AANK16014U Master's Thesis

Volume 2023/2024
Content

The thesis is written on the basis of empirical data collated by the students during their fieldwork.

Learning Outcome

In the master's thesis the student must demonstrate that she/he can formulate an examine an anthropological problem on the basis of fieldwork material, and regional, methodological and theoretical knowledge.

This means that the student can:

 

Knowledge

  • demonstrate empirical knowledge of the examined field

  • demonstrate regional, methodological, and theoretical knowledge based on the chosen literature

 

Skills

  • produce a clear and relevant problem statement
  • analyze the empirical material by using relevant anthropological literature
  • construct a relevant and well argued answer to the problem statement
  • discuss the empirical material and the chosen analytical terms and/or theories in relation to one another.

 

Competences

  • reflect critically on the empirical material in terms of the conditions and limitations of the fieldwork and the chosen methods
  • consider the generaliseability of the fieldwork and relevant regional, thematic, and theoretical literature
  • communicate and argue in a anthropologically relevant and convincing manner
The thesis must include a summary in English. The max. length of the summary must be 7.200 keystrokes. The summary is included in the overall assessment of the thesis. The keystrokes for the summary do not count towards the max. length for the master thesis itself.
5 meetings with a supervisor of approx. 45 minutes per thesis. If the thesis is written in groups of two students each meeting will be 45 minutes x 1.5.
Students are also entitled to limited supervisor guidance in connection with drawing up the obligatory thesis contract in preparation for writing the thesis. This contact will often be in form of mail or shorter talks and will correspond to approx. 20 minutes.

The supervision can be either individual supervisi on or individual supervision in groups. Supervision in groups consists of students assigned to the same supervisor, typically 2 to 3 students. The students will usually have a common thematic or theoretical interest in their projects. The basic idea is that the students receive individual supervision in turns, and that the other students will learn from listening to comments that relate to fellow students' work. Individual supervision in groups will extend the meetings by 45 minutes x 2.

It is still possible for students to receive individual supervision without being in a supervision group, if students or teachers so prefers. However individual supervision without a supervision group can mean that you will not get the supervisor for whom you have applied.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Guidance
  • 4,5
  • Exam
  • 820,5
  • Total
  • 825,0
Not relevant
Credit
30 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, see below
Oral defence, see below under invigilation
Type of assessment details
The oral defence of the thesis will take place after the written thesis has been submitted and is structured as a dialogue between the examinee, the internal assessor and the external examiner. The student begins the defence with an introduction of five to ten minutes. The subsequent dialogue is based on the examined thesis and will include a general anthropological discussion.

Length of oral examination: 45 minutes for one student. For groups of two student the oral exam is 60 minutes. For groups of three students the oral exam is 70 minutes.

For groups writing together it must be clearly indicated which parts of the assignment each of the students has written.

The written exam and the oral exam are given equal weight for the final grade given

Thesis Models
Students must choose one of the following models for doing their master’s thesis:
- Regular master’s thesis
- Scientific article and communication project
- Report
- Visual communication project

 
Regular master’s thesis
A thesis of 129,.600 – 158,.400 keystrokes (+ an additional 36,.450-44,.550 keystrokes per extra group member) with the following main components:
• An introduction giving an account of the theory and methods employed, outlining the anthropological/academic background for the study, its social context, etc.
• Two to five narrative modules in which the empirical material is analyzed with re-spect to the selected theories and relevant contexts. The narrative modules should be written as integrated parts of an overarching argument.
• A conclusion.

Scientific article and communication product
A thesis of 129,.600 – 158,.400 total keystrokes (+ an additional 36,.450-44,.550 keystrokes per extra group member) with the following main components:
• An introduction giving an account of the theory and methods employed, outlining the anthropological/academic background for the study, its social context, etc.
• One article. The article must be targeted for a specific scientific journal. Students must enclose guidelines for the chosen journal.
• A communication product, such as a lead article in a newspaper or a lecture. The product is to be supplemented by a brief outline of the target group and choice of communication format.
• A paper on methods and ethics, giving an account of the methodology chosen and one or several ethical problem that is especially significant for the fieldwork and the project.

Report
A thesis of 129,.600 – 158,.400 keystrokes (+ an additional 36,.450-44,.550 keystrokes per extra group member) with the following main components:
• An introduction giving an account of the theory and methods employed and justify-ing the choice of communication format; outlining the anthropological/academic background for the study, its social context and relations to external parties.
• A consultancy report or communicative text, primarily addressed to an external par-ty, in which a problem from the fieldwork/​project-oriented work (internship) is ana-lyzed. This report is to be supplemented by a brief introduction, in which the format defining the consultancy report is justified.
• A paper, in which a theme or challenge relevant to the project-oriented work (intern-ship) is discussed, targeted for an academic audience.
• A paper on methods and ethics, giving an account of one or more methodological and ethical problems that is especially significant for the fieldwork and the project

Visual communication product
A thesis of 67,.500-82,.500 keystrokes (+ an additional 20,.250-24,.750 keystrokes per extra group member). The thesis must include the following main components, the order and scope of each to be decided in collaboration with the supervisor:
• An introduction giving an account of the theory including theoretical discussions within the anthropology of the chosen communication format, outlining the anthro-pological/​academic background and social context for the study, and justifying the choice of communication format.
• A section on analysis focusing on your analytical approach and choice of theories in analyzing the empirical data.
• A communication production, such as a documentary film or a multimedia produc-tion or a major exhibition with a catalogue. This product is not included in the 67.500-82.500 keystrokes. For film and multimedia productions, the maximum length must be 30 minutes.
• A paper on methods and ethics, giving an account of a methodological and/or an eth-ical problem that is especially significant for the fieldwork and the project besides methodological discussions within the anthropology of the chosen communication format. This paper must also include reflections on the practical possibilities and limitations, which the chosen visual communication format offers.
For more information about see KUnet.
Exam registration requirements

See exam rules in curriculum.

Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Re-exam

Failure to submit the thesis by the deadline stipulated, will count as an examination attempt. The student must within 14 days submit a 2. thesis contract, which is a condition for continued enrollment at the MSc. A new deadline is stipulated 3 months after the approval of the 2. thesis contract. If the student does not deliver the thesis within this deadline, a third attempt may be granted, according to the same rules that stipulated the second attempt.

Criteria for exam assesment

See description of learning outcome. Formalities for Written Works must be fulfilled, read more: MSc Students