Undergraduate - UnitAZA4808 - International studies dissertation part A

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	School of Social Science, South Africa
Offered	South Africa First semester 2013 (Day) South Africa Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Anna-Mart van Wyk

Synopsis

Students will be allocated a supervisor with whom they will be expected to meet fortnightly and to whom they should submit drafts of written work on a regular basis. Students, with the guidance of supervisors, will choose a suitable topic with an international or African-centred focus, on which they will be required to write a dissertation of between 15,000-18,000 words during the course of their enrolment in part A and part B of the dissertation.

Outcomes

It is expected that students undertaking the unit will be able to:

Undertake independent research under the guidance of an academic supervisor.
Identify and develop research topics specific to an international or Africa-centred focus.
Identify and develop key research questions.
Pursue a program of research leading to the presentation of a duly completed dissertation.
Demonstrate an ability to develop a sustained, coherent and logical argument within the dissertation.
Demonstrate critical thinking skills through interrogating evidentiary biases.
Demonstrate a command of the literature relevant to the particular area of International Studies under investigation and an understanding of how the research interacts with that literature.
Critically discuss and evaluate both primary and secondary sources that are relevant to the particular question under investigation.
Review and apply to their research relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks that underpin the particular question investigation
Demonstrate an understanding of the methodological issues surrounding approaches to the particular area of International Studies under investigation.
Identify and develop appropriate methodological approaches.