UCL - Dissertation (Part 1)

[LAFR2891]

[] 3 credits

Teacher(s):

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

The dissertation must demonstrate the author's ability to describe correctly the results of a personal, objective and methodical work. The length of the dissertation is not a criteria in evaluating its quality.
Similar to the other forms of learning, the dissertation is an essential component of the programme to which it belongs. It consists of research work which students should consider as a first step in research in their particular field.
The dissertation is a research work :
" specific, as regards the other teaching activities ;
" methodical, the underlying methodology has already been acquired in the bachelor and masters programme ;
" integrated in the programme and limited to the scope of the subject.
Guidelines regarding the dissertation can be found on http://www.uclouvain.be61093.html.

Main themes

The masters dissertation, irrespective of the subject, allows a student to :
- carry out a critical analysis and summarise a given scientific topic,
- put a specific issue/statement in context drawing on existing information,
- present the results of the dissertation by justifying the methodological choices, explaining the hypotheses and scientifically stating the results obtained.

Content and teaching methods

Regardless of the topic, the Individual Final Project will give the student the opportunity:
- to produce a critical analysis and a synthesis of a given research question
- to contextualize a problem against the background of up-to-date knowledge
- to report in a scholarly manner on the results of his inquiry, with justification of methodological choices and discussion of hypotheses.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

The Master Dissertation will be prepared under the responsibility of a supervisor, who may be chosen by the student from amongst the staff of the "modern and ancient languages and literatures programme". The topic is to be defined in agreement with the supervisor.
It is recommended to register the topic (even if provisional) before the first of November of the Master 21 year.
The supervision process includes at least four sessions in the first Master year: these sessions are to be validated within the framework of the Dissertation Seminar (dissertation seminar, LAFR 2890, 2 credits). At the end of the first year, the student is expected to produce a progress report on the work carried out thus far (LAFR 2891, 3 credits).
Evaluation: validation (grade: "V") of the work described in the progress report.