Description
A bachelor’s thesis is the students’ largest and most important piece of work in the program. It is a research paper of substantial size, which to a considerable extent is the result of research and writing that is independently done. Guidance is provided by collective and individual supervision. For collective supervision, see Thesis Seminar.
Course objectives
Based, and further elaborating, on the knowledge and skills acquired, students will prove themselves to be able to:
work with research techniques that are current in the discipline(s) applied by them;
comprehend sophisticated academic debates;
report on their studies and research in good written English;
work and write under time-pressure, and deal with deadlines.
understand fundamental cultural differences and divisions.
The general academic skills covered by these aims are:
collect and select specialised literature using traditional and electronic methods and techniques;
analyse and evaluate this in terms of quality and reliability;
formulate a well-defined research problem based on this;
set up, under supervision, a study of limited size, taking into consideration the traditional and electronic methods and techniques relevant for the discipline;
formulate a reasoned conclusion on the basis of this;
explain research findings in writing, in a clear and well-argued way.
Timetable
The meetings of student and supervisor are scheduled at the beginning of the thesis writing process, in the second week of semester.
Mode of instruction
Individual supervision.
Course Load
Meetings with supervisor: 3 hrs.
Reading, research, and writing: 277 hrs. (15 hrs. per week on average).
Assessment method
Bachelor thesis (10,000 words, including illustrations, footnotes, and bibliography).
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used. For tutorial groups: please enroll in blackboard after your enrolment in uSis
Students are requested to register on Blackboard for this course.
Reading list
-
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Remarks
No individual supervision is provided, unless students are enrolled in a thesis seminar; no thesis can be submitted that has not been written in the context of a thesis seminar.
Contact
Coordinators of Study BA International Studies, bais.stuco@hum.leidenuniv.nl