30.00 credits
Q1 and Q2
This learning unit is not open to incoming exchange students!
Language
French
Prerequisites
/
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
The Master Dissertation is a personal contribution to scholarly knowledge. It is the crown on the student's education process, in which the student provides evidence of his familiarity with the methodological tenets of the study of language and literature, particularly in the field of Latin and/or French.
The student must display his ability to handle the various stages of scholarly research: from defining a research problem, via collecting primary sources, bibliography and other research data, to evaluating and interpreting the documents concerned, as well as elaborating a synthesis and reporting on the results obtained.
A dissertation must contain at least eighty pages (i.e. 200,000 characters including spaces) of original, personal writing (including bibliography and notes, but excluding appendices). Where a substantial part of the dissertation is devoted to a critical edition and/or an original translation of a text, this standard is reduced to a minimum of 60 pages (i.e. 150,000 characters including spaces) of argued personal writing (to which must be added the pages of the edition and/or translation).
All dissertations must include an introduction, in particular a methodological one, a development showing the analysis and synthesis of the subject, a conclusion and a bibliography.
The student must display his ability to handle the various stages of scholarly research: from defining a research problem, via collecting primary sources, bibliography and other research data, to evaluating and interpreting the documents concerned, as well as elaborating a synthesis and reporting on the results obtained.
A dissertation must contain at least eighty pages (i.e. 200,000 characters including spaces) of original, personal writing (including bibliography and notes, but excluding appendices). Where a substantial part of the dissertation is devoted to a critical edition and/or an original translation of a text, this standard is reduced to a minimum of 60 pages (i.e. 150,000 characters including spaces) of argued personal writing (to which must be added the pages of the edition and/or translation).
All dissertations must include an introduction, in particular a methodological one, a development showing the analysis and synthesis of the subject, a conclusion and a bibliography.
Evaluation methods
The Master Dissertation will be evaluated by a supervisor and two readers.; the latter are appointed by the Master's jury (represented by the jury chair).
It is defended orally before a jury comprising at least the promoter and the two readers. The oral presentation is an opportunity for the student and the members of the jury to exchange views. Students will be informed of the practical arrangements for the oral examination no later than the first day of the session in which the dissertation is registered.
The mark will take into account the quality of the written document and the oral defence.
In their evaluations, the supervisor and the two readers will pay attention to the following aspects:
- the student's ability to accurately define the topic of study and to correctly point out the research problem or working hypothesis
- his familiarity with various bibliographical and documentation research tools
- the quality of the work of collecting and interpretating source material
- the overall articulation and coherence of the work
The Dissertation will be orally defended, in a session that allows the student to present the main outline of his research project and to answer questions and remarks from the the supervisor and the readers. The quality of this thirty-minute oral defense (including both presentation and discussion), will be taken into account in the final evaluation.
In addition, one of the two readers of the dissertation is responsible for drawing up a detailed written report on certain formal aspects of the dissertation:
- spelling
- language (precision and appropriateness of terms, syntactical correctness);
- punctuation;
- presentation of the text itself, bibliography, notes, references, etc.
This report may lead the jury to revise the mark awarded to the dissertation according to the procedures defined in section 2 "Mastery of standard language" of the ROM Vademecum (https://myalfresco.uclouvain.be/alfresco/service/ucl/streamDownload/workspace/SpacesStore/18e60fbc-ab6c-426b-9786-b77206423b32/Vad%C3%A9m%C3%A9cum%20m%C3%A9moire%20ROM.pdf?a=true).
Throughout the dissertation, the student must demonstrate a perfect command of the rules of bibliographic referencing; at the risk of being suspected of plagiarism, he/she must NOT
- Copy a text without inverted commas and/or without mentioning the source;
- Reproduce a graph, data, illustration, etc. without mentioning the source;
- Reformulate or summarise an author's original idea without quoting the source;
- Translate, in whole or in part, a source without referencing it;
- Use the work of others and present it as your own (even if the author of the work has given his or her agreement);
- Buying a work.
See https://uclouvain.be/fr/etudier/uss/lutter-contre-le-plagiat.html
This definition supplements the definition given in art. 107 §2 of the RGEE, which constitutes a special provision within the meaning of §3 of the same article. Any student who fails to comply with the scientific referencing standards set out above is liable, in the event of irregularity or plagiarism established by the jury, to academic sanctions as detailed in the RGEE (section 7).
If generative artificial intelligence (AI) is used, it must be used responsibly and in accordance with academic and scientific integrity practices. As scientific integrity requires that sources be cited, the use of AI must always be reported.
It is defended orally before a jury comprising at least the promoter and the two readers. The oral presentation is an opportunity for the student and the members of the jury to exchange views. Students will be informed of the practical arrangements for the oral examination no later than the first day of the session in which the dissertation is registered.
The mark will take into account the quality of the written document and the oral defence.
In their evaluations, the supervisor and the two readers will pay attention to the following aspects:
- the student's ability to accurately define the topic of study and to correctly point out the research problem or working hypothesis
- his familiarity with various bibliographical and documentation research tools
- the quality of the work of collecting and interpretating source material
- the overall articulation and coherence of the work
The Dissertation will be orally defended, in a session that allows the student to present the main outline of his research project and to answer questions and remarks from the the supervisor and the readers. The quality of this thirty-minute oral defense (including both presentation and discussion), will be taken into account in the final evaluation.
In addition, one of the two readers of the dissertation is responsible for drawing up a detailed written report on certain formal aspects of the dissertation:
- spelling
- language (precision and appropriateness of terms, syntactical correctness);
- punctuation;
- presentation of the text itself, bibliography, notes, references, etc.
This report may lead the jury to revise the mark awarded to the dissertation according to the procedures defined in section 2 "Mastery of standard language" of the ROM Vademecum (https://myalfresco.uclouvain.be/alfresco/service/ucl/streamDownload/workspace/SpacesStore/18e60fbc-ab6c-426b-9786-b77206423b32/Vad%C3%A9m%C3%A9cum%20m%C3%A9moire%20ROM.pdf?a=true).
Throughout the dissertation, the student must demonstrate a perfect command of the rules of bibliographic referencing; at the risk of being suspected of plagiarism, he/she must NOT
- Copy a text without inverted commas and/or without mentioning the source;
- Reproduce a graph, data, illustration, etc. without mentioning the source;
- Reformulate or summarise an author's original idea without quoting the source;
- Translate, in whole or in part, a source without referencing it;
- Use the work of others and present it as your own (even if the author of the work has given his or her agreement);
- Buying a work.
See https://uclouvain.be/fr/etudier/uss/lutter-contre-le-plagiat.html
This definition supplements the definition given in art. 107 §2 of the RGEE, which constitutes a special provision within the meaning of §3 of the same article. Any student who fails to comply with the scientific referencing standards set out above is liable, in the event of irregularity or plagiarism established by the jury, to academic sanctions as detailed in the RGEE (section 7).
If generative artificial intelligence (AI) is used, it must be used responsibly and in accordance with academic and scientific integrity practices. As scientific integrity requires that sources be cited, the use of AI must always be reported.
Online resources
Faculty or entity
ELAL
Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)
Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Learning outcomes
Master [120] in Ancient and Modern Languages and Literatures
