Independent research usually involves a beginning phase of observation, hypothesis formation, and experimental design, followed by data collection and analysis, interpretation of the results, and finally written presentation of the results. Each of these phases is done in close consultation with a faculty mentor. The results from an independent research projects may be used as the basis for an honors thesis. Sometimes an independent research student will work most directly with a graduate student or post-doc, but the responsibility for final grading and insuring that the project is completed appropriately rest with the faculty member in charge of the lab. First, you need some idea of what project you would like to do.
Some students have a well-defined interest based on experiences in a course.
Some students may have been particularly engaged by the subject matter in a course and desire to follow-up on that experience. Others may be only able to articulate a narrowing of their interests within the broad field of biology, such as animal behavior, plant ecology, or exercise physiology. Try, as much as is possible, to define a question or subarea of biology that interests you before actually approaching a faculty member. If you have a defined project or area of interest based on your experience in a case the task is easy. If your interests are broader or not derived from experiences in a course, consult the list of faculty research interests in the Department's home page and determine which faculty are most likely to be able to serve as mentors in your area of interest.