March 7, 2023
Master's Thesis - What Is It and What To Expect?
Hej Allihopa – hello everyone!
Spring semester is in full swing at LiU. For many, this means working very hard on their thesis topics. You might be wondering what that looks like for us. After all, if you apply for a master’s degree, writing a research at the end of it is kind of a given. I am here to share with you what it is like for the EMS (Ethnic and Migration Studies) students, what is the structure, what we are expected to produce and what are my thoughts on the whole thing.
To begin with, it’s important to note that the thesis itself, as well as the process of it, varies highly between different faculties and programs, even between individuals projects. EMS is highly interdisciplinary and theoretical program, so most of our research topics tend to be qualitative studies within social sciences, with the focus on, obviously, migration and ethnicity. For others, research might be more quantitative, or they might have a predetermined topic to explore, it could be more practical, etc.
In EMS, thesis lasts for one semester: Spring of second year. For other programs it might last over one year, or they might have two small thesis to write over the course of studies. Our work officially started in the end of January and we will be submitting the final research end of May. So, in total, we will be working for a little more than 4 months.
In order to help us manage the time productively and make sure that we don’t only work for the last month of the process, program has different milestones and deadlines we have to meet. Just last week, me and my classmates defended 20% discussions. In the future, there will be 50% defense and final defense. This is done to make sure that we are on a good track, as well as to hear suggestions from fellow students and lecturers. I found it quite helpful to give feedback to others and to hear what they think about my thesis topic. For the 20% defense, each student had 15 mins to present, discuss and answer any questions. Going forward, this time will slowly increase and for the final defense everyone will have around 1 hour allocated.
Alongside deadlines for midway defenses, we have thesis workshops and/or seminars. This is usually facilitated either by the program director or a lecturer from the faculty. Focus of these seminars is to give us more information on either a structure, size, process of writing the thesis, or to help us discuss some on-gong struggles and brainstorm ideas specifically for our projects.
Lastly, and definitely one of the most important aspects, we each have an assigned thesis supervisor. This is a program lecturer who will be guiding us through the process of writing. Thesis supervisor could be someone who has familiarity with the selected topic of research, but it’s not always the case. I have observed that if the supervisor is experienced, approachable, and is able to give good guidance, it’s not necessary for them to also be experts in the thesis topic. After all, the main aim of the thesis work is for students to improve their independent research skills and produce a work that’s fully driven by them.
As a concluding comment, personally for me, one of the biggest assistance in the process are my friends and here’s a small shout out for them! We are there to support each other through every small break-down and doubt, through every complicated article and incomprehensible book, and most importantly we are together through evenings and weekends to distress and get some rest. If I can give you one advise for this process, it would be to find a friend group you feel absolutely comfortable with. It will make these months so much more productive and enjoyable!
I hope this was helpful for you and gave you a bit of an overview of what it is like to write thesis. If you have any questions, let me know in the comment section.
Until next time – Gvantsa
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