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POLI-D108

Methodical approaches of political issues

academic year
2024-2025
2025-2026

Course teacher(s)

Martin DELEIXHE (Coordinator)

ECTS credits

5

Language(s) of instruction

english

Course content

This course introduces students to the fundamental methodological tools needed to complete an academic program in the social sciences, and more specifically in political science. During our sessions, we will address

- the active practice of reading necessary for a good understanding of texts of a high level of complexity or technicality, notably through their contextualization,

- the best methods for synthesizing and summarizing academic works or political texts,

- the rules to follow in structuring and writing a coherent and plagiarism-free academic work,

- the production of a relevant bibliography on a given subject and its referencing according to the discipline’s canon

- the general principles that establish the scientific nature of a research in social science

Objectives (and/or specific learning outcomes)

Social studies have shown that Belgian secondary education is deeply inegalitarian. Regardless of their personal efforts, students joining university have very distinct skills and background knowledge. The ambition of this course is to fill this gap partially by providing students with a basic set of skills essential to their cursus in political science.
 

Prerequisites and Corequisites

Required and Corequired knowledge and skills

There are no prerequisite skills or knowledge for this course.

Teaching methods and learning activities

This teaching seminar is divided into two distinct parts.

The professor will give a series of theoretical lectures to all students. These lectures will present the basic methodological tools of political science, as well as their functioning.

For the practical work, students will be divided into small seminar groups, supervised by a teaching assistant.

Attendance and participation in these seminars will be mandatory. Within the framework of these seminars, the students must submit 4 distinct assignments, each of which will be the subject of an evaluation.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

The slides presented during the lectures and of the texts discussed during the seminar sessions are available on the course's webpage on the UV.

Course notes

  • Université virtuelle

Contribution to the teaching profile

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Explain orally, in his/her own words, a social science text after an initial reading
  • Summarize a scientific text in a short written format using appropriate social science terms
  • Reference a bibliographic source according to the discipline's standards
  • Distinguish between plagiarism and acknowledged borrowing of an idea from an author
  • Identify and obtain access to bibliographic resources relevant to a social science research project
  • situate a social science text in its broader socio-historical context
  • Write in a rigorous and accurate style consistent with academic expectations
  • Provide a reasoned interpretation of a social science text

Other information

Additional information

The course will be divided into two types of sessions:

  • lectures with the professor
  • and practical work with the teaching assistants.

Contacts

Professor

Martin DELEIXHE - martin.deleixhe@ulb.be

Teaching assistants

Ana ANGULADZE (2 groups) - ana.andguladze@ulb.be
Simone BENAZZO (4 groups) - simone.benazzo@ulb.be
Martin DELEIXHE (1 group) - martin.deleixhe@ulb.be
Ekaterina PIERSON (3 groups) - ekaterina.lyzhina@ulb.be
Sanae YOUBI (2 groups) - sanae.youbi@ulb.be

Martin DELEIXHE (1 group) - martin.deleixhe@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Evaluation

Method(s) of evaluation

  • Personal work
  • Written report

Personal work

Written report

Evaluation outside of exam sessions based on 3 assignments organized during the semester:

  • The report;

  • The bibliography;

  • The critical contextualization.

Attendance and participation in seminar sessions are mandatory and will be assessed.

  • Attendance and active participation in all three seminar sessions are compulsory. Each unjustified absence from a seminar will be penalized (one absence = -0.5 point; two absences = -1.5 points; three absences = -2 points).

  • To pass this course, students must have completed the three assignments organized during the semester and achieved a final average grade of 10/20 or higher. Absence from an assignment results in a score of 0/20 for that assignment.

  • Students who do not meet the passing requirements in the first session will be allowed to take similar assignments in the resit session.

  • Successfully completed assignments (i.e., those graded 10/20 or higher) cannot be retaken.

  • The participation grade from the first session is final.

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

Participation in seminars (10%, i.e., 2 out of 20 points of the final grade);

Assignments organized during the semester (90%, i.e., 18 out of 20 points of the final grade):

  • The report (30%, i.e., 6/20 of the final grade);
  • The bibliography (30%, i.e., 6/20 of the final grade);
  • The critical contextualization (30%, i.e., 6/20 of the final grade)



 

Language(s) of evaluation

  • english
  • (if applicable french )

Programmes