| Detailed information |
| Original study plan |
Master's programme Joint Master's Programme in Comparative Social Policy and Welfare 2014W |
| Objectives |
The purpose of the Master's Thesis Seminar is to assist students during the early stages of their Master's theses. It offers support in the process of choosing a topic for the Master's Thesis.
Between the second and the third semester of the program students write a Master's thesis proposal. The classroom-section of the Master's Thesis Seminar then provides a forum for the presentation and in-depth discussion of the Master's Thesis proposals.
The Master's Thesis Seminar then supplies guidance in the process of revising the Master's Thesis proposal and moving from the proposal toward actual conceptual and empirical work on the Master's Thesis itself.
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| Subject |
The Master's Thesis Seminar guides students through the following steps:
- Students select a Master's Thesis topic during the second semester of the program
- Between the second and the third semester they write a Master's thesis proposal, which, based on a thorough review of the relevant literature about the topic selected by the student, presents a research question, its rationale and significance, the empirical strategy that the student envisions for answering that question, and information about the empirical data available for answering the research question. The Master's thesis proposals are about 20 to 25 pages; ideally they constitute the building blocks of the conceptual and methodology-chapters of the Master's theses.
- During the Intensive Program at the beginning of the third semester students give a ten to fifteen minute-presentation of their Master's Thesis proposals, followed by a thirty-minute discussion of the proposal.
- This is followed, during the third semester, either by thorough revisions of the research proposal and further work on the relevant secondary literature, or by first steps toward the empirical and conceptual work on the Master's thesis itself.
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| Criteria for evaluation |
Active participation and commentary of fellow students' work in the classroom section of the Master's Thesis Seminar
Master's Thesis proposal and revision of the proposal
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| Methods |
Classroom session in the beginning of the semester: Student presentations of their Master's thesis proposals, discussion of the proposals.
Revision of the proposals and moving from the proposal toward the Master's Thesis supported by the supervisor of the Master's Thesis and the instructor of the Master's Thesis seminar.
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| Language |
English |
| Changing subject? |
No |
