NB: De bachelor thesis kan in het Nederlands worden geschreven en begeleiding in het Nederlands is mogelijk bij elk thema.
Admission Requirements
Only CADS bachelor’s students who have already completed the first year of the CADS bachelor’s programme and at least the Key Issue course ‘Diversity and Power’ as well as a second Key Issue course are allowed to enrol in this course.
Admission to the Two Parts
This course follows a trajectory in two parts: Part 1 (5EC) and Part 2 (10 EC). Only students who have successfully finalised the assignments linked to Part 1 can continue with Part 2.
Students who fail to pass Part 1 must begin the course again the next year. Students who fail to finalise the assignments of Part 2 before the June submission deadline, may continue with Part 2 in the fall of 2022.
Course Description
The Bachelor’s Thesis Project consists of two parts: first, students are assigned in thematic groups and work on a series of assignments based of a selected bibliography (5 ECTS, 6493 BACSY, level 300). Secondly, students proceed to write an individual bachelor’s thesis with a subject within the same theme and based of the assignments and readings done in Part 1 (10 ECTS, 6493 BAY, level 400).
Student choose a theme prior to the course. The themes offered in 2021-2022 are Diversity, Sustainability, Digitalization and Media, and Political Anthropology (subject to change). With the help of supervisors, students work through a reading list of texts foundational to their themes previously compiled the supervisors. That literature must be read by students during the first six weeks of the course (February – mid-March). Through series of supervised tutorials and writing workshops, students write several assignments culminating in a bibliographic essay/review of the literature. After Part 1 has been successfully completed and the assignments graded, students proceed to Part 2. They write a bachelor’s thesis (10,000 words) on an individually chosen topic within the same theme group that bridges and integrates the literature they worked on in Part 1 of this course as well as in courses previously attended during the bachelor’s programme with a personal research question. The topic of the thesis and the research question are elaborated in close discussion with the supervisors and throughout both parts of the course (Part 1 and 2). Students subsequently write their thesis individually, supported by tutorials.
Course Objectives
The bachelor’s thesis is a literature study through which students assess and critically review anthropological literature. The following learning objectives apply:
Studying, comparing, and assessing the literature
Reconstructing scholarly debates
Formulating and operationalizing a research question that fits within the chosen theme and within the discipline of CADS
Writing a concise, well-structured academic argument that provides an answer to the research question with critical use of literature
Linking acquired academic knowledge to personal professional ambitions
Orally presenting research ideas and research results
Mode of Instruction / Schedule
February – April:
- Group tutorials held by supervisors and based on scaffolded learning. Each assignment builds off the previous one to ultimately lead up to the thesis. Each assignment is designed to develop a specific aspect of academic research and builds off the previous one and leads up to the writing of the thesis.
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- Students will learn to summarize articles (500 words), review a monograph (1,000 words) and build a bibliographic essay (2,000 words) based on the mandatory articles and students’ chosen articles.
April – June:
Individual and/or group meetings with supervisors based on the work done in Part 1 aimed at building the structure of the thesis and assessing the advancement of the work on an individual basis.
Individual thesis writing
Final submission of the full draft of the thesis early June
Final submission of the thesis end of June
Final event with short oral presentations on the thesis, last week of June 2021
Assessment Method
The Selected Bibliography (5 ECTS) is assessed and graded by mid-April based on the written assignments due for Part 1.
The thesis (10 ECTS) (10,000 words) is assessed and graded late June/early July by the theme supervisors based on a written thesis. The thesis consists of:
an introduction
a theoretical framework based on the literature of the Selected Bibliography
a main text giving a critical review, one or two monographs (and additional thematic articles)
a conclusion that presents a solid argument while analysing the thematic literature and answering the research question
a short (maximum 500 words) reflection on what has been learned in this course and how that new knowledge will be used in the student’s academic choices in the near future
The student will present the thesis in a final meeting, at the end of June.
Registration in uSis
Registration in uSis is required.
- The registration closes 28 days before the start of the course.