 |
 |
|
Faculty of Social Sciences
Information:Contact information: Faculty Office: Unioninkatu 37 (P.O. Box 54) 00014 University of Helsinki Phone +358-(0)9-1911 (University) Fax +358-(0)9-191 24835 |
 |
Bachelor´s and Master´s Theses
N.B. These web pages are not updated any more. The new web site on courses in English can be found at http://www.helsinki.fi/socialsciences/studying/current/index.html Language Revision for Bachelor's and Master's ThesisThe students are expected to submit a short section from their Bachelor's or Master's thesis or an essay (10-15 pages) for language revision, before they can graduate, and this should be taken care of simultaneously with the participation to the seminar. The text (or so called practice essay) is to be sent in electronic format to the International Coordinator, who will forward it to the person in charge of the language check-up. The language revision takes approximately one month to complete, so the students ought to bring the texts or essays well before submitting their Bachelor´s or Master´s thesis. The essays are also checked for the contents, and the students are responsible for submitting them to the responsible professor. For more detailed information, please contact the department offices. If in doubt about the language of the essays, the students should turn to the International Affairs´ Officer for assistance. As a general rule, one should write the essay in the same language in which one has completed his/her secondary education, i.e. if the student has completed his/her secondary education in Finland, the essay should be written in Finnish/Swedish, depending on the applicant´s mother tongue. All those students who have not
should submit the essay in English. The students ought to get at least the grade 2 on a grading scale from 1 to 5 to pass the language revision. If the language revision is completed for the Bachelor's degree, it is not necessary to take it again for the Master's degree. Please note that from 1 August 2009 onwards, it is not necessary for the Master's degree students to complete the language revision, if the student has finished his/her primary or/and secondary schooling abroad and has not taken his/her matriculation examination (ylioppilastutkinto) in Finland. However, these students are advised to contact the International Coordinator before registering for submission of thesis in WebOodi. Instructions for students who have completed their schooling in Finland are available here. Requirements for Bachelor's ThesisStudents prepare a bachelor's thesis as part of the Bachelor's degree. Bachelor's thesis is included in the intermediate studies of the student's major subject. It is worth 6 credits (op). The studies related to the preparation of the thesis are worth at least 4 credits (op). The bachelor's thesis should consist of approximately 15–20 pages of text. It should be kept in mind, however, that the recommended length of the thesis can vary depending on the department and subject as well as on the nature of the thesis. For more detailed information, please contact the relevant department. Generally, bachelor's thesis is written during a seminar or another suitable course. The aim is to complete and submit the thesis at the end of the seminar. As a general rule, same guidelines concerning the bachelor's thesis are applied to students who have begun their studies both before and after 1 August 2005. Before submitting your thesis to the relevant department, you have to enrol in Weboodi (the relevant link is available in the study guide). You can not submit your thesis, unless you have taken care of the language revision. For more detailed information on the requirements for Bachelor's Thesis, please contact the department in question. Requirements for Master's ThesisOne of the main elements forming the degree of Master in Social Sciences is the Master´s Thesis. It is a written work of substantial length, and its purpose is to enable and train the students to:
The Master´s Thesis is worth 40 Finnish credits (40 ECTS) of the advanced studies at any field offered at the department. In addition, writing one´s Master´s Thesis forms a large part of the seminars one has to attend at the advanced studies. The topic and the research field of the Master´s Thesis ought to be selected in such a way that it enables the student to complete the task within a reasonable time and with reasonable efforts. The normal length of a Master´s Thesis is from 60 to 80 pages, but depending on the research topic, also longer or shorter works can be considered. The length of the Master´s Thesis should not exceed 120 pages. Also a previously published work can be accepted as a Master´s Thesis, provided that it fulfills the requirements given to a Master´s Thesis. Although normally the Master´s Thesis is written on one specific topic, the Master´s Thesis can also be a compilation of several writings of the same field, provided that they deal with the same problem setting and a caption is provided, that binds the ensemble together. If the Master´s Thesis is written in a group, the independent work of the student must be clearly definable from the outcome. The sections written in a group are to delivered separately and will be graded as separate entities. Topic Selection and Thesis SupervisionWriting one´s Master´s Thesis is to be scheduled in such way, that it consists a whole with the seminar work and one´s other work at the advanced level of one´s studies. The subject handled in the Master´s Thesis is decided by the student after consulting the professor of one´s own field. At the same time a supervisor is nominated to the work, who, in general, is a professor or a docent at the university. At the same time, a secondary supervisor is nominated to the work. As a general rule, the secondary supervisor is an assistant from the same department. If the Master´s Thesis is written in any other language than in Finnish, Swedish or English, this must be agreed upon by both the supervisor and the student. Most departments publish written guidelines and instructions for writing the Master´s Thesis (in Finnish). They are available from the departmental offices. Closer information on how to conduct the research and deal with a certain topic is provided, from the particular point of view of a certain department or field. Master´s Thesis LayoutThere are few common rules that dictate the layout of the Master´s Thesis in the Faculty of Social Sciences. One should note, that the departments have guidelines that are to be respected. The best way of getting acquainted with these is to read the departmental guidelines mentioned above and by getting familiar with the Master´s Theses already presented at the department in question. In order for the Master´s Thesis to be easily readable, the line spacing should be 1.5, i.e. 36 to 38 lines per page. The pages are not to be bound or perforated. The library of the Faculty of Social Sciences will take care of the binding of the finished work. For this reason, the left margin of the work must be at least 4 centimetres and the right margin must be at 2 centimetres. On the cover page of the work the following information is to be given: The title of the thesis Please see a sample cover page of a thesis (in Finnish). Also, an abstract is to be delivered at the same time as the work itself is delivered. The abstract must contain the following information: the purpose of the Thesis, the main source material used and the most important conclusions. The abstract is to be delivered both on paper and in electronic form. Guidelines about the abstract are available from http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/kirjasto/opinnaytetiivistelmat/tayttoohje-en.htm References in the text are placed either in brackets after the text they are referring to, or in footnotes at the bottom of the page. If you quote someone, directly or indirectly, the source ought to be always indicated. If you fail to acknowledge the source, you are guilty of plagiarism. The reference practices vary from one department to another, and the guidelines of the departments are usually only in Finnish with the exception of the department of Social and Moral Philosophy (Instructions for Writing Essays and Discourses). Even though these instructions can be used as a guideline, students should always consult the thesis supervisor of their own department. Submitting the Master´s ThesisWhen your Masters thesis is ready to be submitted, you have to enrol in Weboodi in order to submit it . The thesis must be submitted by the following dates (for enrolling, please use the link above):
You can not submit your Thesis, unless you have taken care of the language revision and the score is correctly added in the registry. The Master's Degree Students do not need to complete the language revision after 1.8.2009, but they ought to contact the International Coordinator well before submission of their theses. The Master´s Thesis is to be submitted in two identical copies (including two copies of the abstract) to Secretary Ms Eija Laaksonen at the Study Office of the Faculty (Unioninkatu 37, room 1105) by a certain deadline (please see the dates on this table). The Thesis must be handed in before 11 A.M. The copies are to be submitted in a binder-case (if this is unclear, there are examples of these at the Study Office). The Dean will appoint two examiners for the work delivered after hearing the head of the department of the work delivered. One of the two examiners will act as the main examiner. When submitting one´s Master´s Thesis, the student has to be able to show, that s/he is a majoring student in the field s/he has submitted his/her Master´s Thesis in and also that the s/he is currently enrolled at the University. This can be indicated with the student card with a valid sticker or an up-to-date printout of the registry. Additionally, the student who has completed his/her primary and/or secondary schooling in Finland has to be able to prove, that the language revision has been completed and the mark is in the registry. If the Master´s Thesis is written in any other language than in Finnish, Swedish or English, this must be agreed by both the supervisor and the student.
|
