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Master Thesis in Hohenheim

At the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

Master Thesis in HohenheimThe Master Thesis:• is the first official document which gets you in the status of

being a researcher• shall contribute to knowledge with a new and

unique piece of science• proves your ability to work independently and to solve a

scientific problem on your own (of course with some help from your supervisor/s) within a fixed period of time by applying scientific methods.

• is the starting point for your career after your M.Sc. course

(Fangmeier, 2006, „How to write a thesis“)

Thesis Topic Where to get a topic:

• Topic suggestions are found:- on the departments‘ websites,- on the information boards,- or in the database https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/en/thesis-topics

• Some profs may invite you to their regular team meetings, to get an idea about ongoing research topics in their institute

• Develop own ideas and suggest them to a suitable potential supervisor Write a proposal before you ask a professor for supervision.

(ThePensters.com, 2014)

Absolventa GmbH, 2014

Thesis Supervisors

• The first supervisor has to be a professor of Hohenheim

- signs the registration form

- needs to agree on second supervisor, especially if secondsupervisor is an external person

• The second supervisor can be an external expert/ professor from another university, company or organization, in case you do your thesis off campus

- has to be named upon submission of the thesis at latest

- needs to have the right to examine students

Thesis Language

• In general the Master Thesis has to be written in English or German language.

• Only in exceptional cases and on formal request with the agreement of the supervisors the language of the written part of the thesis can be changed.

Dump little man 2014

Thesis Registration • Recommendation: register at the beginning of the

4th semester

• Absolute deadline : beginning of the 7th semester(2 weeks after the lecture period of that semester has started)

• If you have completed your 90 credits course work, you have3 months time after the announcement of the last grade to register your thesis.

• Otherwise „fail“ of the first attempt!

Thesis Time Frame• Regular Time Frame: 6 months• Extension (maximum time: 3 months) only possible in

exeptional cases by formally applying to the examination board:- Objective reasons: approval of supervisor is required, application to the examination board latest 2 weeks beforethe submission deadline ends

- Personal reasons: application for extension and the proof forthe reason need to be submitted immediately when itoccurs. The duration of extention can only be as long as thestudent is prevented to work on the thesis.

• Otherwise „fail“

Withdrawal Thesis Topic

• Withdraw from the chosen topic after registration:

- just once

- needs to be done within the first two months afterregistration

- reasons must be given

• Registration of a new (second) topic within 4 weeks after withdrawal.

Thesis Format

• Different requirements on the format at every department

• Therefore check format requirements:

- with the supervisor

- at the department’s website ( Guidelines)

- older theses in the department’s library

Highmark Inc., 2014

Examples for Guidelines

Guidelines are often available on the websites of the departments. Some examples:

• Production Theory and Resource Economics: https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/i410a/diplom/index3.htm

• Social Sciences in Agriculture: https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/fileadmin/einrichtungen/430a/studienarbeiten/Thesis_StilguideEnglish_2012.pdf

• Landscape and Plant Ecology: www.uni-hohenheim.de/fangmeier/How_to_write_a_thesis.pdf

Academic Writing

Have a look on our website with Academic Writing Aids:

https://agrar.uni-hohenheim.de/academic_writing_aid

You will find a compilation of useful hints and tips for good academic writing there!

You can also consult our academic writing tutor:Consultation times (by appointment only):Tuesday 14:00 - 18:00Wednesday 9:00 - 13:00Email address: agriwritingaid@uni-hohenheim.de

Proper Citation

• If plagiarism is evidenced “fail”

• Guidelines on how to avoid plagiarism and software to check for unintentional plagiarism are available abundantly (on our academic writing website, or search online for„plagiarism check“, or contact the writing tutor)

• Recommended example: “Avoiding Plagiarism” from the University of Technology Sydney’s (http://www.uts.edu.au/current-students/support/helps/self-help-resources/referencing-and-plagiarism/avoiding-plagiarism).

• Ignorance is no excuse!

Thesis Submission

• The thesis has to be handed in at the examination office (not to the responsible department) latest until your individual deadline- as two bound glued copies

- as a digital text document (CD/DVD) in one of theseformats: doc, docx, odt, pdf oder rtf

(University of Hohenheim 2014 a )

Thesis Submission

A declaration has to be added to the thesis, that it has been prepared independently, solely with the support of the listed literature references, and that no information has been presented that has not been officially acknowledged.

The form sheet can be downloaded under https://agrar.uni-hohenheim.de/plagiate?&L=1

Thesis Defence• The grading of the written part of the thesis should be done within

4 weeks after submission.

• Latest 3 month after the evaluation of the written part of the thesis has been announced, the oral defence has to take place.

• Students can request a defence appointment within a time frame of 3 weeks after announcement of grades

• Duration of defence: 30 - 45 minutes

• The grade has to be announced immediately after the defence hastaken place.

• The grade of the oral defence counts 25%, the grade of the written part counts 75% of the total grade

„Failing“ a Thesis

A „fail“ can be given due to

• exceeding the registration or submission deadlines,

• plagarism,

• falsification of results or

• poor quality of the scientific work

In case your thesis is graded with a „fail“ you can registera new topic within 6 weeks after the „fail“ was announced.

You will again have six months time to hand in the new thesis.

Be informed!

Read the information on the website of the examination office!

https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/en/exams

All information and requiredforms are available here.

Funding of the Thesis• Fiat Panis-Foundation:

https://tropen.uni-hohenheim.de/en/grants0

• STUBE: https://www.stubebw.de/en/veranstaltungen/bpsa.html

• Helmut Aurenz scholarships:https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/en/1885

• Herzog Carl scholarships:https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/en/1881

• GIZ Advisory Service on Agricultural Research for Development (BEAF): regular E-Mail with thesis projects announcements every 3 months

Thank you for your attention.

Any questions?