Course overview
This course is a 12 unit Research Thesis course which is being taught across two consecutive Semesters and offers a pathway for those students who wish to proceed to a PhD in the Faculty. This Research Thesis is compulsory for the completion of Masters of Arts (Interpreting, Translation and Transcultural Communication) program, and should be undertaken in the final year of study. Students should consult the thesis course coordinator in the first instance for possible topics of research. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the Department of Asian Studies, students are encouraged to explore the broad range of academic field expertise the Department and the Faculty has to offer, namely Applied Linguistics, Literature, Translation, as well as Cultural Studies, Transcultural Communication, History, Politics and International Studies, and Sociology. In CHIN 7014A Part 1, student will be engaged in 6 units work (50% of final grade of the 12-unit Research Thesis component) in:- a) Annotated Bibliography; b) a formal Research Proposal presentation; c) final Research Proposal and d) first draft of thesis. In the second and final half of the course (CHIN 7014B Part 2), 6 unit points (50% of total grade) are allocated to the thesis with 14,000 16,000 English words in length (including footnotes but excluding the bibliography).
Course learning outcomes
- To extend students' understanding of the principles underpinning 'Western' positivist, and interpretive research
- To develop research capacity via one-to one research supervision students to develop the skills required for 'Western' research, that is: (1) to understand conventional criteria for success in Western research contexts and (2) to design and conduct a rigorous research dissertation i.e. locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a plannedand timely manner.
- To facilitate students' capacity to identify social and cultural problems and to develop effective and creative research solutions by exploring the complexities of communication in a large summative thesis format
- To increase students' understanding of appropriate scholarly argumentation for international publication, and to develop their ability to write the required genre for publishing their research through group and principally individual manuscript writing
- To provide students with fundamental information about the research preparation, argumentation and synthesis culminating in a critical dissertation
- To expand students' command of technological tools in academic research, notably through information technology, data-base searching and bibliographical software
- To inspire and strengthen students' desire to reflect upon their own cultural heritage in relation to the prevailing conventions and values of other cultures by bringing theoretical perspectives to social analysis
- To encourage students to engage in and commit to the high levels of professional integrity required to participate in the international scholarly academy
- To respect diverse ethical and cultural conventions and to evaluate their impact on professional skills, responsibilities and forms of communication