Diploma Thesis Guidelines

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UNIVERZITA KONŠTANTÍNA FILOZOFA V NITRE FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Diploma Thesis Guidelines
Second Edition, November 2000

1. General Notes 1.1. Administration ..................................................................... 1.2. Deadlines ............................................................................ 1.3. Language ............................................................................ 1.4. Extent ................................................................................ 1.5. You and your consultant ........................................................

3 3 3 3 3 3

2. Structure 5 2.1. Front cover.......................................................................... 5 2.2. Title page ............................................................................ 5 2.3. Declaration of Originality ....................................................... 5 2.4. Acknowledgements ............................................................... 6 2.5. Table of contents.................................................................. 6 2.6. Abstract in English................................................................ 6 2.7. Introduction ........................................................................ 6 2.8. Theoretical Background ......................................................... 6 2.9. Method ............................................................................... 7 2.10. Results and Commentary....................................................... 9 2.11. Implications........................................................................10 2.12. Conclusion..........................................................................11 2.13. Appendices.........................................................................11 2.14. Bibliography .......................................................................11 2.15. Résumé - Summary in Slovak ...............................................11 3. Format 12 3.1. Physical Format...................................................................12 3.2. Documenting Sources ..........................................................12 4. Marking Criteria for Diploma Guidelines 16 4.1. Organisation of material .......................................................16 4.2. Content..............................................................................16 4.3. Theoretical background ........................................................16 4.4. Research ............................................................................17 4.5. Interpretation of results .......................................................17 4.6. Expression – use of relevant language....................................17 4.7. The Oral Defence.................................................................18

Diploma Thesis Guidelines

5.

Bibliography

18

Appendix A: Types of possible diploma thesis in the field of Translation 19 Appendix B: Types of possible diploma thesis in the field of Cultural Studies 19

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Diploma Thesis Guidelines

1. General Notes
1.1. Administration All students must announce the topic of their diploma works in writing to “Študijné oddelenie FF” during the Winter semester of their penultimate year of study (the third year for four-year study, the fourth for five-year study). They should contact their consultants as soon as possible and agree on a preliminary working plan. All students wishing to complete their diplomas within this department are advised to attend the Research Methods course during this penultimate year of study. This course will provide practical advice for the completion of diploma works. Full information about diploma works (including this document) is available from http://www.ff.ukf.sk/kaaa/students/diplomas.htm. 1.2. Deadlines Two copies of the completed diploma work should be submitted to the study department for registration and then registered copies submitted to the secretary’s office in the Department of English and American Studies by the published deadline. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that they know the correct date for submission: ignorance of the date is not a valid reason for late submission. The date is published for each year in the “Študijný program” and announced to students during their final year registration. 1.3. Language All diploma works must be written in the English language (with the exception of the Slovak summary as detailed below and any translation work into Slovak). Students themselves are responsible for the standard of the language presented in their work, lack of relevant language will be penalised by a lower grade. Diplomas which lack an appropriate level of English, or which show too many basic grammatical/spelling errors will be failed – it is the student’s responsibility to ensure the quality of the English used. 1.4. Extent All diploma works must be within the required number of pages: The minimum number of pages is 55 and the maximum is 70. This number of pages does not include Notes, Appendices, Bibliography or the Summary in Slovak. For translations this includes the translation but does not include the original text (which should be included in the work as an appendix). Diploma works that have too many or too few pages will be penalised. 1.5. You and your consultant Your consultant is available to guide you through the process of your research. It is essential that you arrange with your consultant to meet on a regular basis. Whilst your consultant may help you to select sources and comment on your work, he/she is not responsible for your work nor for
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Diploma Thesis Guidelines

the quality of your English. You must take steps to ensure that these reach the required quality. If you do not attend regular consultations then you are missing the opportunity for advice. It is not reasonable for a student who never or only rarely appears at consultants to expect that the consultant will be available at all times during the final months of the diploma work.

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2. Structure
Guidelines for the structure are included below. Further details of the format itself are included in the next section. Examples of these pages can be found in the document template (see Format for further details). 2.1. Front cover The front cover should contain the following information: UNIVERZITA KONŠTANTÍNA FILOZOFA V NITRE FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCA The Year Your name 2.2. Title page This must include the following information: UNIVERZITA KONŠTANTÍNA FILOZOFA V NITRE FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky DIPLOMOVÁ PRÁCA The title of your diploma work in Slovak The title of your diploma work in English Your full name Your degree subjects in Slovak Consultant: Your consultant’s full name and titles The current year 2.3. Declaration of Originality The following page will contain the following words (in both English and Slovak): Čestné vyhlásenie Čestne vyhlasujem, že diplomovú prácu som písal(a) samostatne na základe preštudovaného materiálu a použité zdroje som na príslušných miestach uviedol(la). Declaration of Originality I, the undersigned, solemnly declare that this diploma work is the result of my own independent research and was written solely by me using the literature and resources listed in the Bibliography.
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Signature
Location, Date 2.4. Acknowledgements This is where you thank everyone who has helped you during the writing of your thesis. It is usual to mention such people as your consultant, any teachers who worked with you, your pupils, etc. This must be in English, but may also be in Slovak. 2.5. Table of contents This should be written in English. This table should include the titles of both the chapters and the sub-chapters, together with the appropriate page numbers. It should also list the appendices and any other materials included in the work. 2.6. Abstract in English In this section you summarise the whole research paper. Briefly state (in no more than 200-300 words) what you set out to discover, how you carried out your research and what your major conclusions were. The abstract must be transparent, clear, avoiding descriptions and details stated in the core text of the work. 2.7. Introduction In this chapter, you should first state exactly what specific questions (hypotheses) this research paper attempts to answer if applicable to the topic. You should then provide an overview of the thesis, i.e. a sort of map so that readers know what they are going to find and where they are going to find it. A good way to do this is by providing a brief summary of each chapter. Paradoxically, this is the chapter that you should write last of all. You should also explain why you decided to investigate this particular topic. You should not include any conclusions here! (1-2 pages) 2.8. Theoretical Background In this chapter or chapters, you should present and discuss what other people have said about the topic (i.e. review the relevant literature), blending this with your own opinions as to how these relate to the topic and finally show how you arrived at your specific research questions. As a rough guide, you should not have more than one-third of your work in the form of quotations (direct or indirect). It is important that you base your theoretical background on a variety of sources. The title of the chapter (or each chapter in this section) should be relevant to your topic (not simply ‘Theoretical Background’). The length of this section is largely dependent on the content of your diploma work. A rough guide of the length and content for this section is presented here: Your name here

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Field Cultural Studies

No. of pages Content 5-10 A critical analysis of what has been said about the topic and the current state of research on the topic both here and abroad. To imply the connection between the current state of research and the topic covered in the diploma work and how this relates to your research questions. Decent theoretical knowledge should be shown, together with a sensible selection of representative theories. Their relevance to the chosen topic should be clearly stated; a comparison of different approaches, as well as attempts to recognise / specify different dimensions are especially welcome. The theoretical and method parts are combined. The theory provides a synthesis which becomes an analytical tool for viewing the text.

Linguistics

8-15

Literature

7-21

Methodology 15-20 This should provide the reader with reasoned arguments supported by quotation for your subject. If you are working with a specific method or point of grammar then the background to this should also be included. Translation 10-12 Do not concentrate only on general matters (definition of translation, characteristics of a good translator, types of translations, etc.) but mainly on the specific field of translation your work is supposed to concern. This part should also contain short analysis of the original text and in case of literary texts some information about the style of the author of the original and some comment on the other translations of his books (if these exist).

Many diploma works do not fit entirely within these fields and you should discuss the requirements of your own diploma thesis with your consultant. 2.9. Method In this chapter you should describe how you undertook the research. Again, the content of this section largely depends on the subject of your diploma work. The table below gives some guidelines, but it is of utmost importance that you discuss how this affects your own diploma work with your consultant.

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Field Cultural Studies Linguistics

No. of pages Content 1-2 This could be content and discourse analysis. It is advisable to use primary sources (e.g. newspapers, magazines, textbook content etc.). In this chapter you should explain clearly what is the goal of your work and what methods/techniques you have used to achieve it. Comment on the potential methods that were available (are generally used) and justify your choice linguistically. This part should also explain how much and if your work relies upon an analysis/classification/study of particular language material or presents mainly theoretical discussion which should contribute towards the study of a particular topic. If the first case, describe the way you constructed you excerpt sheets, what aspects you have marked down, the number of excerpts (should be around 500), what were the main sources, etc. Then explain the procedure of your analysis and state clearly what kind of analysis you have performed at each stage of the research (e.g. linguistic, textual, stylistic, discourse analysis, etc.). This part of you work is rather descriptive, providing a general overview of your research plan. Save explanations and discussions of particular problems for the section on Results and Commentary. In the case that your work is mainly theoretical, explain in what way you prepared yourself for this kind of study and where you see your possible contribution. This section is not included in literature diplomas Where did you conduct your research, who were the subjects (how many, gender, age, other categories, e.g. teachers, pupils, fellow trainees) and how did you select them? What research techniques did you employ to collect the data (recorded interview, video recording, questionnaires, observations, experimental teaching etc.) and why? Exactly how did you go about collecting and analysing your data? – Explain the procedure you used clearly but concisely.

5-10

Literature Methodology

0 3-5

Translation

18-22 This is the practical part of your diploma thesis. If the topic of your thesis is translation followed by the analysis of the translation (type A), this part includes the actual translation. If you chose a different topic (types A – D) this part should include analysis of the
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Diploma Thesis Guidelines

text(s) you are working on. For types E,F,G include the practical research here.1 2.10. Results and Commentary This is the most important chapter. In it you have to use the data from your research as evidence or examples to defend/confirm your assumptions and to try to answer the specific research question(s) stated at the beginning of your project. No. of pages Content 20-25 This would depend on the exact nature and method of your research. 20-25 This is where you present all relevant results of your analysis. Logical organisation, transparency and regularity of presentation are important, however, brevity is not always desired here. You should present the studied/analysed material in its richness and variety. Classification into main groups and more specific subgroups is the most common way of presentation. Tables and charts are a natural part of it. Comment on each group/subgroup of entities; use examples to illustrate your commentary. Try to be consistent in analytical approach (i.e. keep asking yourself how? and why?). 20-25 This chapter should include the results of your research. You should draw conclusions and compare them with those of other writers, as stated in the previous chapters. In this chapter you should try to answer your initial research questions (as stated at the beginning of your project) which may be interpretative or theoretical. You should separate different sub-sections. At the end of each sub-section you should summarise the partial findings. Quote from the primary sources (the interpreted literary text) and secondary sources (criticism) in italics.

Field Cultural Studies Linguistics

Literature

Methodology 15-20 Your results should include all the information you discovered. You should separate the different results you discovered into different sub-sections, with each presenting the date collected from different sources (answers from questionnaires, comments from interviews, observations, etc.) which is relevant to that sub-section. Try to identify patterns (i.e. where the data all seems to point in the same direction) and

1

See Appendix A for an explanation of these types. Page 9 Tuesday, 21st November 2000

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also discrepancies (where the different bits of data seem to contradict each other). At the end of each subsection, summarise what you think the data means as a whole. If your findings are not what you expected, say so, and suggest some reasons why this might be the case. When you present the data, make it clear where it came from (e.g. TQ2, Teacher questionnaire, question number 2), and how many respondents gave you the information (e.g. Yes: 3Ts, i.e. three teachers answered yes to this question). Please remember that large amounts of data are much easier to comprehend when presented in the form of (clearly labelled) graphs, tables, graphs or charts. Make sure you say exactly how many subjects in each category responded in a particular way or did a particular thing. Translation 15-25 This section includes the analysis of your translation (type A). Do not comment on every detail but concentrate on the chosen topic(s). As for types B,C,D,F,G include outcomes of the contrastive analysis and in the case of type E, outcomes of your research. In case A try to summarize the main problems you encountered during the translation and try to answer questions about the quality of your work, e.g. Does the translation fulfil the requirements of a good translation within the given genre? (If you chose to analyse the problem of the quality of translation in the theoretical part, you may apply the knowledge here.) Where could the translation be published and for what kind of readership? For cases B – G highlight the results found. Note that it must be clear exactly what is a result and what is a comment; you must not confuse the two. 2.11. Implications This chapter will probably only be included in Methodology theses. For other fields there will be a longer conclusion. This chapter should include two main sections. Firstly, and most importantly, you should state what you consider to be the implications of your work, i.e. what you have found out which is important for teachers and learners. Secondly, you should briefly indicate what further research you (or someone else) could undertake on this topic, e.g. ways of improving your present study and other questions that have occurred to you whilst carrying out the research.
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Suggestions can be made for ways to solve problems discovered and recommendations can be made for further action or research. (3-4 pages) 2.12. Conclusion You must not introduce any new material or quotations. In this chapter, you should remind the reader of what you set out to do and state exactly what you found out. Summarise the most important results of your research, how they correlate with your expectations/working hypothesis. Consider objectivity and relevance of your findings and conclusions (depending on the scope of your research, data collected and methods used) and indicate strengths and weaknesses. (2-8 pages) 2.13. Appendices You should include lists of specialized terms used as an appendix, if necessary. You should include research documents (such as questionnaires, lesson plans, tests etc.) as well as any additional graphs, tables, photographs, pictures etc. For translation diplomas, the original text you translated should be included as an appendix (type A). In other cases, the original text and the translation(s) you compared should be included here (types B, C, D, E, F, G). 2.14. Bibliography The bibliography should contain a complete listing for all the sources that you have used during your research. Clearly, this must include all the sources you have quoted from within your thesis although it will also include other books etc., which you have read but not quoted from. The listing should be in alphabetical order in the same format as for footnotes (without the pages cited). 2.15. Résumé - Summary in Slovak This should be a reliable overview of the work. Its purpose is to point out the aims of the research and the most important/interesting/new ideas/achievements/methods used. It is written for those who cannot speak English: It has to be written in such a way that a reader can refer to this text and other Slovak résumés to see what has been achieved in the field. The note on relevant and academic language equally applies here! (5-7 pages)

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3. Format
3.1. Physical Format A template for diploma works written in this department is included on the departmental web-site at: http://www.ff.ukf.sk/kaaa/students/diploma.doc (for Microsoft Word 97 or greater) You are strongly recommended to copy this file and use it as the basis for your diploma work. The explanations for each of the sections, which are written about above, are included within that template. Page setup Paragraphs Page size A4 Font Times New Roman Top margin 2 cm Size 12 point Bottom 2 cm Line spacing 1.5 margin Left margin 2 cm First line 1.5cm indent Right 4.5 cm Paragraph 6 points before paragraph margin spacing Printing Single-sided Headings Numbering At least first two levels Page Before main headings (first breaks level) The above table is a general overview of the format for general pages. This is a guideline only but you should apply a similar format to your own work. These guidelines have been based on Ako písať… (see bibliography), with the exception of the margin sizes which have been changed to provide more space for comments to be written. 3.2. Documenting Sources Before beginning this topic, it is vital to repeat here a simple truth about academic work: You must NEVER re-produce any quotations or ideas without including details of the source - to do so would be classified as plagiarism and your diploma work would be failed. If plagiarism is suspected within a work, it is the student’s responsibility to provide his/her consultant with evidence proving that his/her work is his/her own and original. For many students this is a very difficult part of the procedure of writing up their diploma work. There is no need for this to be the case. The following is a guide to the correct documentation for sources of information, ideas and quotations. All direct quotations must be within inverted commas. You should include the name of the author in brackets together with the year of publication
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for the source together with the page reference; this should be directly after the quotation or rephrasing of an author’s ideas. The source should included in full in your bibliography (see below). Note that information for the bibliography can normally be found on the first or second page of the publication. This is the information that should be used and not the information on the cover as this may be incomplete. Note that if the reference from the same source as the previous one, you do not need to repeat all the information when the same book is used twice (consecutively) and can simply write ‘ibid.’ followed by the page reference (ibid. or ib. is short for ibidem which means ‘in the same place’ in Latin). Within the reference you should include the name of the primary author (if this does not already appear in the text), the year of publication (again, unless this appeared in the text) and the page/s referenced if applicable. e.g. “Ideally, the translation should give the sense of the original in such a way that the reader is unaware that he is reading a translation” (Finley, 1971, p2). King suggests that these attempts could “turn the world into a giant factory” (1995, p354-5). In 1993, Atkinson suggested one reason was it gave the teacher more time with weaker students (p41). He also recommended that translated text could be compared (ibid., p63-4). Bibliography Entries These guidelines are based on the uniba (University of Comenius, Bratislava) standard, which is itself based on ISO 690 and ISO 690-2 international standards for quotation. Optional items in the footnotes are shown within brackets – {}. Where the title of the publication is a translation or in a language other than English or Slovak, the English or Slovak equivalent should be given in square brackets, [], after the original title. Note that the publisher’s location can be missed out only when it is included in the name of the publisher, i.e. Oxford University Press. The pages should be written as p. X if it is a single page, or pp. X-Y if there are more than one. Where there is more than one book by the same author in the same year, these should be differentiated by writing the year with a letter afterwards, e.g. 1999a, 1999b. Quotation from a book Author.{ed.}.Year of Publication. Title{: Subtitle}{Trans. Translator}. {Edition.} {Publisher’s location: }Publisher. { - Notes}. FINLEY, IF. 1971. Translating. London: The English Universities Press Ltd..
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ATKINSON, D. 1993. Teaching Monolingual Classes. Harlow (Essex): Longman. PRELOŽNÍKOVÁ, Eva. 1995. Nursery Rhymes, Songs and Games. Nitra: Enigma. SWAN, Michael. 1992. Practical English Usage. 23rd Impression. Oxford University Press - units 493 – 496. Quotation from an article (newspaper, magazine or journal) or a chapter in an anthology Author.Year of Original Publication. “Title{:subtitle}”. In: {Editor, ed.}Title{: Subtitle}{Trans. Translator}. {Edition.} {Publisher’s location: }Publisher, {Year of publication} {: pages}{ - Notes}. Note that the year of original publication may be different when an article has been included in a collection at a later date. Where this is the case, the year of publication for the collection/journal should also appear. Also note that ‘In:’ appears only for chapters and not for articles. DÉJEAN LE FÉAL, K. 1996. “La formation de traducteurs professionnels [The training of professional translators]”. In: Sewell, P. & I. Higgins (eds.), Teaching Translation in Universities: Present and Future Perspectives. London: Association for French Language Studies: 31-44. GADUŠOVÁ, Z. & J. HARŤANSKÁ. 1999. “Metodika využitia videozáznamu v profesnom rozvoji učiteľa”. MEDATA 99 Medzinárodná konferencia Učiteľ pre tretie tisícročie. Zväzok 2a. Slovdidac Nitra: 195-198. KING, Ynestra. 1995. “Healing the wounds: feminism, ecology, and cultural dualism.” In: Tuana, N. and R. Tong, ed., Feminism and Philosophy. Westview Press. Quotation from new media This is only a brief summary of the details that are required for electronic media. If you require further information then look at the source provided as an example which gives a full breakdown of the ISO 690-2 standard for quoting electronic texts. The uniba standard is based upon this. These standards take account of the fact that many of these publications are subject to constant review and the reference may only be valid for a particular moment in time: therefore the date (or perhaps even time) of citation must be included for electronic sources. Author.Year of Original Publication. Title{: Subtitle}{Trans. Translator}. {Edition.} {Publisher’s location: }Publisher, Date of publication {[Moment of citation]}, {pages if applicable} Availability { - Notes} Note that this is an incomplete list as the requirements are very complex and based on the type of media accessed. ISO 690-2, Bibliographic references to electronic documents [online]. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 6th October 2000 [cited on 20th October 2000;12:15 GMT]. Available from World Wide Web: < http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/standard/690-2e.htm>
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FISHER, Fritz. Re: Shakespeare as Required Reading. In USENET newsgroup: humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare [online]. 29 May 1996; 09:07:11 [cited 4 June 1996; 13:03 EST]. Message-ID: <[email protected]>. Available from Internet. Quotation from interviews This should only be used when you have conducted the interview yourself. Where relevant, you may wish to include a transcript of the interview as an appendix. Interviewee. Personal interview. Date. Kehoe, John. Personal interview. 20th October 2000. Other forms of quotation It is not possible in this document to exhaustively list all the possible forms of quotation that could be involved. If you have any questions which are not answered by this document, you should consult the sources listed in the bibliography.

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4. Marking Criteria for Diploma Guidelines
These criteria are given as a guide to both students and diploma consultants to allow transparent marking of diplomas. The weightings for each of the sections will depend on each individual diploma work (for example, originality of approach is more important in a piece of classroom research than in a translation). A diploma work which is given grade five in any category or fails to achieve an average of grade three or better will be failed overall. When a diploma work fails students will be given the opportunity to either resubmit the diploma work or to choose a new topic. There is no third chance: A student who fails twice, is failed forever. Work will also fail if it contains plagiarism (see the section on Documenting Sources). 4.1. Organisation of material Grade 1: Grade 2: Grade 3: Grade 4: Grade 5: Grade 1: Grade 2: Grade 3: Grade 4: Grade 5: Grade 1: The work is clearly organised. The reader is guided through section by section, with a clear progression shown and helpful introductions and conclusions within each section. Overall the work is clearly organised; however, some sections are less clear or introductions and conclusions are missing or inadequate in some places. The organisation of the work is not very clear. The structure of the work is confusing. The reader has to work hard to find related information within the work. The work lacks meaningful structure. It is chaotic.

4.2. Content The work is highly original/up-to-date, or uses existing methods in an original way. The student has justified the use of this approach well in the theoretical background. The work is original/up-to-date, but lacks justification in the approach or relies too heavily on a single theory. The work does not display any particular originality. The work is clearly based on a similar work. There is no evidence of original work done. There is evidence that sections of work are not the students’ own work. The section shows a clear understanding of the subject area and has chosen citations which explain the subject area well.
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Diploma Thesis Guidelines

The citations flow seamlessly into the text. Grade 2: Grade 3: Grade 4: Grade 5: The student has successfully explored the topic. The texts chosen to support the theory described are relevant and referenced to each other. The section does not read well, but the student has included relevant sources and commented on them. The topics chosen for the theoretical background are too general and are not reflected in other parts of the work. The theoretical background contains only mechanically ordered quotations and paraphrases without any personal comments of the student. The research has been carried out professionally and with an eye to detail. It successfully proves or disproves any hypotheses made, and reasonably matches the aims of the diploma work. The research is good, but lacks some details or is not representative enough. There are some fundamental errors in the research, but overall the approach taken is appropriate for the level of this work. The standard of research carried out is poor; it contains serious errors, which invalidate the results. No real research has been carried out, or results have been falsified. The results are well presented. They clearly show well thought out interpretations and conclusions. Data is presented in a meaningful format, diagrams and graphs which have been used are well-labelled and clearly explained in the text. Conclusions and interpretation are made to a good standard. The results are clearly described in the thesis (through the use of diagrams where relevant), but lack deeper analysis. There is an interpretation, but this does not attempt to reach any meaningful conclusions. The interpretation of results ignores or distorts significant data. There is no interpretation of the results found.

4.4. Research Grade 1:

Grade 2: Grade 3: Grade 4: Grade 5: Grade 1:

4.5. Interpretation of results

Grade 2: Grade 3: Grade 4: Grade 5: Grade 1:

4.6. Expression – use of relevant language The student has demonstrated a high level of English. The language used is appropriate in style and clear. There are little
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Diploma Thesis Guidelines

or no errors. Grade 2: Grade 3: Grade 4: There are some errors, but overall it is clear and has appropriate terminology. There are too many errors in the text, but overall the meaning is clear and the student has used terms appropriately. The level of English is poor or the student has failed to use the correct terminology for the subject area. If a translation work: It contains a lot of negative shifts: shifts in meaning, grammatical and spelling errors, clumsy sentences... The level of English used is not of university standard. Frequent spelling and/or grammatical errors render the work unreadable.

Grade 5:

4.7. The Oral Defence If the work is recommended by the consultant and/or opponent for defence (it passes according to the criteria above), then the student will defend the diploma at an oral examination in front of a panel consisting of the consultant, opponent and a third member of the panel (who will probably not have had the opportunity to read the diploma work in detail). The student is given the opportunity for a short presentation of the diploma work and to react to the comments and questions raised in the consultant’s and opponent’s evaluations. This is followed by a question and answer session. The student should show his knowledge of the work (both theory and practice) and to answer any questions raised by it. He should defend his opinions or findings. Where the consultant and opponent have awarded different overall marks to the work, this will help to establish a final overall mark. In the case where a student shows in-depth knowledge of the subject and is able to convincingly answer questions raised by the panel the overall mark may be raised. However, if the student fails to answer basic questions on the subject; or fails to convince the panel that the work is his/her own, the mark may be lowered or the work failed.

5. Bibliography
The following sources were used in the compilation of these guidelines: GALE, Sandra et al. Diploma Work Guideliner. Nitra: KaaA FF UKF – unpublished. KATUŠČÁK, Dušan. 1998. Ako Písať. Bratislava: Stimul. ISO 690: Bibliographic references – Content, form and structure [online]. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 17th August 2000. Available from World Wide Web: < http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/standard/6901e.htm> ISO 690-2, Bibliographic references to electronic documents [online]. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 6th October 2000. Available from World Wide Web: < http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/iso/tc46sc9/standard/6902e.htm>
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Diploma Thesis Guidelines

Appendix A: Types of possible diploma thesis in the field of Translation
A: Translation of a specific text (journalistic, specialized, tourist text, advertisements, historical documents, biblical texts, subtitles...), part of a book (including poetry, drama, translation into English also possible), manual, that has not been translated yet, followed by the analysis of the translation. B: Comparison of a published translation(s) to the original. The published translations (or adaptations) can be in Slovak, Czech, in consultation with your consultant, also in other languages. The comparison should concern a particular topic, e.g. translation of cultural references, translation of slang, translation shifts... C: Combination of the two previous types: student’s own translation into Slovak compared with translations into a different language (in consultation with your consultant). D: Analysis of translation(s) – with reference to a specific topic or genre, e.g. British teenage diary in the Slovak translations. Analysis of translation(s) can also consist in analysing the terminology. E: Research on terminology – compiling a glossary of terms (of a specific field / topic), e.g. Glossary of historical terms F: Comparative stylistics e.g. Comparison of the style of English and Slovak tourist brochures. G: Comparative linguistics – contrastive analysis of the linguistic, morphological or syntactical level of two linguistic systems

Appendix B: Types of possible diploma thesis in the field of Cultural Studies
A: Historical: to select a personality or historical period in British, Irish or American social history (analyse and interpret sources available) B: Discourse analysis of media – e.g. discussion of images and representations of a particular cultural group of people. C: Content analysis of pedagogical documents and textbooks: Investigating cultural context, i.e. representation of a foreign country and its people, ideological messages etc.

Department of English and American Studies

Page 19

Tuesday, 21st November 2000

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