Final thesis

Duration

Number of credits

Lecturer

Collégialité

Coordinator

Guénaël Devillet

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

All year long

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Master thesis is a scientific research work, personal and original.
The subject of the dissertation is chosen by the student from a list provided by the promoters. Under certain conditions, the subject may be proposed by the student. The subject is chosen either during the year before last, or the beginning of the last year of the Masters.
The promoter is a doctor, member of the academic or scientific staff. If he/she is not a member of the Department of Geographical Sciences, a co-promoter, member of the Department of Geographical Sciences, is added to the jury.
In the general case, the thesis seeks to answer a scientific question, checking the validity of a hypothesis (proposed solution to the issue) in a hypothetical-deductive method. Consistency and originality of the hypothesis are recognized by careful study of the state of the art. The experimental approach used involves both the acquisition and processing of geographic data required to argue the proposed solution.
Other approaches, deviating from the one presented above (research and development, and deductive formal modeling approach, action research ...) may be proposed by promoters based on suggested topics.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Carry out a comprehensive scientific research individually.
Formulate a question and a research hypothesis in light of the state of knowledge in the field.
Collect, qualify and process information according to a rigorous, reflective and critical way.
Present in written and oral form, the approach of a personal scientific research, since the development of the hypothesis to conclusion, within pages (75 to 100 pages) and time permitted by exercise.
Able to defend his/her approach and research findings to a jury of research professionals.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

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Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Monitoring of memory is provided by the promoter during regular meetings with the student. The student is invited to schedule these meetings as the progress of his/her memory and to consult as necessary members of the scientific and academic staff of the department, particularly the members of his/her jury.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Regardless of the corequisites, Master thesis is an individual work, carried out under the supervision of a promoter.

Recommended or required readings

Under the responsibility of the promoters.
We highly recommend the consultation of the document written by A Anceau for the Bacchelor course "Undergraduated final work" (STRA0046-1)" and describing the standards of bibliographic citations. A hyperlink to this document is provided below : Items online (required course materials).

Juries of Masters Thesis are formed by the Faculty Council on the proposal of the Council of Studies and endorsed by the President ou he Jury at the end of the first semester of the final year of Masters. The juries are composed of at least three members, including the promote, doctors and members of the academic or scientific staff of a university or research center.
The master thesis could not be submitted for evaluation without the agreement of the promoter. Both the substance and form (written and oral) are evaluated. Particular attention is given to the originality. The jury made use of "anti-plagiarism" tools made available by the authorities of the University. Plagiarism constitutes a cause of non-admissibility of the master thesis.
Examples of evaluation criteria: compliance with the guidelines of the section and the option, scientific quality, technical quality, innovation and originality, quality of state of the art and references, written presentation (layout, style) quality of the oral presentation and its support, quality of the answers to oral questions, overall judgment.

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

A digital version of the dissertation must be uploaded to the Matheo platform no later than the deadline day set by the Faculty Council on the proposal of the Council of Studies. This date is published in due time on the website of the Faculty of Sciences.
The student must contact his promoter and the members of his jury prior to the upload of the digital version to Matheo to know if they wish a hard copy (A4, maximum 100 pages) of his thesis. If necessary, hard copies must be deposited at the secretariat of the Department of Geography or of the Geomatics Unit before noon on the deadline day of the electronic filing.
Hard copies must be identical to the electronic version.
No hard copy of the master thesis should be provided for the University's libraries.
We ask the students to scrupulously respect the procedures for uploading the electronic version of their Master Thesis into the Matheo platform. There are general regulations and departmental regulations. Please read both documents. These regulations are available on the website of the Faculty of Sciences at the following address: http://www.facsc.ulg.ac.be/cms/c_3344363/fr/matheo.
Other information (specific regulations of the Department of Geography, formatting of the manuscript, ...) are accessible via the course support section.
Oral defense consists of a presentation of fifteen minutes maximum, followed by a session of fifteen minutes for questions posed by the readers and the promoter.

Contacts

Guénaël Devillet Directeur Service d'Etude en Géographie Economique Fondamentale et Appliquée UR Sphère et Département des Sciences géographiques ULiège   Sart Tilman B11 - Clos Mercator 3 BE-4000 Liège   g.devillet@uliege.be

Association of one or more MOOCs

Items online