Introduction to Research Projects

The Institute of Political Science of the University of Silesia stands out not only due to the high-quality research conducted by its employees, but also due to its efforts to prepare students for future research and project work. The pursuit of this goal involves a seminar conducted by University of Silesia Professor Małgorzata Myśliwiec, PhD, offered to Polish as well as to foreign students and entitled Introduction to Research Projects. The teaching cycle in this area consists of five stages. During the first stage, the students learn about the general principles of project preparation and the advantages of forming research teams (with particular emphasis on international teams). During the second stage, they form groups in which they work until the end of the semester. The condition for creating a group is that it should include Polish students and at least one foreigner. Stage three involves conceptual work to propose a shared and original research topic, with an allocation of tasks within the group. Stage four involves presentation by each group of the main research assumptions (justification of the choice of the topic, presentation of the questions and hypotheses put forward, description of the current state of research and methodology) to all the seminar participants. The presentation is followed by a Q&A session with a discussion on the proposal. Stage five involves preparation of an article by each of the groups. Its submission to the person conducting the seminar is required to obtain a credit.
Participation in the Introduction to Research Projects seminar enables the students to acquire and improve the following skills:

conceptual work on a project,
work in an international team,
communication in English and in other foreign languages,
joint preparation of a scientific text in English.

On top of that, students attending the seminar are involved in the scientific life of the university through active participation in conferences and other thematic seminars.

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