AJL19800 Bachelor's Thesis Seminar I

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Jana Pelclová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 16:00–17:40 G33, except Mon 15. 4.
Prerequisites (in Czech)
AJL11010 Practical English Exam && AJL01002 Practical English II && !NOW( AJL19850 Bachelor's Thesis )
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course prepares students for writing their final BA theses. It involves a couple of general sessions focusing on the ways of doing scholarly research and starting writing, and then follows with bi-weekly sessions with a hands-on approach (choosing a topic, choosing a supervisor, how to start a research, how to work with and evaluate sources, how to write an outline and bilbiography, etc.).
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students will present a short BA thesis proposal, consisting of a tentative title, supervisor, topic description, outline, and preliminary annotated bibliography.
Syllabus
  • sessions 1-3:
  • -writing BA Thesis - what, when, how, with who?
  • -the importance of research and writing, department policies
  • -plagiarism and AI
  • sessions 4-7: students are divided into 2 sections - one focusing on linguistic topics, the other focusing on literary and cultural studies topics, each group has a bi-weekly seminars
  • -choosing a topic, consulting a supervisor
  • -doing linguistic / literary and cultural studies research
  • -working with primary and secondary sources, making notes
  • -preparing an (annotated) bibliography
  • -writing an argumentative paper; what is an argument?
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Lipson, How to Write a BA Thesis
  • Gerald and Cathy Graff, They Say / I Say
  • Barker, Internet Research Illustrated, 7th ed.
  • Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Sixth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010, xviii, 272. ISBN 9781433805622. info
  • GIBALDI, Joseph. MLA handbook for writers of research papers. 6th ed. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003, xviii, 361. ISBN 0873529863. info
  • TURABIAN, Kate L. A manual for writers of term papers, theses and dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962, vii, 109. info
Teaching methods
mini-lectures, workshops, discussions, practical assignments leading to a short BA Thesis proposal.
Assessment methods
Students will present the final BA Thesis proposal consisting of 4 individual written assignments done in sessions 4-7.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught each semester.
Listed among pre-requisites of other courses
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Autumn 2021, Spring 2022, Autumn 2022, Spring 2023, Autumn 2023, Autumn 2024, Spring 2025, Autumn 2025, Spring 2026.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2024, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2024/AJL19800