Get Course Credit for Your Research

Directed Independent Research (XXX 4912) is a course for students who are working with a faculty member on a research or creative project outside of their regular courses. It is available in most majors . You enroll in 4912 by signing a form with your research mentor that is available from the advising office in your mentor’s college.   

Please note, if you are a university volunteer you are not eligible to enroll in 4912. 

How do you enroll? 

1. Check with your faculty mentor and Academic Success Coach to determine how many credit hours you should enroll in:

• 0 Credit Option: best for students who cannot take on any more credits or who do not have the option to take 4912 as an upper-division elective.  

•  This option may be no cost (if you are enrolled in other credit-bearing courses).  

• It will still be listed on your transcript.  

• 1, 2, or 3 Credits: This option can, in some cases, fulfill upper-level elective requirements for your major (Please check with an advisor/ success coach prior to enrolling for these credits). You and your mentor should discuss the grading scale when enrolling for credit. You and your mentor will have the option to choose either an A-F grading scale (contributes to your GPA) or an S/U grading scale (does not contribute). 

2. Contact the advising office of your mentor’s college to get a copy of the 4912 enrollment form. (This may be called an Undergraduate Registration Agreement or IS form, but some departments use different terminology.) You will need to register with your mentor’s department/college: so if you are a political science student doing independent research with a History professor, you’ll need the College of Arts and Humanities’ form, not the College of Sciences’ form.   
   There are some sample forms at the link, but check with the relevant academic advising offices to make sure you have the latest version.
    
3. Meet with your faculty mentor to discuss the expectations for this course and to fill out the form. You will need to agree on at least two deadlines for your work and other goals.  

Deadlines to apply 

Students can be enrolled in Directed Independent Research (4912) for credit through the ‘Drop/Add’ deadline for courses in any semester. For Session 1 in Fall and Spring, this deadline is the first Friday of the semester. In the summer, students have the option of enrolling in the Summer A, B, C, or D semesters. 

If you begin working with your mentor in the middle of the Fall or Spring semester, you can enroll in semester G, which generally runs the second half of a session 1 semester.  You can find Semester G Academic Dates and Deadlines by clicking on the “Semester G” tab at the top of the UCF calendar for each semester. 

Students can opt to take a 4912 course for credit any semester. 

To see upcoming course deadlines, go to https://calendar.ucf.edu/ 

Taught by experts in their fields, HIP Research-Intensive courses are approved by a faculty committee to ensure that the students in these courses are given genuine research experience. In Research Intensive courses, students will complete at least four of the following:

• Gather and analyze data or sources
• Engage with pre-existing scholarship
• Formulate an original research question
• Design and/or implement research methodologies
• Present their findings to their peers or professionals.

A list of currently designated courses can be found at the link.

How do you enroll?

You enroll in a Research-Intensive course the same way you’d enroll in any other course. In the course catalog, you can even search for the Research-Intensive courses that will be available in a given semester: go to “Special Course Group” and select “HIP – Research Intensive” from the drop-down menu.