Master Thesis Seminar I 2025/26

Course rationale and objectives

The first objective of Master Thesis Seminar I (MTSI) is to guide MARS students in developing the core design of their Master thesis proposal, and to set the foundations for their Master thesis, focusing on their projects’ research questions, theoretical framework, methods and research design, and textual structure. The course’s second objective is to provide students with basic knowledge in the presentation and evaluation of Master thesis project proposals, in the field of media and area studies. Participating in the course’s series of lectures, seminars and independent study, the students become acquainted with the principles and techniques of developing, presenting and evaluating Master thesis proposals.

 MTSI students develop the basic skills for:

▪       designing and structuring Master thesis proposals

▪       communicating in written form and orally about their project proposals

▪       evaluating MA thesis projects, by identifying their strengths and shortcomings, and providing constructive feedback.

JKM144 Academic Writing

The course aims to provide students with knowledge and experience in efficient and quality writing for academic purposes in the field of communication and media studies. It is structured around activities that guide students throughout the writing process, helping them to develop the necessary skills for drafting, structuring, writing and revising academic texts. The course places emphasis on critical skills in evaluating, selecting and using sources of information and literature in academic writing; micro-level composition skills such as sentence structure, vocabulary and style; meso-level skills such as paragraph content and structure; and macro-level skills such as text content and structure, coherence, unity, and style.

Introduction to Postcolonial Theory (2024/25)

This course will focus on one of the key theoretical traditions in area studies, namely postcolonial theory, a tradition which has also strongly impacted on other fields of study, including media studies. The course aims to familiarize students with the key concepts of postcolonial theory, how they feature in the work of one of postcolonialism’s key authors and show the application of these concepts in a variety of topical fields (materiality, class, environment and non-humans) to better understand both postcolonial theory and these topical fields. The course will also explicitly thematize the connections of postcolonial theory with post-communism.

Analysing Discourse: Theories and Methods

Analysing Discourse: Theories and Methods is a master’s level course that aims to introduce discourse theory as a conceptual framework and an interdisciplinary research practice. The course also aims to get the course participants familiarised with various theoretical approaches to the concept of discourse and methodological toolboxes that enable researchers to analytically engage with empirical data. Participating in the course’s series of lectures and workshops, the students become acquainted with the development of the field of discourse studies, the fields of research where discourse theory is deployed, and some specific case studies in which discourse theoretical approaches are employed.

Media and Conflict in Europe

Academic Writing

Academic Writing