University master's degrees
University Master's Degree in Audiovisual Translation

A unique academic programme that will aid you in becoming a specialist in translation and audiovisual accessibility, offered by lecturers of renowned national and international prestige 

 

Content Official Master's Degree in Audiovisual Translation

Master's dissertation

1. PRESENTATION 

This 15-credit module is mandatory for all master's students and represents the final expression of what students have learned in the master's program. The objective of this work is for students to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for the realization of work in the field of audiovisual translation and accessibility to audiovisual content.

Specifically, it is intended for students to demonstrate a systematic knowledge of basic fields of study and mastery of associated skills and methods; to use specific resources to support study, work, and research appropriately in professional and academic contexts; and finally, to solve problems in new or unfamiliar environments and in broad or multidisciplinary contexts related to the specialization.

Through collaboration with entities, the aim is for students to become familiar with the professional field, interact with the audiovisual translation and accessibility sector, and use the tools and knowledge acquired during classes in a practical manner. This collaboration is valuable for fully assimilating the theoretical concepts of different master's subjects and is a good complement to gaining a comprehensive view of the audiovisual translation and accessibility sector.

2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TFM (FINAL MASTER'S PROJECT)

Objective: The objective of the Final Master's Project is to carry out an analysis, research, and/or reflection on translation practice.

In the final master's project, students must demonstrate that:

  1. They have acquired the knowledge they have been trained in during the master's program.
  2. They have reflective and critical capacity.
  3. They have systematic knowledge of basic fields of study and mastery of associated skills and methods.
  4. They can use specific resources to support study, work, and research appropriately in professional and academic contexts.
  5. They can solve problems in new or unfamiliar environments and in broad or multidisciplinary contexts related to audiovisual translation or media accessibility.
  6. They can present and defend the results obtained.

Authorship: It is an individual project.

Supervision: Module coordinators will assign directors for the final master's project. The director is responsible for supervising the final master's project of the students and ensuring its academic quality. Students must have the approval of the director before submitting the project. If the director believes that the work does not meet the required standards for submission, they will inform the student and notify the coordination. In this case, the student must re-enroll in the final master's project the following academic year.

Evaluation: The project will be evaluated in a public defense before a tribunal composed of three members of the faculty.

Characteristics:
The critical, argumentative, and original elaboration of a final master's project relevant to audiovisual translation or accessibility to audiovisual content will be valued. This project should demonstrate a good understanding of the field and take into account the most significant theoretical proposals on the subject.

Students must design their final master's project considering the following aspects:

  1. Strategy, work plan, and schedule
  2. Background, current state of the topic, and most relevant bibliography
  3. Research question, object of study, or translation assignment
  4. General objective and specific objectives
  5. Methodology: Techniques and working methods

Based on this design and with the guidance of the director, students develop the project that each student must carry out. In this tutoring process, the original design can be modified, and the rhythms and phases of the work are established until its conclusion. Students must write a written project and defend it before an evaluation committee composed of three members.

The research, analysis, and results of the final master's project must be individual and original. Whenever an idea or information not produced by the student is used, its source must be cited. This practice is essential for two reasons:

a) The honest student or researcher acknowledges ideas that are not their own; otherwise, they would be committing plagiarism.
b) It offers readers the possibility to consult the original sources to verify or complement the information.

Formal Aspects:
Approximate length: between 50 and 80 pages of work (this length does not include samples of translations performed and annexes)
1.5 spacing
Font size 12
Font type Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Verdana
Footnotes font size 10, spacing 1.5.
Quotations of 40 words or more are written separately from the text, indented, without quotation marks, with the same font type and size, and with 1.5 spacing.
Bibliography according to APA 7th edition (with the first name of authors to guarantee gender perspective, following the UOC model) or Chicago.
It is recommended to use inclusive language and avoid sexist language. Here are some guidelines:
https://www.uab.cat/Document/177/832/Annex3_LlenguatgeCASTweb.pdf
https://www.uoc.edu/portal/es/servei-linguistic/redaccio/tractament-generes/index.html

Content:
The final master's project will consist of:

  • Cover: FINAL MASTER'S PROJECT, title of the project, name of the author, their ID, name of the director, name of the master's program, name of the university, and date of submission.
  • Summary: up to 200 words describing the project and the main areas of interest, written in Spanish, Catalan, and English. Students who do not know Catalan can automatically translate it and ask the tutor to review it.
  • Keywords: identify at least three theoretical words or concepts that allow placing the work in a specific field, in English, Spanish, and Catalan.
  • Table of contents: must contain the sections and subsections that appear in the body of the work and the page number (it is important that the sections in the table of contents match those that appear later in the text). If relevant, a table of contents for tables and/or figures can be included.
  • Introduction: topic (research question or real or fictional assignment), objectives, justification and motivation, structure of the work.
  • Theoretical framework related to the object of study
  • Methodology: description of the work methodology.
  • Body of work: analysis, case study, commented examples of work done in the case of a final master's project in collaboration with an entity or a fictional assignment, translation reflections and comments, presentation of results, etc. In the case of a final master's project in collaboration with an entity, no confidential material from the entity or confidential data should be included. If most of the tasks performed by students are confidential and cannot be included in the work, or if it is considered that the work done is not interesting enough to carry out a final master's project, students should consult with the director to carry out a fictional assignment of the same type as that worked on during the collaboration. If a fictional assignment is carried out for dubbing, subtitling, or overlapping voices, it is recommended that the video duration be approximately 40-60 minutes. In the case of audio description, a longer duration is recommended. The transcription of the original should have between 6000-8000 words. These recommendations are indicative and will always depend on the material being worked with. If the director authorizes it, the duration or number of words may be less than those mentioned. In the case of conducting a study with users, a document with information about the study and an informed consent form must be prepared. A model is available in the TFM classroom of the virtual campus, which can be customized as needed.
  • Conclusion of the work.
  • Bibliography (only cited sources).
  • Annexes: if any.

Submission: Before submitting the final master's project in June/July, students must have the approval of the director. If it is considered not suitable for submission, it cannot be submitted. Students will submit the complete work electronically in the TFE application on June 14th (or July 24th if submitted in the second session) and will send the work by email to the director and members of the tribunal.

The TFE application is available at https://tfe.uab.cat/, and access is with the student's ID and password.

3. PUBLIC DEFENSE OF THE FINAL MASTER'S PROJECT

Article 230.7 of the Academic Regulations of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Title IX, University Master's Studies, establishes that "The master's program must conclude with the preparation and public defense of a final master's project (...)." These presentations will have a maximum duration of 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, if the student has not finished, the presentation will be interrupted, and it will have a negative effect on the grade.

The presentation must be done in PowerPoint or a similar tool and must include the following:

  • Topic of the work,
  • Objectives,
  • Methodology,
  • Examples of the analysis/work done,
  • Results or most important contributions of the work,
  • Conclusions
  • Future research avenues.

The works will be evaluated by 3 faculty members. Whenever possible, one of the tribunal members will be the director of the final master's project. Students will have to briefly present their work and answer questions from the tribunal. The value of the written work will correspond to 80% of the grade, and the remaining 20% will correspond to the public defense.

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