Prospectus

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Thesis seminar and colloquium

Course
2015-2016

Admission requirements

Students need to have fulfilled all requirements for year one of the ResMa Arts and Culture/Literature Studies

Description

This seminar will train students in writing a research proposal and presenting a paper. The first part serves as a preparation for their final thesis, but also for submitting a PhD proposal to a funding body such as the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research. During this part we will work through various formats of research proposals, varying from short abstracts for a paper at a conference to a full-blown phd proposal. In the second part we will mimic a scientific conference. Students will organize sessions in which they present a paper based on their thesis research, prepare an abstract, and practice presenting the paper, moderating a session etc.
To get the most out of this seminar it is very helpful if students already have an idea of the subject(s) they want to work on. This can be their thesis subject, but they can also choose another topic they want to pursue after graduating the ResMa

Course objectives

  • Knowledge: by the end of the seminar students will have obtained a thorough knowledge of the major ways of writing a research proposal and presenting it; and a good grounding in how to submit an abstract and present a paper at a major conference.

  • Skills: students will be able to:

    • analyse their research interests,
    • formulate a research question,
    • the methods to investigate it
    • a hypothesis to answer these questions,
    • to find the relevant bibliography in a short time
    • to write the proposal in clear English.
      In the second part of this course, they will learn
    • how to write an abstract for a major conference in their field
    • prepare the paper to be presented at the conference
    • present the paper
    • organize a session, act as chair or respondent

Timetable

For the timetable see the website

Mode of instruction

  • Seminar

Workload

Total = 280 uur

  • 12 × 2 uur class = 26 hours

  • Two days colloquium = 16 hours

  • Assignments = 70 hours

  • Reading literature = 60 hours

  • Preparation abstract = 28 hours

  • Preparation colloquium = 14 hours

  • Preparation paper colloquium = 60 hours

  • Organising colloquium = 16 hours

Assessment method

  • Written assignments during the course : 25%

  • abstract colloquium: 5%

  • paper during the colloquium: 25%

  • research proposal: 25%

  • participation seminar: 20 %

The final grade will be based on the average of the different scores;

Re-examination via a rewritten version of the paper and/or the research proposal

Blackboard

Blackboard.

Literature

Readings will be announced on Blackboard

Registration

Via uSis

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable

Contact

Question concerning the content of the course
Prof. dr C.A. van Eck or Dr S.P.M. Bussel

For more practical questions and information please contact the secretarial office of the Arts and Culture Department, Huizinga Building, Doelensteeg 16, room 003. Tel. 071-5272 2687.
mail: osz-oa-huizinga@hum.leidenuniv.nl.