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The Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) Definition
Mentored Advanced Projects provide a chance to work closely with a faculty member on
scholarly research or the creation of a work of art. A Mentored Advanced Project is an
approved course of faculty-directed scholarly or creative work that is the culmination of
significant preparatory work. It serves to integrate the knowledge and skills gained by
the student's course of studies, and aims to produce results that merit presentation to the
college community or the wider scholarly world.
A MAP can be the capstone of the academic major or a concentration, or it can serve to
integrate a separate sequence not recognized as a formal program. The MAP may be
independent, conducted with a research team, or developed in the context of an advanced
seminar. In many fields, MAPs are connected with the faculty member's scholarship and
may contribute to ongoing faculty research. Specific MAP offerings are described in
greater detail by departments, concentrations, divisions, and non-departmental majors.
The MAP opportunity is made available by specific programs and individual faculty
members at their discretion, so students should not expect to set the terms for a particular
MAP. Sound planning and attentiveness to the available opportunities are recommended
to students who seek a chance to culminate their undergraduate work in a creative or
scholarly field.
Grinnell College has funding available to support travel for students (or first-year
graduates) whose MAP results are accepted for off-campus public presentation or
performance. If your MAP work has been accepted for external presentation, you may
apply for travel support at http://www.grinnell.edu/offices/dean/map/forms/budgetrequest/
Summer MAPs require both a faculty request for funding (due 1st Friday in February) and a
student MAP application (due late April / early May). For information on deadlines, please click on
Planning a MAP.
The Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) can take a variety of forms, but it must have the
following five features in order to be recognized and approved as a MAP:
1. The project is advanced.
Evidence of this attribute will be that the context in which the project occurs has one or
more pre-requisites above the introductory level and carries a 300-level or 400-level
course designator. Students who wish to enroll in a MAP must have completed second-
year status and have obtained the instructor's permission.
2. It is the culmination of a sequence of previous academic work in one or more
disciplines.
The student's MAP application project statement should explain the relation between
specific previous work and the project. Clearly, a student will need to engage in planning
in order to prepare for a MAP. Such planning would be in keeping with the
"Comprehensive Academic Plan" that the faculty approved and that we now require
students to complete when they declare a major.
3. It is intensively mentored by one or more faculty members.
Generally, mentoring will take the form of regular (e.g. weekly) face-to-face meetings,
but, if necessary, frequent electronic or telephone contact could substitute for some of
these meetings.
4. The student demonstrates initiative in shaping the project at each stage from design
to completion.
The evidence of student initiative will show up initially in the written application to
undertake a MAP, see 2 above, although, depending on the context in which the MAP is
undertaken, the major initiative may be evidenced at a later stage.
5. It results in a product that is shared, very possibly with an audience broader than the
instructor and other students in a course.
By design, the product (research paper, performance, portfolio, intellectual journal etc.)
has the potential for outside evaluation, public presentation, and archiving, although in
each case the faculty member and student will decide on the appropriate venue and
evaluation for the specific project. This site provides a partial list of conferences and
journals for undergraduate research. The Publications page can also give you an idea
of venues for publication and presentation.
Program is administered by the
Associate Deans' Office at Grinnell College
1121 Park St., Grinnell, IA 50112
641.269.3460
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