What is the Capstone Research Requirement?

  • All majors write a capstone paper that provides the opportunity for a sustained and in-depth experience of independent, primary research that can be a "capstone" for their HSOC studies.
  • A capstone paper is a 20+ page original research paper.  

What you need to know about capstones:

  • The capstone requirement can only be fulfilled in one of the last three semesters before graduation, after the first half of junior year.
  • Only a 4000-level HSOC course taken in the last three semesters (Junior spring, or later) before graduation fulfills the Capstone requirement. 
  • 4000-level HSOC and STSC courses taken earlier may not be used as the capstone (though students may take as many 4000-level HSOC or STSC courses in the department as they wish, these can count as department electives or they can be petitioned as concentration electives). 
  • In some cases, the capstone requirement can be fuifilled througn an Independent Study course (HSOC 4999). Independent Study capstones are reserved for special circumstances and must be approved by the HSOC Associate Director and Undergraduate Chair. All HSOC capstones must be directed by an HSOC core faculty member.
  • The Capstone Research Course requirement is a distinct part of the major, separate from other requirements, and the course cannot fulfill any other requirement for the major at the same time.
  • The Capstone requirement must be manually applied by the HSOC Associate Director. This is to ensure that the course is taken during one of the last three semesters. Your capstone will not show up on your Degree Audit as fulfilling this requirement until after the end of the drop period each semester.