Master's Thesis and Final Modules

To complete your Master's degree, you must successfully complete the compulsory module Master’s Thesis (30 ECTS) as well as the corresponding Master’s Colloquium (6 ECTS).
Booking these modules is only possible if you have successfully completed the modules in the "Methods and Research Logic" group. In the Internet & Society program, you must have successfully completed the modules "Multivariate Statistics" and a "Research Seminar".

Preliminary meeting

The Master's thesis process begins with the preliminary meetings of the divisions, which take place towards the end of each semester. Dates and information are communicated on this website and by email. In the preliminary meeting, you will receive information on the research focus areas, possible thesis topics, and potential supervisors.

Submitting a proposal

After the preliminary meeting, you will create a Master's thesis proposal, which you submit via the online form.
The deadlines for submission are:

• 30 June for a start in the autumn semester
• 5 January for a start in the spring semester

Allocation of supervision

Based on the topic, priorities, and capacities, the proposals are distributed among all eligible supervisors. After the allocation is completed, your supervisor will contact you. The supervision agreement is a prerequisite for booking the modules.

Colloquium

Your Master's thesis is accompanied by the Master's colloquium of the respective division. It provides a platform for presenting and discussing your research project. Whether you attend the colloquium in the first or second semester of your thesis is to be discussed with your supervisor.

Booking and Submission

Once you have received supervision confirmation, you need to book the thesis. The module spans two semesters. The booking of the Master's thesis and colloquium takes place during the regular module booking periods via the online module booking system.
After the end of the booking period, you will receive an email prompting you to log in to the faculty website to enter the provisional title of your thesis and the name of your supervisor.
You submit your Master’s thesis to your supervisor by the deadline, in the agreed format (digital or printed), including all required appendices, datasets, and the signed Declaration of Authorship.
Submission deadlines:

• 1 June (for a start in the autumn semester)
• 1 December (for a start in the spring semester)

After the submission deadline, you will again receive an email asking you to log in to the faculty website to enter the final title of your Master's thesis and upload your thesis.
The assessment report (Gutachten) on the Master's thesis can also be downloaded from the faculty website after the evaluation is completed.

If, for valid reasons, you are unable to submit your thesis on time, there is an option to request an extension of up to one month.
Information on this can be found on the Assessments page.

Detailed information on completing your Master's degree and the Master's thesis can be found on the website of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Use current research projects, publications, and courses in the appropriate departments as a guide for topic selection:

Media Psychology & Methods, Prof. Dr. Tobias Dienlin

Public Sphere & Society, Prof. Mark Eisenegger 

International & Comparative Media Research, Prof. Frank Esser 

Media Use & Effects, Prof. Thomas N. Friemel 

Internet Use & Society, Prof. Eszter Hargittai 

Media & Internet Governance, Prof. Natascha Just 

Media Change & Innovation, Prof. Michael Latzer (Factsheet) 

Science Communication, Prof. Mike S. Schäfer  

Political Communication, Prof. Anne Schulz

Strategic Communication & Media Management, Prof. Nadine Strauß

Media Socialization & Media Literacy, Prof. Daniel Süss 

Computational Social and Communication Science, Prof. Jing Zeng

Digital Health Communication, (Lecturer, vacant)

The master thesis process begins with the preliminary meeting. Preliminary meetings of the individual departments take place towards the end of the semester.

Here you can find the current preliminary meeting dates (PDF, 61 KB).

The submission form can be found here. The deadline for submitting the concepts is binding. After the deadline, no further concepts can be considered. The following information should be prepared for submission:

• Information Master's thesis candidate
• Working Title
• Research Question including its (scientific and societal) relevance (200 - max. 300 words)
• State of Research including important studies/publications and research gaps addressed in the thesis (300 - max. 600 words)
• Research Design, Methods, and Data Basis (300 - max. 600 words)
• Bibliography (300 - max. 600 words)
• Priority for Supervision (Division 1, 2, and 3)

Track and review your study progress at any time in the "Study Progress & Graduation" app. If you have fulfilled your program requirements, you can register for graduation.

Relevant for registering for graduation is the semester reference:

• For the Spring Semester from 16 March to 15 October.
• For the Fall Semester from 16 October to 15 March.

The semester reference is important for the registration deadlines. For a graduation in the fall semester, the registration has to be done at the latest on March 15 of the following semester, for a graduation in spring semester at the latest on October 15 of the following semester.

You can find all the information on this process and on the app on the website of the Faculty of Arts and Social Scienes.