Thesis/Final examination

In order to be admitted to the final examination, students must fill out and send in the graduation application form, which is only accepted through online submission.

Students can find the detailed instructions concerning the compilation of both the graduation application and the AlmaLaurea forms on the dedicated page of the University’s website.

Updated information concerning the dates and deadlines of the different graduation sessions can be found on the DUSIC department’s website.

The following new rules for the completion of the final examination concern the students enrolled from the Academic Year 2020-2021 onwards, who will be eligible to graduate from the July 2023 session.  

A) The preparation of the final dissertation must be preceded by the fulfilment of the two basic online “information and document research literacy” courses organised by the Department's DigiLab laboratory (Infopatente and Bibliopatente). These are to be accessed through the EduOpen platform, in line with the instructions outlined at https://dusicdigilab.unipr.it/ (visit the 'How to enrol' and 'When to complete them' menus). Attendance of the two aforementioned courses is mandatory for obtaining the credits assigned to the final dissertation. The corresponding certificates must be uploaded in the appropriate sections of the Esse3 platform during the Graduation Application process, among the other mandatory attachments. 
The possibility of completing the advanced Bibliopatente2 course and the individual assessments for additional points purposes remains optional, as indicated in the rules displayed on this page.

B) The final dissertation must be between a minimum of 30,000 characters and a maximum of 40,000 characters, divided into folders/pages of 2,000 characters each.

C) In accordance with his/her supervisor, the student will choose between 3 different types of dissertations:

1. a textual analysis (close reading) of a short passage (3/4 pages long),
2. a short essay specializing in the linguistic, literary or cultural field that:
   - may be about a specific topic taken from a text (or several texts, if they are short poems) related to the literary and cultural fields, or
   - may be related to a specific topic related to the ‘language and translation’ field
3. a work of translation, which can be:
   -an interlingual translation (3/4 pages long) of an unpublished text (either prose or verse) accompanied by a commentary
   - a commentary on an intra-linguistic or inter-semiotic translation
   - a comparative-contrastive analysis of two translations of a text.

D) The student, in accordance with his/her supervisor, will have the possibility to choose whether to write the dissertation in the foreign language or in Italian. If he/she opts for Italian, a section of 2,000-4,000 characters must be written in the foreign language. Vice versa, if the dissertation is written in the foreign language a 2,000-4,000 characters section must be written in Italian.

E) A final defense presentation of the dissertation will no longer be necessary. The Graduation Board will meet separately during the week dedicated to the dissertations and will evaluate the work by drafting the reports and deciding on the mark to be awarded. The evaluation will take place without the candidate. The figure of the co-supervisor is no longer compulsory.
The graduation ceremony will take place on a specific day within the graduation session period in front of a committee composed of three professors, one of whom is appointed as Chairman.

F) Graduates can find all the materials and the editorial rules that are necessary for the preparation of their dissertation at this link.

The Language Course has a specific graduation procedure, which includes filling out form A14, in addition to the other paperwork to be completed at the Student registry office.
Graduating candidates must fill in the application for graduation online by the deadlines set for each session.
It is advisable not to bring yourself to the last days for both the filling in of the application and the delivery of the documents.
Please note that the documentation must be COMPLETE.

IMPORTANT
Before proceeding with the completion of the online application for graduation, the student must be in possession of the Authorisation to Submit Dissertation form (MOD. A50) signed by the rapporteur, which contains indispensable data for online compilation. List of forms to be completed and submitted all at once to the Student registry office:

• Instructions (MOD. A15/3/IND-UM) with delivery methods, deadlines and indications on copies and print formats
• Authorisation (MOD. A50) of the supervisor (in duplicate), completed in every part and legibly, especially the name of the supervisor and the name of the co-supervisor(s).
• Application for graduation (to be completed online and printed out for delivery to the Student registry office)
• Receipt of diploma fee and stamps (downloadable from the online procedure when completing the application)
• Receipt for completion of the Alma Laurea questionnaire
• Rules of conduct for candidates and their families during graduation sessions (MOD. A/44)

ONLY FOR DEGREE COURSES OF THE LANGUAGE UNIT

Graduates can find all the materials and the editorial rules that are necessary for the preparation of their dissertation at the following Elly page. 

PLEASE NOTE: for the students enrolled from the academic year 2020-2021 onwards, the attendance of the two basic online “information and document research literacy” courses organized by the Department's DigiLab laboratory (Infopatente and Bibliopatente) will be an integral and mandatory part of the drafting phase of the dissertation, and will contribute to the attribution of the corresponding credits (CFU). (See paragraph A above).

Attending the Advanced Bibliopatente course remains optional and, if the student successfully completes the final examination, will contribute to the attribution of the extra dissertation points. The individual final examination must only be undertaken by the students who attend the Advanced Bibliopatente course and wish to obtain extra points. For more details, see the Dusicdigilab page.

For all the students enrolled before the academic year 2020, the aforementioned courses remain recommended but not mandatory, regardless of their graduation session.

MOD. A/14 has to be sent only by email to the Academic Office in Viale S. Michele 9:

-    by email only (dusic.lingue@unipr.it)
-    in a single scanned pdf document
-    with the signature of the supervisor
-    at least three months before the chosen graduation session.
 

PLEASE NOTE: no paperback copy of the dissertation must be handed it to the Student Administration Office.

PLEASE NOTE: Students who have submitted Module A/14 and fail to graduate (e.g., switching from the Summer session to the Autumn or Extraordinary session) do not need to email it to the Student Administration Office again*.

*: these documents must be sent to the Student Administration Office only if the Supervisor changes.

The final examination is evaluated with a grade out of 110.

During the evaluation process, the Graduation Committee takes into account the student's overall curriculum and the quality of the dissertation he/she has submitted, and may decide to assign a maximum of five additional points to the mark resulting from the average score of the candidate’s curricular exams.

The Graduation Committee decides which/how many points to add to the initial weighted average mark. As a result, the following points may be added: 1 point for an international mobility experience (Erasmus for study or placement, Overworld for study or placement); 1 or 2 points (depending on the mark achieved in the final examination) for the Bibliopatente. 
 
For more information regarding the procedure of assigning extra dissertation points to the students who have completed the entire information literacy course (2 basic modules + advanced module + individual assessment) provided by the Department's DigiLab laboratory, see the dedicated page on the lab's website.

The average score is calculated by:

• multiplying the grade obtained in each exam by the number of credits for that exam
• tabulating the resulting scores 
• dividing the overall score by the number of credits.

The BA course in Modern Foreign Languages and Civilisations calculates the CFUs obtained from the exams, then multiplies all the exam grades by the corresponding number of CFUs and divides them by the total number of credits. The result will be the weighted average out of 30. The Esse3 system continuously updates the grade average, which the student can see in his/her personal online area, but the weighted average score will only be modified after all the exams have been successfully completed. 

Example:
exam 1, grade 28, cfu 12 = 28*12 = 336
exam 2, grade 24, cfu 6 = 24*6 = 144
exam 3, grade 30 cum laude, cfu 9 = 30*9 = 270
weighted average of these marks = 336+114+270 / 12+6+9 = 750/27 = 27.777

N.B.:

• The laude does not increase the achieved grade (30), which means that 30 cum laude = 30.
• The weighted average is calculated up to three decimal places without rounding.