220083 SE SE Master Seminar (2019W)

This course should help and accompany you with the composition of your master thesis concept. We will cover all parts of a research concept including research question, choosing the “correct” theoretical frame and methodological approach, handling literature on a state of the art level of research, structure and design of research, and last but not least communicating it. There is no topic limitation on your master thesis. At the end of this course, you should have a master thesis concept ready to be presented to a potential supervisor.
This seminar isn’t about a fixed working program you have to fulfill. The course units should be on the one hand a refresher course on the skills you have learned during your study: Doing communication research on your own. On the other hand, it should help you to focus on a research topic, to acquire state of the art knowledge on this topic, to identify a research gap on this topic, to draft a research design, narrow enough to be done in about 6 months, and to write a concept, so you can acquire a supervisor for further steps.
In order to provide students with assistance for their master thesis concept, the following topics will be discussed in class: Choosing a Research Topic / Finding the Research Gap, Research Resources & Reference Software Theory Building - Creativity - Theoretical Frames, “Correct” Methods (qualitative vs. quantitative) Research Design – Operationalization, Academic Language / Presenting at Conferences Academic, Publishing & Peer Review Process, Ethics in Academic Research