Master's Thesis

Topic

Topics are often announced on the institute's websites or can be requested directly from the professors. Students may also suggest a topic themselves. The choice of the first and second supervisor (examiner) shall be based on the topic.

>> Intitute's websites

Supervision

From the winter semester 2024/25 onwards at least one of the two examiners must belong to one of the following groups of the faculty 09: a professor or an associate professor (Privatdozent) or a permanently employed academic staff member with a doctorate or a junior group leader with a doctorate (Nachwuchsgruppenleiter). For organizational reasons, the first examiner must be a member of faculty 09 in case the other examiner is external.

Prerequisites

Master Thesis: at least 6 completed core modules

Registration

The thesis must be registered using the registration form, which has to be forwarded to the examination office. The examination office determines the submission date and informs the candidate and both examiners by email (University Email Address).

>> Registration Form (.pdf)

Period of processing

six months (workload 720 hours)

Layout

The layout shall be designed in consultation with the supervisors. The JLU Logo may be used for the master theses of JLU students.

Avoiding plagiarism and fraud during scientific writing

Before you start working on your thesis please inform yourself about how to use sources and how to cite properly.

On the JLU website (German language) you will find information on academic work, tips on how to avoid plagiarism and fraud, and sanctions applicable at JLU in the event of plagiarism and fraud during studies.

>> JLU information website
>> Good academic writing instead of plagiarism and fraud (.pdf)

Submission of the written thesis

Upon submission of the paper, the examinee must assure that the paper was written independently, that all sources and tools used are indicated in the paper and that a check using anti-plagiarism software is tolerated. All parts of the work which have been taken literally or analogously from publications or other external communications must be individually marked as such. Furthermore, it must be declared that the work has not yet been used as an examination paper in another course of study.

>> Declaration of Authorship

The thesis must be handed in to the supervisor within the deadline:

1. including the signed Declaration of Authorship
2. as hardcopy and in electronically searchable form according to the supervisor's specifications

The submission date must be recorded by the supervisor.

If the work is not handed in on time, it will be considered "insufficient" (failed)
>> Repetition of the Thesis

Assessment

The assessment must be made no later than six weeks after submission.The grade of the written part is the arithmetic mean of both assessments.

>> Overall Grade (Weighting)

• If the written part was graded at least sufficient , the main results of the work must be presented in a colloquium.
  >> Oral Part (Colloquium)
  
  
• If the written part is graded as ‘insufficient’, it can be revised within three months or a second thesis can be written on a different topic.
  >> Repetition of the Thesis

If the written part was graded at least sufficient , the author must present the main results of the work in a colloquium.

Duration of the colloquium

Master's thesis: at least 30 minutes, maximum 45 minutes

The overall grade of the Master's thesis is the arithmetic mean of the grades for paper and colloquim which are weighted as follows:

• Written Part: three times
• Colloquium: simple

The thesis is successfully passed if paper and colloqium are respectively graded at least sufficient .

• >> Registration Form Master's Thesis (.pdf)
  Agrobiotechnology, Insect Biotechnology and Bioresources, Sustainable Transition, Transtition Management

• >> Application for Extension (.pdf)

• >> Declaration of Authorship (.pdf)
  The Declaration of Authorship has to be attached to each copy of the thesis.
  

It is possible to write your master thesis in cooporation with a company.

From the winter semester 2024/25 onwards your first examiner must belong to one of the following groups in the faculty 09: a professor or an associate professor (Privatdozent) or a permanently employed academic staff member with a doctorate or a junior group leader with a doctorate (Nachwuchsgruppenleiter).

The second examiner can be a person of the company with academic qualification, who will then need a teaching assignment. This has to be requested by the first examiner. The whole registration process for the master thesis is the same as with two examiners of the university and has to be submitted to the examination office.

In case you want to complete your internship (MP-196) and the Master Thesis in the same company, this has to take place in succession. It is not possible to complete an internship (MP-196) and at the same time write and register the master thesis in the same company.

The topic can be rejected once by the mid-point of the regular processing time. A new topic must be registered upon rejection of the previous topic and then cannot be rejected again. The processing period starts again. A further rejection of the topic is excluded.

In technically justified cases (i.e. if the reason lies in the work), the processing period can be extended by up to 50% upon request. The application for an extension must be submitted to the Examination Office before the end of the processing period.
>> Application for Extension of the Thesis (.pdf)

If an extension is requested for other valid reasons that only apply during part of the processing period, this can be extended by the corresponding period, but by no more than 50% of the original processing period. The reasons must be supported by evidence (e.g. in the case of illness, a medical certificate stating the exact period of illness). The proof must be submitted to the Examination Office before the end of the processing period.

If the extension by a maximum of 50% of the processing period is not sufficient to compensate for the impairment, only a cancellation in accordance with § 29 of the General Regulations of JLU can be considered.
>> General Regulations JLU

A failed thesis can be repeated once (General Regulation JLU §19 (1)).

Should a written part be graded as failed, it can be revised within three months or a second thesis can be edited on a new topic. The new topic has to be applied for within three months in the examination office. After this deadline the right to examination expires unless the students is not to blame for the delay. It is only possible to reject the topic if no use has been made of this option to date. A second repitition of the thesis is not possible. (Special Regulation §17(5))

If the colloquium was not passed, the colloquium can be repeated once. A repetition of the thesis is excluded in this case (Special Regulation §17 (4)).