ØAMAS5900 Master's Thesis Course description

The master's thesis is a final independent, limited research project that shall be based on the knowledge, skills and competence that the student has acquired during the programme. The master's thesis is an independent work of 30 credits and must be written within the student's major. Preparations for work on the master's thesis should begin at an early stage of the programme, but the work starts in earnest in the third semester. A start-up meeting is held, and students have to submit a project description for their master's thesis. Each group of students is then assigned an academic supervisor. However, it is not uncommon for the students to have been in contact with one or more potential supervisors already during the preparation of the project description.

See "Content and Structure" in the Programme description.

After completing the course, the student should have the following overall learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student has

• advanced knowledge of a specialised field in the area of business administration
• in-depth knowledge of theories relevant to the topic of the master's thesis

Skills

The student is capable of

• using social science methods and/or questionnaire surveys and applying theories in analysis work based on a research question formulated by the student him/herself
• carrying out an independent, limited research or development project under supervision and in accordance with applicable research ethical standards

General competence

The student

• has advanced knowledge and skills in carrying out scientific investigations
• can communicate in writing about professional issues, analyzes and conclusions within the subject area

The master's thesis is an independent project carried out in groups of two students. Students may be allowed, by application, to write an individual thesis. The students will receive about ten hours of individual or group-based supervision.  This supervision helps students to acquire the necessary knowledge and entails a necessary quality assurance of the collection and processing of data and that these activities comply with research ethical standards.

The following coursework requirements must have been approved in order for the student to be able to deliver the master's thesis:

• Coursework 1: A project plan of maximum 10 pages must be approved before work on the master's thesis begins in the fourth semester. The project plan shall describe the research question and plan for the thesis. It also forms the basis for the allocation of an academic supervisor. The deadlines for submission of the project plan are announced at the beginning of the third semester

If the project plan is not approved, students will be given one opportunity to submit an improved version.

The master's thesis is submitted at the turn of the month May/June. The final deadline for submission will be given in the plan for examinations.

The scope of a master's thesis is normally 80-100 pages. Students who have been granted permission to write an individual thesis a thesis of 60-80 pages is normal. Font and font size: Arial / Calibri 12 points. Line spacing: 1.5. The scope is discussed and agreed in more detail with the supervisor. For theses with a big quantitative analysis component in particular, the number of pages may be less important.

A new deadline for submission will be set for students entitled to a resit/rescheduled exam. The submission deadline will be at the turn of the month August/September. The final deadline for submission will be given in the plan for examinations. Students who failed the ordinary exam may be given one hour of academic supervision by agreement with the supervisor.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F

All theses are assessed by one internal and one external examiner.