Students are guided towards a research porposal for their Master's thesis and how to take their first steps as independent researchers, respecting and integrating differences in the specific field they want to work in. Theoretical knowledge about as well as practical skills in thesis writing are acquired, and a reflective stance towards the writing process and individual strategies developed.Thus equipped with fundamental competencies in academic writing, students can then start working independently on their individual theses.

theoretical and methodical input on critical thinking and academic writingboth individual and collective analysis of different academic text typesdiscussion of relevant texts, short writing exercisespresentation and discussion of a potential thesis topic in classdevelopment of research proposals for students' individual thesis projects

Critical thinking, academic writing, finding and defining a suitable thesis topic, development of a research proposal

Students are required to have attended the Research Colloquium before participating in the Early Thesis Forum.

All literature will be provided on Moodle.

The final grade is an aggregate of...20% Active participation: Come prepared, think critically, read the required theoretical texts, do any additional research if necessary; do the writing exercises and contribute to discussions and analyses.30% Topic Presentation (45min, 1500 words): Introduce your potential thesis topic (What? How? Why? Literature?; 20min), do a Q&A (10min), and moderate a plenary, in-depth discussion of one example (15min); write-up of presentation and any issues brought up during the Q&A and the analysis in a short academic paper to be uploaded on Moodle no later than two weeks after the presentation (pdf, 1500 words).50% Research Proposal (3500 words): Academic paper presenting a fully developed research proposal for your potential thesis topic (motivation, research question, methodology, overview of literature and textual corpus, timeline) to be uploaded on Moodle and handed in as printed copy no later than September 30, 2024, 23:59 (pdf, 4000 words).If a student fails one pillar of assessment (participation, presentation, or proposal), they fail the entire course!

Development of a research proposal

Quantity and quality of task fulfillment; quantity and quality of theoretical literature used; choice of textual corpus, quality of analysis, and quality of application of theoretical concepts and terminology.The use of AI support or AI-generated text without direct permission from teachers is prohibited in this course!In order to check whether this ban is respected, there is the possibility of a compulsory, individual, and oral follow-up defence of any submitted or presented work. Should the use of AI be detected in any assignment, or a follow-up defence not be sufficient, the task concerned will automatically receive a fail-grade and your violation will be reported to university leadership, just as is the case with any other form of academic dishonesty or cheating.