BA Seminar: Contemporary Topics on Culture and Politics

B.Sc. seminars
obligatory courses

The course is a continuation of the Proseminar 'Contemporary Topics on Culture and Politics (4219-ZP038)'.

The main goal of this course is to allow the student to continue the research process that started in the previous semester. At the end of the semester, the student is expected to present the final draft of a thesis (BA paper).

The BA paper is an academic project that the student develops independently. In that project, students explore issues, topic, events, processes from the vast field of American studies.

The development of this project follows research guidelines of academic disciplines such as sociology, political science, history, anthropology, and law. In this way, the thesis will be drafted following research methodologies.

In this course, students use data, methodologies, and conceptual frameworks to identify, investigate, analyze, and interpret facts, phenomena, and processes related to American Studies. In particular, data analysis will rely on techniques such as interviews, surveys, ethnographic observations (field work), textual analysis, documentary analysis; visual analysis, policy analysis and/or online analysis.

At the end of the semester, to be approved, a BA paper must include the following elements: a research problem, a claim, reasons for choosing the topic, a goal and scope of the thesis, basic research methods, a table of contents, and a bibliography.

Finally, the thesis must be follow an academic style of writing. The length of the thesis is about 25 pages or at least 7500 words; it should include no less than ten academic sources and the references should follow the rules of the Chicago Manual of Style.

Key Texts

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. 1995. The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Knopf, Jeffrey W. “Doing a Literature Review.” PS: Political Science & Politics 39, no. 1 (2006): 127–32. doi:10.1017/S1049096506060264.

Patil, Shridhar. 2020. Research Methodology in Social Sciences. New Delhi: NIPA

Additional Sources

Sage Research Methods. 2022. Project Planner. Research Stages. Sage Publishing. Available at: https://methods.sagepub.com/project-planner

Redman, Peter and Maples, Wendy. 2020. Good Essay Writing: A Social Science Guide. Sage Publishing. Available at: https://study.sagepub.com/redmanandmaples5/student-resources/chapter-10/referencing-dos-and-don%E2%80%99ts

KNOWLEDGE

Upon completing the course, the student:

- understands key concepts and theories on the topics.

- recognises relevant issues in the area of studies.

- identifies historical and contemporary issues related to the topics of the course.

SKILLS.

Upon completing the course, the student:

- is able to critically use theories and concepts to explain issues related to the course.

- will formulate critical arguments.

- will draw conclusions and formulate synthetic summaries.

SOCIAL COMPETENCES

Upon completing the course, the student:

- is able to formulate her own opinion about contemporary affairs.

- understands the importance of inter-cultural relations and cooperation to address social problems.

- improves her knowledge of the United States of America.

The main requirement to pass the course is to write a BA paper no shorter than 25 pages (a minimum of 7500 words) by the end of semester. Both, the process of elaboration (research, literature review, and write-up) and the final manuscript will be assessed. Students are expected to periodically submit drafts as proofs of progress. Students will work under the supervision of the instructor throughout the semester.