Research project: thesis

Course goals

The thesis should demonstrate that you are able to produce new scholarly knowledge and insights according to the rules and methods current in the field of HPS, and that you can share your results with fellow researchers in a coherent way. It is based on independent research, refers to relevant litera­ture, assesses earlier work on a chosen topic and contributes to scholarly debate.

Content

Practical information and guidelines can be found on the HPS Community site on Blackboard.

A research master thesis should consist of:
- the formulation of a problem or research question, clearly delimited thematically and (in the case of a historical thesis) in time and place;
- a critical discussion of the existing scholarly literature;
- a critical evaluation of the sources used;
- a description and justification of the research methods used;
- a discourse in which your present your own analysis on the research problem or question, presented according to the logic suggested by the formulation of the problem;
- a conclusion and a consideration of the value of the research;
- references in the form of footnotes;
- a bibliography of the sources and literature used.
At the start, students will be provided with extensive guidelines about the research, the thesis and the procedures.

The thesis can be 22.5, 37.5 or (for TWIN programs) 45 EC, excluding the Research Proposal (FI-MHPSRPP, 15 EC).
Students are expected to present their findings at a colloquium for their fellow students and staff members.