ANTH4020 – Academic Writing and Project Development
Course content
A central part of your MA in Social Anthropology will be your own anthropological research project. You will conduct fieldwork in an area and on a theme of your own choosing. In this course we work on the practical aspects of developing your own research project. We will work on your initial ideas and transform them into a proper project design by developing research questions, conducting literature review of previous research in your field, and developing methodological tools that enable you to produce data that can answer your research questions. We also discuss the ethical issues relevant to your research project. Along the way, we will work on your writing skills and fine-tune your ability to cite relevant scholarly work, thereby enabling you to write better and critically assess academic writings.?The course will run in parallel with?ANTH4010 - Advanced Anthropological Theory?and?ANTH4030 - Advanced Anthropological Methods, and you will work specifically on integrating insights from these courses into your own project. Through this course you will:
- Design a project description for your own fieldwork
- Relate your anthropological knowledge gained through your BA and other MA courses to a specific research project
- Relate your own research project to existing thematic and regional knowledge
- Discuss the potential ethical challenges in your project
- Improve your writing skills
- Prepare for your own anthropological fieldwork
Learning outcome
Knowledge
- Understanding the different elements of a well-designed research project and how they relate to each other
- Appreciating how theory and methods are related and how they come together in specific research projects
- Reflecting on the ethical challenges raised by different theoretical and methodological research designs
- Understanding how academic writing is done in practice
Skills
- Designing a qualitative research project with a relevant research question and an appropriate methodological design that is ethically feasible
- Gaining overview of the state of the art of a research field you want to explore
- Analysing ethical challenges with different research designs
- Presenting qualitative research designs in written and oral forms
General competence
- Respect for scientific values such as accountability, transparency and correct citation practices
- Ethical awareness regarding qualitative research and the use of research results
- Ability to analyse the relations between theory and method with reference to specific research projects
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 not available for single course students.
Teaching
3-hour teaching blocks with a combination of lectures and in-class group discussions moderated by the lecturer.
Access to teaching:
A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.
Examination
Compulsory activities:
- 2-page draft research proposal.
- 6-page draft research proposal with oral presentation.
Draft proposals and oral presentation will be assessed as Approved/Not approved.
Both compulsory activities must be approved in order to take the exam.
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Exam:
- A final submission in Inspera of a 3500 words research proposal.
Compulsory activities must be approved and the exam passed in the same semester.
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Previous exams and assessment guidelines
Examination support material
All exam support materials are allowed during this exam. Generating all or part of the exam answer using AI tools such as Chat GPT or similar is not allowed.
Language of examination
You may write your research proposal in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Also see?Grading guidelines in social anthropology
Resit an examination
It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you?withdraw from the exam?after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.