Progress

Should I write my thesis alone or in a group?

The master thesis is meant to be an individual work. Working in a group of two to three students however does not hinder the requirements for independence. Many students experience that the process is enriched and becomes more rewarding when they work in cooperation with one another. There is the possibility to give one another positive and negative feedback throughout, and often feel the effect of “many heads being better than just one”, not to mention that sharing the labour means everyone gets a smaller chunk of work to do. Not least does such an arrangement teach much about teamwork and cooperation, and prepare very well for the real world work situation in the future.
The following rules apply for collective thesis work:
  • The maximum group size when several master students write their thesis together is limited to three. Additionally there should be a sufficiently good reason for why more than two persons are to write together. It is to the discretion of the thesis advisor to decide appropriate group size basing their considerations upon the subject area and topic of the proposed thesis. In the case of thesis cooperation, it is expected that the thesis reflect the extent of several students’ contributions such that both the problem discussed and the extent to which it is discussed should be more complex.
  • The collective thesis is handed in and only receives one grade despite several group members. In addition, the representing thesis advisor is to write a statement qualifying that they indeed are sure that each individual group member has contributed to the work in a proper manner and to the proper degree.

Plan of Progress

The majority of theses will contain the following steps:
  • Starting point for thesis framework and problem statement formulation
  • Research and literature review
  • Preparation and development of possible empirical studies
  • Choice of possible analysis method
  • Data Collection
  • Data interpretation
  • Writing
Literature, your thesis advisor help and the schools data equipment will help you through your main points in the framework. You may also find literature about this in the library.