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Guidelines for BSc Theses at the section Sociology and Anthropology of

Development

Version: 2016

This document is meant as a guideline for students that (intent to) do a BSc Thesis with RSO and/ or

SDC. It offers the student insight in the section’s specific procedures and expectations. This document

should be seen as a supplement to the course outlines (‘studiewijzers’) provided by their specific

programmes.

@RuralsociologyW

Rural Sociology Group

www.ruralsociologywageningen.nl

www.wageningenur.nl/rso All RSO courses

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BSc Thesis Sociology of Development and Change or Rural Sociology Theses Bachelor International Development Studies (BIN)

YSS-82812 BSc Thesis Sociology of Development (SDC and RSO)

YSS-83812 BSc Thesis Communication, Technology and Policy (SDC)1 Bachelor Health and Society (BGM)

YSS-84312 BSc Thesis Health and Society (RSO) Within other BSc Programmes there exist opportunities for co-supervised theses by SDC or RSO staff members. However, this happens in consultation with the first responsible chair group within your study programme. Therefore, if RSO or SDC isn’t part of your programme, first get in touch with the chair group that is eligible to supervise you. Here you can discuss the desirability of and possibilities for co-supervision. Language Dutch or English

Credits 12

Period 6

Contact persons

For general questions related to your thesis and study programme get in touch with your study advisor.

For questions related to a thesis within the section Sociology and Anthropology of Development (SDC or RSO) and/ or to schedule an intake, get in touch with our Education Coordinator Miriam Vreman: Miriam.Vreman@wur.nl

o Note: a first intake with the education coordinator is mandatory.

Do you want to participate in the Thesis Ring? Please contact: Miriam Vreman, Miriam.Vreman@wur.nl

Supervisor(s) SDC Staff and PhDs RSO Staff and PhDs Check our websites for a complete overview Examiner(s) Prof. Dr. Bram (B.E.) Büscher (SDC) Prof. Dr. Ir Han (J.W.M.) van Dijk (SDC) Prof. Dr. Ir. Han (J.S.C.) Wiskerke (RSO) Secretariat

Secretariat Section Sociology of Development and Change; De Leeuwenborch (building 201);

Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen; Diana Dupain and Sanne Hannink; Room 3052; Tel :

0317-(4)82075; secretariaat.sade@wur.nl

1 BIN Students doing the major Communication, Technology and Policy can do their Anthropology of Law thesis

with SDC.

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Introduction

This guideline is meant for students who intend to do their BSc thesis under supervision of

the chair groups Sociology of Development and Change and/ or Rural Sociology, that

institutionally make up the section Sociology and Anthropology of Development (SADE). This

guideline is specifically meant for the students of the BSc ‘Internationale

Ontwikkelingsstudies’ and the BSc ‘Gezondheid en Maatschappij’. Within the BIN

programme, students with the Major A ‘Sociology of Development’ have unconditional

access to do their thesis at both SDC and RSO. Also, students doing the Major C

‘Communication, Technology and Policy’ can do their thesis with SDC, when having a focus

on the Anthropology of Law. Students of the BGM programme can do a thesis with RSO.

If you are you doing another BSc and would you like to do a thesis under supervision of RSO

or SDC staff, please get in touch with a chair group that is eligible to supervise you first. Here

you can discuss the desirability of and possibilities for co-supervision.

Aim of a BSc Thesis The student has to study, by means of a literature review (if desired supplemented by

empirical research), a subject within the field of the major and prove to have sufficient

knowledge to critically analyse and summarise the given subject. The subject will be

determined in consultation with the thesis supervisor. The student has to define the research

problem and formulate research questions in a proper way, deal with the logistics of carrying

out such an individual research project, plan and schedule the different activities in a decent

way, and present the results in writing in a clearly organized report.

Learning outcomes After completing the BSc Thesis the student is expected to be able to:

formulate a research problem and do (literature) research according to scientific

standards;

integrate knowledge from various sources and apply theoretical knowledge obtained

in the study;

work individually and independently in scientific research (under supervision);

plan and carry out such work within the available time;

report in writing in a clear and understandable way;

defend the results of such work orally.

(Source: WUR Study Handbook 2015/2016)

! Note on the aim of a BSc thesis and its learning outcomes: empirical research is almost never part of a BSc thesis under our supervision, as the ECTS assigned to the thesis and the learning outcomes to be assessed do not allow the student to engage in a sophisticated form of qualitative data collection. Some other chair groups engage in quantitative data analysis for a BSc Thesis, however this does not fit well within our common research practice. Therefore, doing a thesis at RSO or SDC is nearly always based on literature research.

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Preparatory Steps Assumed prerequisite knowledge BIN Students

All BIN students are expected to have completed at least two courses within their Major

before being allowed to start with their BSc Thesis. Furthermore, BIN students are expected

to have completed the ‘Skills Lab’ (Vaardigheden Traject) organised by their programme.

BIN Major – A ‘Sociology of Development’

A minimum of two of the following courses: o ENP-31806 Globalization and Sustainability of Food Production and

Consumption; o RSO-21306 Policy, People and Resources in Comparative Perspective; o RSO-30806 The Sociology of Farming and Rural Life; o SDC-30306 Sociological and Anthropological Perspectives on Development

BIN Major – C ‘Communication, Technology and Policy’ A minimum of two of the following courses:

o LAW-21306 Law and Public Power; o CPT-21806 Communication and Policy Making; o CPT-22806 Innovation Management and Cross-Disciplinary Design; o CPT-30806 Social Justice, Technology and Development.

All BIN Students:

BIN Vaardigheden Traject BGM Students In order to have permission to start with your thesis you need to have finished at least: B1, 5/6 of B2 and a minimum of one B3 course.

Thinking about a Topic Before getting in touch with the SADE education coordinator you are expected to have

already thought about a possible research topic and put on paper some initial ideas for

research. Think about courses you liked, themes you find interesting, current affairs that

grasp your attention or questions you want to see answered. Consequently start exploring

these topics in order to narrow down your field of interest and possible focus. It can be that

your ideas are still vague but we want to stimulate you to prepare yourself in time. Check

also our website and bulletin board for possible thesis vacancies.

See Annex A for some tips.

Finding a Supervisor When you have some ideas for your research you fill in the Thesis Intake Form (Annex B) and

get in touch with the SADE education coordinator to schedule an Intake. During this intake

the education coordinator helps you to narrow down your ideas and will assign you a thesis

supervisor. Note that we aim to find you the most suitable supervisor and you are able to

express your preferred supervisor. However, assigning a supervisor will be based on 1) your

research topic, 2) geographic location of case study, and 3) availability of the supervisor.

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The Actual Research Supervisor – Proposal

When you have found your BSc Thesis Supervisor you further discuss the topic of your thesis

and how to translate your ideas into a proposal. In this phase you will fill in the BSc Thesis

Contract (see Annex C) in which you make concrete agreements about the thesis subject,

time-planning, assessment etc. There need to be three copies of this contract, one needs to

go to your study advisor, one needs to be handed in at the SADE secretariat and one copy is

for the student. Note that it is your supervisor’s responsibility to make sure that the contract

arrives at the secretariat and it is the student’s responsibility to make sure that the contract

arrives with study advisor.

! Note: if you have a specific deadline in mind for your thesis make this clear from

the beginning. The BSc thesis most often takes place just before the summer holidays and

staff members might have a holiday planned (or are away for research). Discuss these issues

while filling in your thesis contract to avoid ungrounded expectations or miscommunication.

While the content- specific requirements of the proposal have to be determined in discussion

with your supervisor, in Annex D you can find an outline for a proposal. At this point it is

advisable to make a thesis outline –as part of your proposal- in order to have a clear idea

where your thesis is going and what kind of information you want to put in each chapter.

Furthermore, the thesis outline is a good starting point to discuss the frequency, timing and

the kind of feedback your supervisor can/ will give on various aspects of your thesis.

Writing the Report

Based on your research proposal and thesis outline you now continue with the (literature)

research in order to answer your research question(s). While the exact content of each thesis

varies. Keep in mind that a good research proposal and thesis outline really helps you to

structure your argument (and thesis).

A basic report outline can be found in Annex E, and in Annex F you can find an example of

the main expectations of a good BSc Thesis within SADE. The latter summarises the different

elements that make up a research report. However, in deliberation with your supervisor

some elements might be stressed more than others. Therefore, it is advised to keep these

annexes in mind and to discuss the different elements (and their relative importance) with

your thesis supervisor.

! Note on plagiarism

Please be aware that the University and the Chair Group consider Plagiarism a serious

offence which may result in exclusion from examination or graduation. Plagiarism, defined by

the Oxford Dictionaries as: “the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing

them off as one’s own”2, is considered to be a serious fraud. Plagiarism can occur deliberately

and accidental, however the sanctions –based on WUR policy - are severe. Plagiarism

scanners are used to check your thesis. All forms of fraud are reported to the WU

2 Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/plagiarism

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Examination Committee. We strongly advise you to take plagiarism seriously and make sure

you do proper referencing. Take a look into the following documents that provide some

guidelines in avoiding plagiarism.

Rules and Regulations of the Examining Boards WUR 2015-2016, see chapter 6 on

Fraud.

ENP Plagiarism Statement, adopted by de WU.

WU Library Page on writing and citing

! Note on copyright

The usage of pictures or images without proper permission by the author constitute a breach

of copyright. These actions are not permitted under civil law. Consequently, by violation the

claims can be high.

More information:

WUR Intranet Alert on Copyright and Image issues

Examination

The thesis needs to be submitted in PDF with your supervisor (and second reader). It is SADE

policy to hand in your thesis with the secretariat (with a copy to your supervisor). Our

secretariat will provide your supervisor with a plagiarism report and a printed copy if

requested by your supervisor and/ or examiner. Your supervisor is responsible for

interpreting the plagiarism report provided by the secretariat and hereby providing a go/ no

go for your final examination.

The assessment of your thesis will be based on the specific requirements of the BSc Thesis

Assessment Form (see Annex G). Your supervisor will take into consideration the thesis

report as well as the research process. A second reader or examiner assesses the report as

such. The supervisor and second reader discuss the evaluation results and the final mark in a

final meeting.

The timing of handing in the final version and the planning of your final evaluation meeting

needs to be discussed with your supervisor. Take in mind that a week is a reasonable amount

of time needed by your supervisor and a second reader to evaluate your report, plan the final

meeting and allow the final grade to be submitted to the student administration. Realise that

grades will only be entered into the system on working days, and there are specific deadlines

attached to filing the grades into the system and your participation in the graduation

ceremony (See BSc Graduation Schedule for specific data).

BGM students are obliged to conclude their thesis with a presentation (colloquium). Most

often these presentations take place at the end of the thesis trajectory. We aim to cluster as

many BGM thesis presentations as possible at the end of period 6. Check the “BSC Thesis

YSS-84312 Studiewijzer” for the exact requirements formulated by the programme. Get in

touch with the SADE education coordinator to schedule your colloquium.

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! Note: It is your supervisor’s responsibility to send your assessment form to the

secretariat so they can administer your final grade. A digital version of your thesis will be

archived at SADE and it will be forwarded to the Wageningen Digital Library as part of the

student report open access principle. If there is any confidentiality issue with regards to the

content of your thesis, please mention this explicitly in your e-mail to the secretariat.

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BSc Thesis Ring (2015-2016)

For the second year SADE organises a ‘thesis ring’ for those Bachelor students interested in

some extra structure and guidance during the sixth period.

A thesis ring is a peer review system under supervision of one of our staff members. The ring

assists you in the writing process of your thesis and the acquirement of skills to give and

receive feedback on a thesis proposal, a draft chapter and a draft version of your discussion/

conclusion. The rationale behind the system is that a lot of students face similar difficulties

when writing their thesis, with limited opportunities to ask supervisors for feedback. At the

other hand, many supervisors give similar feedback to their students, mostly centred around

the writing process. Secondly, some students experience difficulties with the ‘unstructured’

nature of the thesis writing process and the peer review helps in giving some additional

structure.

Last year we experimented with a pilot thesis ring in which eight BIN students participated.

Students were pleased by the extra support and feedback they received on their writing and

appreciated to be able to learn from other examples. At the same time, the ring was said to

facilitate one’s time planning considerably.

This year we decided to continue with the thesis ring based on the evaluations with the

students, supervisors and ring tutor and improve it with the insights their feedback provided.

A thesis ring, what is it? A thesis ring consists of (max) 8 students who work (simultaneously)

on their thesis with a thesis ring tutor guiding the feedback process. The ring is scheduled to

meet 9 times during period 6 for one or one-and-a-half hour in order to discuss the writing

process. The planning of the ring is flexible, whilst a preliminary schedule is presented on the

next page the actual program will be determined with the group according to actual thesis

process (thus your needs).

A thesis ring, how does it work? Two or three students bring in a document during the

meeting on which he/ she will receive feedback by peers. Each student is allowed to submit

three documents to the ring in the course of the sixth period: a draft proposal, a draft

chapter and a draft ‘discussion/ conclusion’. Students hand in their document a day before

the ring takes place, and peers will read in advance to provide good feedback. The student

will be provided with structured feedback according to the feedback requirements we will

put on blackboard. In this way students learn more about our expectation of a good thesis

and good thesis writing, while also learning how to critically examine others’ work. The

students can use this additional feedback to improve draft products, while also learning from

the process of giving feedback. Each thesis ring is chaired by the same thesis ring supervisor

that guides the feedback process and will intervene when feedback is inappropriate.

Furthermore, the thesis ring supervisor will coordinate the planning of the different meetings

In principle, feedback is given orally and the student will then use the feedback to improve

the quality of the proposal or report. Ultimate aims of the ring are to improve the quality of

draft products that students hand in to their thesis supervisor, to assist students in

frequently encountered dilemmas that characterise the writing process of a BSc thesis, and

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to stimulate effective time planning. The ring is not a substitute for the supervision by a

thesis supervisor. As the ring operates next to the content-specific feedback a student will

receive from his/ her supervisor. The ring explicitly aims to facilitate the writing process,

especially in relation to structure, argumentation, consistency etc.

A thesis ring, how does it work? We ask from thesis ring participants that they are prepared

to start to think about their thesis, topic and supervisor in period 5 so that they are able to

start writing their proposals from the first day of period 6. Furthermore, we ask from these

students to be committed to the ring. It is not possible to quit and to miss appointments. We

ask you to come prepared. This will be made explicit in your thesis contract with your

supervisor. In compensation we do offer more feedback opportunities, your participation in

the ring will be ‘graded’ as part of the research competence, and we expect that participation

in the ring will facilitate time-management of your thesis.

Time planning:

In order to have a thesis ring that works we ask you to be pro-active with thinking about your

topic and finding a supervisor in order to be able to start effectively at the beginning of the

sixth period. The following scheme indicates what we expect you to do before the ring starts.

What When How

Thinking about topic and supervisor Early in Period 5 Own Initiative

Explicit commitment to thesis ring Week 33 Send e-mail to: Miriam Vreman

Introduction meeting thesis ring Week 35 or 36 Miriam will schedule meeting

Signing of thesis contract with supervisor

Week 36 (8) the latest Own initiative

Start meetings of thesis ring Week 38 (2) Thesis Ring

Last meeting of thesis ring Week 44 (8) Thesis Ring

Preliminary Schedule and Submission Deadline Thesis Ring 2016 Tutor: Rosa de Vos

Period 5

April Introduction Meeting

Week 7 or 8

Period 6

Week 1

Free

Week 2

Tuesday 17 May Wednesday 18 May

3048, 13.30-15.00 3011, 13.30-15.00

Meeting 1 Review proposal 1 Review proposal 2

Review proposal 3

Meeting 2 Review proposal 4 Review proposal 5

Review proposal 6

Deadline: Monday 16 May 12.00h Deadline: Tuesday 17 May 12.00h

Week 3

Monday 23 May Tuesday 24 May

3048, 13.30-15.00 3048, 13.30-15.00

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Meeting 3 Review proposal 7 Review proposal 8 Review proposal reserve

Reserve Date

Deadline: Sunday 22 May 12.00h Deadline: Monday 23 May 12.00h Week 4

Free

Week 5

Monday 6 June Tuesday 7 June

3011, 13.30-15.00 3048, 13.30-15.00

Meeting 4 Review chapter draft 1 Review chapter draft 2 Review chapter draft 3

Meeting 5 Review chapter draft 4 Review chapter draft 5 Review chapter draft 6

Deadline: Sunday 5 June 12.00h Deadline: Monday 6 June 12.00h

Week 6

Monday 13 June Tuesday 14 June

3048, 13.30-15.00 3048, 13.30-15.00

Meeting 6 Review chapter draft 7

Review chapter draft 8 Review chapter reserve

Reserve Date

Deadline: Sunday 12 June 12.00h Deadline: Monday 13 June 12.00h

Week 7

Monday 20 June Tuesday 21 June

3048, 13.30-15.00 3048, 13.30-15.00

Meeting 7 Review conclusion/ discussion 1 Review conclusion/ discussion 2 Review conclusion/ discussion 3

Meeting 8 Review conclusion/ discussion 4 Review conclusion/ discussion 5 Review conclusion/ discussion 6

Deadline: Sunday 19 June 12.00h Deadline: Monday 20 June 12.00h

Week 8

Monday 27 June Tuesday 28 June

3011, 13.30-15.00 3048, 13.30-15.00

Meeting 9 Review conclusion/ discussion 7

Review conclusion/ discussion 8 Review conclusion/ discussion reserve

Reserve Date

Deadline: Sunday 26 June 12.00h Deadline: Monday 27 June 12.00h

Do you want to have more information or register yourself for the thesis ring 2016, please

send an e-mail to our Education Coordinator(Miriam.Vreman@wur.nl)

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Annex A: Thinking about a topic

When starting to think about a possible topic for your BSc thesis please keep in mind that the

thesis has the character of a literature study. The goal of a literature study varies according

to your field of interest:

Exploration of available literature;

Giving updated overview of recent developments;

A critical analysis of existing theories;

A critical analysis of discrepancies between different authors/ schools;

Connecting different research results or theoretical outcomes;

A historical-analytic contemplation;

Testing literature, theories, concepts or thoughts to empirical situations or empirical

representations (databases).

But before you can think about how exactly you are going to select and analyse the

literature, you have to come up with a research topic and (eventually) research question.

Many students expect from the thesis contact person and their supervisor to assist them in

finding a topic. However the main workload of this initial phase is highly dependent on the

students’ interests and therefore you should first think about a topic yourself.

Brainstorm phase

What topics, themes or issues do you find interesting?

What courses did you like and why?

What kind of ‘news items’ or issues grasp your attention?

What kind of topic or issue would you like to know more about?

Operationalisation phase

The most common problem in this phase is that topics of interest stay rather broadly defined

when students come to see the thesis contact person for the first time. “I want to do

something with multiculturalism”, ok, but WHAT is it that appeals you. Try to narrow down

your topic of interest as much as you can at this point.

Tips:

make a word-web around certain topics of interests,

read the newspaper or opinion papers frequently to explore your topics of interests,

browse the web for more information on these issues,

check our website for inspiration on current research done by our staff and their

own interests & examples of BSc Theses,

talk with friends about these topics, help each other with brainstorming.

Find the old literature of a course you liked, why did you like it? Explore those topics.

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Why does this topic appeal to you?

What are potential questions you could ask when thinking about this topic? (think about

‘how’ and ‘why’ questions).

What kind of puzzle or contradiction would you like to explore?

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Annex B: BSc Thesis Intake Form

Name:

Registration Number:

Study Programme:

SDC / RSO courses completed so far:

Intake for: BSc-Thesis/ MSc-Thesis/ Internship

Study handbook code thesis3:

Research subject or provisional title:

Own ideas thesis (max. 1 A4):

Suggested supervisor at SADE:

Rough time planning:

Start of research:

Expected end of research:

3 Check with your programme in the study handbook

Ask yourself the following questions when

filling in the form. You don’t need to be

able to answer them all, nor answer them

conclusively. These questions are merely

meant to stimulate you to narrow down

your ideas as far as possible.

What do you want to do and why?

o What is the problem?

o Where do you want to look

at (focus)? (can be

empirical but also

theoretical)

o What questions do you

want to ask?

Why is this relevant (empirically or

scientifically)?

Where does your research take

place?

Why does this interest you?

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Annex C: BSc Thesis Contract

Gegevens student:

Naam: ................................................................................. Reg.

nr.:………………………….. Adres: .................................................................................

Tel.: ................................................................................... Verklaring studiebegeleider:

Naam: ................................................................................ , heeft zich op de hoogte gesteld

van de studievorderingen, en gaat akkoord met de plannen voor het maken van een BSc

thesis.

Datum: ................................................ Handtekening:…………………………………… Gegevens begeleider:

Naam:................................................................................………………………………

Leerstoelgroep: ................................................................. ……………………………..

Afspraken over te maken thesis:

1. Onderwerp / titel:…………………………………………………………………………..

……………………………………………………………………………………………......

……………………………………………………………………………………………......

2. Type thesis:………………………………………………………………………………...

3. Streefdata: 1. start werkzaamheden: ……………………………

2. Inleveren concept-werkplan: ……………………………

3. Bespreking concept-werkplan: …………………………...

4. Inleveren conceptversie thesis: …………………………...

5. Bespreking conceptversie: …………………………...

6. Inleveren eindversie scriptie: …………………………...

4. Afspraken over beoordeling (evt. in aparte bijlage) ………………………………..

5. Overige afspraken (evt. in aparte bijlage) ……………………………...... Ondertekening: Begeleider: ............................................................... Student: ……………………………….

datum: ...................................................................... datum: ………………………………...

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Annex D: Outline Thesis Proposal

The following elements can be seen as the main elements that comprise a (BSc) research

proposal. In consultation with your supervisor (and depending on your research topic) some

elements might be stressed more than others. However, this outline can help you to

structure the various elements that comprise your proposal.

Title page

o Title, author, supervisor, date, thesis course code

Problem statement

o Introduction, context of the research question: what is the problem.

o Objective, including scientific and societal relevance

o Main research question and eventual sub-research questions

Analytical/conceptual/theoretical framework and/or (initial) literature review

o State of the art

o Concepts for analysis or comparison

Methods

o Research design

o Methodology

o Type of analysis

Time planning

Preliminary Thesis Outline

References

Appendices

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Annex E: Basic Outline BSc Thesis

The following elements can be seen as the main elements that comprise a (BSc) thesis. In

consultation with your supervisor (and depending on your research topic) some elements

might be stressed more than others.

Title page

o Title, author, supervisor, date, thesis course code

Problem statement

o Introduction, context of the research question: what is the problem?

o Objective, including scientific and societal relevance

o Main research question and eventual sub-research questions

Analytical/conceptual/theoretical framework and/or (initial) literature review

o State of the art

o Concepts for analysis or comparison

Methods

o Research design

o Methodology

o Type of analysis

Results of analysis (mostly of literature review only)

o one or more chapters presenting the findings

Discussion and Conclusion

o Discussion can have 3 (reflexive) components:

1. To what extend are the research questions answered, and have

new questions arisen?,

2. Reflection on the method(s) used, mostly a literature review and

therefor limited

3. Discuss theoretical concept or insights gained.

o Conclusion: main outcomes/findings/insights of research and (optional) a

personal reflection on lessons learned

References

Appendices

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Annex F: Main Expectations Report Outline

This annex presents an example of what the our section considers to be the main

expectations of a good BSc Thesis. The elements listed below are elements of the thesis, but

do not necessarily represent the structure of the thesis, i.e. the different elements can

appear in another sequence or integrated but should be looked at separately. In deliberation

with your supervisor some elements might be stressed more than others. Therefore, it is

advised to take this outline in mind and to discuss the different elements (and their relative

importance) with your thesis supervisor. This annex can be used by the student to determine

whether a thesis meets the different requirements in order to improve draft versions.

1. General

a) The overall structure is clear and coherent

b) The internal structure of the chapters is clear and logical

c) Chapters are linked to each other and to the central research question

d) The writing style is clear and readable

e) The lay-out is finished and consistent

f) References, notes and bibliography are complete and consistent

2. Introduction

a) Topic of the research is clearly stated

b) The problem statement is shown to be theoretically relevant by arguing how it is

rooted in a relevant theoretical perspective

c) The problem statement is convincingly argued as socially relevant

d) The problem statement is operationalised into a clear research objective, research

question and several clearly argued sub questions or topics

e) The methodology is relevant, applicable and complete and explains the use of

different kinds of literature that are used

3. Theoretical/conceptual discussion

a) The literature used is relevant and up-to-date

b) The chosen concepts are relevant for the analysis of the research topic

c) Theoretical discussion goes beyond a definition of concepts, concepts are linked in a

research framework

d) Theoretical discussion discusses different positions of different scholars in the field

e) The student is able to position him/herself in the theoretical discussion

4. Case context4

a) The sources used are relevant: (academic) literature and media (no Wikipedia, Lonely

planet-like info)

b) The context described is relevant information for understanding the case

c) The context described is aligned to theory and concepts

4 Case study: broadest sense of the word, can be an academic debate but also a school for deaf children in Uganda –

will be explained somewhere to the student as well.

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5. Case description

a) The sources used are relevant: (academic) literature and media (no Wikipedia, Lonely

planet-like info)

b) The case chosen is relevant in relation to research objective and question

c) The case chosen is relevant in relation to theoretical framework

d) The case description is focused and delimited in accordance with the research

objective and question

e) The case description is triangulated: based on different literature sources and other

sources (websites, grey literature, movies)

f) The case description does not present major lacunae

6. Case analysis

a) Theory is used explicitly to analyse case

b) Case is analysed in relation to research question(s)

c) Case is analysed comparing what different sources say about the case

d) It becomes clear what the case adds to our understanding of chosen theoretical

framework by an engagement of the case study with the theory

e) It becomes clear how the analysis of the case provides societal relevant

knowledge/insights.

7. Conclusion/Discussion

a) Explicitly answers research questions and main research question

b) Transcends a summary of chapters

c) Discusses research findings in relation to concepts/theory

d) Discusses research findings in relation to societal relevancy

e) Reflects on methodology used and its limitations

f) Formulates relevant recommendations for further research

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Appendix G: BSc Thesis Assessment Form

To be found at: https://teamsites.wur.nl/sites/owi/diversen/owi%20reference%20site.aspx

Assessment Form BSc Thesis Social Sciences Wageningen UniversityInvolved BSc programmes: BBC, BCW, BEB, BGM and BIN

Complete the green fields boxed with a single line. Use a point as decimal sign; the default language is English (UK)

1

Name chair group (three letter code) 1 Fee percentage per chair group

Name student 2 100.00%

Registration number 2 0.00%

BSc programme 1 0.00%

Major / Specialisation

Course code BSc thesis 1 2.00

Short title thesis 3.00

Country (of fieldwork) 1

Country (of fieldwork) 2

Date examination Signature 1.00

Supervisor chair group 1.00

Second supervisor (in case of BCW) 1.00

BSc thesis examiner / second reviewer

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Grading Relative Check

Mark 1-10 weight *

Research competence (30-40%) * 30%

1 Initiative, pro-activity and creativity

2 Commitment and perseverance

3 Time management 0.00 Fail

4 Critical and self reflective capacity

5 Handling supervisor's comments

6 Analysis and processing of (literature) data

Thesis report (50-65%) * 60%

1 Problem definition & research set-up

2 Theoretical underpinning and use of literature

3 Description of methods and analysis (literature) data 0.00 Fail

4 Clarity of argumentation and conclusions

5 Critical discussion

6 Writing skills incl. correct quoting

Colloquium (0-5%)* (Not applicable to BIN) 5%

1 Presentation (use of graphics, etc.)

2 Verbal and non-verbal presentation 0.00 Fail

Final Discussion (5%) * 5%

1 Defence of the thesis

2 Knowledge of study domain 0.00 Fail

TOTAL not rounded 0.000

0.0

FINAL GRADE 0.0 Fail

* Please choose weights for your own chair group

and BSc Programme such that their sum is 100

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