Upon completing the course candidates shall have acquired ...
Knowledge on how
Skills on how
General expertise on how
Students must have passed at least 45 credits (including research methods) from the first year of the master's courses before starting on the master¿s thesis module.
Students must have passed the examinations in the common courses and specialisation courses in their chosen programme option before they can submit their master's thesis.
Students on the "behaviour and neuroscience" programme option who are going to use laboratory animals must take a course in the use of laboratory animals in research equivalent to the course LAS301 during the course of their study.
The course consists of three elements:
A separate document will be provided that describes the expected format for the project outline and master's thesis. The project outline and master's thesis can be written in Norwegian or English, and the master's thesis must have a summary in both languages (about 200 words). The master's thesis must be written in line with the APA standard, with either one and a half or double line spacing and with figures inside the text rather than at the end.
Project outline: Under guidance, the students must write a project plan for the master's thesis of between 3,000 and 4,000 words. This must deal with the project's topic area, problem, method, data handling or form of analysis, research ethical assessments and a time frame for the work on the master's thesis. If the students write a preregistration of data collection and analysis, then the project outline can be shorter and have the preregistration as an attachment. The project outline is assessed as approved / not approved by the supervisor in consultation with the subject manager.
Master's thesis in thesis format: The length of the thesis must be between 16,000 and 20,000 words (preface, summary, reference list and appendix are not counted). The length can be shorter if everything necessary is covered. The thesis must have a broader review of the literature, a more comprehensive presentation of the background and issues, and a more in-depth discussion than is usual for a scientific article. The students agree with their supervisors how and how often they will receive supervision during the two semesters, and deliver a final assignment before the deadline towards the end of their second semester.
Master's thesis in article format: The master's thesis consists of an article manuscript and a thesis summary. The total length for these two must be between 12,000 and 16,000 words, depending on the requirements of the journal it is aimed at (preface, summary, reference list and appendix are not counted). The article manuscript must be written in the same way as an empirical or theoretical manuscript submitted for publication in a scientific journal, and must follow this journal's requirements for length and formatting. In the thesis summary it must be stated what kind of journal you imagine the manuscript could have been sent to, and a reason for this. The thesis summary should also contain a more thorough theoretical review and discussion of the article's potential contribution to the research literature than there is room for in the article manuscript. The thesis summary and the article do not have to be in the same language.
Supervision of article format thesis: The supervisor is to act as a peer reviewer for the work on the article manuscript. This means that supervisors must help the students plan the project and get started with the work, but must initially be little involved in supervising the written text. Early in the second semester of the work, the students must submit a draft of the article manuscript and cover to the supervisor, who will then peer-evaluate the draft. Within an agreed deadline (preferably two weeks), the supervisor must give feedback similar to a detailed written peer review from a journal. The students then work independently again to integrate this feedback into the final assignment that is submitted for assessment. Before submission, the referee should not be as involved in writing the article manuscript as a co-author usually is. If students and supervisors wish to submit the work as a scientific article, then supervisors can make their further contributions to the writing after the assignment has been submitted for censorship.
About collaboration in master's thesis work: As a general rule, the master's thesis must be written in pairs, but students can ask to write individually. When writing in pairs, it is expected that the authors will contribute with equal effort in the work, and that they will participate in guidance meetings and follow plans for student collaboration. Assignments written individually have the same length requirements as those written in pairs. In assessing the assignment, the examiner will take into account whether the work has been done by one or two students. When submitting the master's thesis, a form must be submitted with a "declaration of own work in the master's thesis work", signed by both students and supervisors.
There will be a joint orientation meeting for MAPSYK330 and MAPSYK360 in August. During the autumn and spring semesters, a seminar will be held on the practical aspects of master's thesis work, research practice and academic writing.
The supervision is regulated through a more precisely specified guidance agreement. Parts of the supervision may be given in groups. The deadline for delivering the supervision contract will be given at orientation meetings and in MittUiB.
This course consists of three elements:
Master's theses shall be written in line with the APA standards (A4, 1.5 line spacing, left, top and bottom margins of at least 2.5 cm), excluding the reference list and appendix. They shall consist of 50-60 pages of text (as a guide). Unlike the format used for articles, theses shall have an introduction which contains a broader review of the literature and a more comprehensive presentation of the background and problems involved. The discussion shall also be more detailed than that commonly used in the format for articles. The other parts of the thesis shall comply with the APA standards, i.e. there shall be a summary in Norwegian and English, each consisting of approx. 200 words. MA theses can also be written in English.
Master's theses can be written individually or in conjunction with another student.
When there is more than one author, the authors are expected to contribute equally to the work involved.
Their supervision is regulated by a more specific supervision agreement. Some supervision can be provided in groups. The deadline for submitting the Supervision Agreement contract is 15 October for students who start working on their Master's thesis during the autumn semester, and 15 March for students who start work on their Master's thesis during the spring semester.
Master's thesis in thesis format: The length of the thesis must be between 16,000 and 20,000 words (preface, summary, reference list and appendix are not counted).
Master's thesis in article format: The master's thesis consists of an article manuscript and a thesis summary. The total length for these two must be between 12,000 and 16,000 words, depending on the requirements of the journal it is aimed at (preface, summary, reference list and appendix are not counted).
The master's thesis will be assessed based on scientific requirements and degree of independent work. It is expected that the work will correspond to a year's student work done as part of the master's thesis topic. The Master's thesis receives a joint grade even if two students write the thesis together.
A master's thesis written in article format will be evaluated based on whether it lives up to the expectations for a manuscript that is submitted to the journal in question. The article manuscript will therefore be shorter in length than a master's thesis in thesis format, but the examiner should be able to expect that more work has been put into getting a clear focus around a concrete issue, and a precise and concise scientific language.