Research Project
Also known as: thesis (project)
The purpose of the Research Project is to write a treatise according to the rules and methods current in the field of the Master’s programme.
The Research Project should demonstrate that you:
- are able to produce new scholarly knowledge and insights;
- can share the results with fellow researchers in a coherent way.
Furthermore, the Research Project is based on independent research, refers to relevant literature, assesses earlier work on a chosen topic and contributes to scholarly debate. It should be original work. Any reference to other publications, archival material, or anything else that you used should be made explicit. Quotes should be clearly recognizable.
Set-up Research Project
An HPS Research Project is 37.5 EC* or 52.5 EC in case of an extended Research Project. A thesis will normally consist of around 20-25.000 words, including notes and bibliography, but excluding appendices. It depends on the topic of course: archive-based historical theses may require more words than theoretical philosophical ones.
*You can also choose to do a 15 EC elective internship or extra courses (subject to approval by the Board of Examiners), in combination with a smaller thesis (37,5 EC).
The Research Project is split into two parts:
- Part 1 (15 EC), roughly the first 10 weeks of the project, is concluded with a Go/No Go meeting, usually based on a draft introduction and outline of the planned thesis.
- Part 2 (22,5 or 37,5 EC) is the remainder of the project and is concluded with a thesis colloquium and the final thesis.
Important to know:
- You can choose a topic of your own interest, provided that you can find a supervisor (see ‘Getting started’-page).
- We will organise a ‘thesis topic show’ in which potential supervisors will suggest some topics.
- Once a month, on Monday afternoon, we have meetings with all students who are working on a thesis. We will discuss issues like defining a topic, formulating a research question, organizing your data and of course writing. There will be a lot of room for peer feedback and support. You are expected to participate in these meetings, unless you are doing an internship or international exchange.
Follow these steps (click the pictures/titles below):
Getting started This process is executed before the official start of your Research Project and is excluded from the duration of the Research Project.
Research Project Part 1 Starting on your research and obtaining your first results. Concluded with a Go/No Go meeting.
Assessment Part 2 and wrap-up The process described on this page follows after the process in the step 'Research Project Part 1'
