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The thesis work can commence at any given time during the master's programme. The commencement is formalised by the supervision agreement. The supervision agreement must be signed and handed in by 1 September in the 3rd semester. The thesis must be submitted end of April/start of May in the 4th semester (date announced on semester page).The thesis work is equivalent to two semesters full-time load (60 ECTS).
B) CHOICE OF THEME AND RESEARCH QUESTION
The theme and research question for the thesis will be decided upon by supervisor and student in collaboration. It can prove useful to start the planning of the thesis already in the first semester. The department will introduce the students to the research groups and ongoing research projects during the first two semesters. It is up to the supervisor and the student to decide how integrated or separated the student’s thesis work will be from the existing research within the research group.
C) SUPERVISION
The master's thesis is the student’s responsibility. Consequently, it is the student who is responsible for finding relevant literature, choosing methods and interpreting the results. To support this work, the student will receive individual supervision from a member of the academic staff in the department. Before embarking on an empirical thesis or participating in data gathering the student must sign a contract with a supervisor. Individual supervision can be supplemented with other form of supervision, seminars or courses. Supervisors are obliged to follow University of Oslo’s ethical guidelines for supervisors.
Supervisor’s role
The student is entitled to supervision in all phases of the thesis work. The supervisor shall give advice, opinions and feedback enabling the student to write a thesis reaching an acceptable standard. The rights and the duties of the student and supervisor are written in the supervision agreement for the master's thesis.
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to inform the student about the laws, rules and regulations that apply The supervisor is responsible for the data when the project ends.
If the supervisor finds that the project that the student wishes to embark on for some reason is not advisable, the student is entitled to an explanation. The supervisor ought to help the student to find an alternative project that is realistic within the time frame.
During supervision the student must present written project descriptions and drafts at regular intervals for the supervisor to provide feedback on.
Expectations to supervision
Both the student and the supervisor ought to be able to raise questions regarding the expectations to supervision, ambitions regarding the grade on the master's thesis, emotional reactions to the work, how the supervision works and how it should be organised. The supervisor should initiate the discussion of these topics. If problems arise that cannot be solved by the student and supervisor in cooperation, the administrative coordinator should be informed as soon as possible. If needed, th