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2023/2024

Master's Degree Dissertation

Code: 43969 ECTS Credits: 9
Degree Type Year Semester
4316493 Journalism and Digital Content Innovation OB 0 2

Contact

Name:
Carmina Crusafon Baques
Email:
carmina.crusafon@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.


Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites to be enrolled in the course.
 

 


Objectives and Contextualisation

In the development of the module, the student is required to carry out a guided and supervised research (by a Ph.D. holder) that addresses a specific question or questions on a topic within one of the research areas outlined in the Master's program and aligns with the research lines of one of the research groups in the Department. The module aims to enable the student to present and defend their work before an evaluating committee. The research work should result in a non-trivial contribution to the applied knowledge in the Master's program, specifically in the field of communication sciences.

The objective of the module is to initiate students in conducting research and provide them with the opportunity to acquire the necessary experience to potentially pursue future doctoral research if they are interested.


Competences

  • Apply tools of management, analysis, organisation and planning of information in accordance with objectives and specific information projects.
  • Be able to evaluate inequalities for reasons of sex or gender to design solutions.
  • Design, create and carry out projects of innovation and research in the area of journalism and digital communication.
  • Develop the ability to assess sex and gender inequalities in order to design solutions.
  • Generate innovate and competitive proposals for applied research.
  • Know and evaluate the management and production processes for digital information content, proposing innovative solutions which involve the use of ICT.
  • Knowledge and understanding that provide a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and / or applying ideas, often in a research context.
  • Students can communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously.
  • That students are able to integrate knowledge and handle complexity and formulate judgments based on information that was incomplete or limited, include reflecting on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments.
  • That students have the learning skills that enable them to continue studying in a way that will be largely self-directed or autonomous.
  • Understand and analyse the trends and dynamics of change in the communicative, informative and regulatory ecosystem of the media company in the twenty-first century.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply methodologies and technologies for producing and managing news content in order to develop innovative journalism projects.
  2. Evaluate news projects and products on the basis of Spanish, European and international regulations and legislation.
  3. Explain dynamics of change in the use of technology for producing and managing communicative phenomena from within a research project.
  4. Identify the contributions of gender study to the research topic.
  5. Integrate new languages and innovative tools into workplace dynamics and reflect on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to their use in communicative environments.
  6. Integrate theoretical and practical knowledge into daily workplace tasks of digital news production.
  7. Know and experiment with trends in mobile journalism, data journalism and artificial intelligence applied to everyday practice in journalism production.
  8. Know and use scientific methodologies and procedures applied to the standpoint of a research project.
  9. Know and use the contributions of women and gender studies in the discipline.
  10. Know and use the contributions of women and gender studies to their discipline.
  11. Know how news companies and the media ecosystem have evolved and adopt a critical stance based on the communication policies and regulations being studied.
  12. Know how to carry out a research project with a gender perspective.
  13. Know how to create and use qualitative and quantitative indicators including statistics to gain a better understanding of gender inequalities and differences in the needs, conditions, values and aspirations of women and men.
  14. Know how to distinguish in theoretical and empirical analyses the effects of sex and gender variables.
  15. Know how to identify the role of ICT in the transmission of gender stereotypes and apply measures to avoid them.
  16. Know how to make an inclusive and non-sexist use of language.
  17. Know the structural dynamics of journalistic content positioning on news sharing and search platforms.
  18. Manage the processes for managing, analysing, organising and planning news content, introducing innovative and creative elements into each process.
  19. Produce, compile and interpret empirical data in a gender-sensitive manner.
  20. Propose critical scientific studies to analyse the viability and effectiveness of new digital narrative models in a specific application context.
  21. Propose innovative, creative alternatives that integrate the new participatory, collaborative trends in the narration of digital news content.
  22. Recognise the evolution of the media environment and professional profiles in order to propose leadership roles within a news company.
  23. Recognise the methodologies and technical tools needed to formulate a research project on the dynamics of change in technology for producing and managing communicative phenomena.
  24. Recognise the role of the media, audio-visual productions and advertising in the construction of gender relations and sexual and gender identity.
  25. Understand the basic features of the dynamics of news production in the 21st century and apply them in a simulated work-experience environment.
  26. Understand the different forms of digital narration and the models for organising and presenting news.
  27. Use audience-measurement systems to design tailor-made strategies for positioning news content.
  28. Use the knowledge acquired to formulate original ideas for developing an applied research project.

Content

The course consists of designing and completing a Master's Thesis (TFM) by the students under the supervision of a Ph.D. professor affiliated with the Department of Journalism at UAB. In exceptional cases, with the authorization of the Master's Coordination, external Ph.D. holders may be allowed to supervise the TFM, even if they are not affiliated with the Department of Journalism at UAB.
 

Methodology

The subject includes supervised activities by the assigned director of the Master's Thesis and a set of autonomous activities to achieve the final objective of designing, preparing, and presenting a research project.

For the tutoring of the TFM, tutorials are necessary. The assignment of the teaching staff in charge of the tutorials is carried out no later than December 18 of each course. A minimum of 4 compulsory tutorials has been established that must be carried out before the following dates: 1st before January 20; 2nd before February 24; 3rd before March 25; 4th before April 26. The rest of the tutorials will be carried out at the request of the students and/or teachers, according to the needs of the academic work. In the tutorials, it is mandatory to present new contributions to the ongoing project. Failure to attend these tutorials will empower the faculty to renounce the tutoring of a job that is not carried out within the appropriate academic parameters, and consequently, the affected students will not be able to present their TFM.
 
The suggested structure of the TFM is the following:

A. Cover: the Faculty will make a specific cover format available on its Web page for the development of the TFM with all the data the document must contain.

B. Body of the text:

Introduction: Thematic presentation of the TFM; Objectives and research questions, and justification

Methodological presentation of the TFM: Definition of the type of research; Methodological design (Sample or research corpus)

Theoretical background / State of the matter

Presentation of TFM results

Discussion of the main results

Conclusions

Bibliography

Annexes (if necessary)
 

 

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      
Academic Tutories 5 0.2 1, 3, 8, 20, 23, 28
Type: Supervised      
Preparation of works/reports 20 0.8 1, 3, 2, 25, 26, 7, 8, 11, 17, 18, 5, 6, 21, 20, 22, 23, 28, 27
Type: Autonomous      
Elaboration of the Master's Final Treball 200 8 1, 3, 2, 25, 26, 7, 8, 11, 17, 18, 5, 6, 21, 20, 22, 23, 28, 27

Assessment

The Master dissertations will be submitted on the date established for each academic year, which, as a general rule, is the last working day of the fourth week of June, in electronic format (PDF) according to the instructions on the Faculty's website. They should be sent to the following recipients:

  • The tutor (via email)
  • The members of the evaluation committee, if their composition has been made public (via email)
  • The Master's program coordination (via email)
  • The email address is Masters.oficials.comunicacio@uab.cat (via email)
  • In the virtual campus of the TFM (in the task created by the subject's coordination)

The evaluation of the TFM will be carried out by an evaluation committee consisting of three Ph.D. holders. The TFM tutor is required to provide a report evaluating the TFM, which will be directed to the committee members. If the TFM does not have the tutor's report, the student cannot defend the TFM before the evaluation committee. The committee will deliver the defense minutes and final grade to the coordination, which will enter the grades into Sigma. Once the grades have been entered, they will be made public to the students. Finally, the custody of the defense minutes of the TFM is the responsibility of the academic management.

The defense before the committee will take place during the month of July, on a date assigned each year. The defense of the work is a requirement established by the state regulations regarding the TFM. Failure to attend the defense before the committee will result in a "Not Evaluable" grade.

There is no reevaluation in any of the TFM sessions. This is an agreement of the Faculty Board on February 28, 2014.

The public defense of the work will take place during the first half of July, on a specific date determined by the Master's Committee and announced to the students during the welcome meeting of the corresponding course. Dissertations awarded a grade of 10 will be examined by a committee of three members chosen by the Master's Committee, who will award the corresponding honors, if applicable.

The Master's final work must be original and must specifically reference all sources, both direct and indirect, that have been used as inspiration and/or basis. Citations should be included in the text following the APA system (https://ddd.uab.cat/record/113512).

The evaluation of the TFM will be governed by the assessment criteria established by the AQU (available at http://www.aqu.cat/doc/doc_18533565_1.pdf) to ensure a homogeneous process of identifying the acquired competencies.

In the event of disagreement with the final grade of the TFM, an extraordinary review can be requested, which will be carried out by faculty members who have not been involved in the correction of the TFM. Once the minutes have been finalized, the request must be submitted to the Academic Management of the Faculty, providing arguments regarding specific aspects of the TFM that, in theopinion of the claimant, have not been adequately evaluated by the committee. Incoherent, unjustified, or poorly argued requests will be directly dismissed.

Plagiarism: According to Article 116.10 of the UAB's academic regulations, "If a student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant alteration of the grade for an evaluation activity, the grade for that activity will be 0, regardless of any disciplinary

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Oral presentation of the Final Master's Project 10 0 0 8, 9, 4, 19, 20, 24, 12, 14, 16, 15, 13, 28
Realization and delivery of the Final Master's Project 90 0 0 1, 3, 2, 25, 26, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 4, 5, 6, 19, 21, 20, 24, 22, 23, 12, 14, 16, 15, 13, 28, 27

Bibliography

The supervisor will provide the student with recommended bibliography based on the chosen research topic.
 

Software

There is no specific software for this subject.