HI-411 Thesis Seminar

The course is connected to the following study programs

• Advanced Teacher Education level 8-13, 5-year Master's Programme
• Master's Programme in History

Teaching language

 Norwegian  

Prerequisites

Students must have received passing marks in HI-409. 

Course contents

The first part of the semester will comprise a writing course in which students develop a project description. Students present a project description and receive comments from fellow students and instructors. Based on this project description, students will further develop their project during the last part of the course. The project description will be revised and expanded through detailing its sources, method and time frame for completion. In addition to working further with their project description, students will work on a research assignment whose goal is to formulate a historical question and clarify the literature and sources to be utilized for answering this question. Students will work on this assignment, emphasizing the research question, thematic limitations and sources.

Learning outcomes

Upon course completion students will have the following:

Knowledge

• advanced knowledge of current research literature, sources and theory

• insight into historical method associated with a particular historical topic

 

Skills

• the ability to formulate and develop a research project through writing a project description containing a clear and concise research question

• the ability to describe and comment upon research literature and relevant theory as well as define and refine the literature best suited to answering the research question

• the ability to search for, assess and treat relevant sources for the master¿s thesis and ability to describe these sources with regard to scope and character

 

General Competency

• the ability to characterise and assess relevant source material and formulate an independent research project within a limited time frame

• the ability to analyse, synthesize and document academic works

the ability to present their own academic work, receive professional comments on this work and comment on others¿ academic work

Examination requirements

Before the project description is handed in for approval in mid-March, students are to have completed at least one presentation of their own project description and had at least one commentary assignment on other students¿ project descriptions. This procedure applies for the research assignment as well (20 pages/approximately 2,300 characters).

Teaching methods

Seminars. Regular advisment sessions when working with the project description and assignment.The workload is estimated to 400 hours.

Evaluation

The study programme manager, in consultation with the student representative, decides the method of evaluation and whether the courses will have a midterm- or end of term evaluation, see also the Quality System, section 4.1. Information about evaluation method for the course will be posted on Canvas.

Assessment methods and criteria

Project description (approx. 5 pages) comprises 30 % and research assignment (approx. 15 pages) comprises 70% of the final mark. Differentiated marks.

Reduction of Credits

This course’s contents overlap with the following courses. A reduction of credits will occur if one of these courses is taken in addition:

Course	Reduction of Credits
HI-403 – Thesis Seminar II: Sources and Method	10
HI-402 – Thesis Seminar I: Topic, problem statement, research literature and theory	10