SOS3910 Bachelor Thesis Course description

The bachelor's thesis is an independent academic and individual work based on a self-chosen topic related to core areas of social work. In the bachelor's thesis, the student formulates a problem of relevance to the social worker's field of study. The aim is to put professionally relevant issues into a theoretical and practical perspective and demonstrate analytical competence and ethical reflection. The student will apply relevant academic and research literature related to the chosen topic. The student will answer his/her social science research question by collecting, processing and analysing knowledge, and present this in writing in an assignment that satisfies the requirements for scientific argumentation and presentation at bachelor level.The bachelor's thesis will demonstrate skills in academic thesis writing, source criticism, independence, critical reflection and ethical understanding. It is an objective that the student shall master the formal and methodological requirements imposed on academic work of such a scope.

Language of instruction is Norwegian.

The student must have completed and passed the second year of the bachelor’s degree programme in social work and completed and passed the practical training in the third year of the programme.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• must have in-depth multidisciplinary knowledge of a self-chosen topic with relevance to the field of social work
• must have knowledge of the importance of the philosophy of science in scientific activitie
• must have knowledge of research ethics, basic social science research methods and their possibilities and limitations
• must have knowledge of different theoretical perspectives relevant to the topic and problem in the bachelor's thesis
• must have broad knowledge of the design of academic assignments

 Skills

The student

• can reflect on power structures, professionalism and their own role as a social worker 
• can develop research questions of relevance to the field of practice and apply new professional knowledge in a methodical and scientific manner
• can find, assess and refer to research and practice-based knowledge that sheds relevant light on the research question
• can conduct advanced literature searches in various databases and apply social work knowledge in major written works
• can reflect critically on theory of science perspectives and different sources of knowledge in their own work
• can exercise source criticism when assessing and selecting literature and obtaining information online and in databases

General competence

The student

• can analyse and critically reflect on research ethics issues related to social work practice
• masters the formal and methodology requirements that apply to academic writing

• has broad knowledge of research and development work in social workers’ main areas of work
• can document and communicate professional assessments in writing
• can update their knowledge of the field of social work

Teaching of relevance to work on the bachelor’s thesis. All students will be offered three individual 45-minute supervision sessions. No supervision will be given in the final week before submission.

The following required coursework/compulsory activities must have been approved in order for the student to take the exam:

• Coursework 1: INTERACT - INTER1300

Students must submit an individual log. Scope: 500 words (+/- 10%). The log requires participation at the two-day seminar. An individual assignment may compensate for absence.

Read more about INTERACT and INTER1300 here: https://www.oslomet.no/en/research/research-projects/interact

• Coursework 2: Submission of an outline with the chosen topic and tentative research question for the Bachelor's thesis. The scope must be up to 1 page.

Compulsory activities and coursework requirements must be completed and approved by the given deadline in order for the student to take the exam. 

The exam in the course is an individual bachelor's thesis.

The assignment must must have a scope of 20 pages (+/- 10 %). The cover page, table of contents and reference list come in addition to this. All the pages, apart from the cover page, must be numbered and state the candidate number. The cover page must also state necessary information about which exam the paper concerns, and carry the exam code.

Font and font size: Calibri 12-point. Line spacing 1.5. The approved citation style APA for assignments must be complied with.

Students who fail the exam or who were absent from the ordinary exam for a valid reason can take a resit/rescheduled exam. Students can submit a reworked version of the thesis once, and can receive one hour of additional individual supervision in connection with improving the thesis. Students must contact the person responsible for the course to organise a supervision session. No supervision will be given in July.

Students who fail the bachelor`s thesis twice must submit a new thesis based on a new research question at the next exam. The student must also have the outline, including the topic and research question, approved again. It is the students’ responsibility to contact the person responsible for the course to schedule three supervision sessions well before the start of the course.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F.

All exam papers are assessed by one internal and one external examiner. A student's supervisor may not be the examiner for this student.

Monica Elton and Ira Malmberg-Heimonen