Universität Wien

150093 SE Research Seminar and Monitoring Class for the Master's and PhD Thesis (2025W)

10.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 15 - Ostasienwissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes

The first class is on October 2. You will be provided a syllabus, and we will review the course outline and expectations. I will introduce myself and ask you to do the same. All minimum requirements and assessment criteria will be discussed in the first lecture. Questions related to these criteria (defined and discussed below) should be raised then. Continuing this course after the first lecture indicates that students understand class requirements and expectations. Attending the first class is thus essential.

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The seminar is an important step in guiding the preparation of an MA or PhD thesis in East Asian Economy and Society (EcoS). Students enrolled in language courses and regular seminars (e.g., first and second-semester EcoS students) are not advised to enroll in this course. To make it as efficient and effective as possible for you, it should be attended in the third or fourth semester of the MA program, or at the beginning of the PhD program.
Importantly, you must already have a topic for your thesis in mind.
The seminar leads you through the key components of the theoretical part of your thesis. As such students should be in a position to and prepared to spend significant time working on their thesis throughout the semester. By the end of the semester students will have completed the theoretical part of their thesis (research question, relevance, literature review, and analytical framework.)

Make sure to have watched + understood the related Youtube videos, available at
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrjd90J0GnYYOW4QSiaeGew

The tasks to be completed during the seminar include: Presenting and defending your topic/title and research question; the relevance of your research question; the structure of your literature review; your literature review; your analytical framework.

Classes will focus on reviewing and discussing the assignments submitted by students in a manner that will benefit all students with the development of the theoretical part of their thesis. Students will also be expected to review examples of research design and participate in evaluating them in class.

Assessment and permitted materials

Workload and Assessment
You will have to fulfil a total of five assignments. Each of them counts as a minimal requirement and must be graded at least "4" in order to pass the course.
Details on each assignment will be available on Moodle.
Assignment 1: Topic/title and research question.
Assignment 2: Relevance of your RQ.
Assignment 3: Structure of the literature review.
Assignment 4: Literature review.
Assignment 5: Analytical Framework.
Late submission: Late submission is not allowed. Failure to submit on time will result in grade 5, which means you will fail the whole course.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The final grade for the course will thus be calculated as follows:
Assignment 1: 10%
Assignment 2: 20%
Assignment 3: 20%
Assignment 4: 25%
Assignment 5: 25%

Examination topics

See above

Reading list

Some guiding texts on research will be provided by the instructor. Most reading will be determined by the student in accordance with their thesis topic.

Association in the course directory

WM5

Last modified: Th 25.09.2025 16:26