The SIP in Women, Gender, and Sexuality is encouraged but not required. Any faculty member regularly teaching in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality program may direct a SIP in Women, Gender, and Sexuality.
Juniors planning to write a SIP in WGS are required to enroll in WGS 395: Feminist and Queer Inquiries.
Various resources exist to fund SIP research. A few to consider are: Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Fund and the CIP Supplemental Funding Abroad (for those students incorporating a SIP about their Study Abroad).
Procedure for Approval
- Enroll in WGS 395: Feminist and Queer Inquiry in your Junior Spring term. Discuss your plans to write a SIP in WGS with your proposed SIP advisor or with the WGS program director, who may recommend an appropriate advisor.
- Revise your SIP proposal on the basis of your advisors’ recommendations and submit it for signatures by the end of Week Eight of Spring term. The SIP proposal should be signed by the student and advisor and delivered to the WGS program director. (Remember you must also register for the SIP with the Registrar.)
- Keep in mind this is a provisional plan, and while we expect you to stick to your outline and schedule of research, we do recognize your hypothesis and sources are a bit tentative. If your research takes a substantially different track than what’s proposed in your proposal, please contact one of your advisors immediately to get their advice.
Length
A thesis or research SIP might be comprised of 2-4 parts/sections/chapters, an introduction and conclusion, or some organizational equivalent. The student may make use of Internet source materials, but not exclusively. The number of required bibliographic citations will be determined by the SIP advisor in consultation with the student.
Guidelines
- One-unit: 30-50 pages of writing, excluding bibliographical materials
- Two-units: 51-80 pages excluding bibliographical materials.
- Front page must include:
- Title, which can be split on two lines
- Your Full Name, Quarter, Year of Completion
- “Advisor:” Advisor name, Advisor department, “Kalamazoo College” (three lines)
- “A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Kalamazoo College” ( up to four lines)
Criteria for evaluation of other kinds of SIPs should be established in advance with the SIP advisor and WGS director.
Evaluation
The SIP is read and evaluated by the SIP advisor, according to the criteria set and agreed upon by the SIP advisor and the student, and on the basis of the student’s success in meeting deadlines, completing revisions, and producing a competent piece of work.
If the SIP advisor would like to recommend the SIP for Honors, another member of the WGS program or occasionally a faculty member outside the program reads it. If that faculty member agrees, then the SIP is awarded Honors. One and two unit SIPs are eligible for consideration for honors.
Submission Requirements
For all SIPs, the final hard copy (i.e., no more revisions) is due to the SIP supervisor no later than Friday of second week of the term following the SIP quarter. Students must turn in a final electronic copy to the WGS program director in addition to the hard copy they hand in to the SIP supervisor on the due date. For Summer SIPs, this means second week of the Fall quarter, even though Summer SIPs appear with the Fall registration. Students are expected to be completely finished with all work associated with the SIP by that time, with the possible exception of departmental or program symposium in later terms.
The time lag between students turning in completed SIPs and faculty deadlines for turning in grades should not be interpreted as extra time for students to make revisions to the SIP. Work on the SIP in a quarter in which the student is not registered for SIP credit is consider an “invisible overload” for the students and is against college policy.
More SIP Information:
For SIP forms and more information about planning for a SIP, please visit the Registrar’s page on Academic Planning, Planning for your SIP.
Previous Women, Gender, and Sexuality SIPS can be viewed at the
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Senior Integrated Projects collection on CACHE.