Academic Research and Practices (5 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

This course familiarises the student with the principles and methods of academic research and academic writing at Master’s level at a university of applied sciences.

After completing the course, the student will

• know the key concepts, rules and ethics of academic research
• know some of the most common research approaches and methods
• be able to analyze academic texts
• have developed their own Research Plan
• be able to choose suitable research methodologies for their research
• plan their research schedule
• create a structure for their thesis

Content (course unit)

• Analysing other thesis works
• Formulating research questions
• Concepts in academic research
• Looking at research approaches and methods
• Tips on how to write a thesis
• Understanding the ethics of using Artificial Intelligence in the thesis writing process
• Familiarisation with TAMK’s thesis writing process
• Producing a Research Plan

Prerequisites (course unit)

None

Assessment criteria, pass/fail (course unit)

In order to pass the course, the student must have been able to complete all the course tasks, develop a Research Plan to a satisfactory degree and have submitted their thesis topic proposal.

Location and time

November 2017 - April 2018

Exam schedules

No exam

Assessment methods and criteria

Student is able to use academic concepts of research, identifies academic texts and is able to analyse them. Student is able to produce thesis/research plan where he/she implements skills of setting research objectives and justification, research questions, data and methods and introduce theoretical background including suitable topic references.

Assessment scale

Pass/Fail

Teaching methods

Lecture, work shop, virtual team working, discussions, individual writing tasks

Learning materials

Will be published during the course

Student workload

5 cr = 135h of work
Pre task + contact day at Tamk 10h
Task February: concepts and theory 50h
Task March: Methodology 35h
Task April: thesis/reasearch plan 40h

Content scheduling

Pre task in November 2017
Contact day at Tamk 18.1.2018
Tasks for February, March and April in Tabula

Completion alternatives

Must be discussed with teacher beforehand

Practical training and working life cooperation

Student selects

International connections

International student teams and working life connections

Further information

Course is mainly virtual including virtual meetings and virtual learning tasks in virtual learning environment.

Assessment criteria - pass/fail (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Student is able to analyse and write academic text and write thesis/research plan on the personal field of study based on thesis instructions. Teacher might ask to fulfill report or thesis/research plan.