210088 SE BAK14 Bachelor’s Seminar and Bachelor’s Thesis (2025S)

OVERVIEW:
This course will guide and support you in writing your Bachelor’s Thesis. The first sessions will tackle some foundations of academic practice (e.g., developing a research question, making a scientific argument, open science practices, academic writing), reestablish some methodological basics (e.g., ranging from causality, to survey methodology, experiments, or qualitative interviews), and share inspiration (e.g., what are cool topics, why do we do this at all?). The later sessions will be 1:1 sessions (on Zoom), focusing on your thesis. This course aims to assist you in producing a high-quality Bachelor’s thesis, provide you with skills for your career, and to be insightful and fun.

For you to make the most of your thesis, it’s vital to register for a course where your interests align with the teacher’s expertise. My expertise is in political psychology (e.g., identities, emotions, citizens’ apolitical life) and public opinion and political behavior research (e.g., radical right voting, polarization, prosocial behavior) with an empirical focus (i.e., (natural and online) experiments, survey research, text analyses, but also positivist qualitative methods). See my website for more information: https://lucaversteegen.com
Please only register for this course if you think that our interests align.

CONTENTS:
This course comes in two parts.
In the first part of the course, we will have class meetings. During these meetings, we’ll discuss some general questions of academic practice (e.g., developing a research question, making a scientific argument, open science practices, academic writing), reiterate some methodological foundations (e.g., ranging from causality, to survey methodology, experiments, or qualitative interviews), and collect ideas for thesis topics. Each of these sessions will be a combination of lectured materials and group or individual exercises. Even in these early sessions, the focus will be on getting you to work independently on your research projects. Therefore, for sessions 2-5, you’ll be asked to read and summarize two academic (preferably empirical) papers. I will not grade these summaries but they are mandatory and to be uploaded in a shared folder on moodle. These summaries are very helpful for you a.) as a practice to quickly understand papers and b.) get an overview of a vast body of literature without having to read too much. Moreover, I expect everyone to be active in class, helping your fellow students to develop their project. While I will not grade participation, Table 1 provides an overview of the kind of participation I’m hoping for.
In the second part of the course, we will have 1:1 meetings. Writing a Bachelor’s thesis requires independent and committed work, but it also requires good guidance. Therefore, you are required to schedule at least two “Official 1:1 Meetings” with me to discuss your ideas, progress, problems, etc. These official meetings will be graded based on whether you were prepared for these meetings. If you want to have additional 1:1 meetings, you may schedule up to three additional meetings (depending on your needs). These voluntary meetings won’t be graded but obviously, I expect you to be prepared, nonetheless. All 1:1 meetings will be conducted on Zoom.

AIMS:
This course has three aims:
1. To develop your knowledge of and ability to critically evaluate theories of and evidence in political science. This includes primarily subfields like public opinion, political behavior, and political psychology.
2. To develop your ability to independently prepare, conduct, and evaluate academic work in political science.
3. To develop your reading, writing, presentation, and social skills. These skills are meant to be useful throughout your career.