Developing a master thesis proposal

 

Upon completion of the course, students are able to …..

 

Like the name says, in this course you will “develop a masters’ thesis proposal”. But that is easier said than done. A good proposal requires you to choose a relevant topic, develop answerable research questions about that topic, and devise a step-wise research approach explaining how you are going to find answers to those topics. We will work with the concepts of internal and external consistency: internal consistency captures the alignment between different parts of the proposal (for example, is the method in line with the research question?), while external consistency captures the embedding in the literature and/or societal and policy debates (e.g., is the research gap a relevant one?)
A good proposal is not only about content, but also about a realistic planning and effective writing. Hence this course will also include hands-on tutorials on these more ‘practical’ skills.
The course will include interactive lectures, small group sessions and independent work. Literature on how to develop and write a research proposal will be used to support the learning process, but the course will be mostly about learning-by-doing. Students will write, revise, re-write, through a process of learning where feedback is provided by the teacher, the prospective thesis supervisor and fellow students, in an interactive and cumulative manner. The final research proposal is also the start of the master thesis process.