Universität Wien

340017 SE Planning of the Master’s Thesis (2025S)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 34 - Translationswissenschaft
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle
We 18.06. 15:00-16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 19.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 26.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 02.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 09.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 30.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 14.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 21.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 28.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 04.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG
  • Wednesday 11.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3A ZfT Gymnasiumstraße 50 3.OG

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This seminar is specifically offered for students with the focus on specialized translation and language industry.

In this seminar, students gradually develop a research plan for their master's thesis.

This process consists of several stages:
- finding and delimiting the topic
- research of existing literature and related work
- specification of a research question, motivation and objective
- defining assumptions and expected results
- defining the contents of the theoretical part
- designing a preliminary method
- specifying a preliminary table of contents
- establish a timeline for the completion of the master's thesis

In the first class, students will learn about procedures, potential topics and supervisors, utilization of literature management systems, e.g. Zotero. Within the course of the semester, students will deepen their knowledge about the planned master's thesis topic based on related literature. A critical discussion and reflection on the topic in oral and written assignments will help to develop a scientific and topic-specific ability to reflect and conduct research. You will gradually develop the table of contents and structure of your planned thesis, present the preliminary research design and write an expose on it. To this end, students will be supervised individually regarding the theoretical foundations and methods for their topics. Furthermore, students should contact potential supervisors for their master's thesis to obtain feedback on their general idea, which will be documented in one of the written assigments. After successfully completing this seminar, you should be able to refine overall research design in the subsequent seminar and already draft individual chapters of your thesis.

In the first unit of the seminar, students receive information on procedures, study law requirements, formalities, possible topics and supervisors, the use of literature management programs (e.g. Zotero, Mendeley), etc. Over the course of the semester, students deepen their knowledge of their chosen Master's thesis topic using selected literature. By critically discussing and reflecting on their topic in both oral and written form, they develop their topic further in terms of subject matter and methodology and deepen their reflective skills as well as their knowledge of scientific work. Over the course of the semester, they develop the content and structure of the thesis in several stages, present the results in a presentation and then write them up as part of a seminar paper (= fully formulated Master's thesis concept). Students are individually supervised and advised by the seminar leader with regard to the theoretical framework of the thesis, methods of data collection and analysis models. In the course of the semester, students also contact potential supervisors, obtain their feedback on an initial rough concept and document this in a discussion protocol. After successfully completing the seminar, students are able to refine their research design in the subsequent Master's thesis process seminar and successfully develop specific parts of their Master's thesis.

Assessment and permitted materials

Performance will be assessed based on three activities:

1) written assignments
2) oral presentation
3) term paper (=master's thesis project plan, approx. 4.000 words excl. bibliography)

Active participation in discussions is expected. Seminar materials will be provided on the learning platform and in class as well as in form of related literature. AI-based applications may be used for specific assignments and after explicit agreement by the lecturer. Such applications may not be used for writing the master's thesis.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The individual assignments contribute with the following weights to the overall grade:
1) written assignments: 25%

2) oral presentation: 15%

3) term paper: 60%

The minimum requirement for a positive assessment: 50%.

Grading:
• 0-49% 5 (fail),
• 50-64% 4,
• 65-79% 3,
• 80-89% 2,
• 90-100% 1

All submissions will undergo a plagiarism check. In inidividual cases, an oral exam could be scheduled.

Due to mandatory attendance, students may only miss two classes.

Examination topics

Course with continuous assessment with the indicated individual assignments. Materials are provided on Moodle.

Reading list

Literature on scientific basics and standards as well as topic-specific literature will be provided on Moodle.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 10.03.2025 19:47