This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.
Master's Degree Dissertation
Code: 44116 ECTS Credits: 122025/2026
| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Media, Communication and Culture | OB | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Maria Corominas Piulats
- Email:
- maria.corominas@uab.cat
Teachers
- Jaime Soriano Clemente
- Mercedes Diez Jimenez
- Maria del Carme Ferre Pavia
- Ana Isabel Fernández Viso
- Marta Maria Roel Vecino
- David Vidal Castell
- Maria Teresa Ferre Panisello
- Nereida Carrillo Perez
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
There are no presrequisites.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Realization of an individual research work, contributing to the scientific field of the communication area, with innovative, original knowledge.
Competences
- Apply advanced techniques in quantitative and qualitative research to the production and reception of communication.
- Be able to evaluate inequalities for reasons of sex or gender to deisgn solutions.
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences
- Display a deep, detailed understanding of theoretical and practical principles within the field of communication and culture.
- Generate proposals that are innovative and competitive.
- Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
- Plan and lead basic and applied research projects in media communication and culture.
- Plan, direct and evaluate policies on culture and communication in both the local and the international fields using the new forms of social communication
- Plan, direct and evaluate public communication projects to meet the needs of institutions, businesses and social organisations.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study
Learning Outcomes
- Adapting the knowledge acquired to new trends of materials and media formats
- Adapting the knowledge acquired to the design of communication campaigns
- Apply techniques of qualitative and quantitative research in communication and combination of both.
- Apply theories of communication appropriate to the problem.
- Assess the results of projects implemented in companies and organizations
- Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialist and non-specialist audiences
- Design and direct comunication projects.
- Design and planning of cultural policies and actions of communication for the resolution of problems
- Efficiently apply the appropriate methodology in relation to the objectives of the research
- Formulate research questions and / or hypotheses to be verified to establish the research strategy
- Generate proposals that are innovative and competitive.
- Identify and be able to analyse the structure causes and effects of violence against women and other gender violence.
- Identify and question the biases, stereotypes and gender roles in the discipline and in professional practice.
- Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
- Integrate theories of communication and culture to the definition of reality.
- Know and use the contributions of women and gender studies in the discipline.
- Know how to collect, systematise, conserve and disseminate information about women, works written by women, documents referring to the laws and policies of equality and those generated by research into gender studies, evaluating gender bias which may be included in existing searches and descriptors.
- Know how to identify the intersection of gender inequality with other inequalities (age, class, race, sexuality and identity/gender expression, functional diversity etc.).
- Know how to identify the role of ICT in the transmission of gender stereotypes and apply measures to avoid them.
- Know how to undertake research with a gender perspective. Know how to distinguish in theoretical and empirical analyses the effects of sex and gender variables. Identify the contributions of gender study to the research topic. Produce, compile and interpret empirical data in a gender-sensitive manner.
- Know how to use inclusive and non-sexist language.
- Learn to make visible the contributions made by women in all areas of society and consider their experience as a documentary source of primary importance.
- Professionally apply the acquired knowledge to solve problems related to social communication
- Recognise the role of the media, audio-visual productions and advertising in the construction of gender relations and sexual and gender identity.
- Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study
Content
The Master's Final Project has to be an original contribution of the student made under the direction of a lecturer from the master's degree.
The TFM can be written and defended in Catalan, Spanish or English.
The Faculty of Communication Sciences sets up the TFM's procedures calendar every academic year. It is published on the Internet: https://www.uab.cat/ca/comunicacio/treball-fi-masterc
For guidance:
End of November: Submission of the proposal of the project
Mid-December: Assignment of supervisors
June: Publication of Boards of evaluation and announcement of day, hour, room of TFM's defenses
TFM submission
July: TFM defense
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Collective tutoring | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 4, 3, 10, 15 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorial meetings with the tutor of the Master's Dissertation | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 2, 9, 4, 23, 3, 22, 16, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 6, 25, 14, 24, 20, 21, 19, 18, 15, 17 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Self-organized work | 285 | 11.4 | 1, 2, 9, 4, 23, 3, 22, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 6, 25, 14, 24, 20, 21, 19, 18, 15, 17 |
1. Between October and November, a joint tutorial will be held with the coordinator of the Master's Degree, Dr. Maria Corominas, to advise students on the individual proposals for Master's Degree Projects.
2. Each student will be assigned a tutor of the master's degree, who will supervise the process of realizing the TFM. The list of tutors of the Master's Dissertation will be made public on the website on December 2025.
3. Each student, in order to defend his/her Master's Dissertation, will have to perform at least four tutorials with his/her director and also will have to sign the tutorial follow-up form.
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.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master Thesis | 85% | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 2, 9, 4, 23, 3, 22, 5, 16, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 6, 25, 14, 24, 20, 21, 19, 18, 15, 17 |
| Public defense of the Master's Thesis | 85% | 1 | 0.04 | 22, 11, 6, 21 |
ASSESSMENT
The submission of the Master Thesis must be accompanied by the consent of the tutor. According to Faculty criteria (https://www.uab.cat/ca/comunicacio/faq-tfm question 21), the tutor will prepare an evaluation report (rubric) to allow the defense of the Master Thesis. The report shall include the tutor's grade, which shall correspond to 30% of the final grade of the Master Thesis. In the event that the tutor's score is less than 4, it will be understood that he/she does not give his/her consent.
The public defense of the Master's Thesis will take place on between 1st-15th July 2026. The day will be announced via web.
Students must publicly defend their Master's Thesis in front of an evaluation committee formed by three lecturers of the master. The evaluation will be carried out by applying the following rubric:
a) Master thesis (85%): global evaluation of the work, use of theories, research methodology and formal aspects.
b) Public Defense of the Master's Thesis (15%): oral explanation, quality of the arguments and debate, ability to defend one's ideas, ability to synthesize and adapt to the allotted time.
According to Faculty criteria (https://www.uab.cat/ca/comunicacio/faq-tfm question 21), the grade awarded by the examining board or commission corresponds to 70% of the final grade of the Master thesis.
REEVALUATION
Pursuant to Article 261 of the UAB Academic Regulations, the Master’s Thesis (TFM) is not subject to the recovery process.
NOT ASSESSABLE
The Master’s Thesis (TFG) will be graded as "Not Assessable" if any of the following three circumstances occurs:
- The supervisor considers that the project does not meet the minimum requirements for submission and assessment.
- The student does not complete the 4 mandatory tutoring sessions and/or, by the deadline established and published on the faculty’s website, has not completed the first 3 mandatory tutoring sessions.
- The student fails to submit the Final Master Thesis.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Master’s Thesis (TFM) supervisor shall determine whether the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is permitted in the TFM, depending on each specific case and the type of TFM, as well as the phases of the work in which such tools are employed and their intended purpose (for example: initial phase (source search), generation of tables and visual representations…). Students must clearly identify any content generated using AI, specify the tools employed, and include a critical reflection on how these technologies have influenced both the process and the final result of the assignment. Failure to disclose the use of AI in this assessed activity will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty to the assignment grade, or more serious sanctions in severe cases.
PLAGIARISM
In the event that the student performs any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation of an evaluation act, this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that couldbe instructed. In the event, that several irregularities occur in the evaluation actsof the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.
Bibliography
Support document: Guía para la elaboración del Trabajo de Fin de Máster. Curso 2025-2026 (available via Campus Virtual, TFM module)
Software
Office programs
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.