MA thesis: Basic steps

1. You approach me with an idea for a topic and a timeline. Ideally, you have developed the topic in the context of one of my courses. I strongly recommend that you have taken at least one participatory course with me. 
2. Register for one of the teaching formats in which we discuss ongoing MA work: “Africa, Method, Theory” (fall term) or “Research seminar African History/Aktuelle Forschungen zur Geschichte Afrika”. 
3. Submit an outline (see below) → I provide written and oral feedback
4. Submit a revised outline → I provide written and oral feedback
5. Submit a paper for “Africa, Method, Theory”, respectively the research seminar. This can be an extended outline, an early draft of a chapter, or a source discussion → you will obtain oral and written feedback from me and your peers
6. While you are in the main researching and writing phase, do get in touch anytime to discuss open questions!
7. Submit your thesis (c. 80 pages): one digital copy for me; a digital/printed copy to the second supervisor, one printed copy to the library. 
   1. C. 80 pages (discuss with me in advance if it is more than 10% more or less), 1.5 spaced, 12/11pt for the main text
   2. Title pages with title, name, address, email, matriculation number, names of supervisors
   3. Table of contents
   4. Introduction, main text, conclusion → please consult my guidelines for structuring seminar papers and MA theses
   5. Bibliography (sources and research literature)
   6. Redlichkeitserklärung
   7. If applicable: declaration on your use of AI (see below)
8. Assessment process: you will receive a detailed written assessment of your thesis. If you also do you exam with me and chose your MA thesis as one of your topics, I will send you extracts from my report in advance (not the grade!) for your preparations. If you would like to have another discussion on the report, kindly write to me for an office meeting. 
9. Assessment criteria: They are essentially the same as for seminar papers, but more emphasis is placed on your work with primary sources. See further below. 

Seminar papers: Basic steps

For both «regular” and “free” seminar papers, the basic steps are:

1. You suggest a topic → I provide feedback, may ask for revision, give the green light to develop an outline
2. You write an outline (see below) → I provide both written and oral feedback
3. You write a revised outline (if necessary) → I provide written/oral feedback and give you the green light to write
4. You submit your paper via email attachment by the deadline (early September/early February, or as mutually agreed) → I return your paper within 6 weeks with written comments
5. You read carefully through my comments and write whether you’d like to discuss my assessment during office hours → only after your feedback to my assessment will I enter your grade
6. You can write in German, English or French

Regular seminar papers

• Most seminar papers are written in the context of a seminar or research seminar (Forschungsseminar)
• Steps 1-3 will be integrated in the seminar syllabus. Outlines and revised outlines will be discussed in class, while you will also get individual written feedback from me. 
• In that way, you are well prepared to start researching and writing your paper during the semester break.
• The deadline is two weeks prior to the new semester (i.e. early September/early February). If you have scheduling problems, we can negotiate another deadline, but this must be kept. 

“Free” seminar papers (freie Seminararbeiten)

• In principle, this is not the ideal mode of writing a paper, as you will get much more systematic guidance and feedback if you write your paper in the context of a seminar/research seminar. 
• However, there are good reasons that can motivate a free seminar paper (a session from a lecture that you found especially interesting, a museum visit that sparked your enthusiasm for a specific topic, etc). 
• In such a case, please drop me an email so we can discuss whether I can supervise the planned free seminar paper or not. 
• If I give you the green light, the next step is to hand in an outline of 2-3 pages (see below).
• We will discuss your outline verbally during office hours; I will make suggestions for an in-person/Zoom appointment. I will provide both written and oral feedback to your outline, and either ask you to revise it or give you the green light to start writing. We will also mutually agree on a deadline, which must be kept.  

Outlines

• Title
• Case (what, when, where, who …?
• Research question
• Historiography
• Important concepts or theories that will guide the analysis
• Methodology (what are your sources? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your source base?)
• Hypothesis
• Table of contents
• Bibliography (sources and research literature)
• → all of this is preliminary!
• → the order in which you present all of the above is your choice
• → 2-3 pages
• → please also consult my guidelines for structuring seminar papers (LINK)

Use of AI

• I expect you to read and analyse both research literature and sources by yourself, rather than using AI to do the work for you. 
• Generative AI, if used at all, should only be used to assist you, not do the work for you, e.g. to complement your literature research, to help you brush up your language and orthography etc.  
• I strongly advise against usage of AI for writing the main draft of your text. Also, while AI-generated texts might sound fancy, as your professor, I’d much rather read your own voice with all of its idiosyncrasies than that of a machine. 
• Non-generative AI, such as automatic spell-checking or translation tools, is excluded from this. The use of Transkribus to transcribe old handwritten texts is also permitted.
• The use of AI must be acknowledged and cited. Please follow the university’s guidelines ‘Citing AI’.  https://www.unibas.ch/dam/jcr:4ef38090-9240-4398-9663-2373f264c181/Leitfaden-KI-zitieren.pdf
• You are responsible for the texts you submit. 

Evaluation criteria:

Content 

• Clear research question
• Clearly delineated empirical case (what, when, where)
• Research question is developed out of a profound engagement with the existing research and representy original student work
• Analysis is thoroughly contextualized 
• Analysis is based on evidence and an independent critical assessment of sources and research literature
• Accuracy and correctness of factual statements
• Application of analytical/theoretical concepts
• Coherent, evidence-based argumentation
  • Clearly structured chapters and sub-sections

  • All discussions are relevant to answering the main question

     

Form 

• Spelling, grammar (let me know if you are not a native speaker of the language in which you write)
• Style of writing (vocabulary, redundancies, ...)
• All evidence is transparently referenced
• Style of referencing is consistent 
• Correct indication of quotations
• Complete and formally correct bibliography and list of sources