12 ECTS credits
309 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1019965BNR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
1st and 2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Studenten die dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen, moeten geslaagd zijn voor 'Onderzoeksmethoden voor de politieke wetenschappen: werkcollege II' en 'Politicologie: algemene inleiding'.
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Political Science
Educational team
Dimokritos Kavadias (course titular)
Nohemi Jocabeth Echeverria Vicente
Activities and contact hours

39 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
270 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Students study a political science research topic in depth under the supervision of an experienced researcher. Students have to choose a topic from a list proposed by the members of the political science department. Each student gets assigned to a researcher with a specific research topic. Students learn to explore in smaller working groups the chosen topic. They learn to analyse a specific aspect of the topic and learn to report their research activities for a scientific audience.

Students also have to follow a series of seminars in the first and second semester. Students will get a hands-on approach to practical and academic skills.

Additional info

This course cannot be followed under a credit contract because it involves a paper that completes the bachelor's program.

The specific dates for each of the sessions, and the deadlines for the papers will be specified in the syllabus on Canvas.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

In General:

The student is familiar with the common theories and concepts in political science literature. The student acquires problem-solving skills in order to analyse real life problems studied by political scientists. The student is able to suggest possible solutions or ways to obtain answers. This implies a critical scientific attitude towards existing sources, opinions, and theories. Students learn to draw conclusions and to communicate to a public of peers.

More specifically:

  • Student are familiar with methods and techniques used by political scientists to research policy- and decision-making processes as well as social developments, and know for what types of questions these can be applied;
  • Students are able to translate a political problem in a political scientific research question, under supervision;
  • Students can autonomously find information and political science literature resources and refer to them correctly;
  • Students are able to make an adequate methodological choice in order to answer a political scientific research question under supervision;
  • Students are able to elaborate a research design and to formulate the necessary steps in a research-plan under supervision;
  • The student is able, under supervision, to implement a research design in order to answer a political science research question scientifically;
  • The student is able to reflect critically on contemporary political problems and policy evolutions;
  • Students are able to write, under supervision, a clear research report, and are also able to explain orally their research in a comprehensible and scientifically correct way to peers;
  • Students are able to develop autonomously an argumentation and formulate and defend their position;
  • The student cultivates a scientific integrity and an intellectual curiousity;
  • The students are critical of fashionable opinions, explanations, or seemingly self-evident statements. They stay critical of their own judgments and biases;
  • The student is able to work in team.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Bachelor thesis determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Bachelor thesis category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Bachelorproef with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The course is an annual course. The evaluation takes place in the 2nd semester (June).

The assessment consists of the following assignment categories:

  • Written paper: 75%
  • Oral presentation paper: 10%
  • Active participation and effort in group sessions in semester 1 and 2: 15%

De partial exam results for the 'written paper' and 'oral presentation' are transferred to the second session if the student obtains a 10/20 or more for the respective assignment.

Second session exam is not possible for the aspect 'active participation and effort in group sessions'. The mark for this aspect will be transferred to the second session exam. Absence for the aspect 'active participation and effort in group sessions' leads to a mark '0' for that assignment.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: - afstudeerrichting politieke wetenschappen (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: Political Science Minor Minor Education (only offered in Dutch)