This course is offered online, via the Canvas learning platform and Zoom seminars.

The course has four main objects:

• You will get acquainted with some basic research methods within different fields of Japanese studies.
• You will practice different kinds of academic writing.
• You will deepen your knowledge of a certain area within Japanese studies.
• Based on this knowledge, you will prepare a plan for a research project, which you will be able to use for your future BA thesis.

In the first few weeks, you will read introductory texts and articles and discuss the different methods described at seminars. After an introductory seminar on academic writing, there will be a seminar with a focus on translation studies, another about literary studies and yet another on linguistics and cultural anthropology. During these weeks you will also prepare an annotated bibliography of books and articles relevant for the field of your research project. Having finished the bibliography, you will write reviews about three important books and/or articles. These are to be submitted within the first half of the course.

After the reviews have been submitted, you will start working on your project plan, which you will defend at a seminar at the end of the course. You will have occasional meetings with and receive feedback from the teacher assigned as your supervisor, but you are also expected to work independently to a very high degree.

Note that you must keep all deadlines in order to receive supervision for your work. Late submissions will, of course, be graded by the examiner, but you will not receive any feedback on them. If you fail to keep the deadlines and still want feedback, re-register the next time the course is offered and then keep the deadlines.

Examination

The course is examined through a number of written assignments and through your active participation in the seminars and the supervision. The written assignments are as follows:

• Preparatory assignments for some of the seminars.
• A forum in which you present how your work proceeds and reflect over tentative research questions.
• An annotated bibliography of books and articles relevant for the field of your research project.
• Three reviews of three of the books/articles that you have chosen as literature for your future BA thesis. (This text may later, with modification, be incorporated in your “previous research” section in the thesis.)
• A project plan that consists of a short abstract, a popular presentation, and a detailed account of your research project, the material you plan to use and the methods.

Check the page "Assignments" in the course guide module for details about these different tasks.

Course outline and schedule

The schedule with an overview of the seminars and main deadlines is available in the course guide module.

Literature

You find the literature list here: https://www.du.se/sv/Utbildning/litteraturlistor/?applicationcode=H3JSN

Contact

For questions that you still have after reading the information here in this course room, please contact Herbert Jonsson <hjn@du.se>