Prospectus

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MA Thesis Linguistics including seminar II

Course
2017-2018

Admission requirements

This course is open only to students registered for the Translation in Theory and Practice track.

Description

At the start of the academic year, writing an MA thesis may seem like a daunting prospect. The thesis seminar aims to provide you with support in formulating a research question; finding, processing and critically discussing relevant secondary literature; choosing the right methodology; conducting proper analyses; reflecting on your findings as well as limitaions and future research; and structuring your chapters – in short, everything you need to know about writing a thesis.

The thesis seminar is offered in both the first and second semester. Participation is mandatory.

The thesis seminar starts with a general information meeting. During this meeting, the different themes offered per semester will be discussed; these themes will be linked directly to the expertise of the available staff. Themes will be broad enough to allow students to explore their own interests within the predefined themes. In principle, students write a thesis on a topic related to their chosen specialization (Literary translation; Legal translation; Multimodal translation & Subtitling), or one of the obligatory courses (Translation Studies; The Translator’s Tools; Advanced Translation).

Course objectives

  • knowledge of different areas of translation research

  • knowledge of theoretical models of translation

  • ability to independently formulate research questions, claims and hypotheses

  • ability to independently find, process and critically discuss relevant secondary literature

  • ability to independently select, collect and analyze data

  • ability to integrate and synthesize findings and relate these to the relevant literature

  • ability to reflect on findings, limitations and future research

  • ability to independently write a thesis that meets the requirements and standards with regard to language use, formality, structuring & formatting, and use of sources.

Timetable

The timetable is available on the MA Linguistics website

Mode of instruction

  • Seminar

  • Self-study

Course Load

Total course load (20 EC) = 560 hours

  • Attending seminars: 16

  • Preparation for seminars (including study of compulsory readings): 34

  • Peer review sessions (including reading fellow students’ work): 40

  • Research and writing: 470

Assessment method

An MA thesis of approx. 17,000 words

The thesis will be assessed by the first reader (supervisor) and second reader. Both the first and second reader will independently complete an online assessment form, including a suggested grade. If the first and second reader cannot agree on the final grade, an independent third reader will be appointed by the board of examination.

If the thesis receives a fail grade (5 or lower), or if the thesis is not submitted on time (see below), the student has one (1) month to rewrite and resubmit the thesis (without supervision). Should the thesis still be insufficient, the student will need to take the thesis seminar again, possibly with a new topic and supervisor.

Deadline for submission in semester 1: 1 December 2017.
Deadline for submission in semester 2: 1 June 2018.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used for:

  • scheduling of sessions

  • providing topics and reading lists

  • assignments and practice materials

Reading list

Reading lists will be made avaiable via Blackboard.

Registration

Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in [English])http://hum.leiden.edu/students/study-administration/usis-english.html) and Dutch

Only students from the MA Linguistics: Translation in Theory and Practice can enrol.

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable

Contact

Please contact Student administration van Eyckhof for questions.