Selected Bibliography [Capita Selecta] and Bachelor Thesis (5+10 EC)
NB: De bachelor thesis kan in het Nederlands worden geschreven en begeleiding in het Nederlands is mogelijk bij elk thema.
Admission Requirements
Only CADS bachelor’s students who have already completed the first year of the CADS bachelor’s programme and at least the Key Issue course ‘Diversity and Power’ as well as a second Key Issue course are allowed to enrol in this course.
Admission to the Three Parts
This course follows a trajectory in three parts. Only students who have successfully finalized the assignments linked to the Selected Bibliography by mid-March can continue with the second part. Those who fail the first part must begin the course again the next year.
Students who have successfully finalized the assignments of the second part by the end of April may continue with finalizing their thesis.
Students who fail to finalize the assignments of the second part before the end of April, but successfully finalize them before June 23, may attend the meetings for the third part arranged during the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022.
Course Description
The Bachelor’s Thesis Project consists of three parts: thematically oriented groups working on assignments based on Selected Bibliographies (5 ECTS, 6493 BACSY, level 300), followed by an individual bachelor’s thesis with a subject within the same theme (10 ECTS, 6493 BAY, level 400). Student choose a theme prior to the course. The four themes offered in 2020-2021 are: Diversity, Sustainability, Digitalization and Media, and Political Anthropology. Students then compile a (partially mandatory) reading list from the Selected Bibliography assembled by the supervisors. That literature must be read by students during the first 6 weeks of the course (February – mid-March). Students must then write several assignments culminating in a bibliographic essay. The literature and the process of working on assignments will be discussed bi-weekly in tutorials. After the work of the Selected Bibliography has been successfully completed and the assignments graded, students will write a bachelor’s thesis (10,000 words) on an individually chosen topic within the same theme group. The literature from the Selected Bibliography, the bibliographic essay, and from previously followed CADS courses serves as a starting point, and should be addressed in two monographs from a list provided by the theme supervisor (available from October 2020). Assignments for this second part aim to analyse the monographs and define the precise topic and research question individual students will address in the thesis. Topic and question must be approved by the theme supervisor. Student subsequently write their thesis individually, supported by tutorials.
Course Objectives
The bachelor’s thesis is a literature study through which students assess and critically review anthropological literature. The following learning objectives apply:
Studying, comparing, and assessing the literature
Reconstructing scholarly debates
Formulating and operationalizing a research question that fits within the chosen theme and within the discipline of CADS
Writing a concise, well-structured academic argument that provides an answer to the research question with critical use of literature.
Linking acquired academic knowledge to personal professional ambitions
Orally presenting research ideas and research results
Mode of Instruction / Schedule
February – March:
Four (bi-weekly) tutorials based on scaffolded learning; how to write summaries, reviews and a bibliographic essay based on mandatory articles and (top journal) articles of students’ own choice from a reading list assembled by the theme supervisor.
Writing a summary (500 words), a review article (1,000 words) and a bibliographic essay (2,000 words) based on the mandatory articles and students’ chosen articles.
Final meeting with supervisors to assess the bibliographic essay.
Mid-March to End of April:
- Three tutorials focusing on how to address readings of the Selected Bibliography and the bibliographic essay, with two selected monographs. One assignment focuses on the analysis of the monographs, one on the way the different literature allows the student to address the research question:
o What debates are the authors contributing to or what problems are they addressing?
o What are their theoretical perspectives? Or: What are the arguments they are making?
o A personal academic positioning:- What debates are you contributing to or what problems you are addressing?
- What are your theoretical perspectives? Or: What are the arguments you are making?
Early May to End of June:
Individual thesis writing.
One additional meeting in the second half of May to discuss the advanced drafts of the thesis.
Final submission of the full draft of the thesis no later than June 8, 2021.
Final submission of the thesis before June 23, 2021.
Final event with short oral presentations on the thesis, last week of June 2021.
Assessment
The Selected Bibliography (5 ECTS) is assessed and graded by mid-March based on the assignments (90%) and a meeting with the supervisors in which the student orally pitches ideas for a thesis topic (10%).
The thesis (10 ECTS) (10,000 words) is assessed by the theme supervisors based on a written thesis (90 %) and a presentation (10%). The thesis consists of:
an introduction
a theoretical framework based on the literature of the Selected Bibliography
a main text giving a critical review, one or two monographs (and additional thematic articles)
a conclusion that presents a solid argument while analysing the thematic literature and answering the research question
a short (maximum 500 words) reflection on what has been learned in this course and how that new knowledge will be used in the student’s academic choices in the near future.
The student will present the thesis in a final meeting, at the end of June.
Registration
Registration in uSis is required.