JOUR4000 – Master's thesis seminar for journalism
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The master's thesis seminar prepares students for writing their master's thesis. The students will receive counselling in how to formulate a research question and develop a project description for their master's thesis. They will receive insights in the basic requirements and genre conventions for master's theses in media studies. Part of the course will be based on work in groups, where the students are trained in assessing academic texts using the conventions that are current in this field. Furthermore, the students will present and comment each other’s drafts for project descriptions. Students revise their drafts based on the feedback from fellow students and teacher, before submitting project descriptions for final approval. An approved project description is the main goal of the course.
Learning outcome
Upon completion of the course, the student is expected to be able to:
- formulate and discuss scholarly research questions within journalism studies
- evaluate methods and theory in scholarly work in journalism studies
- plan an independent research project
- locate relevant research literature in library databases
- discuss the ethics of a research project
- write in an academic idiom with an explicit research question, clear arguments, marked distinction between her or his own work and paraphrases of earlier work, and bibliographic references in good academic custom.
Admission
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
This course is only open for students who are admitted to the Journalistikk (master) (being phased out). It is recommended to take the course the first semester of the master studies.
Overlapping courses
The course overlaps with EST4001 – Oppgaveseminar 1: Metode og prosjektbeskrivelse (discontinued).
Teaching
The course will be taught as a combination of plenary meetings and discussions and supervision in smaller groups.
Students will be required to fulfill a compulsory activity which will be given a pass/fail. In order to be allowed to submit the final term paper, the compulsory activity must be approved. Students who do not submit and pass the activity lose their right to submit the term paper.
The activity may vary each semester. The specifics and deadlines for the compulsory activity are published on the semester page by the beginning of the semester.
Examination
Term paper. The term paper is the project description for the master's thesis. The project proposal should be 5 pages, excluding the list of References, and must include:
- Working title
- Theme or area of interest
- Theory/literature review
- Research questions and/or hypotheses
- Method
- Information about empirical data
Obligatory activities must be approved in order to qualify for the exam.
Submit assignments in Inspera
You submit your assignment in the digital examination system Inspera. Read about how to submit assignments in Inspera.
Use of sources and citation
You should familiarize yourself with the rules that apply to the use of sources and citations. If you violate the rules, you may be suspected of cheating/attempted cheating.
Language of examination
You may write your examination paper in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Explanations and appeals
Resit an examination
Withdrawal from an examination
It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you withdraw from the exam after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
Special examination arrangements
Application form, deadline and requirements for special examination arrangements.