RMA Thesis Media, Art and Performance Studies

Course goals

After completion of the thesis trajectory, students are capable to:

• demonstrate the necessary analytical and writing skills to conduct independent scholarly research and present a theoretically sound and developed argument in Media, Art and Performance Studies;
• give a clear description and justification of, and to present and use in practice a methodological and theoretical framework relevant for the central research questions;
• formulate clearly the central research question(s) or problem(s) of the thesis and present a convincing answer to it in the thesis;
• critically position oneself in the scholarly debate and to contribute to this debate by producing new scholarly knowledge, presented to fellow researchers in the required academic form.

Content

The RMA thesis is a scholarly developed research project in which students are expected to contribute, based on independent research, to a debate within the discipline. It should be structured around a central research question (set out in the introductory sections) to which it provides a response and thereby offers a contribution to existing scholarship (made explicit and reflected upon in the individual chapters and conclusion).

The central research question must be clearly formulated in the thesis and its relevance to scholarly discussions within the discipline has to be shown. The body of the text should give a clear description and justification of the methodological and theoretical framework that is used to develop the response(s) to the research question and employ a case study relevant to the research question or problem and its socio-political relevance. In the conclusion, students should evaluate their findings in the light of the research questions and the broader implications of these conclusions.

The thesis should be written in correct and clear English; it has a length of minimum 25.000 words and maximum 30.000 words (excluding bibliography).
The individual thesis trajectory is supervised by a thesis supervisor. Either the thesis supervisor or the second reader is a member of the staff of the RMA Media, Art and Performance Studies. Once the Thesis Plan is approved by the supervisor, it also needs to be approved by the second reader. Then, the student can start with conducting the research project.

For more information and guidelines, see the MAPS student website. 

Additional information

Only open for students in the RMA Media, Art and Performance Studies with at least 55 EC in core curriculum and/or electives. 

Registration is not possible via Osiris, please contact Student Information Desk.