MES4040 – Master's thesis Design and Project Description
Course description
Course content
In this course, you will design, plan, and implement the first stages of your Master's thesis projects. Over the course of the semester, you will write your project proposals.
The proposal will include a problem formulation and research hypothesis, a separate theoretical and/or analytical approach, a methodological plan, and a timeline. Additionally, you will develop your secondary literature lists, focusing on theoretical perspectives directly relevant to the research topic outlined in the project proposals. Both the project proposals and the secondary literature lists will provide a solid foundation for the Master's thesis that you will write during the second year of study.
The course also includes a two-day overnight seminar, early in the semester, with the instructor and other potential thesis advisors from the Middle East Studies program. At this seminar, you will formulate your research proposals and receive feedback from your peers. More details will be provided by the course instructor on the first day of class.??
Learning outcome
After completing this course, you will be able to:?
formulate a research hypothesis and make it operational?
design a methodological scheme?
identify and apply relevant theory for the research project?
write and refine a formal project description??
provide peer review on their colleagues’ project descriptions??
identify and review secondary literature relevant to the research project?
Admission to the course
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.
This course is only available for students enrolled in the Middle East Studies (programme option).
Formal prerequisite knowledge
- MES4030 – Themes and Theories in Middle East studies
- MES4035 – Methods in Middle East Studies: History, Fieldwork, Literature, Linguistics
Overlapping courses
- 5 credits overlap with MES4000 – Theory, Methodology and Project Description in Middle East- and South Asia Studies.
Teaching
The teaching is given as lectures/seminars. You are expected to participate actively in presentations and contributions during the seminars.?
At the beginning of the semester,?you will participate in a two-day se