Upon successful completion of the Master's programme:

Knowledge

The graduate

• will have further developed the knowledge s/he has gained previously via specialised courses in English linguistics and/or English literature or/and culture and/or didactics.
• 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 graduate

• 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 graduate

• 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 advised to choose a topic for their Master's thesis as early as possible in the second semester. 

Students receive supervision for their work on their Master's thesis. A supervision contract outlining the rights and responsibilities of the student is signed by the student, supervisor, and department administration. If a student takes more than two semesters to complete the Master's thesis, supervision will be reduced. Students using a fifth or sixth semester to write their Master's thesis have the right to feedback on a single full and final draft of their thesis if submitted to the supervisor no later than two weeks before the desired final submission deadline.  

Work-in-progress seminar As part of the Master's thesis, students hold three approved presentations at the Department's work-in-progress seminars for Master students:

1. a project presentation

2. a draft of a chapter of the Master's thesis,

3. a discussion of another student's chapter draft.

Students are expected to participate actively in their discipline's work-in-progress seminars by presenting their own work and by taking part in discussions about others' presentations. It is especially important that students take part in these seminars the two semesters they spend writing their Master's thesis, but it is also advantageous that they participate in their first and second semester.

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 25 000 and 40 000 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.

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