Capstone Project

Use the deadlines, based on your graduation date, below

1. Submit a general topic and the name of a full-time faculty member to supervise/advise your Verrazzano Capstone project. 
2. Submit a proposal and this Capstone Proposal Form signed by you faculty mentor.
3. Present Capstone work at the Undergraduate Conference (or approved substitute) during your junior or senior year. This event takes place in late April or early May each year and requires that you apply to present. January graduates will have the opportunity to present at a special mini-conference in December.
4. Submit a a reflection (no more than 750 words), using this Capstone Reflection Form, with photos. Special note for engineering students: in addition to the blog, you must also submit a 2-3 minute video describing and demoing your senior project.
5. Submit your capstone and the signed Capstone Submission Form.

Students who have clinicals, student teaching, or other commitments during their last semester should try to complete the capstone prior to their last semester, and ask well in advance for time off to present at the conference.

Your capstone MUST be supervised by a full-time, tenure-track faculty member with some experience/expertise in the field of study. Adjunct faculty with an established, continuing relationship with CSI can serve as mentors with the approval of the Verrazzano Honors Director. Mentors must commit to being available for the duration of the work.

Mentors have three main responsibilities:

(1) Help you narrow and focus your topic for the capstone and approve your capstone proposal.

(2) Point you to resources to read and explore as you develop your work.

(3) Read and comment on multiple drafts of the proposal and capstone (including the poster/demo/performance/exhibition for the conference) until they approve and sign off on those documents as being complete.

Students MUST meet with their mentor to review drafts of their work. Students may NOT just submit a paper to the mentor and expect them to sign off on it without being part of the drafting process.

ALL CAPSTONES MUST HAVE A WRITTEN COMPONENT.

Your capstone must be at least 12 double-spaced typed pages with standard margins, and font size no larger than 12. Total page count excludes the literature cited section and title page. You must include at least 12 relevant scholarly, peer-reviewed references and cite them according to the style guide appropriate to the discipline. Your mentor may determine that you may submit a shorter paper in keeping with the conventions of the field. Please communicate that with Cheryl.

Computer science students who do a programming project should talk with their mentor about what their written component will look like.

You are not permitted to use an existing class project or competed research project to complete your capstone, but your capstone can certainly derive from one of these. The capstone must be in addition to major, degree, and program requirements. The only exception is for engineering students who may use their senior project for their capstone.

Honors in the Major

Students who complete Honors in the major can submit their honors thesis to meet the capstone paper requirement. To learn about departmental honors in your major, visit the section listing your major requirements in the College Catalog and then speak with a full-time faculty member in that department.

Research Paper Capstone Expectations

A scientific research paper is a substantive investigation of a topic through scientific experimentation or observational study modeled after articles in peer-reviewed journals in the discipline. It should include an introduction, methods, results (with relevant graphs, tables, or figures) and accompanying narrative, and discussion. There should be a separate section for the literature cited, where all references must be properly formatted according to the conventions or style manual of your discipline.

Library-Based Research Paper

A library-based paper is an in-depth, extended investigation of a topic; the summary of current state of knowledge about an area; or the construction of arguments about a thesis. It is not your thoughts and feelings about a topic, but am argument supported by peer-reviewed literature and, in a more limited way, secondary sources. A research paper should be modeled after articles in peer-reviewed journals in the relevant discipline (i.e., introduction, headers for different sections, and a coherent discussion/conclusion. There should be a separate section for the literature cited, where all references must be properly formatted according to the conventions or style manual of your discipline.

Performance/Creative Arts Capstone Expectations

Student in the arts may opt to create art work/collection of stories/composition/etc. as part of their capstone. They are still required to submit a written component to the project,

The written component of a performing/creative arts capstone must

• document your creative process. You will keep a journal, blog, portfolio, etc. in which you discuss: what were your inspirations, what research you performed and how, what techniques you used, what were the stumbling blocks during the rehearsal/draft/sketching stages, if the process was collaborative how well you collaborated. There must be at least three entries per week.
• be grounded in academic study. You must submit an annotated bibliography of at least 12 citations that provides context and background information for your project.

Engineering Students

Engineering students will submit their senior project as their capstone. If they work collaboratively, the capstone must represent the students’ unique contribution to the project.