Finalise your MA Study at EcoS

Steps to Finalise your MA Studies

The formal finalisation of your EcoS graduation might take up to 3 weeks after your defensio. When your documents are ready, you will be contacted by the StudienServiceCenter (SSC) through your University of Vienna (unet) email address.

Update - Defensio procedure during Covid-19

Since 16 March 2020, the University of Vienna has cancelled all presence operations, including regular courses and examinations. These have, since then, taken place virtually. Following the established regulations, the Chair of East Asian Studies has modified the procedure for registering and presenting the oral examination (defensio) for EcoS. This will remain in place until further notice.

You can find the temporary changes in red, in the guide below.

How to Write and EcoS Thesis

Step 1: Find a supervisor and discuss your MA topic

Your supervisor will usually be either Prof. Rüdiger Frank or Dr. Steven Denney. Ideally, you should have prepared an outline of your MA thesis at the seminar "Research Seminar and Monitoring Class for the Master's and PhD Thesis", which you must finish among your last courses at EcoS. With this outline ready, you can contact your supervisor in order to discuss your MA Thesis.

Step 2: Register your MA thesis with the SSC

How, when and where should I register my MA thesis? Which documents do I need?

How: Write an exposé of your planned MA thesis and discuss it with your supervisor. To formally register your MA thesis, you must complete the following two forms:

Ansuchen um Thema und Betreuung ["Request for Topic and Supervision"]

Regeln der guten wissenschaftlichen Praxis (SL/W1) ["Rules of Good Academic Practice"]

When: The SSC advises you to register your MA thesis six months before your planned date of graduation. It is strongly recommended that you have at least finished some work on the theoretical part before officially registering your topic. In any case, please make sure to register your topic at least 2 months before the planned submission date.

Please note the changes in deadlines for master exams and defenses in the following announcement.

Where: Send both documents together with your exposé at the e-mail of the StudiesServiceCenter Philological and Cultural Studies [SSC] (ssc.philologische-kulturwissenschaften[at]univie.ac.at).

Note: Make sure that the ‘Ansuchen’ form has your signature and your supervisor’s (scanned). The SSC is in charge of procuring the SPL's signature.

Step 3: Write your MA thesis

Make sure to use the official University of Vienna Cover Page for the Master Thesis. You can download the template here and see the instructions to fill out the document here.

When filling out your cover page, remember to write the correct information of EcoS MA Program:

Degree Code [Studienkennzahl] = 066 864
Official Degree Program [Studienrichtung] = East Asian Economy and Society;

Please review the EcoS Guidelines - How to Format your MA Thesis, where you will find all necessary information on format, length and citation. You are also encouraged to review the steps to write your MA Thesis for EcoS in the following link

Step 4: Submission of your MA Thesis

How and where should I submit my MA thesis?

Before submitting your Master thesis, send your supervisor the final version of your thesis via email. You will be then informed whether the thesis is likely to be graded with at least a “4”. If that is the case, no further information will be provided, and no further consultation will be held at this point. The actual grade will be determined through the official grading process. However, if you are told that the thesis is unlikely to be graded positively, you should consult again with your supervisor to discuss how the thesis can be improved. If you get a “yes”, you can proceed with the submission.
Submission of your MA Thesis: For instructions concerning the electronic submission of your thesis as well as the required hard copies, please visit the following link. Remember that you need to also submit your Record of Examination [Prüfungspass] in order to submit your master thesis. For more details, please see the following link. Keep in mind that the issuing of the Record of Examination can take up to 8 weeks.
How long does it take? Realistically, you will have to consider a time span of about 4 months between the formal submission of your MA Thesis and your actual graduation.

Since none of the official copies will remain with your supervisor and/or EcoS, please consider Prof. Frank's request to also receive a personal copy of your thesis.

Step 5: Register for your oral examination

Your MA studies at EcoS will be finalised by an oral examination (defensio). After having received a grade for your MA thesis, you can register for your defensio.

The examination committee at your defensio will consist of three persons:

the chair of examination committee [Vorsitzende/er], who in this case is the Vice Director of Studies [Vize-SPL], currently ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Agnes Schick-Chen,
A first examiner, who in this case is the main supervisor for your thesis,
A second examiner, who will be either Prof. Frank or Dr. Denney.

After knowing who your second examiner will be, you must contact the Vice Director of Studies and ask for a possible date for your defensio. The Vice Director of Studies will get back to you with the next available dates. Once you have the date, please contact your both of your examiners to confirm their availability.

Once the date and time is confirmed with all members of your examination committee, you can complete and submit per e-mail the form SL/P4 Anmeldung zur Defensio ("Registration of Defensio") to the SSC (ssc.philologische-kulturwissenschaften@univie.ac.at) at least 14 days prior to your actual examination date.

Step 6: Prepare for your oral examination

What kind of exam is my oral MA examination? What do I have to prepare? What is the exact procedure of the oral examination?

At the very end of your EcoS studies, you will defend your MA thesis in front of an examination committee composed of three people.

Your examination will be a defensio type of exam (see EcoS Curriculum), i.e. a public defence of your MA thesis. The defensio gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in your MA topic by answering complex questions.

Preparation

Prepare your MA Poster and send it to ecos[at]univie.ac.at, together with a scanned copy of the signed Declaration of Consent.

Please note: You must submit the pdf version of your MA poster at least one week in advance. Expect to receive feedback (orthography and layout, not content) on your poster. Download and read the instructions for the MA Poster here.

You are expected to be able to elaborate on each of your exam questions in a detailed manner. You will only receieve the questions from your main examiner in advance (your supervisor). In your own interest, be prepared to discuss each bloc of questions (questions from your supervisor and questions from the second examiner) for about 20 minutes each.
Prepare handouts for the entire examination committee (at least one A4 copy of your MA poster for each person, and one A3 colour print)
You may prepare notes for your presentation as well as the ensuing Q&A sessions. However, make sure not to read out a manuscript during your examination.
For more details on the actual structure and purpose of this activity, please see this video from Prof. Rüdiger Frank.

Step 7: Present your oral examination

The examination will be a defensio type of exam [see EcoS Curriculum], i.e. a public defence of your MA thesis. It will take approximately 1 hour. First, you explain the main points of your thesis in a 20 minute presentation. You can present either in English or in German. After your presentation, each examiner will question you for 20 minutes. You will only receive the questions from your supervisor. The second examiner will ask the questions related to your MA Thesis directly on the examination day.

In general, the defensio takes place at the department. However, if necessary due to Coronavirus measures, the defensio might also take place virtually, using the Moodle tool BigBlueButton. (In this case, you will be given a date before the official oral examination, to test the platform (video and audio required)). Before the date of the defensio, please send your final version of the MA Poster to all the parties involved.

Please note: The date of your final examination is also the day of your graduation.

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT PLAGIARISM?

Contrary to common belief, plagiarism often results from lack of knowledge of the rules to quote a source for an academic text. EcoS takes plagiarism very seriously and EcoS Staff is ready to help students to identify cases that could result in potential infringement of intelectual copyright. To know more about plagiarism, click on the link below.