Thesis reading & research seminar, 2015-2016 - Studiegids

Admission requirements

Admission to BA Korea students only

Description

This is a hands on seminar that guides you through the process of selecting and defining a research subject for your BA3 thesis.
We start with the question what research is and how you do research. How do you collect (what kind of) research material and how do you determine its relevance? How to go about familiarizing yourself with a research subject without getting lost. More than anything else, this seminar is based on peer learning.
The seminar will also be dedicated to deap reading of both Western and (excerpts of) Korean secondary literature, where special attention will be paid to argumentation.
In the course of the semester you will be coupled with your thesis supervisor (your preference will be taken into account in as far as an equal distribution of the workload of staff allows). At the end of the first block, you will submit a 500 word thesis proposal with a preliminary bibliography. Before submitting your proposal, you are required to have at least one formal meeting with your supervisor.
At the end of this seminar, you write your thesis literature review. Having completed the literature review, you are well prepared for completing your BA3 thesis in the next semester.

Course objectives

This course has four main goals:

to help you select and define a thesis subject;
to develop a research methodology;
to develop deep reading skills of written and visual materials;
to further develop writing skills;
to further develop presentation skills.

Timetable

Mode of instruction

seminar

Course Load

Total course load for the course: 140 hours.

Assessment method

Final grades will be determined by the following formula:

Active Class Participation ————————————————————————————————————————-40%
- Attendance & active paricipation in class discussions (10%)
- Group Presentations (10%)
- Weekly reading reports (20%)
Paper Assignment—————————————————————————————————————————————-60%
- 500 word thesis proposal and a preliminary bliography (graded by individual supervisors.)
- Literature review (2500 words)

To pass the course students must receive an overall mark of 5.50 (=6) or higher and a passing grade for the paper assignment (5.5 or higher).

Students who failed the course (receiving an overall mark of 5.49 [=5] or lower) or who failed the paper assignment must take a resit. The resit exam consist of two parts: the oral examination of the reading of an excerpt of a Korean text relevant to the thesis subject, and a revised literature review (3,000 words).

Attendance policy: a strict attendance policy is imposed. Missing more than three sessions gets you barred from further attending the course and your papers may not be graded. Any absences must be notified in advance. Dispensation from the attendance rule is possible in consultation with the coordinator of studies and for valid reasons only.

The course is an integrated whole. All categories must be completed in the same academic year. No partial marks can be carried over into following years.

Blackboard

Distribution of reading materials, submission of weekly (reading) reports, group discussion, submission of proposal and literature review. Blackboard

Thesis reading & research seminar