Intensive courses

Intensive course I

Credits: each 6.00
Language: English
Periodicity: Taught in the second semester
Contact: ulrike.vogl@ugent.be

Theoretical-descriptive paper (min. 15 pages):

Possibilities:

attending of intensive courses, e.g. LOT winter school or summer school (http://www.lotschool.nl/index.php?p=10)
attending of presentations (conferences, workshops, or masterclasses such as those organized at UGent)
internship in research group which your thesis relates to (participating in development of data-collection, methodological and theoretical reflection, attending all talks put on by group, etc.)

As the ‘model’ of this research initiation is the ‘intensive course’, 2 intensive courses (+/- 20 hours) can be taken as a norm. Conference attendance, attending talks, discussions in research group, etc. should also add up to at least 20 contact hours.

For each of these talks/seminars, make sure you get a handout if there is one. Make notes, participate in the discussion, etc.

The paper itself consists of

a) Synthesis of insights acquired during intensive course/internship
On the basis of the handouts and your personal notes, it should be possible to synthesize and integrate everything you have learned about your theoretical/methodological topic of interest during the intensive course/internship.

b) Further study of recent developments in the literature

This synthesis should then form the basis for further personal study and exploration of the most recent developments in the area of research you are interested in. For instance, if you find the approach of a specific scholar, or of a network of scholars, highly relevant to your research, then you will have to follow up on this, and read more of their recent work.

The paper will thus be based partly on the talks or lectures you have attended and partly on further reading, and it should also reflect your own thinking about the topic.

Make sure you get supervision from one of the Advanced MA-teachers to delineate and develop the topic of the intensive course paper

Intensive course II

Credits: each 6.00
Language: English
Periodicity: Taught in the second semester

Personal data-based research (min. 15 pages)

You will also have to carry out a piece of personal research inspired by your intensive course experience. This piece of research has to involve data analysis of some sort (e.g. corpus or dictionary data). You are very welcome to work on your own language, or the language that is the focus of your personal research. However, the topic of this research paper should not be the same as that of your thesis. (This data-based paper should not be a chapter of your thesis, so to speak.)

Make sure you get supervision from one of the Advanced MA-teachers to delineate and develop the topic of the intensive course paper.

Intensive course III

Credits: each 6.00
Language: English
Periodicity: Taught in the second semester

Project proposal

The student writes a project proposal under supervision of their supervisor (or any Advanced-MA teacher). The proposal which will be submitted to the FWO, BOF, or to another (foreign) research foundation. This proposal will outline the student’s future PhD research (state of the art, objectives of the research, methodology, work plan, bibliographical references). The topic of this research may be, but must not be, related to the topic studied in the master paper.