Credits | 10 |
Holder | Prof. Frédéric Dufays (HEC Liège – ULiège) |
Language | English |
Location | HEC Liège – Management School of the University of Liège. Rue Louvrex 14, Liège |
Field | Core Learning |
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Doctoral Seminar – Prof. Frédéric Dufays
Outline of the course (2022-2023)
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 (to be updated soon)
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 (50%) and its presentation (10%).
The final work consists in writing a full paper (max. 12,000 words), its abstract and the cover letter explaining why you think the paper should be of interest to the targeted journal.
Work placement(s)
None
Organizational remarks
Participation in all sessions is compulsory. English will be the only language used. Assignments have to be delivered in this language. Registration is required before October 15, 2022.
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
Schedule :
Academic year 2022-2023
Q1 – Classroom: 0/88 (N1d Building – HEC Liège)
- 18/10: 9.30-12.30
- 08/11: 9.30-12.30
- 22/11: 9.30-12.30
- 06/12: 9.30-12.30
20/01: presentations (time to be determined based on the number of participants)
Q2 – Classroom: -1/86 (N1d Building – HEC Liège)
- 08/02: 13.00-16.00
- 22/02: 13.00-16.00
- 15/03: 13.00-16.00
- 29/03: 13.00-16.00
- T.b.d. with guest speaker
06 and 09/06: presentations (time to be determined based on the number of participants)