Project Design for Latin American Studies

Postgraduate course

Course description

Objectives and Content

Aim:

The course gives an insight into various types of research strategies and project design that are relevant in connection with design of the Master's Thesis Project in Latin American Studies. It will also give students a basis for how to develop a master's project according to scientific and academic norms for the discipline by giving an introduction to writing a project outline, discussing possible relevant topics for the thesis, and identifying relevant guidance resources in the subject.

Content:

The course contains various types of source material and a selection of central theoretical texts.

It will also include a course at the library with an introduction to various methods for effective searching and use of digital tools to obtain an overview of and information regarding resources that can be used to remain updated in the subject .

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, the student must have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student

  • has insight into their own methods for obtaining source material and/or data.

Skills

The student

  • has the ability to formulate good research questions and hypotheses on the basis of established knowledge (theory and previous research).

General competence

The student

  • has the ability to analyze data and/or text (in the broadest sense).

ECTS Credits

10 (ECTS)

Level of Study

Master

Semester of Instruction

Spring

Place of Instruction

Bergen
Required Previous Knowledge
No formal requirements, but the course is thought in Spanish and a solid knowledge of Spanish is required. The exception is the course at the library, which takes place in Norwegian or English.
Recommended Previous Knowledge
Se "Required Previous Knowledge"
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
None
Access to the Course
The course is open to students with admission to the Master's Program in Spanish and Latin American Studies and students at the Teacher Education Program in Foreign Languages with Spanish as their main subject 1.
Teaching and learning methods

The form of teaching is seminar. The teaching will be scheduled into blocks and the course has normally a total of 20 teaching hours. It is a prerequisite that the students meet the requirements and participate actively.

If fewer than five students register for the course, the teaching offer can be adapted to the number of students.

Compulsory Assignments and Attendance

It is mandatory for the students to attend at least 70% of the teaching. The course at the library is compulsory.

Within the teaching period, the students must give an oral presentation which is a critical reading/review of a master's thesis. The person with the course responsibility will hand out relevant master thesis for reading/reviews.

As an integral part of the subject, the students must submit an application telling the subject coordinator which disciplines they wish to study in the work on the master's thesis. In the application, the student must rank two disciplines. The choice of discipline will set an overall framework for the master's thesis and at the same time dictate the distribution of supervisors. January 31 is the final deadline for submitting an application to the subject coordinator. Concrete information about the process is given at the start of the semester.

The work requirement must be approved by subject teachers before the students can sit for the final exam. Approval of compulsory work requirements is valid in the teaching semester and the following semester.

Forms of Assessment
The form of assessment is a five-day exam from home in March. The students must write an assignment of around 1750 words in Spanish.
Grading Scale
The grading scale is A-F, where F is a fail.
Assessment Semester
Spring. There is also assessment early in the autumn semester for students with valid approval of compulsory work requirements.
Reading List

About. 400 pages taken from textbooks and articles dealing with method and theory in the dissemination of research.

The reading list will be available by December 1 for the spring semester.

Course Evaluation
Evaluation of the course is carried out in accordance with the University of Bergen Quality System for Education.