Admission to the Master's Thesis
M.A. Roads to Democracies
As soon as you fulfil the requirements, you can apply for registration of your Master's thesis at any time, but at least four weeks before the planned official start of your writing time. Send us the completed and signed form by email. We will confirm the registration by email and ask your first supervisor for the topic. They will also let us know whether your Master's thesis is empirical. If you have not found a second supervisor at the time of application, you should discuss the choice of a suitable second examiner with the first examiner of your thesis and inform us about your choice as soon as possible.
The official letter of admission will be sent to your student email address approx. one week prior to the start of the writing period.
Requirements
Start of studies before WiSe 2023/2024
Students who have obtained at least 72 CP for the entire study programme will be approved for admission to the Master’s thesis. In addition, the students must have completed modules INT, MET and the module elements MM 1.1 and MM 1.2.
Start of studies from WiSe 2023/2024
Students who have obtained at least 63 CP for the entire study programme and have completed at least 7 modules will be approved for admission to the Master's thesis.
First and Second Examiner
First Examiner
Professor, Junior Professor, Private Lecturer (at the University of Siegen) or Research Assistant with a PhD in your Master's programme
Second Examiner
Lecturers in your Master's programme with at least a PhD
Important: If the lecturer does not yet hold a doctorate, the Examination Board can issue an examination authorisation at the request of the lecturer. Please contact the Examination Office for more information.
Formalia
Writing Period
The Master's thesis must be completed within 18 weeks. In exceptional cases including empirical work, the period can be extended by 8 weeks to a total period of 26 weeks. The topic, tasks and scope of the thesis should be limited so that the deadline can be met. After 2/3 of the writing period you may hand in early.
Sick Days
If you fall ill during the writing period, please inform the Examination Office by email, enclosing a doctor's note ("Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung"). We cannot request medical certificates from the health insurance company.
Withdrawal
You can also withdraw from the Master's thesis for valid reasons (e.g. in case of illness). The written request must be submitted to the Examination Office at least one day before the deadline, together with supporting documents (e.g. medical certificate). If the Examination Board recognises these reasons, the Master's thesis is deemed not to have been undertaken.
Length
The length of the Master's thesis should not exceed 80 pages (without indexes and appendices) or a total of about 30,000 words. A larger deviation from this scope (more than +/- 10%) can be included in the examiners' assessment.
Language
The thesis is written in English; exceptions can only be permitted upon agreement with the examiners.
Confirmation of Authorship
Include the following signed confirmation of authorship in both the PDF and the printed copies of your Master's thesis:
"I certify that I have completed the written work independently and that I have not used any auxiliary means other than those indicated. All passages that are taken from other works in terms of wording or meaning (including translations) have been clearly marked as taken from other works in each individual case, with precise indication of the source (including the World Wide Web and other electronic data bases). This also applies to attached drawings, images, sketches and similar. In particular, I affirm that I have indicated all literal and semantic adoptions from other works as well as the use of AI-based text generators. I take note that the proven omission of the indication of origins will be considered as attempted fraud."
Submission of the Master's Thesis
Submission
Hand in your Master's thesis as an electronic copy (pdf format) via email to the Examination Office by the individual submission deadline. Remember to include the signed confimation of authorship. Also submit two hard copies with fixed, no spiral binding. You can either provide the copies in person at the office, drop them in the mailbox or send them by post. The date of receipt of the pdf file at the Examination Office constitutes the submission date. We will forward your Master's thesis to the examiners.
If you would like to provide your examiners with additional data (e.g. for empirical work), please add a separate data carrier (e.g. USB stick).
If the Master’s thesis is not submitted by the submission deadline, it will be graded as “failed” (5.0).
Assessments
As a rule, the supervisors prepare the assessments within 6 or 8 weeks (depending on the examination regulations). If it takes longer, you are welcome to ask. However, it is not unusual for examiners to overrun the deadline.
After the result has been announced, you can request to see the assessments.
Oral Examination (Master's Thesis Presentation)
The Master's thesis presentation can take place during the writing period or the assessment period of the Master’s thesis, but at the latest eight weeks after the written confirmation from the head of the Examination Board that the Master's thesis has been graded 4.0 or better.
Please complete the electronic registration form (Registration for Oral Examination). Arrange an examination date with the two supervisors/examiners and enter it in the form. The first examiner must confirm on this form (examiner's signature and stamp) that the date and the second examiner or observer has been agreed with them.
The form must be handed in at the Examination Office at least 10 days prior to the examination date.
Please note: If the date of the oral Master's examination is not in the same semester as the submission of the Master's thesis, but in the following semester, you must re-register for the next semester.
