98818 - RESEARCH DESIGN AND BACHELOR THESIS

Learning outcomes

This course Research Track: ACADEMIC PORTFOLIO, Research Design and Bachelor Thesis (4 ECTS) + Academic Writing (in English) (2 ECTS) aims to familiarize students with their academic development, research design and bachelor thesis research as well as, in a separate part, the specific needs of academic English in view of writing a bachelor thesis. Students will learn basic instrument of academic research in social sciences. They will learn how to find and how to use primary and secondary sources, how to review the literature related to specific topics and themes. The course aims to strengthen students' ability to elaborate different types of academic writings, with particular attention to their structure and formal characteristics, communicative effectiveness, and critical contents. At the end of the course, students will acquire the necessary competences to write executive summaries, research reports, reviews, articles, and literature reviews for specialized academic journals.

Course contents

Students will be familiarized with the "how-to's" of various skills, including formulating research questions, understanding academic literature, collecting and analyzing data, critically reflecting on research findings, and weaving these into the scientific-academic presentation of their own research results. To this end, students will be trained in the following dimensions: 

a) Developing a research project

b) Understanding the building blocks of research projects

c) Developing a research question

d) Taking research from an idea to data collection and analysis

e) Writing and presentation skills.

Readings/Bibliography

Bibliography will be discussed in class at the start of the course

Teaching methods

The course is structured into 15 lessons of two hours each, each devoted to a specific topic. Slides will be used to supplement frontal teaching. Students are encouraged to participate in class discussions.

Assessment methods

Students will be informed of the assessment methods at the beginning of the course

Teaching tools

The slides and other teaching materials will be available on the platform Toledo. The lecture slides are an integral part of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Nicola Maggini