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Course information?
Admission requirements
Admission requires a completed bachelor's degree comparable to a Norwegian bachelor's degree and a minimum grade average of C (in the Norwegian grading scale) and completion of the compulsory courses as well as a selection of elective courses that makes a total of at least 90 ECTS.?
Examination?
- A master thesis, written part
- An oral exam
Grading criteria?
The master thesis is the culmination of the master’s degree studies. During the writing process, the student will be assigned a supervisor. The Director of the master programme is in charge of this process.
The thesis is an independent work, and the topic is of the student’s own choice, but must fall within the scope of the study programme in question.
Assessment of the master thesis must be in line with the learning outcome. Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail, see the general qualitative description of valuation criteria.
The following academic criteria are used when assessing the master thesis:
Research question and methodology
- A clear, well-defined main research question (and related sub-questions, if applicable).
- When the subject is delimited explicitly, and adequate reasons are given, it shall not count against the student that the issues falling outside the delimitation are not discussed.
- A suitable and well-articulated methodology.
- We encourage a multidisciplinary approach and the use of mixed methods. This effort on the part of the master candidate should be considered favorably by the graders.
Analysis and Independence?
- The thesis shows some degree of originality in the treatment of the chosen topic (not simply repetition of what others have argued, but at least in part a genuinely original contribution).
- The candidate demonstrates the ability to identify relevant material (empirical data, cases, theory), and to:
- … distinguish between different, but related, issues.
- … distinguish between principal and subsidiary questions.
- … place the identified issues in their appropriate context.
- Logical flow of reasoning (coherence).
- Arguments are built on a proper integration and analysis of a variety of relevant sources.
- Due consideration of contrary positions and different perspectives and interpretations.
- The candidate sufficiently explains the topical and methodological choices and those choices are adequately grounded in the relevant field of research.
- Reflection:
- Engages with the material.
- The analysis demonstrates a thorough or good understanding of the relevant issues and the materials used.
- Demonstrates independent thinking, for example by analysing a topic that is insufficiently addressed in the literature, or by asking or discussing questions in new or interesting ways.
- The ability to identify relationships of a methodological or substantive nature that are not readily apparent from the primary or secondary materials.
- The conclusions follow logically from the analysis.?
Command of language, including use of adequate professional terminology; writing skills, including in-depth analysis, structure, signposting, are all relevant factors for the assessment.
Style and structure
- Use of own words and professional terminology, as appropriate.
- Proper use of grammar, sentence construction, paragraph structure etc.
- Appropriate tone/voice – minimal verbosity.
- Clear introduction, body, and conclusion.
Adequate citations and referencing
- The candidate has used sufficient and adequate sources to support the arguments. Best efforts are made to use primary, non-partisan, and peer-reviewed sources.
- Sources used are properly acknowledged, to avoid plagiarism.
- Correct, consistent, and precise citation (including where relevant, page numbers, or paragraphs of judicial or other decisions).
- The bibliography shows the depth and width of sources used to construct the thesis arguments.
Formal requirements
Word count
- The substantive part (i.e. introduction, all chapters and conclusion) should be no more than 18,000 words, 20,000 in the case of multidisciplinary inquiries.
- Footnotes are also included in the word count.
- Not included in the word count are table of contents, bibliography, and any tables and registers.
- Theses normally do not include a preface or acknowledgements, but if they are included, they do not count?towards the word count.?
Adjusting oral examination?
The adjusting oral examination may give the student the opportunity to demonstrate independence, and greater depth and breadth of knowledge, skills and competence that were not evident in the written thesis.
Examiners shall assign a grade to the written thesis and determine a final grade for the course after the adjusting oral examination. The principle is that the written thesis shall be given the greatest weight. As a rule, the final grade will be the same as, one grade lower than, or one grade higher than the grade awarded for the written thesis. If the examiners deem it necessary on academic grounds, however, they may determine the final grade anywhere within the full grading scale.
Conducting the adjusting oral exam
The adjusting oral examination shall be based on the student’s thesis and shall pose questions that are relevant to, and grounded in, the thesis’ orientation, methods and material.
The oral examination lasts 20–30 minutes, at the examiners’ discretion.
The exam begins with a brief introduction by the examiner; the student then gives a short presentation of the thesis, after which the examiners ask questions.
After the examination, the examiners hold a private examiners’ meeting and then provide an oral explanation for the final grade awarded for the thesis course as a whole.
Explanation for the grade
The explanation for the grade must be linked to the learning outcomes and should focus on the student’s potential for further learning. The explanation should enable the student to understand why the master’s thesis received the stated grade. Examiners should point to examples from the student’s written and oral performance.
Group thesis
For group thesis, a single final grade shall be awarded to all candidates. Each candidate must account for their individual contribution to the group.
Plagiarism checks, AI use and suspicion of cheating
An automatic plagiarism check is run on all submitted theses. As an examiner you can view the plagiarism reports for the thesis assigned to you. These appear as a small coloured box showing a percentage. The percentage indicates the proportion of the text that matches external sources.
Examiners are not expected to perform independent plagiarism investigations. The administration is responsible for following any further enquiries into whether the conditions for cheating have been met. It is important to note that a high similarity percentage does not necessarily indicate cheating: the reports detect all textual similarity, including properly cited use of relevant sources. Submissions with very high or very low match percentages are reviewed manually by the administration.
You are nonetheless encouraged to contact the administration if you have concrete suspicions of cheating, whether based on the plagiarism report or other features of the submission. Our plagiarism system does not cover all sources, so it is especially important to notify the administration if you recognise text from a source that the software has not detected.
The candidates are permitted to use AI when writing their master’s thesis. The guidelines for AI use are as follows:
All available exam resources are allowed when answering this exam. Rules for source referencing are crucial for determining whether the use of resources is permitted.
- The use of artificial intelligence as an aid when writing your master’s thesis must comply with UiO’s guidelines for using AI, and ethical issues related to AI use must be considered.
- AI use must be explained and/or documented. The more AI is used in developing the text, the greater the expectations for documentation and reflection on that use. Text generated by AI tools is not considered an academic source.
- Cheating: Use of AI can be considered cheating if, for example, you give a false impression of independence, omit sources, or cite fictitious sources.
There are tools designed to detect misuse of AI, but such tools are not considered sufficiently reliable for the faculty to use as the basis for a cheating case. It is therefore important that you contact the administration if you suspect the AI use does not comply with the guidelines above. Possible signs of AI misuse include, for example, multiple or conspicuous citation errors, a marked variation in the quality of the text and/or writing style within the submission.
Suspicions of cheating may arise during the assessment of the written component and/or during the oral examination. A case of suspected cheating may also be pursued after the grade has been posted. You should contact the administration at the earliest possible opportunity once a suspicion arises. In principle, you should continue the assessment as normal while the faculty investigates the matter further. If a suspicion arises during the oral examination, it may be appropriate to withhold the final grade and the explanation until the case has been examined.
What happens after a report of suspected cheating?
When you report a suspicion of cheating, the administration will take responsibility for investigating the matter further. Follow-up of suspected cheating cases is handled through an administrative process. If the suspicion is upheld, the student will be asked to attend a meeting. The meeting is conducted by the administration; an examiner and/or the course teacher will participate if this is deemed useful to clarify the case.
The faculty will then decide whether to open a formal case of academic misconduct. Such cases are prepared by the faculty and referred to the Student Affairs Committee (Nemnda for studentsaker) at UiO for consideration and decision. You can read more about this process in UiO’s routines for handling cases of cheating.
Date of last update
This grading criteria for master’s thesis was last updated on 9th January 2026 and will apply from spring 2026 inclusive.
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