Admission requirements
Mandatory course for students enrolled in the bachelor’s programme Security Studies.
Only students enrolled into the bachelor’s programme Security Studies can follow this course.
Students need to meet the following requirements in order to be admitted to the Thesis course:
Students must have obtained all study credits of year 1.
Students must have obtained at least 45 study credits of year 2, to be completed by the start of semester 2 of year 3.
Depending on the cohort, students will have to pass one complete combination of research methods courses. For the participation in the Thesis course, the possible combinations are:
a. the combination of Research Methods 1 and Research Methods 2 (completed), and you must have followed Research Methods 3
b. the combination of Introduction to Research Methods and Quantitative Research Methods (completed), and you must have followed Qualitative Research Methods
c. the combination of Research Methods 1, and Quantitative Research Methods (completed), and you must have followed Qualitative Research Methods
Please note that students will never be excluded from the Thesis course without being contacted about it. This will be done via a general announcement via Brightspace.
Description
This is the final compulsory module for students of the BA in Security Studies programme. To pass this course, students are expected to complete a bachelor thesis on a security and/or safety related topic relevant to the programme. Students who take this course will be divided into groups and assigned a supervisor with a particular area of expertise. The supervisor will support their supervisees through group seminars where students get instructions and materials, share their research, and receive feedback. The supervisor will define the research area that students will explore, and help students identify theories and empirical material to address the main question of their thesis.
Course objectives
After this course, students are able to:
analyse and draw conclusions from empirical material.
relate their own analyses of empirical material to an existing body of academic literature.
develop and write-up an extended piece of academic research.
conduct independent research, albeit with the guidance of a supervisor.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the e-guides you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
After the initial plenary meeting and group allocation, the instruction will be mostly in the form of group supervision meetings. A student can miss one supervision session without consequences. If a student misses any additional sessions, feedback provided during the missed sessions will not be offered by supervisors.
420 hours: group meetings and individual research. Most hours will be devoted to individual research activities.
Assessment method
Thesis counts for 100% of final grade.
Resit will take the same form.
Grade must be 5.50 or higher
No supervision is provided after the final deadline for the first take. In case a student does not pass the retake, he/she fails the course. The student should start over in the next academic year and will be assigned to a new thesis group.
Reading list
A selection of readings will be announced on Brightspace.
Registration
There is no need to register for this course yourself. The study coordinators will do that for you once the research group allocation is finished. After you have been enrolled for this course in uSis you will be automatically enrolled into the specific Brightspace course page.
Access to Brightspace is necessary because the syllabus and other information about this course can be found here. Furthermore, announcements and modifications will be communicated via Brightspace. Students have the responsibility to stay informed and are thus advised to regularly check Brightspace for updates. In uSis you can access your personal schedule and view your results.
Contact
Thesis coordinator: dr. Honorata Mazepus h.mazepus@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
For exceptions, please contact the Board of Examiners.