Master's thesis and exam
Weiterführende Informationen
Completion time and scope
| GEO 511 / ESS 511 | GEO 510 / ESS 510* | |
| Scope of thesis | 30 ECTS | 60 ECTS |
| Period for completion* | 6 - 12 months | 12 - 18 months |
*A 60 ECTS credits thesis is meant to be more research oriented than a 30 ECTS credits thesis and is recommended for students willing to publish a scientific paper based on their thesis. Furthermore, it is a
good option for students who consider doing a PhD after their master studies.
Booking period for Master's Thesis
From autumn semester 2024, the Master's thesis can be started every month. The booking period is therefore in the respective month and the start date falls on the first day of that month.
If the Master Thesis is started in January the Module can not be booked in the booking tool. Therefore, students starting in January have to contact the Teaching Support Team (teaching-support@geo.uzh.ch) by E-mail with the subject "Master Thesis Enrollment January". The module will then be booked manually.
Example for the Start and Booking Period:
| Starting date | Booking Period |
| 01.08. | 01.08.-31.08. |
| 01.09. | 01.09.-30.09. |
| 01.10. | 01.10.-31.10. |
| ... | ... |
A detailed timetable can be found here.
Selection of topic and supervisor
The Master’s Candidate chooses an available topic or proposes a self-selected topic to a supervisor (who is internal or external to the department) on their own initiative. The different units offer topics on their webpages. A list of all research groups and their topics as well as ongoing and completed master's thesis can be found here.
In addition to the supervisor, either a faculty member or another person with the "Promotionsrecht" is required. A list of the people meeting this criterion can be found here.
Start of the Master thesis
To start the Master’s thesis, the agreement must be filled in and the draft concept (2-3 / 4-6 pages) of the agreed topic uploaded on Lean Gate.
Once the Master’s agreement has been accepted by the supervisor and the respective person with the "Promotionsrecht" on Lean Gate, it is automatically assigned and does not need a genuine signature.
In addition, the module GEO 511, ESS 511, GEO 510, or ESS 510 (Master’s thesis) must be booked on the module booking tool of UZH. If the Master’s thesis is started before the next possible starting date, the prior starting date applies. This module includes, beside the Master’s thesis, the regular attendance of the colloquium of the relevant research group.
An overview over all the important dates is provided in a timetable. We recommend to discuss the time management with the supervisor.
Workflow for the process of writing a Master's thesis
Statistical Consulting
The Applied Statistics group offers statistical consulting for MNF students writing their data based bachelor or master theses:Informationsheet (PDF, 55 KB)
Please sign up here
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is understood as the use or imitation of other people’s work, either wholly or partially, without acknowledging the source and the author. In principle, plagiarism is an infringement of copyright law. Short passages from another author may be quoted; however, this is subject to the requirement that the quotation is marked as such and the source is cited. You find more information on UZH's webpage on plagiarism.