All political science majors must complete POSC396 Senior Project / SAGES Capstone. This course fulfills the capstone requirement for both the GER and SAGES.
The capstone is an independent study supervised by a department faculty member, resulting in a paper and an oral presentation. For examples of past projects, see here. Students may write the capstone in either semester of their junior or senior year but must be on campus to do so. Please plan accordingly.
The Director of Undergraduate Studies is currently Professor Hodgetts. He can be reached at mkh83@case.edu. Please direct all questions about capstone policies to him.
Identifying a Supervisor (Beginning Spring 2025)
All students must identify a supervisor and submit the short supervisor identification form by the last day of classes the semester before they wish to write their capstone. Students who miss this deadline and wish or must write their capstone the following semester will be required to meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies during the first week of the semester. Students who do not need to write their capstone that semester could be asked to write it a later semester.
Capstone Prospectus and Course Registration
Students enroll in POSC396 by requesting permission in SIS from the faculty member who has agreed to supervise their capstone. Registration must be completed by the end of add/drop (the second Friday) each semester. To complete registration, students (or their supervisor) must also submit a completed capstone prospectus form to the department assistant before the end of add/drop. [For Fall 2025, please submit the form to Professor Hodgetts.]
While expectations for the prospectus vary by faculty, in general the prospectus should include:
- A provisional title
- Identification of the topic and the research question
- An overview of how the research will be addressed (that is, the means or methodology)
- An agreed upon date for the submission of the final paper
Oral Presentations
All projects are presented in a public forum, typically scheduled on an evening during the penultimate week of the semester. Students are not expected to have their final capstone paper completed prior to presenting but are expected to have advanced their work sufficiently to be able to speak meaningfully about their project.
The format of the presentations is modelled on an academic conference. Students should expect to present for ~8-10 minutes followed by ~5 minutes of Q&A.
A buffet dinner follows the presentations and students are welcome to invite friends and family members to attend both the presentations and dinner.
Final Submission
Students are required to submit their final paper to their supervisor by the agreed-upon deadline. Students are reminded that a grade of incomplete may only be issued in compliance with the conditions set by Undergraduate Studies, which requires incompletes only be granted to “a student who has completed the majority of the work in a course.”
Individual Faculty Requirements for Capstone Supervision
You are encouraged to consider writing in the Fall semester when historically fewer capstones are written. The norm for supervision is to have worked with a faculty member in at least one 300-level course. The following faculty members have published specific requirements for supervision: