Aims

The objective of the seminar is to present students with a modus operandi for carrying out practical research in different areas of political science and to ensure that they are in a position to put it into practice through individual project work. It also aims to improve students' analytical skills and the quality of their presentation (of reports, files, etc), highly valued skills in the professional world.

Main themes

- Module 1: presentation of the steps involved in research, in a logical sequence (plenary lectures):
" formulation of an initial research question
" formulation of working hypotheses
" choice of methods and of theories (scientific literature)
" practical information search (information retrieval, on-line resource searches, etc.) ; compilation of this information
" principles of structuring, drafting, presentation
- Module 2 (in 3 sub-groups): international relations, comparative politics; public action; students chooses one of the 3 groups): review of the five research steps in closer detail (in terms of theories, of sources, etc), in connection with one of the 3 base-courses (Geopolitics and the International System; Comparative Politics; Organisational and Public Action Theory).
- Module 3: individual preparation of an extended essay/ report.

Content and teaching methods

The seminar takes place at three times ( three modules).
The first one and the second modules are held in publics (with interactivity and appeal to the NICT), by using concrete examples
The third module consists of an individual follow-up of every student

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

Prerequisite: Political science
Evaluation: evaluation of individual work (content-based and formal criteria).
Course materials: methodological guides, especially on-line (on UCL site).

Other credits in programs