Admission requirements
Bachelor degree (completed)
Description
In this course, principles, methods and organization of scientific research are presented. It aims to consolidate and extend prior views that students with varying educational backgrounds may have on academic research.
Topics of the course include principles of scientific research, organization of the academic world, academic careers, the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Scientific Practice, academic fraud, research ethics and the ethical approval process, scientific publication, scientific writing, the role of statistics, and basic statistical testing.
The course format is rather intense and student participation is high. Class attendance is compulsory and an active in-class attitude is expected.
Course objectives
After completing the course students are able to:
understand the aims, principles and organization of academia;
understand academic careers paths;
reflect on the limits of what is acceptable in academic research;
understand the roles of ethics, integrity, statistics, and publication in academic research;
identify and analyze academic literature relevant for a topical review;
compose an academic style text describing a research field;
execute basic statistical testing.
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
Lecture, Seminar, Class discussions, Homework reading, Homework writing assignments. Language: English.
Assessment method
Multiple take-home and in-class assignments form the basis of the final course evaluation: several reading, writing and/or presenting assignments, at least one statistical testing assignment. The final course result is a pass or fail predicate. To successfully pass the course the following requirements must all be met: (a) All graded assignments must be evaluated with at least grade 5.5. (b) All pass/fail assignments must be evaluated with pass. (c) All classes must be attended.
Uncompleted assignments are graded with 0 or fail. Students may be required to complete and pass additional assignments to compensate for missed classes.
Retakes
Retake of individual assignments is available for failed assignments only.
A single retake submission deadline is set for submission of all retake assignments.
Besides this single retake possibility, it is not possible to submit retake assignments.
Failed the course last year?
If you did not complete the course in a prior academic year, but you did successfully complete some of the assignments, then take note that:
You need to meet/pass all the course requirements of the running academic year, such as attendance requirements, assignment completions, assignment deadlines, etc.
Successful completions of assignments in previous years remains valid for the next academic year only. For example, if you passed the “7-Papers” assignment in 2024-2025, then that result stays valid in 2025-2026 only; not thereafter.
Attendance of specific lectures remains valid for the next academic year only; not thereafter.
Reading list
Alan F. Chalmers (2013), What is This Thing Called Science? (Fourth Edition), Open University Press.
Various selected reading materials, available via Brightspace.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
Contact the lecturer(s) for course specific questions and the programme's coordinator for questions regarding the programme, admission and/or registration.
Remarks
Elective, external and exchange students (other than Creative Intelligence & Technology MSc students) need to contact the programme's coordinator due to limited capacity.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.