European Studies III: Research Design and Bachelor Thesis

The course addresses important theoretical, philosophical and methodological problems and perspectives that are connected to European studies, knowledge that the students then apply to their own essays.
During the first half of the course, the focus is on how ontological and epistemological perspectives and choices are connected with different problems, methods and theories.
The second part of the course is mainly structured around the individual student’s own work in formulating a relevant and defined problem that is investigated analytically in a bachelor thesis, using relevant choices of theory, method and source material. There is also a requirement that the thesis demonstrates knowledge of previous research in the chosen subject.
The course ends with an examination seminar in which the student acts as an opponent to another thesis from the course, and defends his or her own thesis.

Syllabus spring 2026

Earlier syllabuses

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).