Sociology/ Anthropology majors with the opportunity to research topics of special interest. In the senior year, each student works with a faculty mentor to conduct an intensive investigation of a subject of the student's choosing which results in the senior thesis. Recent students have explored major social problems like crime, homelessness, or poverty as well as issues affecting individuals and families such as college dating behavior, the effects of athletic participation on academic performance, and working mothers. Students interested in different cultures have investigated folklore and oral traditions in rural Ohio, the place of dreams in the Sioux culture, and tuberculosis as a symptom of poverty in Ecuadorian society. The following I.S. titles provide some indication of the range of student and faculty interests:

  • By My Self: Reconceiving Welfare Dependency
  • Institutions of Decontextualization: A Field Study of Museums in Bali, Indonesia
  • Health, Healing, and Illness in Christian Science
  • Gated Communities: Havens in a Heartless World
  • Attitudes of Adults Toward Sex Education in the Public Schools: Predictors of Support and Opposition

I.S. Handbook