040135 KO Masterkonversatorium für VWL (2019W)

Advisory:
(i) This course does not evaluate the Masters’ thesis itself.
(ii) This course independently evaluates whether the student is able to communicate the contents of his or her Masters’ thesis to a broad audience, and whether more generally, through giving feedback on the work of others, he or she can articulate themselves as an economist.

Format: This is a mandatory class for the Master in Economics at the University of Vienna and is only for those who have started to work on their Masters’ thesis. Each student has to present twice. The first presentation gives the ideas and related literature and highlights what kind of results are aimed for. The second presentation shows the results and added value and puts these in light of the literature. Prior to the second presentation the advisor of the Masters’ thesis has to approve in writing to the instructor that at least 60% of the thesis has been completed.
To have completed 60% of the thesis means that a central result has been obtained, that the detailed outline of the thesis is ready and that the related literature has been summarized. 60% are not ready if only the data has been gathered or only a model has been formulated.
The first presentation lasts 10 minutes, the second presentation 15 minutes. Time limit is strict. The day before the presentation a title of the thesis and abstract of at most 100 words is sent to the audience. The abstract is a teaser to make the reader be curious. The title should be not too long, catch the attention, and carry the main content. The presenter will get feedback on the first drafts of the slides if these are sent to the instructor at least 3 days prior to the date of presentation. This feedback will not be graded, it is only meant to improve performance.
After each presentation each member of the audience has to be ready to give immediate feedback orally. Good feedback has two parts, praise and critique. Good feedback has substance where one notices that this is based on knowledge acquired during the economics studies. The main elements that need to be commented on are (i) related literature (is it clear what has been done before), (ii) the novelty of the results (what is the change in understanding due to thesis). We will also be eliciting feedback on the style of presentation (hands in pockets, format of slides, speech).

Objective: In our economics bachelor students should learn how to understand economic reasoning. In our master they ideally are able to execute own economic reasoning. This masters’ course is about showing others that the student is an economist at the master level. It will be about learning how to identify the main points of analysis and how to present economic results, whether they are in theory or empirical.