All About the Master’s Thesis Michael I. Schwartzbach Gudmund S. Frandsen University of Aarhus Department of Computer Science

2 All About the Master's Thesis Academic Purpose  The Cand.XYZ studies are completed with a thesis.  The student works independently with a relevant subject and must demonstrate ability to: identify and analyze a problem area provide a written documentation of the work both on a scientific basis.

3 All About the Master's Thesis Different Kinds of Theses  Survey of research area.  Implementation of theoretical results.  Didactic analysis of an area.  Solving a real-life practical problem.  Novel scientific results.

4 All About the Master's Thesis Size of The Thesis  The thesis is generally of size 30 ECTS.  For “old” cs students : 40 ECTS. “old” ~ accepted into the Master’s Programme in Computer Science 2004 or earlier  Experimental theses may be of size 60 ECTS.  Q: My university registration information says “60 ECTS for the thesis year”? Thesis is still 30 or 40 ECTS. The rest is courses. Graded by 13-scale or examined in combination with final thesis exam

5 All About the Master's Thesis Language Requirements  The thesis must be written in Danish or English.  In each case, a summary (2-3 pages) must be provided in the other language.

6 All About the Master's Thesis The Supervisor  The student must have a main supervisor at Datalogisk Institut, who must be a member of the permanent scientific staff.  The thesis project may additionally be supervised by other scientific staff: from Datalogisk Institut from other departments at University of Aarhus from other research institutions from private industry  The main supervisor is responsible for maintaining all rules and ensuring the quality of the work, and must participate in the final exam.

7 All About the Master's Thesis Project Groups  The thesis work may take place in a project group (typically of size 2 or 3).  For a group thesis, the thesis report must identify the parts for which each student is mainly responsible.

8 All About the Master's Thesis Thesis Contract  A thesis contract is written by the student and the main supervisor at the beginning of the thesis work.  The contract must specify: the student the main supervisor possibly a project supervisor the working title the area of specialization the size of the project (ECTS) the starting date the finishing date activity level required resources publication rights

9 All About the Master's Thesis Written Assignments  If the terms of the contract are significantly violated, a new contract must be written and approved by the Teaching Committee.  If this second contract is also violated, the student may be required to complete the thesis project through a written assignment that must be completed in 4 to 6 weeks.  Written assignments are strictly individual and cannot be completed by a project group.

10 All About the Master's Thesis Final Exam  The thesis work is completed with an individual final exam that includes an external examiner (censor).  The exam has two parts: a 30 minute lecture on a topic from the area of the thesis work a 30 minute oral examination  The lecture topic is decided by the main supervisor, the project supervisor, and the external examiner, and is given to the student 7 days before the exam.  The oral examination deals with the topics of the thesis report or the written assignment and the contents of the lecture.

11 All About the Master's Thesis Thesis Curriculum  The curriculum of the final exam is determined by the literature that is referenced in the thesis report or the written assignment.  For group projects, these may be individualized.  Don’t reference anything that you haven’t read and understood!

12 All About the Master's Thesis Thesis Grading  The student receives a single combined grade on the 13-scale, covering both the written and oral contributions.  The title of the thesis both in English and Danish and possibly the area of specialization is written on the student's transcript. specializations approved by the study board: Tech IT: “Distribuerede Realtidssystemer” Tech IT: “Multimedieteknologi”

13 All About the Master's Thesis Exam Scheduling For cand.scient. exam:  The student must register for the final exam as for all other exams  The date of the oral defense is determined by the main supervisor (who also selects the external examiner). The date is at most 2 month after the deadline for handing in the thesis.  All other exams must be completed before the defense!

14 All About the Master's Thesis Handing in The Thesis  Deadline for handing in your thesis is specified in the thesis contract  Two bound copies and one unbound copy of the thesis report or written assignment must be handed in.  A special cover page must be used.  A PDF version must also be supplied.

15 All About the Master's Thesis Thesis Freebies  Students working on their thesis usually get office seatings (for one or two semester). You have to apply!  When a thesis contract has first been signed, a thesis group with N members will receive N+1 free cards for the photo copiers.