Course Overview
The Thesis Seminar aims to coach you on writing and editing your master’s thesis. The course is designed to help you structure this process in an efficient and effective manner with emphasis on analyzing your data, conveying your argument, and presenting your research. The course asks students to draw upon the theoretical and methodological questions posed in the initial research proposal in order to assess and analyze the data produced during the period of field research. The ultimate aim is to produce a multimodal output (at least an article-length text and 30-minute film) that gives others access to the ‘small places’ of your research in a manner that provides compelling insights about ‘large issues.’
Class sessions are organized around providing both general guidance on the writing and editing process as well as individualized feedback on a series of written and audiovisual assignments. These assignments will be discussed during a series of differentiated meetings consisting of five supervisory group meetings, two crit sessions, and two one-on-one meetings with your supervisor (more can be arranged on a case by case basis if needed). All your AV assignments will also be uploaded to P2P to receive additional feedback from your peers.
These assignments are designed to help you make consistent progress on your thesis, but you will need to supplement these with your own initiative. This last phase of the master’s program requires significant self-discipline and sustained effort in order to finalize your thesis in a timely manner.
Attendance of all sessions is compulsory.
Schedule
Assignment Overview
Written Assignments (WA)
A series of written assignments have been created to help you develop your thesis text. These will be submitted to your Supervisory Group for feedback. WAs should be submitted as a google doc to your supervisor and group members before the class session in order to provide the rest of your group and your supervisor time to read and comment on each other’s assignments in advance.
Note: Although there are no general reading requirements, students should be substantiating their research with self-led reading, viewings, and audition on an ongoing basis. Written Assignment 5b requires students to submit an annotated reference list with 15-20 new entries beyond the proposal. To avoid unnecessary pressure at the end of the course, it is advisable to be adding a couple entries on a weekly basis.
- Written Assignment 1: Output Report
- DUE – 12:00 Thursday 9 April 2020
- Written Assignment 2a: Revised Research Questions
Written Assignment 2b: Ethnographic Vignette: Descriptive- DUE – 23:59 Sunday 12 April 2020
- Written Assignment 3a: Methodological Reflection
Written Assignment 3b: Ethnographic Vignette: Reflexivity- DUE – 23:59 Sunday 19 April 2020
- Written Assignment 4a: Table of Contents (TOC)
Written Assignment 4b: Theoretical Framework- DUE – 23:59 Sunday 10 May 2020
- Written Assignment 5a: Abstract
- Written Assignment 5a: Extended Detailed Outline (EDO)
- Written Assignment 5a: Annotated Reference List
- DUE – 23:59 Sunday 17 May 2020
Audio-Visual Assignments (AVA)
A series of audiovisual assignments have been created to help you develop your thesis film. If you are preparing an alternative audiovisual output, please consult with your supervisor on how to best adapt the assignment. Students within a Supervisory group should preview their peers’ assignments in advance of the class session, but will provide feedback in person during the session. Assignments will also be assigned peer reviewers randomly from the entire cohort. For full credit assigned peer reviews should be completed within 3 days.
- AV Assignment 1: Key Scenes (2x 2-5min)
- DUE – 12:00 Thursday 9 April 2020
- AV Assignment 2: Key Scenes (2x 2-5min)
- DUE – 23:59 Tuesday 14 April 2020
- AV Assignment 3: Reflexive Scenes (2x 2-5min)
- DUE – 23:59 Tuesday 21 April 2020
- AV Assignment 4: Opening and Closing Scenes (2x 2-5min)
- DUE – 23:59 Tuesday 12 May 2020
- AV Assignment 5: Trailer (~90 seconds)
- DUE – 23:59 Tuesday 19 May 2020
Crit Presentations
We will have longer class sessions on two occasions to the whole class for live collective feedback by your peers and instructors. Presenters will not be asked to ‘explain’ their work beyond the intentions addressed in their meta-commentaries. As in earlier courses, these are opportunities for your work to speak for itself and to be receptive to how others engage with it.
Assessment
Our approach to grading is meant to facilitate innovative work rather than perfection of standards, which should reduce performance pressure and encourage experimentation. Rather than grading each assignment independently, a final graded assessment will take into account your overall investment and development of your thesis ideas over the semester. Accordingly, if you complete all the assignments on time and show a commitment to engaging the criteria for each element, then you will automatically earn 8,0 for each assignment category (Written, AV, Crit, Peer Review). The grade may increase with exceptional work. In principle, 10 is considered perfection. That’s not to say that it’s unattainable, but to grant such a grade in our discipline would be an exceedingly rare event. As such, a 9 indicates an effort that is quite exceptional. And 8 is a very solid grade that suggests that a student did everything well and in a timely manner as noted above. Conversely, failure to engage the assignments in a meaningful way or to complete work by the assigned deadlines will result in a lower grade in the corresponding category. Furthermore, if an assignment is considered insufficient, then it must be resubmitted. A student will be notified if this is the case. If the second attempt remains insufficient, the student will not get credit for that particular assignment.
The expectation is that all the assigned work is completed in a timely manner. A late assignment will result in 0,25 overall point reduction. A missing assignment will result in 0,5 overall point reduction. Students are also expected to provide peer reviews of Audio-Visual Assignments using the Pitch2Peer (P2P) interface accessible in Blackboard as well as in-person feedback on peer assignments during the Supervisory Group meetings. Reviewers should take seriously the task of providing actionable critical feedback. Guidelines will be provided in each module to guide students in making well-structured assessments. These peer reviews are an integral part of the assignments, so failure to complete these peer reviews or tardiness in completing them will result in the same grade reduction as outlined above.
Assignment Categories
30% WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
30% AUDIO-VISUAL ASSIGNMENTS
20% CRIT PRESENTATIONS
20% PEER REVIEW / FEEDBACK
