This 6-week seminar series enables students to acquire and refine academic skills through active experimentation. Students are expected to rapidly and critically read academic texts, use them to respond to a question, and write essays. They will also develop initial research skills such as gathering and selecting primary source material.

Upon completion of this lab, students have: • the ability to review academic literature on a specified topic assigned; • to gather, assess and select academic and primary source material • the ability to make focused presentations and essays using empirical material and academic literature • the ability to develop a preliminary research proposal in line with the research question - a special attention will be deserved to qualitative methods - specifically case study method. This learning is extremely important for approaching the other courses and for designing and elaborating the final master thesis. Furthermore, this lab will help students become familiar with the perspective of the “engaged scholarship” and in particular with the necessity to apply rigorous methods for studying relevant problems. This will help students become better decision-makers in the future.

The course will cover topics related to the different components of reading, researching and writing academic texts.

Van De Ven, A. H. (2007) Engaged Scholarship. A guide for organizational and social research. Oxford University Press Inc., New York.

Classes will combine lectures, presentations, and discussions.

Students will be actively involved throughout the workshop, with more structured presentations or in-class exercises

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