Prospectus

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Designing Archaeological Research

Course
2021-2022

Admission requirements

Bachelor Archaeology first year obtained, plus 30 ec from the remaining BA Archaeology programme.

Description

The goal of this course is to refresh and develop the skills that will help you to build your BA thesis which should concern a small, problem-oriented research on an archaeological topic, from either the Archaeological or the Heritage and Society point of view – depending on your track choice.

This course is designed to help students determine their research questions and answer to these questions in order to help them write their thesis.

Course set-up

The course will be organised around lectures and group activities, with preparatory exercises that will include watching pre-recorded videos and readings, as well as graded homework assignments.

Course objectives

After the course, the student is able to:

  • Correctly apply the Faculty of Archaeology's guidelines for written assignments;

  • Format in-text citations and bibliography using the Faculty of Archaeology guidelines;

  • Search for information using library resources;

  • Prepare an annotated bibliography using organisational software such as Mendeley, Zotero, or RefWorks;

  • Identify and critically assess the elements of published research projects;

  • Discern various research traditions in archaeology;

  • Schedule their research time in order to follow the thesis procedure and meet the thesis deadlines within the Faculty of Archaeology;

  • Choose which kinds of statistical approaches are appropriate for their research questions;

  • Identify and discuss ethical issues related to archaeological research;

  • Critically assess research questions and create their own related to their research topic;

  • Prepare an effective and comprehensive outline for their research project.

Timetable

Course schedule details can be found in MyTimetable.
Log in with your ULCN account, and add this course using the 'Add timetable' button.

Mode of instruction

  • Pre-recorded and in-class lectures;

  • In-class discussions;

  • In-class group exercises.

Course load

  • 7 lectures & tutorials (both live and pre-recorded);

  • Written assignments and quizzes;

  • In-class exercises.

Assessment method

3 types of weekly assignments:

  • Quizzes;

  • Individual written assignments;

  • Group written assignments.

Quizzes are graded on a 10-point scale, 5.5 and higher being a pass.
Individual and group written assignments are graded on a fail (4 points) / low pass (6 points) / pass (8 points) / high pass (10 points) scale.

The weekly assignments comprise 50% of the final grade. Each assignment is weighted as indicated on the syllabus. Students must achieve a sum passing score for the weekly assignments (i.e., they must achieve 27.5% of the total course grade) in order to pass the course. Students must also pass the final assignment in order to pass the course.

All weekly assignments must be submitted in order to pass the course.

Retakes of the weekly assignments are not possible. Only the final assignment can be retaken.

Assessment deadlines

All assessment deadlines (exams, retakes, paper deadlines etc.) can be found in MyTimetable.
Log in with your ULCN account, and add this course using the 'Add timetable' button. To view the assessment deadline(s), make sure to select the course with a code ending in T and/or R.

Weekly assignments must be submitted on time. We will accept one late weekly assignment per person, provided that assignment is submitted no more than one week late (by 11 am Monday of the week following the due date). Late assignments will be graded at the end of the course.

Deadlines for assignments are included in the course syllabus.
Weekly assignments will be due before the next class.

Reading list

To be announced.

Registration

Registration in uSis is mandatory. You can register for this course until 5 days before the first class.

Registration in uSis automatically leads to enrollment in the corresponding Brightspace module. Therefore you do not need to enroll in Brightspace, but make sure to register for this course in uSis.

You are required to register for all lectures and tutorials well in time. The Administration Office registers all students for their exams, you are not required to do this in uSis.

Contact

For more information about this course, please contact dr. R.M.R. (Roos) van Oosten.

Remarks

Compulsory attendance.