Prof. Dr. Holger Straßheim

BA Political Science (core and minor subject):

FAQ Module examination (final module examination 30-M17 Political Communication and Organisation)

 

With the following information and guidelines, we in the Political Sociology working group want to provide students with some guidance. Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions and at the same time "rules of the game" for participation in courses. However, this information does not replace the specific requirements of the teaching staff, the examination regulations and the study information of the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University (https://uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/studium/). We welcome any suggestions and criticism that would help us to improve this list!

 

General information

• We are happy to help you, but we receive a lot of emails every day! Please read our guidelines carefully and check the Faculty of Sociology's study information first before sending us an email or registering for consultation hours. Many answers to questions about study regulations, module descriptions, performance requirements as well as forms, information sheets, applications etc. can be found at https://uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/studium/
• General explanations of the framework examination regulations and basic regulations on the awarding of credit points, the repeatability of examinations and the calculation of grades can be found at Information on the framework examination regulations
• Explanations on good academic practice at Bielefeld University can be found here: http: //www.uni-bielefeld.de/gute_wiss_praxis/
• Current information from students for students can be found here: https://uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/studium/sozusagen/
• If you still have questions or need advice, you can register online in the electronic course catalogue (ekvv) for a consultation - but please do so in good time and not at the end of the semester. The secretary's office can provide further help desks.

 

Principles of academic work

• Academic co-working is a planned, systematic and methodical approach to a question and problem with the aim of gaining knowledge.
• Scientific work is not characterised by the production of facts or commentary, but by analytical and always problem-related work.
• Scientific work is active-creative, critical-reflective work - we always deal explicitly with our knowledge and approach. Science itself is always the subject of scientific work.
• Scientific work fulfils generally binding, formal requirements.
• Copying other work is intellectual theft - plagiarism is never acceptable!

Coursework and examinations

• Academic achievements include a) active and regular participation in the courses, b) active reading and discussion of the seminar literature, c) presentations or short papers including leading the discussion in the respective session and d) other seminar-specific achievements and work.
• If the coursework for a specific seminar has demonstrably already been completed in a previous semester, then a seminar paper can be written in the current semester without having to participate in this seminar or complete the coursework again. The prerequisite for this is an agreement before the start of the seminar.
• Active reading of the seminar literature means that you have the texts available in the respective session, underline important passages, take notes and formulate questions. Look for "blind spots" in the text, for missing or implausible arguments and for counter-examples. Develop your own counter-theses.

Presentations and papers

• Presentations are never just a summary of the seminar literature. They are based on your own research and independent analysis of literature beyond the seminar texts.
• Presentations must be agreed with the teaching staff during office hours at least one week before the presentation date.
• Theaim of the presentation is the critical reflection and further discussion of a text or topic. This always includes a) summarising the core arguments (max. 5 minutes), b) illustrating them with examples, c) criticising selected arguments and d) developing your own key questions and counter-theses for the subsequent discussion, which you lead yourself.
• Each presentation lasts a maximum of 20-30 minutes, regardless of the number of speakers.
• Work with Power Point or other presentation techniques, use texts, cartoons, pictures, films, develop provocative theses - and always list your sources and literature at the end of the presentation. Thesis papers are not absolutely necessary, but can be useful if additional information (statistics, graphs, data) is to be presented during the presentation.
• Unless otherwise agreed,presentation groups consist of no more than 3 students. In principle, the entire group is responsible for the presentation. It therefore makes sense for presentation groups to work out the structure and content of their presentation together and to "play through" the final version together so that parts of other group members can be presented at least in outline.

Seminar papers, essays and annotated reading lists

In general:

• These examination performances always follow the standards of academic work (see above). They are not reflection essays or commentaries.
• The topics must always be agreed with the teaching staff in good time - i.e. not at the end of the semester.
• Theaim is to work independently on a question on the basis of scientific literature. A research question refers to an empirical or theoretical problem (gaps in research, contradictions, unclear connections, etc.). This problem forms the starting point of the work.
• Group work is work that is written by several students. This is only possible after consultation with the teaching staff. In accordance with the framework examination regulations and module description, these must be designed in such a way that the individual performance of the students involved is recognisable, corresponds to the requirements for examination performance specified in the module description and can also be graded on this basis. A recognisable individual achievement that can be attributed to the respective student must therefore be clearly marked with the respective name within the group work. It must of course also correspond to the scope of a paper written by an individual. In this respect, the total permissible scope of group work, especially for seminar papers, must be determined by multiplying the total permissible scope of individual work (see below under "Examination performance seminar paper") by the number of students involved.
• The cover sheet contains information on the university and faculty, teaching staff, seminar title and number, semester, name of the author, matriculation number, subject related semester, email address, submission date and title of the paper.
• Seminar papers and essays contain a table of contents with numbered chapter and section headings and corresponding page numbers.
• All information and positions used to write the paper must be carefully documented. It does not matter whether the reproduction is verbatim or analogous. Quotations and sources are always cited with reference to the page, several pages or the chapter. Only in rare cases is it appropriate to refer to an essay or even an entire book. Almost exclusively academic sources are used and cited (monographs, anthologies, journal articles). Online sources without bibliographic information, general encyclopaedias (Duden etc.) or Wikipedia entries are not citable. Online sources with bibliographic information must also include the URL and the last access date.
• Citations and sources should be cited in the text according to the Harvard method, i.e. the author's surname, the year of publication and the page numbers are given in brackets after the quotation or the adopted ideas, but before the final punctuation mark: "Sociology is in a theoretical crisis" (Luhmann 1984, p. 7).
• Bibliographies are organised alphabetically and contain only the literature cited in the text. The references are to be formally standardised and follow a uniform citation style.
• Papers must be submitted online in PDF format in the designated submission folder by the submission date at the latest.
• In addition to content-related standards (justification of the relevance of the topic, formulation and processing of a research question, structure and organisation, state of research, development of relevant concepts and theories, thought leadership/stringency, methods and approach, independence, discussion and reflection of results), the standards of academic work (correct spelling, correct and uniform citation style, table of contents and bibliography, no plagiarism) apply to the assessment of the work. The work should always be read and corrected again before submission.

 

Examination performance seminar paper

• The maximum length of seminar papers is determined by the teaching staff in accordance with the module descriptions. Unless otherwise agreed, seminar papers, including the cover sheet and bibliography, should be 4500 words (BA, approx. 15 pages with 300 words per page) or 7500 words (MA, approx. 25 pages with 300 words per page). Essays comprise a maximum of 2000 words. Seminar papers or essays that are more than 10% longer or shorter than the maximum length can only be accepted after consultation with the teaching staff.
• Seminar papers always begin with a detailed introduction written in a coherent text in which a) the initial problem, b) the research question, c) the aim of the work, d) the student's own thesis or initial assumption and e) the method, approach and structure of the work are set out. The "six-line method" also helps to develop the seminar paper:https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/fakultaet/arbeitsbereiche/ab3/wissenschaftlich-arbeiten/pdf/Sechszeiler_2016-03.pdf
• Deadlines: Unless otherwise specified by the respective teaching staff, seminar papers must be submitted by 30 September in the summer semester and by 31 March in the winter semester. If possible, assignments should be submitted electronically and then only in PDF format (scan and add the declaration of independence). There is a separate folder for the submission in the respective study room. Extensions to the submission deadline can only be granted in the event of illness, other unforeseeable delays or other cases of hardship. In such cases, please contact the teaching staff in good time.

 

Essay examination

• Essays are not "small" seminar papers, but they are subject to the same academic standards! In terms of content, they serve to critically analyse an author's thesis or a topic.
• Essays can also be used to try out academic "genres", e.g. reviews of a book or a conference, critiques of academic articles, project exposés, presentations of the current state of research, short empirical research.

 

Examination performance annotated reading list

• The annotated reading list is an ungraded module examination of 2-3 pages with the aim of creating an individual and thematically clearly defined reading list (essays, books, grey literature) on research problems, questions, theories and methods of political sociology and thus creating a basis for future work.
• In order to narrow down the list, it is essential to focus on (a) a political field (e.g. current conflicts in energy policy) or (b) a theoretical research question (e.g. temporality in politics) or a method (e.g. fields of application of transsequential analysis). The reading list is annotated, i.e. after a brief overview of the thematic subject of the reading list and of central, thematically relevant questions and problems, individual bibliographic entries or groups of entries should be discussed very briefly with regard to similarities or differences.

 

Further information

• For an oral examination in module 30-M17 Political Communication and Organisation, please refer to the notes.
• For the supervision of a BA or MA thesis, make an appointment for a consultation and prepare a short synopsis (approx. 1500 characters) with the following information: a) initial problem, b) research question, c) aim of the thesis, d) own thesis or initial assumption, e) method, approach and structure of the thesis. Please also note the information at https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/fakultaet/arbeitsbereiche/ab3/wissenschaftlich-arbeiten/pdf/Sechszeiler_2016-03.pdf
• For mentoring as part of an internship, please first find out more here: /fakultaeten/soziologie/studium/praktikumsbuero/
• The Writing Centre of Bielefeld University offers important information and assistance: https: //www.uni-bielefeld.de/einrichtungen/schreiblabor/
• The Faculty's work area 3 has developed extremely helpful and recommendable tips and strategies for academic writing: /fakultaeten/soziologie/fakultaet/arbeitsbereiche/ab3/

Former employees

Daubner, Lukas

Frosch, Janina

Klusmann, Björn

Ziebell, Lukas

Guests

Brown, Mark, Prof. Dr.