Course content

This course provides the students experience in designing and carrying out an independent small research project, in the form of a bachelor's thesis in sociology. The thesis must be written within a sociological topic area, during one semester. The bachelor's thesis constitutes the essential part of the examination.

The teaching in the course supports the preparation and writing of the students' assignments. The teaching therefore follows the research process, from problem statement to completed research report (bachelor's thesis). The students choose the topic for the bachelor's thesis themselves, but this must be approved by the supervisor. We recommend that the students see the thematic choices for their bachelor's thesis in connection with one of the specialization courses that take place in the same academic year.

The supervisor is assigned on the basis of the submitted project sketch. Further information about the design and the deadline for submitting the project sketch is given in connection with the joint teaching at the start of the semester. Supervision is mandatory, and is provided by the teachers in the sociology staff. The guidance is given in groups or individually.

It is possible to base the the thesis empirically on own collected qualitative data, available documents, analysis of existing quantitative data sets, or to write a theoretical thesis. The thesis must follow scientific standards in accordance with reference and research ethic norms.

The bachelor's thesis should be about 15-20 pages long (5600-9300 words). The thesis can, by agreement with the supervisor, be a joint project between 2 or 3 students, but then it should be more extensive and it should be possible to distinguish between the different contributions.

Learning outcome

Knowledge - the student shall:

• be able to work independently with an academic question.
• be able to carry out a project which becomes the basis for a bachelor's thesis. This sociological project shall fulfill the basic demands of scientific production and argumentation.

Skills - the student shall demonstrate the ability to:

• narrow a specific theme, formulate a research problem and carry out an academically defensible analysis and report the results in the form of a bachelor's thesis.
• have a good overview of relevant perspectives and methods of analysis.
• give an oral presentation of her or his own academic work.
• participate in critical, academic discussion on his or her own academic work.
• be able to give and receive constructive feedback.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures/seminars and bachelor's thesis supervision.

Compulsory assignments

• All the activities that are organized in the course are compulsory

Recommended previous knowledge

See required previous knowledge.

Required previous knowledge

60 credits including SOS1002 or equivalent course in research methods. The requirement must be fulfilled to be admitted to the course.

Course materials

To be decided at the start of the course.

Credit reductions