PCRS Master thesis
25 EC master's thesis activities and schedule guideline
The tables below presents the guidelines for the schedule of the master thesis for PCRS. The main resource which explains what you need to do at each stage of the thesis is graduation web: https://www.utwente.nl/en/psy/graduationweb/master/
However, the outline below includes suggested dates to help you plan your studies to try to ensure timely completion of your degree within the academic year. The schedule may also shift if you complete your thesis as a follow up to an internship, but ideally the internship will set up the thesis and so the early stages of developing a research question can be accelerated and so the completion time should be similar to when a thesis is performed separate to the internship.
The schedule is only a guideline and you are responsible for planning your thesis. Be sure to discuss and agree your personal schedule with your supervisor. Please ask your supervisor in advance about possible holidays and work obligations that need to be taken into account. For example if they are away at a conference or have a period with heavy teaching or marking loads. In the schedule below, the months July and August are regarded as holiday months, but if you want to work on your master thesis, you can adjust the planning accordingly.
Note that the entire master’s programme should be completed within one academic year. In case you need considerably more supervision than outlined in the schedule below, this may have consequences for the final evaluation of your master thesis project.
Master start in February | Activities | Note |
February 1st – April 1st | Orientation phase Read advertised master thesis assignments or develop your own (https://www.utwente.nl/en/bms/pcrv/informationstudents/student-assignments/master/) First contact the master thesis coordinator; then contact the supervisor of the assignment you are interested in to indicate your interest / ask questions | |
Before April 1st | Decide on master thesis assignment | |
| Meeting 1 Initial meeting on research and literature contents |
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Before April 15th | Submit: First / provisional objective and question and literature review |
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| Meeting 2 Discuss: first / provisional objective and question, literature review, design of the method and the time schedule |
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Before May 1st | Submit: Design of the introduction, hypotheses and draft master's thesis contract |
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| Meeting 3: Discuss: design of the introduction, hypotheses, literature review and objective and question. Complete Mobility Online form (refer to graduation web), and submit within six weeks following Meeting 1 to the Educational Affairs Office | Input from 2nd supervisor |
Before May 15th | Submit: Introduction, draft method (target group, procedure, questionnaires, etc). | State date in master's thesis contract |
| Meeting 4: Discuss: feedback introduction (including hypotheses), design of the research; apply for ethical approval at the BMS ethics website : -Expect 10 working days to process your ethical approval -Note that you must have approval to start data collection! |
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Before June 15th | Submit: Data collection materials | State date in mobility online form |
| Meeting 5 Discuss: materials and ethical approval, green light for starting data collection |
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| Start data collection; send regular updates to supervisor |
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Before October 1st | Submit: Data analysis proposal |
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| Meeting 6 Discuss: progress of data analysis and presentation of results in report |
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Before October 21st | Submit: Draft report of results, data file and syntax (if applicable) | State date in mobility online form |
| Meeting 7: Discuss: feedback on results and analysis; prepare writing the discussion | Optional: input 2nd supervisor |
Before November 21st | Submit: Draft report, including results and discussion |
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| Meeting 8: Feedback on results and discussion |
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Before December 15th | Submit: Draft complete, proof version of master thesis | State date in mobility online form |
| Meeting 9 Green light meeting and feedback on proof version of master thesis. Green light if the master thesis in its current version can be awarded at least a mark of 6. Discuss colloquium set up with supervisor. | 2nd supervisor present |
Submit (at least 3 working days prior to the colloquium): Final master's thesis Prepare colloquium |
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Before February 1st | Colloquium | 2nd supervisor present |