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The  Master's thesis is required for the completion of the degree. It is worth of 30 ECTS. The aim of the thesis work is to deeply understand a specific research topic within your major and practice the scientific process under close supervision. This is why it is very important to use good scientific practices in the study design, data collection and reporting. Like all scientific work, the thesis will be evaluated by external experts.

When to start the thesis work and how long does it take?

• 30 ECTS is equal to five months of full-time work. In practice it is good to reserve a full year for the process, starting from the selection of the topic and ending with grading of the final work. This is because in addition to full time work during the data collection and analysis, you can do other studies during planning.
• The best time to start thinking about the possible master's thesis topic is the first Autumn of your Master's studies. At this point you need to enroll in the course “BENS4039 Master's seminar 1 and project management". The course  starts with a common introductory lecture in September, and other parts of the course can be done either during the Autumn or starting from January. The purpose of the course is to help you in the selection of the study topic, planning the project and in writing your research plan.
• When the student and supervisor agree on starting the master's thesis project planning, they fill an advising .
• The research plan is presented in the bi-annual Departmental seminar week either in November or April. It is recommended that you finalize and present your thesis research plan during the first year of the MSc program. Especially those whose project includes field work during the summer season, should take care that the plan is ready before the summer.
• The student should study background information related to the thesis topic before the actual work and demonstrate learning either in a written exam or learning report. The course WETS5036 Exam related to the master's thesis is included in the MSc programmes specialisation in Aquatic Science. If necessary, the exam could also relate to topics in cell and molecular biology, or environmental science.
• If the study requires field work, this is usually done during the summer after the first year of master's studies.
• Experimental laboratory work related to the master's thesis is recommended between the Spring of first year and early Autumn of the second year.
• You should participate in the courses BENS5039 Scientific writing during the first spring of your MSc studies. If you plan to start your MSc thesis writing during the second Spring of your MSc studies, you can postpone the Scientific writing course to that time as well.
• You should present the experimental results of your thesis in the departmental seminar week during the second year of the master's studies either in November or April. This is part of the course BENS5039 Master’s seminar 2 and scientific communication. 

Here is the list of the courses that you need to enroll for completing your MSc Thesis. If you have registered to the courses, you can get to the Moodle-environment of each course.

• BENS4039 Master’s Seminar 1 and Project Management
• BENS5039 Master’s Seminar 2 and Scientific communication
• BENS5037 Master’s Thesis
• BENS5035 Scientific Writing
• WETS5036 Exam Related to the MSc thesis.

Instructions for the MSc thesis plan (in Finnish), (in English).

Here is a link to the technical writing instructions of the thesis (in Finnish), (in English) - (WORD template file)

Here is a link to the evaluation criteria used for Master's thesis (in Finnish), (in English) - (PDF).

Summary of the steps in the Master's thesis project:

• Selection of the topic (the student will contact potential supervisors, student can get help in seminar 1 course and from the teachers responsible for the master's programme)
• Formulation of the research questions (supervisors will help, this will be filled in the Master's thesis advising agreement form, and in the research plan required for seminar 1)
• Detailed planning of experiments, schedule, statistical hypotheses and data analysis (supervisors will help, this is included in the research plan)
• Presentation of the research plan and feedback from peers (seminar 1, student opponent will be selected, supervisors will also give feedback)
• Experimental work, sample collection, measurements (supervisors and collaborators will help)
• Analysis of the data (should be done in parallel with the experimental part, supervisors and collaborators will help)
• Reporting of the results (writing the thesis, Scientific Writing course provide guidance, possible other courses organized by the Center for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi) are also available, there are ususally several rounds of feedback on writing with the supervisor)
• Public presentation (seminar 2)
• Submission for evaluation in the Moodle environment (this can also be done before seminar 2, if the student is ready; the Department will decide the reviewers, who give written feedback and a numerical grade, all submitted theses are automatically checked for plagiarism). Please note that the thesis submitted for grading should be the final, complete thesis, ready for publication.
• Publication (the student will submit the electronic version to the library).

The  Master's thesis is required for the completion of the degree. It is worth of 30 ECTS. The aim of the thesis work is to deeply understand a specific research topic within your major and practice the scientific process under close supervision. This is why it is very important to use good scientific practices in the study design, data collection and reporting. Like all scientific work, the thesis will be evaluated by external experts.

When to start the thesis work and how long does it take?

• 30 ECTS is equal to five months of full-time work. In practice it is good to reserve a full year for the process, starting from the selection of the topic and ending with grading of the final work. This is because in addition to full time work during the data collection and analysis, you can do other studies during planning.
• The best time to start thinking about the possible master's thesis topic is the first Autumn of your Master's studies. At this point you need to enroll in the course “BENS4039 Master's seminar 1 and project management". The course  starts with a common introductory lecture in September, and other parts of the course can be done either during the Autumn or starting from January. The purpose of the course is to help you in the selection of the study topic, planning the project and in writing your research plan.
• When the student and supervisor agree on starting the master's thesis project planning, they fill an advising .
• The research plan is presented in the bi-annual Departmental seminar week either in November or April. It is recommended that you finalize and present your thesis research plan during the first year of the MSc program. Especially those whose project includes field work during the summer season, should take care that the plan is ready before the summer.
• The student should study background information related to the thesis topic before the actual work and demonstrate learning either in a written exam or learning report. In the MSc programme specialisation in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, either course ECOS1070 Ecology or course ECOS1072 Evolution should be completed. 
• If the study requires field work, this is usually done during the summer after the first year of master's studies.
• Experimental laboratory work related to the master's thesis is recommended between the Spring of first year and early Autumn of the second year.
• You should participate in the courses BENS5039 Scientific writing during the first spring of your MSc studies. If you plan to start your MSc thesis writing during the second Spring of your MSc studies, you can postpone the Scientific writing course to that time as well.
• You should present the experimental results of your thesis in the departmental seminar week during the second year of the master's studies either in November or April. This is part of the course BENS5039 Master’s seminar 2 and scientific communication. 

Here is the list of the courses that you need to enroll for completing your MSc Thesis. If you have registered to the courses, you can get to the Moodle-environment of each course.

• BENS4039 Master’s Seminar 1 and Project Management
• BENS5039 Master’s Seminar 2 and Scientific communication
• BENS5037 Master’s Thesis
• BENS5035 Scientific Writing
• ECOS1070 or ECOS1072 Ecology or Evolution

Instructions for the MSc thesis plan (in Finnish), (in English).

Here is a link to the technical writing instructions of the thesis (in Finnish), (in English) - (WORD template file)

Here is a link to the evaluation criteria used for Master's thesis (in Finnish), (in English) - (PDF).

Summary of the steps in the Master's thesis project:

• Selection of the topic (the student will contact potential supervisors, student can get help in seminar 1 course and from the teachers responsible for the master's programme)
• Formulation of the research questions (supervisors will help, this will be filled in the Master's thesis advising agreement form, and in the research plan required for seminar 1)
• Detailed planning of experiments, schedule, statistical hypotheses and data analysis (supervisors will help, this is included in the research plan)
• Presentation of the research plan and feedback from peers (seminar 1, student opponent will be selected, supervisors will also give feedback)
• Experimental work, sample collection, measurements (supervisors and collaborators will help)
• Analysis of the data (should be done in parallel with the experimental part, supervisors and collaborators will help)
• Reporting of the results (writing the thesis, Scientific Writing course provide guidance, possible other courses organized by the Center for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi) are also available, there are ususally several rounds of feedback on writing with the supervisor)
• Public presentation (seminar 2)
• Submission for evaluation in the Moodle environment (this can also be done before seminar 2, if the student is ready; the Department will decide the reviewers, who give written feedback and a numerical grade, all submitted theses are automatically checked for plagiarism). Please note that the thesis submitted for grading should be the final, complete thesis, ready for publication.
• Publication (the student will submit the electronic version to the library).

• Guidelines on Master's thesis project
• Guidelines for writing a Master's Thesis
• Assessment matrix for Master's Thesis.

Maturity exam and seminar presentation

With the maturity exam, you demonstrate your in-depth familiarity with the topic of your thesis and your mastery of academic writing conventions. As a rule, the maturity exam is written in the language of the degree programme. In English-medium programmes, the maturity exam is usually written in English. Usually the abstract of the master's thesis written in the language of the degree programme is accepted as a maturity exam and is evaluated by the representative of the discipline both in terms of content and language. An exception are students who have completed their school education in Finnish or Swedish but have not demonstrated their skills in the aforementioned languages through the maturity exam of their bachelor’s degree. In this case, the maturity exam is written in the language of school education and taken as an exam. The content of the maturity exam is evaluated by a representative of the discipline and its language quality by a language specialist approved by the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi).

You also need to give an oral presentation about your thesis. It's included in NANS2002 Seminar in Nanoscience 2.

Thesis template:

• Master's thesis template (docx.)

Evaluation matrix: 

• Evaluation matrix for 30 etcs thesis

A master's thesis is an extensive written thesis based on a research assignment, which is done on a topic related to one's own subject. A thesis is an independent study course belonging to advanced studies, but not a final thesis or exam representing the entire master's degree. The grade given for the Master's thesis is taken into account when assigning the grade for the advanced studies. The student prepares the thesis independently with the support of the supervisor. The scope of the Master's thesis is 30 ECTS in the degree programs of the Department of Physics. 

• Guidelines and Agreement on Master's Thesis Project at the Department of Physics (PDF)
• Assessment matrix for Master's Theses at the Department of Physics (PDF)
• Additional instructions and a LaTeX template can be found in the Moodle workspace of the course FYSS9490 Master's thesis.

Drawing up a supervision contract supports the degree process

The goal of drawing up a supervision agreement is that the student and supervisor have already discussed relevant issues before starting the thesis process. In the evaluation, progress in the work schedule is based on the estimate recorded in the supervision agreement, unless the schedule has been updated during the progress of the work.

A short list of things to go through:

• naming the responsible instructor and any other instructors,
• preliminary assessment of the difficulty of the subject of the master's thesis,
• a justified estimate of the work completion schedule,
• a common vision of guidance practices and meetings,
• thesis progress checkpoints and schedule update,
• going through the evaluation criteria, especially in the case of exceptional degree types (couple or article degrees).  

By signing the supervision contract, the student and the supervisor commit to the goals of the work. Supervision Agreement (PDF)

A master's thesis is an extensive written thesis based on a research assignment, which is done on a topic related to one's own subject. A thesis is an independent study course belonging to advanced studies, but not a final thesis or exam representing the entire master's degree. The grade given for the Master's thesis is taken into account when assigning the grade for the advanced studies. The student prepares the thesis independently with the support of the supervisor. The scope of the Master's thesis is 30 ECTS in the degree programs of the Department of Physics. 

• (PDF)
• Assessment matrix for Master's Theses at the Department of Physics (PDF)
• Additional instructions and a LaTeX template can be found in the Moodle workspace of the course FYSS9490 Master's thesis.

Drawing up a supervision contract supports the degree process

The goal of drawing up a supervision agreement is that the student and supervisor have already discussed relevant issues before starting the thesis process. In the evaluation, progress in the work schedule is based on the estimate recorded in the supervision agreement, unless the schedule has been updated during the progress of the work.

A short list of things to go through:

• naming the responsible instructor and any other instructors,
• preliminary assessment of the difficulty of the subject of the master's thesis,
• a justified estimate of the work completion schedule,
• a common vision of guidance practices and meetings,
• thesis progress checkpoints and schedule update,
• going through the evaluation criteria, especially in the case of exceptional degree types (couple or article degrees).  

By signing the supervision contract, the student and the supervisor commit to the goals of the work. (PDF)

A master's thesis is an extensive written thesis based on a research assignment, which is done on a topic related to one's own subject. A thesis is an independent study course belonging to advanced studies, but not a final thesis or exam representing the entire master's degree. The grade given for the Master's thesis is taken into account when assigning the grade for the advanced studies. The student prepares the thesis independently with the support of the supervisor. The scope of the Master's thesis is 30 ECTS in the degree programs of the Department of Physics. 

• (PDF)
• Assessment matrix for Master's Theses at the Department of Physics (PDF)
• Additional instructions and a LaTeX template can be found in the Moodle workspace of the course FYSS9490 Master's thesis.

Drawing up a supervision contract supports the degree process

The goal of drawing up a supervision agreement is that the student and supervisor have already discussed relevant issues before starting the thesis process. In the evaluation, progress in the work schedule is based on the estimate recorded in the supervision agreement, unless the schedule has been updated during the progress of the work.

A short list of things to go through:

• naming the responsible instructor and any other instructors,
• preliminary assessment of the difficulty of the subject of the master's thesis,
• a justified estimate of the work completion schedule,
• a common vision of guidance practices and meetings,
• thesis progress checkpoints and schedule update,
• going through the evaluation criteria, especially in the case of exceptional degree types (couple or article degrees).  

By signing the supervision contract, the student and the supervisor commit to the goals of the work. (PDF)

A master's thesis is an extensive written thesis based on a research assignment, which is done on a topic related to one's own subject. A thesis is an independent study course belonging to advanced studies, but not a final thesis or exam representing the entire master's degree. The grade given for the Master's thesis is taken into account when assigning the grade for the advanced studies. The student prepares the thesis independently with the support of the supervisor. The scope of the Master's thesis is 30 ECTS in the RADMEP programme. 

• RADMEP assessment matrix (coming soon)

In the LAGIC MA programme, the Master’s Thesis gives you 30 ECTS credits. You can choose the topic of your thesis independently, but it should be connected to the research focus areas at the Department of Language and Communication Studies.

The process of planning and writing the master’s thesis is accompanied by a master’s thesis seminar. In the seminar, you will discuss and present your own work and give, receive and ask for feedback as part of the seminar discussion. Your thesis supervisor will guide and support you throughout the thesis process.

Writing your master’s thesis will help you develop skills of independent information retrieval, critical evaluation of information, as well as the generation and application of new knowledge. Throughout the whole programme, you will acquire working life-relevant skills including problem-solving, project management, self-study, and self-management.

Possible forms of a master's thesis

Research-oriented reports

• correspond to traditional theses that are based on a limited research project.
• aim to investigate a research problem or question using the concepts and methods offered by a particular field of study.
• the research assignment can be either theoretical; that is, designed to evaluate and develop an existing theory or empirical; based on data selected or collected by the student.
• require expertise in a particular field of study, the ability to identify and define a research question, and the ability to investigate it using appropriate scientific methods.
• may be based on a previous course paper or a pro seminar paper, or may be part of a larger research project currently being carried out by the student's department.

Literature reviews

• are a critical evaluation and summary of written and/or other relevant sources - such as the internet - relating to a particular field of study or to a certain research problem.
• require both familiarity with a particular field of study, its theories and methods, and the ability to analyse and evaluate the research information from a particular point of view.
• can be part of a larger research project, in which case the review serves to fulfill the objectives of the project.
• may also be inspired by a practical problem (e.g. problems surrounding language teaching), in which case the purpose would be to collect and evaluate the information related to the question from a pedagogical point of view.
• can be extended to a licentiate thesis or doctoral dissertation by supplementing the review with research material, such as primary sources.

Multiform thesis

• a multiform thesis makes it possible to trial, develop and investigate a topic from a research-oriented perspective. It may be based on a single assignment or piece of work, or may contain several tasks.
• a multiform thesis may contain e.g. various texts, artistic productions, translation assignments, professional texts, or pedagogical material. It may also be a teaching experiment; the development and application of teaching material; the evaluation, production, and development of professional texts; or the analysis and development of professional practices.
• a multiform thesis consists of a theoretical component and a report of the completion of a justified practical assignment/task, and a reflection on the work process.
• requires familiarisation with the topic’s theoretical framework and previous research, and their application in the practical assignment/task.
• requires the ability to evaluate the information relating to the assignment/task and to utilise it in the completion of the chosen assignment/task.

Master's thesis template

The faculty provides a template for a master's thesis:

• Master's thesis template (docx)

The template is most useful, when applied from the beginning of the writing process.

• Instructions for using the master's thesis template (slides in pdf)

Using the template is easier, when you understand how to use the Styles feature in word processing software. Instructions for using styles in Word:

Evaluation matrix of master's theses

• Master's thesis evaluation matrix (pdf) from 1 August 2024
• Master's thesis evaluation form (docx) from 1 August 2024

Use of artificial intelligence in theses

• Specific guidelines of the Department of Language and Communication Studies

The Master’s Thesis gives you 30 ECTS credits. You can choose the topic of your thesis independently, but it should be connected to the research focus areas at the Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies.

The process of planning and writing the master’s thesis is accompanied by master’s thesis seminars 1 & 2 and the course called Research Method for Master's Thesis. In the seminars, you will discuss and present your own work and give, receive and ask for feedback as part of the seminar discussion. Your thesis supervisor will guide and support you throughout the thesis process.

Writing your master’s thesis will help you develop skills of independent information retrieval, critical evaluation of information, as well as the generation and application of new knowledge. Throughout the whole programme, you will acquire working life-relevant skills including problem-solving, project management, self-study, and self-management.

Possible forms of a master's thesis

Research-oriented reports

• correspond to traditional theses that are based on a limited research project.
• aim to investigate a research problem or question using the concepts and methods offered by a particular field of study.
• the research assignment can be either theoretical; that is, designed to evaluate and develop an existing theory or empirical; based on data selected or collected by the student.
• require expertise in a particular field of study, the ability to identify and define a research question, and the ability to investigate it using appropriate scientific methods.
• may be based on a previous course paper or a pro seminar paper, or may be part of a larger research project currently being carried out by the student's department.

Literature reviews

• are a critical evaluation and summary of written and/or other relevant sources - such as the internet - relating to a particular field of study or to a certain research problem.
• require both familiarity with a particular field of study, its theories and methods, and the ability to analyse and evaluate the research information from a particular point of view.
• can be part of a larger research project, in which case the review serves to fulfill the objectives of the project.
• may also be inspired by a practical problem (e.g. problems surrounding language teaching), in which case the purpose would be to collect and evaluate the information related to the question from a pedagogical point of view.
• can be extended to a licentiate thesis or doctoral dissertation by supplementing the review with research material, such as primary sources.

Master's thesis template

The faculty provides a template for a master's thesis:

• Master's thesis template (docx)

The template is most useful, when applied from the beginning of the writing process.

• Instructions for using the master's thesis template (slides in pdf)

Using the template is easier, when you understand how to use the Styles feature in word processing software. Instructions for using styles in Word:

Evaluation matrix of master's theses

• Master's thesis evaluation matrix (pdf)
• Thesis evaluation form (docx)
• Evaluation matrix for multiform theses (pdf)

The  Master's thesis is required for the completion of the degree. It is worth of 30 ECTS. The aim of the thesis work is to deeply understand a specific research topic within your major and practice the scientific process under close supervision. This is why it is very important to use good scientific practices in the study design, data collection and reporting. Like all scientific work, the thesis will be evaluated by external experts.

When to start the thesis work and how long does it take?

• 30 ECTS is equal to five months of full-time work. In practice it is good to reserve a full year for the process, starting from the selection of the topic and ending with grading of the final work. This is because in addition to full time work during the data collection and analysis, you can do other studies during planning.
• The best time to start thinking about the possible master's thesis topic is the first Autumn of your Master's studies.  The purpose is to help you in the selection of the study topic, planning the project and in writing your research plan.
• When the student and supervisor agree on starting the master's thesis project planning, they fill an advising .
• Experimental laboratory work related to the master's thesis is recommended between the Spring of first year and early Autumn of the second year.

Here is the list of the courses that you need to enroll for completing your MSc Thesis. If you have registered to the courses, you can get to the Moodle-environment of each course.

• BENS5037 Master’s Thesis
• CMBS5036 Literature examination related to Master's thesis

Instructions for the MSc thesis plan (in Finnish), (in English).

Here is a link to the technical writing instructions of the thesis (in Finnish), (in English) - (WORD template file)

Here is a link to the evaluation criteria used for Master's thesis (in Finnish), (in English) - (PDF).

Summary of the steps in the Master's thesis project:

• Selection of the topic (the student will contact potential supervisors, student can get help in seminar 1 course and from the teachers responsible for the master's programme)
• Formulation of the research questions (supervisors will help, this will be filled in the Master's thesis advising agreement form, and in the research plan required for seminar 1)
• Detailed planning of experiments, schedule, statistical hypotheses and data analysis (supervisors will help, this is included in the research plan)
• Presentation of the research plan and feedback from peers (seminar 1, student opponent will be selected, supervisors will also give feedback)
• Experimental work, sample collection, measurements (supervisors and collaborators will help)
• Analysis of the data (should be done in parallel with the experimental part, supervisors and collaborators will help)
• Reporting of the results (writing the thesis, Scientific Writing course provide guidance, possible other courses organized by the Center for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi) are also available, there are ususally several rounds of feedback on writing with the supervisor)
• Public presentation
• Submission for evaluation in the Moodle environment ( the Department will decide the reviewers, who give written feedback and a numerical grade, all submitted theses are automatically checked for plagiarism). Please note that the thesis submitted for grading should be the final, complete thesis, ready for publication.
• Publication (the student will submit the electronic version to the library).

• Guidelines on Master's thesis project
• Guidelines for writing a Master's Thesis
• Assessment matrix for Master's Thesis.

Maturity exam and seminar presentation

With the maturity exam, you demonstrate your in-depth familiarity with the topic of your thesis and your mastery of academic writing conventions. As a rule, the maturity exam is written in the language of the degree programme. In English-medium programmes, the maturity exam is usually written in English. Usually the abstract of the master's thesis written in the language of the degree programme is accepted as a maturity exam and is evaluated by the representative of the discipline both in terms of content and language. An exception are students who have completed their school education in Finnish or Swedish but have not demonstrated their skills in the aforementioned languages through the maturity exam of their bachelor’s degree. In this case, the maturity exam is written in the language of school education and taken as an exam. The content of the maturity exam is evaluated by a representative of the discipline and its language quality by a language specialist approved by the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication (Movi).

You also need to give an oral presentation about your thesis. At the thesis seminar, the student gives a presentation of about 10 minutes on his/her research topic. The thesis seminar is a separate course of 1 ECTS and includes, among other things, the observation of other students' presentations before your own presentation. The dates of the seminars can be found in the Sisu under course KEMS903 Thesis Seminar.