Upon completion of this course, you are able to:
- set up and conduct a research project of a limited size under supervision that meets the elementary requirements set for scientific historical research. This includes being able to:
- formulate a clear and well-defined research question, appropriate to the requested scope;
- situate and justify a research question in the light of the professional scientific discussion (status quaestionis);
- collect literature and sources that are current and relevant;
- interpret the literature and sources in a critical and methodically traceable manner and to process the information obtained from them in a historical-scientific argument;
- set up a historical-scientific argument that is orderly, clear, and in accordance with the rules of scientific standards
- take your own responsibility in the preparation, planning, and implementation of the research and to regularly reflect on your process.
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With the bachelor’s thesis, you complete the educational programme in History. In the thesis, you demonstrate that you are able to carry out a research of limited scope with a certain degree of independence, working towards either a) a paper that offers an original synthesis of the scientific literature on a historical issue or b) a paper that is partly based on primary sources and which makes a modest contribution to the existing scientific literature.
You begin by choosing a subject from the field of one of the areas of expertise of the History programme (ESDG, PG, CG or OGMG). The topic may arise from one of the theme lectures or other courses that you have taken, but it may not be an extension of a paper or lecture topic from such a course.
The bachelor's thesis is a course, and this course is comprised of compulsory tutorials (the thesis practical). The times of the thesis practical can be found in the personal timetable/ schedule. The course coordinator will inform you at the beginning of the period in which the bachelor's thesis begins (both in the second and in the first semester) about the first meeting. A number of practical matters are also discussed in this first meeting. You will then have about a week to fill in the selection form. Afterwards, the course coordinator, in consultation with the teachers of the various expertise groups, will determine the supervisors as soon as possible. You are expected to contact your thesis supervisor yourself.
The course consists of two parts. In the first part, you will complete four sub-assignments that help formulate and structure your research. You also follow the compulsory thesis practical, in which all steps in the research process are explained and in which you actively work on these partial assignments. It will then be assessed whether these assignments are sufficient to continue with the thesis process (the GO/ NO GO moment). In the second part of the course, you write a bachelor's thesis of 8,000 to 10,000 words (without 10% margin and excluding title page, table of contents, footnotes, bibliography and source list and appendices). Deadlines and further course information can be consulted in the course manual on Brightspace after registration.
The bachelor's thesis is assessed on the basis of a rubric form, which can be found in the course manual on Brightspace. Here you will also find the standards for the bachelor's thesis. Make note of this at the beginning of the thesis process so that you know what is expected of you.
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Admission to the Bachelor’s Thesis is contingent on successfully completing the folllowing courses, which are part of the writing and research skills track: Historiographical Debates in European History 1, Research Lab, Identity and Diversity in European History, Environmental History and one of the Thematic Seminars.
See Education and Examination Regulations (EER) 2022-2023.
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