Doctoral Seminar – Prof. Frédéric Dufays

 

Outline of the course (2021-2022)

Objective

The objective of this course is to develop your doctoral student’s skills in structuring, positioning and presenting your doctoral thesis project within the research community. This involves structuring and planning your research work, designing your research questions, adopting relevant theoretical and methodological tools, identifying meaningful contributions, and designing relevant publication strategies. This course also intends to help you find your way in the academic world and to position yourself as a researcher.

The eight sessions will help you get acquainted with the different dimensions of a doctoral thesis and of academic research in general. Assignments prior to each session will enable you to prepare the contents and apply the topic to your specific project and research community. The final assignment will consist of drafting the structure of your first research paper.

 

Learning outcomes of the course

At the end of this course you will be able to:

• structure and plan your doctoral project
• position your project within your research community
• formulate a clear research question
• draft an appealing literature review
• make theoretical and methodological choices
• present and discuss research findings
• understand how to identify research contributions
• design relevant publication and diffusion strategies
• develop your critical thinking
• make explicit and justify your choices
• strengthen your writing and presentation capacity

Planned learning activities and teaching

Session 1: Positioning your research project and yourself as a researcher (1) (04/11/2021)

Session 2: Positioning your research project and yourself as a researcher (2) (18/11/2021) 

Session 3: Crafting a literature review (02/12/2021)

Session 4: Defining a research design, collecting and analyzing data (16/12/2021)

Session 5: Reporting and discussing findings (20/01/2022)

Session 6: Crafting an introduction + “Living the PhD life” drink (03/02/2022)

Session 7: Publication and diffusion strategies (17/02/2022)

Session 8: Presentation by the PhD students of their final work (26/05/2022, time to be confirmed)

 

Mode of delivery

The course consists of presentations by the professor, interactive class discussions in which active participation is required, and group exercises. It is absolutely necessary to prepare and send the assignments in advance in order to attend the classes with prepared contents and concrete examples. Substantial time will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of doctoral students’ ongoing research projects and the course settings are designed to allow for constructive feedback. In function of the sanitary situation, certain sessions and group exercises can be organized online.

Recommended or required readings

The course will be partly based on the following book, which students can but do not need to acquire:

Saunders, M. N. K., Thornhill, A., & Lewis, P. (2018), Research Methods for Business Students, Harlow: Pearson.

Additional readings will be provided on the Lola section dedicated to the course.

 

Assessment methods and criteria

The course grade will be determined by a set of intermediary assignments (40%) as well as by a final work (30%) and its presentation (10%). Active participation will be graded too (20%).

• Assignment 1 (prior to session 1): Formulate your research question(s) (max. 3 sub-questions)
• Assignment 2 (prior to session 3): Draft the structure of your literature review and state the main research gaps (max. 3 p.)
• Assignment 3 (prior to session 4): Draft your research design (methods you plan to use) and justify your choices (max. 3 p.)
• Assignment 4 (prior to session 7): Interview a scholar in your field about his/her publication experience, including good and bad surprises ; ask a cover letter and a response letter to reviewers ; and ask about his/her publication strategy recommendations for doctoral students
• Final work: Write the introduction of your first research paper and complete the other sections of the paper in bullet point mode (or in full). Also prepare the abstract and the cover letter explaining why you think the paper should be of interest to the targetted journal.

Work placement(s)

None

Organizational remarks

Participation in all sessions is compulsory. English will be the only language used. Registration is required before 31^st October 2021.

At no time is it tolerated to use materials from former academic years or other sources. No plagiarism of any kind will be tolerated.

 

Contact

Prof. Frédéric Dufays

frederic.dufays@uliege.be