Upon successful completion of the Master degree:

Knowledge

The candidate

• will have further developed the knowledge s/he has gained previously via specialised courses in English linguistics and/or English literature or/and culture.
• Will have gained broad knowledge of the field in general and detailed knowledge of a limited subfield.
• Will have gained basic knowledge of central problems and methodologies in the selected discipline.

Skills

The candidate

• is able to work independently and in the long term on solving problems based on his/her knowledge of the discipline.
• is able to engage with and critically assess theories, methods and interpretations within the discipline.
• is capable of acquiring and applying knowledge of new subfields within the discipline.
• is capable of carrying out a limited supervised research project in accordance with the relevant research-ethical norms.
• is familiar with the norms of academic writing.
• is capable of using the ICT tools which are necessary in order to carry out independent work within the discipline.

General competence

The candidate

• is capable of continuing to develop his/her competence and specialisation in an independent manner.
• can express problems, analyses and conclusions within the student¿s selected discipline in English.
• is familiar with relevant communicative genres.
• can contribute to discourse in the public arena in areas relevant to the discipline.

Students are required to attend supervision during work on the master¿s thesis. A contract detailing rights and duties is to be signed by the student, the supervisor and the Head of the Department.

It is recommended that students select a topic for the master¿s thesis as early as possible in the second semester. The master¿s thesis is usually written during the third and fourth semesters.

Students are obliged to give three presentations ¿ subject to approval by the Department ¿ at one of the Department¿s Work-in-Progress seminars for Master students. Students must present:

1. a project outline with a short bibliography,
2. a chapter of the master¿s thesis in draft form,
3. a response to another student¿s chapter draft.

The first presentation, a project outline, is to be given in the course of the second semester at a time determined by the leader of the Work-in-Progress seminar. The second and third presentations are to be given in the third or fourth semester. It is expected that students attend and participate actively in Work-in-Progress seminar sessions, both by giving presentations of their own work and by participating in discussions of the work of others. It is especially important that students participate in the Work-in-Progress seminar during the two semesters in which they work on their own master¿s theses.

Selected topics must be passed before examination. Likewise, all obligatory requirements must be met before examination.

The final examination for the Master degree (i.e. submission of the master¿s thesis and subsequent oral examination) can be carried out at the beginning and end of each semester. Deadlines for submission of the master¿s thesis is 1 February and 15 May in the spring semester, and 1 September and 20 November in the autumn semester.

The master's thesis is to be written in English, and should comprise 70- 110 pages (the total word count of the thesis must be between 25 900 and 40 700 words.).

The subject for discussion at the oral examination is the student's master's thesis. Following oral examination, the final grade for the master's thesis may be adjusted up or down by one on the grading scale.