Master's Thesis
Code: 43003 ECTS Credits: 10| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4313791 European Integration | OB | 0 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Cristina Blasi Casagran
- Email:
- cristina.blasi@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- spanish (spa)
Prerequisites
Those students who have not previously done a final degree project or similar, should contact the responsible of the subject at the beginning of the course, who will indicate the mandatory readings and activities.
Objectives and Contextualisation
All students have to write a Master thesis (TFM) related to one or more subjects learned during the course. The objective of the TFM is to apply the main aspects and topics of European integration and verify their importance through specific cases.
The TFM is an autonomous academic work that aims to deepen the analysis of the aspect addressed during the course.
The work is expected to serve to:
- develop a hyphotesis or question of interest related to the contents of the modules studied, linking it with the existing academic debates;
- apply the criteria and techniques learned in the modules, either by carrying out own analysis, or by examining the works of other authors.
Competences
- Analyse, synthesise, organise and plan projects and assignments related to the area of study.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Define, design, plan and draw up an original unpublished research project, following the established academic and scientific parameters.
- Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
- Seek out information in the scientific literature using appropriate channels, and use this information to formulate and contextualise a research topic.
- Understand how EU legal and political measures are adopted, and how to interpret and apply them.
- Understand how the different EU policies are drawn up and how they interrelate.
- Understand the workings of EU institutions in order to work and collaborate with them.
- Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse, synthesise, organise and plan projects and assignments related to the area of study.
- Apply the adoption of EU legal and political measures in the master's dissertation
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Describe the content and the relationship between the EU policies to be analysed in the master's dissertation.
- Draw up a research project in keeping with the established academic and scientific parameters.
- Identify the different procedures and working practices and the organisation of European institutions, qualitatively assessing their capacities for action.
- Identify the principal qualitative interdisciplinary methodologies used in research in the social sciences (law, economics, political science and international relations)
- Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
- Seek out information in the scientific literature using appropriate channels, and use this information to formulate and contextualise a research topic.
- Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
Content
The subject of the Master's Thesis will be chosen by the student according to a list that will be provided at the beginning of the course. In the list there will be several current topics related to European integration, as well as the supervisors available for each of these topics.
Some possible topics, for example, could be:
Common Legal Space Module
- Migration policy in the EU
- Security policy in the EU
- Fight against human trafficking in the EU
- European citizenship
- Education policy in the EU
- Multiculturalism in the EU
- Establishment and company rights in the EU
- Internal market law and free movement of persons in the EU
- Fundamental rights of the EU
- Environment policy in the EU
- Cybersecurity in the EU
- Commercial law in the European Union
- Data protection in the EU
-Coordination in the area of information exchange between MS in tax matters
Governance and Economy Module
- Multilevel governance in the EU
- Food safety regulatory systems
- Decision process of the migration crisis in the EU
- Parliamentary oversight of EU agencies
- Public opinion and political participation in the EU elections
- Territorial cooperation in the EU
- EU cohesion policies
- European economic crisis
- Brexit
- EU Free Trade Agreements
- EU economic integration process
EU External Relations Module
- The EU energy policy
- EU-Chinacooperation
- The impact of the external dimension on the Area of Freedom, Security and justice
- EU - Latin America development cooperation
- EU-US data transfers
- Human rights
- EU neighborhood policy
- Environment and sustainability
- The International Labour Organization
- The Silk Road
- Management of migratory flows
- Women rights
The student must have at least 4 follow-up sessions with the assigned supervisor. In addition, several methodological sessions will be carried out during the course with the module coordinator in order to obtain an apprenticeship of the formal and structural elements necessary to carry out a correct TFM.
Methodology
At the beginning of the course students will be provided with a 20-page Guide that gives all the details about the preparation of the Master's Thesis (TFM). The reading of such guide is required by all students in order to write a proper dissertation in terms of format and content.
During the first semester, students will have access to a list of available topics and supervisors, and may choose their thematic preferences for research within the module (s) of specialization they are studying. In October - November the topics will be awarded to each student and they will be in charge of contacting their respective supervisor.
In the first interview with the supervisor, the follow-up conditions and timing for further meetings will be set, and the research topic will be specified. Throughout the periodic meetings that will be arranged between supervisor and student, the first will guide the second on their research and sources. Upon completion of the work by the student, the supervisor will prepare a brief report evaluating the final work of the student.
There will be several compulsory methodological sessions with the coordinator of the module for the learning of the procedure to be followed for the preparation and subsequent presentation of the TFM. The dates for those sessions will be specified at the beginning of the course.
In the month of June will take place the submission of the TFM, and the defenses will be conducted during the first week of July. The jury for the defense will be composed of two lecturers with a Doctor degree, who will be in chargo of evaluating the TFM.
Please note that there is one single call for submitting and defending the TFMs, which will take place during the months of June and July. For students who have are visiting a foreign university within the conditions established by the UAB, there is the possibility to conduct the defense in a diferent day, as long as they can certify that they are still in the foreign university on the date of thedefense.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Methodological sessions | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutoring | 52 | 2.08 | 1, 9, 5, 8, 3, 10 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Master thesis writing | 188 | 7.52 | 2, 9, 5, 4, 6, 8, 3, 10 |
Assessment
By the end of June, students must submit their Master thesis (TFM). For the evaluation of the TFM, time and efford dedicated to the different phases of the elaboration are considered. It is not enough to summarise the material that has been collected and read, nor do a descriptive work of a specific topic. Students are required to study the topic of research in depth and collect bibliography on the subject. Likewise, they are expected to define a feasible question that will guide them throughout the work. Students need to show that they are capable of structuring the work, organize their ideas, find the available material, obtain and analise data; write drafts and take care of the presentation and formal requirements in the final version.
The work should thus be focused on a specific research question and address the importance of this issue in academic debates. This requires proof of:
- knowledge and critical understanding of academic debates on a topic;
- ability to lead the work towards a specific issue;
- ability to establish connections between the theory and concrete examples or cases in practice
If a student who has not submitted their work in due time, a re-enrollment in the TFM module the following course will be required.
Supervisor's report
Once the TFM has been submitted by the student, supervisors must prepare a report, commenting on the following issues:
- Capacity of analysis and synthesis
- Evolution in the learning process of the student
- Evaluation of bibliographic references and other sources of information
- Other comments
Composition and functioning of the defence tribunal
All master thesis will be defended publicly before a tribunal, composed of two professors with doctor degree linked to the field of the work, who will be responsible for evaluating it. The supervisor of the specific master thesis cannot participate inthe tribunal. Details about the day, time and members of the tribunal will be provided during the month of June, and the defences will take place during the first week of July. These dates and times are non-extendable.
Students must publicly present their work, on the assigned date and time, for a maximum of 15 minutes. The use of power point is not essential but encouraged. Once the exposition is over, all or some of the members of the Tribunal may ask questions and comments about the research. Once the defense of the work is concluded, the court will deliberate and transfer the final grade to the coordinator of the module.
Criteria for the evaluation of the TFM
Top score: 10 points
1. Coherence between the working hypothesis and the content of the research (maximum 3 points)
2. Conclusions (maximum 2 points)
3. Appropriate handling of bibliographical references, official documents, legal texts, jurisprudence and other materials (maximum 2 points)
4. Presentation and defense of the work before the tribunal (maximum 2 points)
5. Attendance to the sessions and submission of follow-up activities (maximum 1 point)
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Defence | 20 | 0 | 0 | 4, 7, 3 |
| Written part | 80 | 0 | 0 | 1, 2, 9, 5, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10 |
Bibliography
- Bui, Yvonne N. (1998), How to write a Master’s thesis, Sage Publications Inc, London.
- Cervera, Ángel y Salas, Miguel (1999), Cómo se hace un trabajo escrito, Laberinto, Madrid.
- Clanchy, John y Brigid Ballard (2000), Cómo se hace un trabajo académico. Guía práctica para estudiantes universitarios, Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza, Zaragoza.
- Cuerda Rieza, Antonio (2016), Cum laude. Guía para realizar una tesis doctoral o un trabajo de fin de grado o máster en derecho, Tecnos, Madrid.
- Hanké, Bob (2000), Intelligent Research Design, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Montolío, Estrella (2009), Manual práctico de escritura académica, Ariel, Barcelona.
- Renck Jalongo, Mary & Saracho, Olivia N. (2016), Writing for Publication Transitions and Tools that Support Scholars’Success, Springer, Indiana, PA, USA, ISSN 2366-7672.
- Turabian, Kat (2007), A Manual for Writers of Research Papers. Theses and Dissertations, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Software
The subjeczt does not require any specific software.