Master's Thesis

Master's Thesis: General Information

In order to complete your MA in English and American Studies, you need to submit a Master's thesis (22,5 ECTS-Credits). The topic of the MA thesis must be taken from one of the selected elective modules (1-9). In order to officially declare your topic and thesis supervisor, you must have succefully completed the compulsory module 1. The MA thesis must be written in English.

The "Preparation of the Master's Thesis" (5 ECTS-Credits) precedes the actual composition of the MA thesis. The MA program is completed with the "Master's Thesis Defence (Defensio)" (2.5 ECTS-Credits).

For information regarding length, citation style, formatting, submission deadlines, etc., contact your thesis advisor and follow their instructions precisely.

Guidelines for the academic standards of Master's Thesis.

Master’s Thesis

Master’s theses are academic texts that should demonstrate the student’s competence of engaging independently with scholarly issues of their chosen field in a factual and methodologically correct manner. The thesis should reflect the student’s analytical abilities to reflect on the relationship between theoretical and empirical research and to develop a
cogent and convincing argument.

A master’s thesis should meet the following requirements:

Clearly defined research question in supervisor’s area of expertise (Habilitationsfach)
Coherent argument
Description of research objectives and presentation of results
Disclosure of and reflection on working method
Overview of current state of research and critical positioning of thesis
Independent use of primary sources and/or independently collected empirical data
Original quotations (especially from easily accessible authors/sources)
Comprehensive and up-to-date bibliography
Use of MLA citation format (in-text citations, footnotes and bibliography)

A master’s thesis should be between 100 and 150 pages in length, and bound.
If written in a foreign language (e.g. English), the master’s thesis should be 80–120 pages long.

Supervisor and Submission:

Supervision of master’s thesis takes place during official semester period = lecture
period (winter semester and summer semester).
Master’s thesis can be submitted chapter by chapter (this must include title page with
name, phone number, email address and complete bibliography) – supervisor is given
a minimum of 2 weeks to correct chapter.
Revised chapters/thesis must be discussed in person with supervisor (not by email,
phone, or mail).
Master’s thesis must be submitted to Examination Office (Prüfungsreferat) 2 months before the defensio, and all appointments and deadlines must be met.

Other notes and comments:

Attached template is to be used for thesis cover page.
It is recommended to format thesis as it will be submitted in final version from the
beginning, i.e. double-spaced with 5cm wide left margin.
Master’s thesis that has been partially or fully plagiarized will be graded
“unsatisfactory” (as determined by Rector).

Guidelines for the academic standards of master thesis including the cover sheet by Univ.-Prof. Christian Quendler.