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2020/2021

Master's Degree Dissertation

Code: 44018 ECTS Credits: 15
Degree Type Year Semester
4316560 Translation and Intercultural Studies OB 0 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Patricia Rodríguez Inés
Email:
Patricia.Rodriguez@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)

Prerequisites

Students must have taken the previous modules. 

Objectives and Contextualisation

This 15-credit module is compulsory for all the programme’s students and common to both specialisations. It is the ultimate reflection of everything students have learned in the programme.

The objective of the module is for students to acquire the knowledge and abilities necessary to carry out a final project in the area of translation and intercultural mediation or in that of translation studies and intercultural studies.

Specifically, the aim is for students to be capable of demonstrating a systematic knowledge of basic fields of study and mastery of the associated work methods and skills; using specific support resources for study, work and research appropriately in professional and academic contexts; and solving problems related to their chosen specialisation in new or unfamiliar settings and in wide-ranging or multidisciplinary contexts.

 

Competences

  • Act with social and ethical responsibility.
  • Argue original ideas from an academic perspective.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  • Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  • Develop a critical perspective on one's own and other people's discourses.
  • Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  • Possession of learning abilities which allow for continued study which is largely self-directed or autonomous.
  • Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  • Solve relevant problems related to interculturality and justify the decisions made.
  • Solve relevant translation problems and justify the decisions made.
  • Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Act with social and ethical responsibility.
  2. Apply knowledge acquired to solving the translation problems that occur in the TFM.
  3. Apply knowledge to solving problems of intercultural studies that occur in the TFM.
  4. Apply research methods in translation and intercultural studies to preparing the TFM.
  5. Argue original ideas from an academic perspective.
  6. Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
  7. Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  8. Develop a critical perspective on one's own and other people's discourses.
  9. Formulate judgments on problems relating to an ambit within translation and intercultural studies in preparing the TFM.
  10. Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
  11. Integrate the knowledge and skills acquired to complete the TFM.
  12. Interpret data relating to an ambit within translation and intercultural studies in developing the TFM.
  13. Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
  14. Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.

Content

Every project must include:

- A 150-word abstract in Catalan, English and Spanish.

- Five keywords.

- A table of contents.

- An introduction stating the object of study, the project’s objectives, motives for the choice of subject, structure, dissertation structure, etc. 

- A theoretical framework, specialised literature review or description of the state of the art (main research carried out or sources of the theoretical and methodological perspective involved).

- Research methodology (methods used, stages of research, corpus, subjects, etc.)

- Analysis (depending on the specialisation). For instance, translations and analysis of and commentary on translations, etc.

- Conclusions.

- Scope for future research.

- Bibliography.

- Appendices.

Length: approximately 75 pages.

Methodology

Project methodology: translation studies specialisation


This specialisation’s research projects are intended to be the first stage of a subsequent PhD thesis. They may involve reviewing scientific literature relevant to the object of study, establishing the state of the art, making an initial proposal of hypotheses to further knowledge of the chosen subject, etc.

Every such project must open with a well-defined research question and details of its relevance. Any hypotheses to be tested and the methodological criteria to be used to that end must then be set out. Projects must draw on the specialised literature available and answer the questions they have posed.

Project methodology: translation and intercultural mediation specialisation

Final projects corresponding to this professionally-oriented specialisation involve performing translations (or other professional assignments related to the master’s degree) and subsequently carrying out a detailed analysis of them, applying the content studied and skills acquired in the programme. Students may work on a simulated assignment of their choosing or a real assignment managed through an agreement with a collaborating organisation. In either case, they must spend approximately 100 hours translating and devote the module’s remaining hours to writing up their project. 

 

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Supervised      
Work on final project supervised by tutor 150 6 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 10, 13, 6, 7
Type: Autonomous      
Unsupervised work on final project 225 9 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 10, 13, 6, 7, 14

Assessment

All information on assessment, assessment activities and the proportion of the final mark they represent is merely a guide and may vary depending on the nature of each final project.

If a panel wishes to award a final project a distinction, its members must make a proposal to that effect on the marking form and give their reasons for doing so in an accompanying report. The programme and module coordinators will make a decision on each such proposal. 

Review:

The mark awarded by the panel will be final. No reviews are envisaged. 

Classification as “not assessable”:

If the assessment activities a student has performed account for 25% or less of the final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable".

Misconduct: 

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of 0 for the activity in question. Misconduct in more than one assessment activity will result in a final mark of 0 for the module.

Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Oral defence of project 20% 0 0 5, 9, 6
Written final project / Adequacy of the project's contributions and results 40% 0 0 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 10, 13, 6, 7, 14
Written final project / Linguistic correctness 15% 0 0 10, 6
Written final project / Relevance of of bibliography 10% 0 0 4
Written final project / Structure, clarity and systematisation of information 15% 0 0 4, 11

Bibliography

Bell, Judith. Cómo hacer tu primer trabajo de investigación. Gedisa, 2002.

Sanz, María Paz García, and Pilar Martínez Clares. Guía práctica para la realización de trabajos fin de grado y trabajos fin de máster. Editum, 2012.

Muñoz-Alonso, Gemma, and Gemma Muñoz-Alonso López. Cómo elaborar y defender un trabajo académico en humanidades. Del trabajo de fin de grado al trabajo de fin de máster. Bubok, 2015.

Cunha, Irida da. El trabajo de fin de grado y de máster: Redacción, defensa y publicación. Editorial UOC, 2016.