Master Thesis Political Science Text

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description: an application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely for security reasons. details: to enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a lt customerrors gt tag within a web.config configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. notes: the current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the defaultredirect attribute of the application 39 s lt customerrors gt configuration tag to point to a custom error page url. The master thesis is a scientific analysis of a topic within political science and can be up to 80 pages in length approximately 30 words.

The aim of this supervision is to provide students with the necessary skills and knowledge to complete their thesis. Knowledge – the student shall: have a theoretically comprehensive knowledge of the specific research topic. Through the use of obligatory supervision receive an insight into the research process and different levels: engage in constructive and critical evaluation of others’ research, plan research in combination with outers, collect data, analysis and treatment of data.

Skills the student shall demonstrate the ability to: carry out independent research work. Through work on a master’s dissertation, acquire skills that are useful not only in relation to research but also, for example, in relation to investigative work, teaching, journalism, etc. Form of assessment: master thesis and an oral examination which can be used to adjust the master thesis’ grade by one unit. the dissertation is a substantial work of original scholarship usually ranging in length from 200 to 450 double spaced pages. admission to candidacy admission to doctoral candidacy is the university's only formal requirement for the ph.d. To be admitted to candidacy, you must have passed the department's course requirements and the preliminary examinations. the prospectus before commencing work on the dissertation, the department requires you to write and defend a dissertation proposal, known as the prospectus. The prospectus stage of the dissertation commences immediately after you advance to candidacy.

To maintain satisfactory progress in the program, you should complete the prospectus by the end of the second semester of your third year in the program. Selection of the dissertation committee before beginning work on the prospectus, you should select a principal dissertation advisor. Oftentimes, students begin lining up their principal advisors during their second year in the program in any event, you should wait no longer than the middle of your fifth semester to have yours in place. 3 below , you must select two additional advisors to serve on your dissertation committee, for a total of three committee members.

The principal advisor and at least one other committee member must be tenured or tenure track faculty members in the department of political science at brown. Drafting of the prospectus in consultation with members of the dissertation committee, you must draft a prospectus that is consistent with the spirit if not the letter of the specifications outlined below contents of the prospectus . Defense of the prospectus formal approval of the prospectus follows after a successful oral defense of the proposal, which shall be advertised in advance and open to the public.

In consultation with the three committee members and the dgs, you are responsible for scheduling the oral defense well in advance a minimum of ten days beforehand please do not forget to inform the dgs well in advance, so that the event can be publicized. Normally, the defense will proceed with the participation of all three committee members. In extraordinary circumstances, the defense may proceed with two examination committee members. If fewer than two committee members are able to attend, the defense must be rescheduled. The format of a typical oral defense is as follows: 1 introductory remarks by the principal advisor 2 a brief overview of the proposed thesis project by you 3 questions from the dissertation committee members 4 questions from the general public.

Immediately following the question session, the dissertation committee shall meet in executive session to determine whether the prospectus should be approved. There are three options available to the committee: pass: the committee decides that the prospectus is acceptable as is, and that you may commence work on the dissertation. Conditional pass: the committee decides that your prospectus requires additional work prior to final approval.

Your principal advisor will provide you with a list of concrete suggestions for improvement. When you have revised the prospectus to the committee's satisfaction, the committee may approve the prospectus a second oral defense is not required. Fail: the committee decides that the prospectus is both unacceptable and unsalvageable in its present form, and requires you to undergo the defense process anew. Note: close and frequent consultations between you and your committee prior to the scheduling of the defense will go a long way toward eliminating the chances of an outright fail. Once the committee has reached a decision in executive session, you will be called back into the room and informed immediately.

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Contents of the prospectus the purpose of what follows is to create a set of shared expectations among both students and faculty about the contents and organization of the prospectus. This statement is not meant to be compulsory, but it should work to the advantage of most students and their advisors. The prospectus is typically 10 20 pages in length indeed, the shorter the better, since it is then more easily converted into a formal proposal for external funding. The purpose of the prospectus is to pose a precise question, to set the proposed dissertation topic in an appropriate theoretical context, to allude to the relevant literature, and to describe the proposed research methods. As your research progresses, you are almost certain to depart from your prospectus blueprint. The goal of the prospectus is not to demonstrate that you know all the answers in advance. Rather, it is to establish that the question you intend to address is worth asking, and that your proposed course of action is feasible and potentially valuable in terms of its contribution to knowledge.

A satisfactory prospectus contains four basic components: a question a statement of theoretical context a research design and a working bibliography. The question what is the dissertation about? the prospectus should begin by stating the central question or puzzle that is to be addressed in the dissertation. The question should be phrased precisely, since it will determine what is or is not germane to the dissertation. Whether the puzzle is does marx have a political theory? , why are some american regulatory agencies more effective than others? , or what are the effects of the organization of worker training programs in sweden, germany, japan, and the united states? , it should be stated within the first or second paragraph, and as clearly and succinctly as possible.

This is also the appropriate place to identify the general approach adopted in the dissertation: historical, interpretive, quantitative, etc. Do not get carried away with the need to qualify here there is plenty of time for that in part c. Statement of theoretical context this part of the prospectus addresses the frustrating but important question, so what? in other words, why should one devote a thesis to the question set out in the preceding section? an effective answer requires two distinct arguments. First, you should provide a well focused summary of the current debate s in your chosen subfield. This will allow your committee to see how you situate your project in the existing theoretical literature. Second, you should outline in precise terms the specific contribution s your dissertation will make to the subfield. If you believe you are studying a neglected yet significant subject, specify what of substance has been missed, and how your study will fill the gap.

If you are building on an important literature in the field, say what has been achieved, and how your proposal adds to it. If your proposal is a case study or a comparison of multiple cases countries, policy areas, etc. , this is an appropriate place to justify your selection of cases with reference to theory. Five or six pages should suffice for this part of the prospectus, although in cases where the resolution of contending interpretations is an especially important part of the thesis, a bit more detail is appropriate. Instead, write this part on the assumption that both you and your committee are familiar with the field. Research design this part answers the question, how will you answer the question set out in part a? part b showed that the game is worth the candle part c must show that you will, in fact, finish the contest with some answers in hand.

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