6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1024183BNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Je hebt 'Onderzoeksmethoden voor de politieke wetenschappen: werkcollege II' en 'Politicologie: algemene inleiding' gevolgd, alvorens dit opleidingsonderdeel op te nemen.
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Political Science
Educational team
Dimokritos Kavadias (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
12 contact hours Lecture
138 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

In this seminar we focus on political sociology. We start from contemporary and annually changing political themes and study them from a political sociological point of view. Possible themes that will be discussed are political socialization, youth and politics, political participation, and political attitudes. Through interactive discussion sessions and their own research, students develop the academic and research skills to write a scientific paper independently.

Additional info

The course material will be made available on Canvas.

The specific dates for each of the sessions, and the deadline for the paper will be specified in the syllabus on Canvas.

This course cannot be followed under a credit contract because it involves a paper that completes the bachelor's program.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

In General:

The student is familiar with the common theories and concepts in political science literature. The student acquires problem-solving skills in order to analyse real life problems studied by political scientists. The student is able to suggest possible solutions or ways to obtain answers. This implies a critical scientific attitude towards existing sources, opinions, and theories. Students learn to draw conclusions and to communicate to a public of peers.

More specifically:

  • Student are familiar with methods and techniques used by political scientists to research policy- and decision-making processes as well as social developments, and know for what types of questions these can be applied;
  • Students are able to translate a political problem in a political scientific research question, under supervision;
  • Students can autonomously find information and political science literature resources and refer to them correctly;
  • Students are able to make an adequate methodological choice in order to answer a political scientific research question under supervision;
  • Students are able to elaborate a research design and to formulate the necessary steps in a research-plan under supervision;
  • The student is able, under supervision, to implement a research design in order to answer a political science research question scientifically;
  • The student is able to reflect critically on contemporary political problems and policy evolutions;
  • Students are able to write, under supervision, a clear research report, and are also able to explain orally their research in a comprehensible and scientifically correct way to peers;
  • Students are able to develop autonomously an argumentation and formulate and defend their position;
  • The student cultivates a scientific integrity and an intellectual curiousity;
  • The students are critical of fashionable opinions, explanations, or seemingly self-evident statements. They stay critical of their own judgments and biases.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Bachelor thesis determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Bachelor thesis category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Bachelor Paper with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The assessment consists of the following assignment categories:

  • Written paper: 75%
  • Oral presentation paper: 10%
  • Active participation and effort in group sessions in semester 1 and 2: 15%

De partial exam results for the 'written paper' and 'oral presentation' are transferred to the second session if the student obtains a 10/20 or more for the respective assignment.

Second session exam is not possible for the aspect 'active participation and effort in group sessions'. The mark for this aspect will be transferred to the second session exam. Absence for the aspect 'active participation and effort in group sessions' leads to a mark '0' for that assignment.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: Political Science Minor Minor Education (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: Political Science Minor Minor Sociology (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: - afstudeerrichting politieke wetenschappen, minor communicatiewetenschappen (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: - afstudeerrichting politieke wetenschappen, minor geschiedenis (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Political Science and Sociology: - afstudeerrichting politieke wetenschappen, minor bedrijfseconomie (only offered in Dutch)