Instructions for writing Master Theses for Master students

General information
Registration
Registration on the Master`s Thesis course
Execution
Report Layout
Find an opponent
Presentation of  the Thesis
Announcement of Presentation of Master´s Thesis
Master´s Thesis report number
Printing the Thesis
Publishing the Thesis on Electronic Press
The reflection document
Registration of credits
Contact

General information

When you have an idea for your Master Thesis contact an examiner within the field or one of the directors of studies to discuss the topic.

Before you start writing your thesis, read this page and make sure you have all necessary information. You need to have taken at least 60 hp of advanced courses within your master's programme, of which at least 30 hp needs to be within the Main field of studies. You can contact the Master Thesis administrator at ISY at exjobb@isy.liu.se if you have any questions about this.

Please notice that there are different rules for ERASMUS-students for writing a Thesis/project with the course code TGZ***. Please contact your examiner for further information.

Registration

Before you register your thesis, you´ll have to fill in the form "Application Thesis work" and have it controlled by the study counsellors. When the study counsellor has filled in this form, leave it together with the form Registration of Master Thesis ISY and an transcript from Ladok (can be collected from the Student expedition in Zenit), to your examiner. The examiner will check your eligibility and enroll you in the ISY thesis system.

Execution

You should have regular contact with your examiner or supervisor, for example at least once a month. Check with him/her if there are additional instructions for the current thesis topic on ISY.

A planning report should be completed within the first four of weeks and handed in to the examiner, and a half-time check has to be performed. Contact your examiner for details.

Remember that the thesis should be completed within 12 months, if it takes longer your examiner has the right to interrupt your work . If you think that the thesis will take more time, please contact your examiner, who then decides if an extension is possible.

If you are two who carry out a thesis together you can divide your contributions to the report in various sections of the report. This is so that your examiner can grade each individual contribution.

Report layout

- Cover
- Title page
- Librarysheet All Thesis reports at ISY should contain librarysheet (“URL, Electronic Version", write http://www.ep.liu.se)
- Manuscript (your work)

Find an opponent

It is your responsibility to find an opponent for your Master Thesis. You can find opponents on LiU:s "Anslagstavlan" ("Notice board") and on the notice board outside ISY's Student Office.

The opponent has to register at the examiner at least two weeks before the presentation. To register the opponent has to leave an attested transcript from Ladok to the examiner. The examiner will register the opponent in the Master Thesis system. To qualify as an opponent the student must have attended one presentation of theses before the opposition and must also have completed relevant courses within the field. Please tell the opponent to read the Instructions for the opponent.
The opponent must give the examiner a written account of the opposition at least one week before the presentation.
The opponent also needs to be registered at his/hers Master Thesis course code (TQxx30 for Master's Programme students).

Presentation of the Thesis

Before you present your own thesis you have to attend one other presentation. To get the attendance registered in Ladok you have to be registered on the course TQxx30 if you have started your own thesis work, or on the course code TEXMAS if you have not yet started your own thesis work.
If you have attended a presentation at ISY, but it has not been registered in Ladok within two weeks; send an e-mail with your name, ID-number, name of the presenting student and the presentation date to exjobb@isy.liu.se.

The presentation of a Master Thesis must take place during a time that you and your examiner have agreed on, during the Semester dates. Book time and place for the presentation in cooperation with the examiner.
A substantially complete thesis report should be available to the examiner and supervisor at least two weeks before the presentation.

Please note that according to ISY's rules, the presentation can´t be made earlier than two weeks after the examiner's approval of the report. This time period needs to be long, partly to ensure that the opponents have time to read the final report and have time to give account for his/hers opposition to the examiner, and so that the announcement of the presentation will be done in time so that those who are interested in participating can schedule this.

The presentation takes about 20-30 minutes and after that the opponent reviews the solutions of the thesis. Afterwards there is time for questions from the audience.

Announcement of Presentation of Master Thesis

The presentation can not be done until you have announced the presentation and received a report number.  The thesis announced on the notice board outside ISY's Student Office and on ISY's web page for Master's Thesis anouncements and is handled by the Master's Thesis administrator at ISY's Student Office. Send an e-mail to exjobb@isy.liu.se with your name, ID-number, study programme, the title of the Master's Thesis work, the name of the division at ISY where the thesis work has been carried out, and details about when and where your thesis will be presented and in which language the presentation will be held in. Do this at least a week in advanced, so that other students who are interested in participating can schedule this.
If the presentation will take place in the first week on the autumn semester (15/8-19/8) you have to do the announcement in June, to ensure that you'll get your report number.

When you announce the presentation of the Master Thesis you will get a report number sent to your student e-mail .

Master Thesis report number

When you announce the presentation of the Master Thesis you will get a report number sent to your student e-mail.
Report-number /ISRN-number looks like this:

LiTH-ISY-EX--yy/xxxx--SE

(yy = the year you present the thesis, xxxx = number).
Make sure that the number is right in the report file and on Electronic Press. 

Printing the Thesis

Your examiner decides whether your thesis is going to be printed or not. The following instructions apply if the thesis is going to be printed:

When you have presented your Thesis you have to send the file (pdf) to exjobb@isy.liu.se for printing. The report is printed in the S5 format (165 x 240 mm). The S5 format is 81% of an A4. Consider this layout format when writing, but send it as 100% of A4. The resolution should be 600 dpi.

Technical questions about printing can be answered by the printers on phone (013) 28 10 53 or 28 10 55, e-mail liutryck@liu.se.

When one copy of your Thesis is printed you will have to approve it before the rest is printed. The Printing office will contact you by e-mail when it is ready. It usually takes a week to hear from them.

When all the copies are printed you can collect them at ISY:s Student office. Usually ten copies of the report are printed, of which you receive six. One is archived at ISY and the Supervisor and the Examiner receives one copy each. You are responsible for delivering one copy to your Company Supervisor and one to your opponent.

Please notice that we do not send the printed copies to you. If you are leaving Sweden soon after the Master's Thesis presentation, please let us know. In that case we don't print the Master's Thesis report.

Publishing the Thesis on Electronic Press

After the report is completely finished it must also be submitted to the Thesis database at Electronic Press, and you are responsible for uploading your own thesis report to the database. You also have to mail an Agreement for Electronic Publishing on the Internet to ISY:s Student Office.

Address:
ISY's studerandeexpedition
Linköpings universitet
SE-581 83 Linköping
Sweden

Fax (013) 139282

You can also hand in the electronic publishing agreement to ISY's student Office or put it in the mail box outside the office.
Note that you can upload your file to Electronic Press before the printing process of your thesis is done.

The reflection document

The final part of the thesis work is the writing of a reflection document describing the thesis work and the results. Information about the reflection document can be found in the Study Guide. It should be sent to the examiner as a PDF file within 10 days after the presentation.

Registration of credits 

You will get your credits registered for your Master's Thesis when you have done all the parts described above, including publishing the Thesis on Electronic Press and handing in the publishing Agreement and that you have sent the Reflection document to your examiner. The date of the credits will be the date you finish the last part. If the report is printed, that process does not have to be finished before the credits are registered. Note that in order for the thesis credits to be registered in Ladok, you must first be registered on the semester and on the course code TQxx30.

Requirements to get the grade on your Master´s Thesis:

• you have attended one other presentation.
• you have opposed on another Thesis.
• you have published your report on Electronic Press and you have handed in the Agreement for Electronic Publishing on the Internet to ISY:s Student Office.
• you have sent the Reflection document to your examiner.
• you are registered at the course code TQxx30 and on the semester.
• your examiner is available to sign your grade after you have done all the parts described above.

Please consider that you need extra time after your presentation because there are still things to do (mentioned above), if you are planning to leave Sweden soon after.
It takes at least one week to register the credits in Ladok after you have finished all the parts.

Contact

If you have any questions please contact  the Master's Thesis administrator at ISY's Student Office, for example via email to exjobb@isy.liu.se, or visit ISY´s Student Office.