Masters Thesis
Formalities and Information about your Masters Thesis
The Masters Thesis is designed to showcase the skills the student has acquired throughout their masters. This includes the independent study of a sociological problem taking a closer look at criteria of scientific study. This is done over 80-100 pages and over the course of the students 4th semester.
Students starting their studies before the wintersemester of 2012/13 end their masters with an additional oral exam discussing their thesis. The Thesis itself will span 25 ECTS, the oral examination 5 ECTS.
There is no regulation when you have to start with working on your thesis. Due to this it is to your own judgement when you start working on it. We recommend taking care that plan 6 months of no other examinations so that you can freely work on your thesis.
After deciding on your topic you will have to find an advisor that is familiar with it. Your advisor has to be part of the personell eligeble for examination at the institute (professors or private lecturers).
Try to write out your topic so that you have a base to discuss your final thesis with your advisor. After that and additional reading (which is optional) write an exposé spanning 1-1½ pages about your thesis, your goal and how you plan to structure your paper. Other prepatory work like the structure has to be discussed individually with your advisor.
The registration for your masters thesis will be through the examinations office. Please fill out the fomular “Anmeldung der MA-Arbeit” with your advisor. The formular can be found on the bottom of the page.
Please note: As soon as you registered your masters thesis with the examination office you will have six months until you have to hand it in!
After finishing writing your thesis you will have to hand in two samples that have been printed as well as one machine-readable, electronic version with the examinations office during their opening hours. Please do not forget adding the declaration of proper drafting (at the bottom of the page).
The Institute of Sociology recommends the following course of action for writing your masters thesis:
- Start thinking about the topic you want to discuss during your third semester.
- Choosen an advisor and discuss your topic and register your thesis.
If you want to finish your masters by the end of your 4th semester you will have to consider that you will have to have found an advisor and topic at the beginning of your 4th semester. (Tipp: Your topic has been “found” if you can explain how you want to discuss it over 80-100 pages to yourself and others and how you want to structure it.)
- Hand in two printed out versions and one digital versions at the examinations office.
The institute of sociology wishes you good look on writing your masters thesis.