Content Official Master's Degree in Translation and Intercultural Studies

Master's dissertation

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 that students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for the elaboration of a piece of academic work dealing with either Translation and Intercultural Mediation or Translation Studies and Intercultural Studies.

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.

The aim of collaborations with companies and entities in the professional strand, is for students to become familiar with the professional field, interact with the translation, 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 translation 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 translation and intercultural studies.
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.

Assessment criteria:

• Adequacy of contributions and results (40%)
• Structure (15 %)
• Clarity of exposition and linguistic correctness (15 %)
• Relevance of bibliography(10 %)
• Presentation and oral defense in front of an evaluation board (20 %)

Characteristics:
The critical, argumentative, and original elaboration of a final master's project relevant to translation 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:

1. The honest student or researcher acknowledges ideas that are not their own; otherwise, they would be committing plagiarism.
2. 
   b) It offers readers the possibility to consult the original sources to verify or complement the information.

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.

More information available at:

• Module descriptor: 
  44018 - Master's dissertation
• Guides of each area of specialization provided at the beginning of the course