Master's Thesis

Preparing and submitting the final thesis is guided by Dean's Provision No. 29/2010: Rules for Filing, Submitting and Publishing of Final Theses.

The Master's Thesis is an extended piece of original academic writing, with which students are expected to complete their studies. Students have some flexibility in their choice of thesis topic. Generally, a thesis topic that falls into any of the main subject areas of the programme will be acceptable, though individual thesis proposals are subject to the approval of the Head of the programme.

Although the final thesis must be your own work, each individual student will be assigned an academic who will advise and guide you in your research, especially in the early stages of the thesis. This is the Thesis Supervisor, you are encouraged to identify and propose a potential supervisor from amongst the regular teachers of the programme, according to your own interests. Your choice of supervisor is, however, subject to the approval of the Head of the programme.

Topics for Master's Thesis for SEC, SCS, SCM programmes

Can be accessed with a university email HERE.

Previously defended theses at our Department can be found HERE.

Deadlines

Preparing and submitting your thesis is a two-stage process:

1. First of all, in the very early stages of your thesis, and certainly no later than 12 months before you intend to graduate, you are expected to submit a simple 2-4 page outline of your proposed thesis, for preliminary approval by the Head of the programme. This is the so-called Thesis Project (see below for further details), and you will not be allowed to submit a final thesis unless you have previously submitted and received approval for the project.
2. The thesis itself is submitted in the final semester of your studies, generally a few weeks before the date of the final exam. See below for further details of the formal requirements.

The exact deadlines for submitting your thesis project and your final thesis will vary slightly from year to year, but you will always find them in the current Academic Calendar of the university. Generally, we will also send an announcement to your mailing list.

As a rough guide, the basic timeline is as follows, but please remember to check for specific deadlines:

• If you plan to graduate in the summer (June): submit the project in May/June of the year before you intend to graduate, submit the final thesis in May.
• If you plan to graduate in the autumn (September): submit the project in August/September of the year before you intend to graduate, submit the final thesis in August.
• If you plan to graduate in the spring (February): submit the project in January/February of the year before you intend to graduate, submit the final thesis in January.

Formal requirements for the Thesis project

The thesis project is a preliminary outline of your proposed thesis, which must be submitted at least one year before the thesis itself (see above). Generally, it is about 2-4 pages in length, and it must include:

• The proposed title of your thesis
• The name of your supervisor
• A short outline of your proposed line of argument (including potential chapters) and the methodology you plan to use
• A bibliography of your main sources, relating to both the content and the methodology of the thesis

At this early stage, we do not expect you to go into any particular detail, but the text should be sufficiently well developed, so we can tell what your main topic is, how you plan to structure the text, and what sources you plan to use.

The project is subject to the approval of the Head of the programme, who may ask you to revise your proposal if he thinks this is necessary. It is therefore advisable to secure the approval of the programming head before you start writing in earnest.

You need to have your Thesis project uploaded in SIS one year before planned graduation. After you finish your Thesis project, your supervisor will fill in the basic info about your thesis in SIS and will assign your name to the topic. You fill in the rest of the information about your thesis. In case of any questions contact your student coordinator.

Formal requirements for the Master's thesis

The thesis proper is submitted in the final semester of your studies before you proceed to the final Master's exam (see above). When preparing the thesis, students need to remember that:

1. The Master's thesis is an original piece of academic writing and must fulfil all the usual standards of an academic text (bibliography, attribution of sources, etc).
2. The text must be submitted in standard manuscript format. Use a plain font (Times New Roman or Arial), point size 12, line spacing 1.5 or 2.
3. The minimum length of the thesis is 50 standard manuscript pages, excluding supplements. For the purposes of calculating the length of the thesis, a standard manuscript page is taken to be 1800 keystrokes long (including spaces). Most modern word-processing packages will calculate this for you (in MS Word, use the "Word Count" menu). Pages should be numbered.
4. Every student must submit two printed hard copies of the thesis. The hard copies must be bound (ask for a list of binders). During Covid-19 pandemic situation and up till now this requirement is not in place. Students submit their thesis only in SIS in PDF/A format.

Contents of the thesis

Every thesis must contain the following (in this order):

1. Title page in standard format
2. The original Project of your Master's Thesis, as described above, signed and approved by the Head of the programme
3. A Declaration that the thesis is your own work, signed and dated by yourself
4. A Contents List
5. The main text of the thesis itself
6. A Conclusion
7. A 1-page Abstract summarising the contents of the thesis
8. Full bibliography and citations

      Master's Thesis template

Oral defence of the thesis

As part of the final exam, students are expected to undertake an oral defence of their Master's thesis. Following the submission of the thesis, students will receive two reviews of their work. One written by a supervisor and the other by a thesis oponent. Students will find the reviews in SIS one week before the thesis' discussion, the latest. Students should read the reviews in advance and prepare themselves to respond to the comments and questions during the thesis defence. Students are expected to prepare 10-15 min presentation about their thesis. The discussion of the thesis takes place in front of a committee composed out of at least three faculty members.

Further information about the formal requirements for the Master's thesis is also included in the Rules for the Organisation of Studies of the university, and in Dean's Provision No. 3/2006, which forms a supplement to those rules.