Hi Phil!
 
I have taken BIOLCHEM 298 and 398 and from my experience, Independent Study courses are used to give students doing research some sort of credit for their work. For example, in my lab, my PI allows students to use UROP research credit or these kinds of courses while a couple of my friends are paid for their research. 
 
As for the expectations of these courses, that depends on your PI (the professor you’re working with). When you first elect to do independent study, you are given a form where you have to write a summary based off what you will be doing in the lab. This essentially allows you to open up the conversation of what is expected from you. For me, I was expected to give my PI updates on the projects I was working on with the post-doc and masters students in my lab, show her that I was capable of carrying out different types of tasks, and show her my lab notebook to ensure everything was in order. At the end of the semester, I had to write a summary based off of what I had learned and what the projects I worked on were about. On occasion I also had to read scientific papers and provide a summary on them.
 
I hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
 
Best,
Tina (Advisor)