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.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2024, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2024/AJL19800