Master Thesis and Completion of the Programme

In the third and fourth semester, students write a master thesis on a topic developed in the context of their chosen research specialisations. Guidance and feedback is offered in the individual interaction with the thesis supervisor as well as in the context of practice-oriented thesis seminars. A selected number of opportunities to write master thesis in the framework of ongoing research projects also exist.

We recommend to commence with the following procedure as soon as you have completed the following modules:

  • BM A: 5 ECTS
  • BM B: 13 ECTS
  • SP: 7 ECTS
  • GW: 5 ECTS
  • RS: at least 10 ECTS

 

The administrative procedure is:

 

1. Selection of Supervisor

These supervisors will be available for new thesis projects:

Twice per year, the programme director offers a matchmaking between supervisors and students to assure the ideal allocation of supervisors to student topics. Information about this is sent out via the STS student mailing list.

2. Approval of Supervisor & the Topic

Please hand in the following items at the secretariat of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (office hours), or send an electronic version to sec.sts@univie.ac.at:

  • the Notification Form, signed by you as well as your supervisor

  • the Regulations Relating to Good Scientific Practice

  • the Record of Exams, stating all courses completed so far, signed by yourself (We recommend saving this file on your computer as you will need the complete version later on, in the process of completing the Master.)

  • your Research Exposé, signed by your supervisor

  • By email you will be notified about the approval of your thesis' topic within 3 weeks (during the term).

3. Submission of the Complete Record of Exams

As soon as you have completed all your courses (at the latest 2 weeks before you upload your thesis on u:space - step 4), please submit the following documents to the secretariat of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (either as hard-copy, or an electronic version by email).

  • a signed copy of the complete record of exams. Please note: All grades must be registered and assigned to the appropriate modules in u:space!
  • a copy of your acceptance letter ('Zulassungsbescheid')
  • (if applicable) a copy of the official notification of recognition of examinations ('Anerkennungsbescheid')

Also, 1-2 weeks before the date of uploading your thesis, please contact one of the second examiners (please also see item 5. Public Defense / Final Examination) whether he or she would be ready to serve as such.

4. Submission of the Master Thesis - NEW: on u:space!

Steps 2 & 3 are a prerequisite! Then, two weeks AFTER having sent the complete record of exams to sec.sts@univie.ac.at (contact: Karin Neumann):

A) submit the thesis via the StudiesServiceCenter (follow the 3 steps: upload thesis to u:space, send the signed upload confirmation by e-mail, then bring/send two hardbound copies),
B) contact a second examiner (even better before updoading!),
C) receive the grade,
D) register for the final examination (see 5; the earliest possible date for the defense will be two weeks after grading!)

Further information

Your thesis has to be uploaded on u:space in order to perform a plagiarism check. The uploaded thesis must be the same as the one submitted in binding. The formal requirements for academic theses must be observed; for the formal guidelines summarized in English please also see here.

Firstly, you need to review and verify the data in u:space that will be printed on the title page. This information is automatically loaded from university’s database and includes your name and academic degrees, as well as details regarding the supervision of your thesis. 
For the title page of the thesis, there are concrete specifications regarding the layout and the data listed. To ensure that your title page is correct in terms of form and content, the system will create it automatically from your data. Please do not use a title page you have created yourself, as this will not be accepted during the formal check!

To ensure the protection of your personal data, i.e. in order to guarantee an anonymized plagiarism check, please:
- do not include any personal data (like your name or student ID)
- do not include your CV (or affidavit)
- do not include your name in the header or footer

The thesis must contain a German AND English abstract of at least 500 characters. The abstract is a brief summary of the central points of your thesis. You can choose the option to make the full text available through u:theses, so others can read your work. Further information on the use of publications in academic theses can be found on the website of the office of the Studienpräses.
Once you have uploaded the document, you will receive an upload confirmation (“Hochladebestätigung”).

If any textual similarities are detected between your work and other texts, the study program management will examine whether it constitutes plagiarism. Please DO NOT PRINT your thesis until you have received feedback via email to your u:account, confirming a successful plagiarism check. The printed version must exactly match the electronically submitted version.

The supervisor has 2 months to evaluate your thesis and send the report to the 'Study Service Unit'/StudienServiceCenter. A couple of days after the supervisor has handed in his/her evaluation, you will receive an email with a scanned copy of the evaluation form containing the grade.

5. Public Defence

Step A

Around the date of uploading your thesis (or even better: 1-2 weeks before), please contact one of the following second examiners whether he or she would be ready to serve as such:

Step B

If the examiner consents, please agree on the literature for the exam*,

and coordinate a date for the defence/final examination with your supervisor, 2nd examiner, and chair.

The date of the examination must be at least 14 days after the evaluation date of the thesis.

*For students who enrolled in the programme before winter term 2014/2015 the reading list comprises 2 books and 5 articles. For this format, there is a list with recommended literature for all examiners. For students who enrolled in the programme in winter term 2014/2015 or after, the reading list comprises two books. For this format, each examiner has his/her own list of literature.

In both cases, the literature should predominantly be from an STS area other than your master thesis.

Step C

Submit the registration for master's examination form and the examination literature form to the institute´s secretariat (by e-mail to sec.sts@univie.ac.at).

Please read the information sheet about the defence/examination attentively,and consider that the time span between the moment you have handed in the master thesis at the StudienServiceCenter and your defensio can be up to 2.5 months.

6. Acquiring your Diploma

To acquire your diploma, you have to fill in a form of the Statistik Austria, that you will receive by email. Once you´ve filled in the form, you'll receive a confirmation of the statistical data acquisition. You need to send the pdf-confirmation of it to ssc.sozialwissenschaften@univie.ac.at, and will then receive ALL your signed and officially approved diploma-documents by email to your u:account:

  • “Bescheid über die Verleihung eines akademischen Grades”

  • “Abschlusszeugnis”

  • Diploma Supplement (including grade point average)