F2023

International Development Studies *

master project

English

Sign up for study activities at STADS Online Student Service within the announced registration period, as you can see on the Study administration homepage. Registration for project-exam: Please remember to confirm your registration by signing up for exam as a group when the group formation is final. The registration is through STADS Online Student Service When signing up for study activities, please be aware of potential conflicts between study activities or exam dates.

The planning of activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programs which do not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programs, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

The edited book project is designed to provide new opportunities and challenges for student skill development and peer-to-peer learning while bringing a new approach to ‘traditional’ project work and project supervision. In the course students are to form groups and write chapter-projects on a specific theme. Each semester, one or two broad themes will be selected.

Each group is responsible for writing a chapter-project, which will feature in one of the edited volumes containing the contributions from the class cohort. In addition the class collectively writes an introduction, which provides an overview of the topic, the key literature, and the content of the particular edited volume.

Guidance on the use of quantitative methods in projects and theses

If you and your group find quantitative analyses relevant to answer your research question, and your supervisor cannot help, here is an offer of assistance. We offer a workshop where a group of researchers will talk about how to use quantitative data in projects and theses. We will present an overview of publicly available data sets, as well as the your possibilities, if you wish to collect your own data. We expect you to have taken a course in basic quantitative methods (BC 8 or equivalent).

The workshop is held on March 1, 12:15-02:00 pm, in theory room 25.3-005

After the workshop you/your group will have the opportunity to book an appointment with a skilled student, who will help with downloading and preparing data for analysis and interpretation. If you need extra guidance on any particular issue, you will be referred to a relevant researcher. Contact Ditte Stage Kroman (dstagek@ruc.dk) to schedule an appointment.

The edited book project is taught in two separate classes. Each is kick-started with a few lectures which introduce students to the selectec theme. This is followed by a group formation process, where each group chooses a particular angle on their joint theme. Each group writes a chapter in the final product and each group makes its own contribution to a joint introduction for their edited volume.

Two supervisors organise the writing process. The supervisors facilitate 3 half-day workshops, for each book, during the semester. In connection with these workshops, there are fixed deadlines for the draft chapters that the groups are required to submit. The students provide each other with feedback on their drafts, and the supervisors can provide additional feedback and guidance to the groups. The supervisors also prepare short presentations to be held during the 3 workshops. The presentations form the basis for discussion of important aspects of the book project, e.g.: What are the components of a good introduction? How do you compile a multidisciplinary literature review? How should empirical data be presented in a chapter?

Class teaching: 6 sessions of 5 hours = 30 hours

Project work: 200 hours

Preparation: 152,5 hours

Examination: 22.5 hours

Total: 405 hours

• Students are required to cover 1800 pages of academic literature for the project.
• For the first sessions 8-10 articles and book chapters are required readings, they will inform discussions based on thematic lectures. These readings change from semester to semester according to the topic set for the edited volume.

The students receive feedback from their peers and from the academic supervisor on their written input to the collective 'introduction' and to the group chapters at the last three workshops.

Students are required to give peer feedback to other students.

Students are required to reflect on their own learning process in a brief reflection paper that will be appended the final submission.

Somdeep Sen (sens@ruc.dk)

ISE Registration & Exams (ise-exams@ruc.dk)

Kerstin Carlson (carlson@ruc.dk)
Miriam Bak McKenna (miriambm@ruc.dk)

15

• Specialized knowledge of a specific research theme within International Development Studies

• In-depth knowledge of academic debates in relevant academic literature

• Knowledge of core methods, concepts and issues related to the research theme

• Skills in independently and critically selecting, delimiting and analysing a sub-theme and situating this in relation to the overall context of the book's research theme

• Skills in independently and critically selecting relevant literature on the sub-ttheme to be investigated

• Skills in explaining and applying an appropriate conceptual framework in an empirical analysis

• Skills in assessing the relevance and reliability of the selected empirical data

• Skills in communicating research results in an academic format

• Competency in workinf efficiently with interdisciplinary research questions in teams

• Competency in coordinating and synthesising contributions of knowledge across sub-themes and teams

• Competency in planning and preparing advanced academic assignments within predetermined timeframes and contributing to the formation of knowledge

In the edited book project, a group of students write different book chapters on a common theme. A broad theme will be chosen for each semester. The themes vary from semester to semester, but may include:

• Conflict
• Inequality
• Migration

This project represents an opportunity for the students to write a different kind of academic product/genre, to improve their skill in writing succinctly, concisely and "to-the-point".

It is expected that students have basic knowledge and understanding of international development corresponding to that taught in the Bachelor's programme International Studies.

There will be a group formation process and each group chooses a specific angle on the theme, which will be a chapter of the book.

Project

Oral group exam for the participants in the project

The starting point of the oral exam is the students' project anthology which will contain individual project assignments (chapters). The oral exam is a dialogue between the students and the assessors.
The students shall justify that the project assignment contributes to the theme of the anthology

The assessment is individual and is based on the project and the student´s oral performance.

Permitted group size: 2-5 students.

The character limits of the project are:
For 2 students: 33,600-48,000 characters, including spaces.
For 3 students: 40,800-50,400 characters, including spaces.
For 4 students: 45,600-52,800 characters, including spaces.
For 5 students: 48,000-60,000 characters, including spaces.

The character limits include the cover, table of contents, summary, bibliography, figures and other illustrations, but exclude any appendices.

The anthology project must include a summary, that is part of the assessment. The summary can either be written in English or Danish.

Time allowed for exam including time used for assessment for:
2 students 60 minutes.
3 students 75 minutes.
4 students 90 minutes.
5 students 105 minutes.

Spelling and communication skills in the project report are part of the assessment and will count for 5 percent.

Permitted support and preparation materials for the oral exam: all

Assessment: 7-point grading scale
Moderation: Internal co-assessor

Samme som ordinær eksamen / same form as ordinary exam