Thesis supervision
GENERAL AND ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
Students who did not attend any course on Russian on Soviet history (mine or others') must be aware that I may decline their request.
Students already trained in that history and interested in the idea of preparing their dissertation (bachelor's or master's) on a topic in the area of Eastern European history are invited to contact me at least 8 months (master's) or 6 months (bachelor's) by the scheduled delivery of the dissertation. For example, for a master's thesis delivery around June 19/20, this is a contact in October/November; a delivery around October 19/20, an exchange of messages in February, etc.
Students are strongly advised, before discussion with me, to carefully read the updated explanations on their program page.
Ex: bachelor's degree in history: https://corsi.unibo.it/laurea/storia/prova-finale-modalita-e-scadenze-disci
Ex: Master's degree in history and oriental sciences: https://corsi.unibo.it/magistrale/ScienzeStoricheOrientalistiche/prova-finale-modalita-e-scadenze-disci
It will help to understand the purpose, requirements and rationale for the thesis, as well as the various intermediate deadlines set by the thesis advisor.
Resources on how to write a thesis from other universities are also available: https://biblioteca.luiss.it/it/come-scrivere-una-tesi-di-laurea (rather for master's) or https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/books/978-88-6969-139-3/978-88-6969-139-3.pdf
After this reading, the student can begin to develop a topic idea, which will be discussed and, if accepted, refined with me. I will also be able to suggest topics if necessary.
SOURCES
There are many resourses and also primary sources online, generally in Russian, see here: https://onlineprimarysources.cercec.fr/
For those who read Russian, there is the Prozhito site (prozhito.org) of diaries of Soviet citizens. For others, one can still consider the Harvard Project on Soviet Social History's base of interviews (https://library.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/static/collections/hpsss/index.html). There are also private funds at the Hoover Institution: https://www.hoover.org/news/hoover-institution-acquires-several-collections-relating-displaced-persons-experience-europe
Ukrainian archives also digitised and made available beautiful collections of documents:
- reabilitirovannaia istoria: https://www.reabit.org.ua/
- elektronnyi arhiv ukrainskogo vysvolnogo ruhu: https://avr.org.ua/
You may also want to consult the very useful archeobibliobase: https://abb.eastview.com/
SEARCH FOR AND CITE SECONDARY SOURCES
I finally invite students to self-study these tutorials (self-study courses) on bibliographic research and proper citation of bibliographic references:
Information Literacy Tutorials - University Library System - SBA (unibo.it) [https://sba.unibo.it/it/servizi/formazione/til-tutorial-di-information-literacy]
Guide to Citing and Managing Bibliographies - University Library System - SBA (unibo.it) [https://sba.unibo.it/it/servizi/formazione/guida-alla-citazione-delle-fonti-bibliografiche]
Also noted is the base “East Europe, Central Europe Database” (on ProQuest):
https://www.proquest.com/eastcentraleurope/index?accountid=9652&parentSessionId=hx42GehzktISE8u56GVUx49Y%2FZAMQZJNU67ViNraFD4%3D
and Russian Social Sciences and Humanities Journals (UDB-EDU) on Eastview: https://dlib-eastview-com.ezproxy.unibo.it/browse/udb/4
I report the organization by the various departments of our university of seminars as such:
Information Literacy Seminar for HISTORY students - University Library System - SBA (unibo.it) [https://sba.unibo.it/it/bacheca/eventi/seminario-di-information-literacy-per-gli-studenti-di-storia].
BIBLIOLAB. Bibliography for the thesis in the humanities - University Library System - SBA (unibo.it)
LM students in Forli instead take advantage of workshops at the end of writing their master's thesis in political and social sciences:
https://corsi.unibo.it/2cycle/mirees/notice-board/writing-a-paper-and-an-ma-thesis-in-political-and-social-sciences
