Capstone Project
The Capstone Project consists of the submission of three research papers with focus on Africa (at least one graduate-level seminar and two upper division papers) and evaluation of them by the ad hoc committee. The original evaluators of each paper will constitute each student’s three-person ad hoc committee.
Students need to submit their Capstone Project Committee Nomination Form to the program's office by Friday of week 2 of their final quarter of enrollment. For information on capstone committee regulations please scroll down. If your committee nomination requires a pre-approval by the program chair, submit your nomination form by Week 5 of the quarter prior to expected graduation quarter.
- Students have to submit three papers written under the supervision of three faculty committee members;
- At least one of those papers must have originated in 200-level graduate level seminar course;
- Each of the papers should be about 17-20 pages in length;
- The papers should reference at least 15-20 sources listed in the bibliography;
- It is the student’s responsibility to contact each member of the committee at least eight weeks before planned graduation, so that the faculty can indicate if they want revisions in the papers before they are formally submitted to the committee;
- It is expected that all three committee members will review the three papers; however, professors who are not experts on the topic of the paper do not need to evaluate that paper;
- The papers are graded Pass/Fail;
- The approved papers have to be submitted via email to idpgrads@international.ucla.edu during the last term, by the last day of the quarter in which the student is graduating. Please submit the papers as three separate PDF files in one email;
- The Capstone Project Approval Form has to be submitted via email along with the papers. It is preferred that the professors sign the same approval form, but if that's not possible, the professors can put their signatures on separate forms.
Students are advised to monitor the progress of these procedures by remaining in touch with their committee members and the staff graduate advisor. Failure to submit completed forms by deadlines may result in the postponement of the graduation to the following academic quarter.
Faculty Committees
It is the student's choice and responsibility to decide whether they wish to satisfy their final degree requirement by writing a Master's Thesis or by submitting the Capstone Project. It is likewise up to the student to select and nominate which faculty will serve on their committee, but:
- Capstone Project committee must be formally appointed by submitting a formal petition signed by all committee members and the AS MA program chair. Use the Capstone Project Committee Nomination Form to nominate your committee members;
- At least two of the three faculty members must be chosen from the African Studies program's Active Participant Faculty list. A third committee member can be a UCLA ladder faculty member who is not on the Active Participant Faculty list; however, this requires program chair review and pre-approval.
