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 program
The Key Issues course ‘Diversity and Power’
At least one of the Key Issues courses (specific to their own bachelor's specialization)
are allowed to enroll 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 finalized 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 finalize the assignments of Part 2 before the June submission deadline, may continue with Part 2 in the fall of 2025. Students who fail to finalize the assignments of Part 2 in the Fall of 2025 will have to start the whole course again in Spring 2025.
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 on a selected bibliography (5 ECTS, 6493BACSY, level 300). Secondly, students proceed to write an individual bachelor’s thesis with a subject within the same theme and based on the assignments and readings done in Part 1 (10 ECTS, 6493BAY, level 400).
Student choose a theme prior to the course. The themes offered in 2023-2024 are Diversity, Sustainability and Digitalization and Media. 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 thesis proposal.
After Part 1 has been successfully completed and the assignments graded, students proceed to Part 2. They write a bachelor’s thesis (8,000 words) on an individually chosen topic within the same theme group. The thesis integrates the literature students worked on in Part 1 with that of previous courses from the Bachelor and bridges the sources 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
Part 1 – Selected Bibliography (February – April):
Group tutorials held by supervisor team 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. These scaffolded assignments will be discussed in group tutorials and (individual) appointments are available through office hours.
After part 1, students and individual supervisors will be matched.
Part 2 – (Individual Thesis Writing) April – June:
Two individual meetings with the supervisor. One meeting will be scheduled after writing an introduction/outline, another after writing the first draft. These meetings function to discuss feedback and assess the advancement of the work on an individual basis.
Final submission of the full draft of the thesis early May
Final submission of the thesis beginning of June
Assessment Method
The Dissertation Proposal (5 ECTS) is assessed and graded by mid-April based on the written assignments due for Part 1.
Part 1 has 2 checkpoints:
Checkpoint 1: You need to pass Assignment 1 to move on to assignment 3.
Checkpoint 2: You need to pass Assignment 1 and 2 to move on to assignment 4 (Part 2). If assignment 3 is insufficient, students are expected to re-do this assignment before moving on to assignment 4.
The Bachelor Thesis (10 ECTS) is assessed and graded by the end of June on the basis of assignment 4 (8000 words).
Registration in My Studymap
At the end of November/ beginning of December, the coordinator of the Bachelor Thesis course will send out an inventory form to the students who qualify to write their CADS bachelor thesis (those who meet the admission requirements). Based on this inventory, students will be enrolled to the course by the SSC. Students do not need to register for this course via MyStudyMap themselves.
In case you are planning to write your bachelor thesis and you meet the admission requirements for this course but have not received the inventory form, please contact the course coordinator, Elsa Charlety.
If you do not meet the admission requirements for enrolling in this course but would like to explore possibilities to commence the bachelor thesis, please get in touch to discuss the possibilities with Study Advisor Caro Aalderink.
Registration closes 28 days before the start of the course.