220083 SE SE Master Seminar (2020W)

This is a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence dedicated course. This means that there is a special interest in exploring dimensions of European integration through the study of media. The designation European doe snot explode attention to the rest of the world- it does mean however the study of the ways in which Europe and the world affect each other.

This course is particularly beneficial and suitable for those students who have a strong interest in the role of the media and communication in social change and social justice questions. More specifically, questions which explore the dynamics of several factors which shape what media and communicating processes are and to what extent they serve full and universal notions of citizenship (exercising rights such as freedom of expression, privacy, assembly, voting and participation in public life). These factors can be political economic, institutional, legal, but also can derive from common global, local mass action as for example through social movements such as Extinction Rebellion, Women's March, European Solidarity etc.

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 an appropriate theoretical frame and suitable 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