JEM001 - Master Thesis Seminar I - Winter Semester

Credit: 3
Credit ETCS: 3
Hours weekly: 0/2
Status: Anglicky
CFS - core
Magisterský - povinný
Magisterský - vše
MEF - core
Semestr - zimní
Obligatory courses:
Recommended courses:
Course supervisors: prof. Ing. Michal Mejstřík CSc.
Teachers: prof. Ing. Michal Mejstřík CSc.
Assistants: PhDr. Tomáš Havránek
PhDr. Zuzana Havránková
Schedule: Tuesdays from 5:30 PM in 314 (or 109 if available). For details see the file “seminar_dates” below.

Announcements: Everybody must be registered for the course in SIS before the first seminar. (last update April 2013)

Deadline for Master Thesis Proposals is June 21, 2013 (last update January 2013)
Please note that the topic of your thesis must be confirmed by your supervisor in the Student Information System one year before the thesis defense. So if you want to defend your thesis at the end of the Summer Semester 2014, your deadline is June 21, 2013 (use the "Thesis" module in SIS). The deadline is given by law, so it cannot be moved. You can have one more month to submit the detailed thesis proposal (http://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/default/file/download/id/22009) if you agree on this with your supervisor ex ante. You must send the proposal, approved by your supervisor, to mejstrik@fsv.cuni.cz, tomas.havranek@ies-prague.org and zuzana.irsova@ies-prague.org by July 21, 2013. You can choose from a list of offered topics (http://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/en/node/258) or come up with your own topic. In any case, you must find a suitable advisor. Please note that the supply of advisors is limited, and many of them accept students on a first come, first served basis.

Literature: McCloskey, D. (1999). Economical Writing. Waveland; 2nd edition.
Strunk, W. & E. B. White (2000). The Elements of Style. Longman; 4th edition.
Williams, J. M. (2010). Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace. Longman; 10th edition.

Description: The course is dedicated to the students starting to work on the diploma thesis.
  1. seminar – oral presentation of thesis proposal with hypotheses, review and group split.
  2. seminar – oral presentation of working thesis with hypotheses, review.
  3. seminar – presentation of the first part of the diploma thesis. Send the first draft of your thesis and a ppt presentation in advance.
Content: Rules of communication:
You are required to send 3 documents to pass the course: the thesis proposal, presentation, and the first part of the thesis. All e-mails should be sent to all of the following addresses: mejstrik@fsv.cuni.cz, tomas.havranek@ies-prague.org, zuzana.irsova@ies-prague.org.

  • Send the proposal as yoursurname_proposal.doc; the subject of the e-mail must be: JEM001 Proposal (Yoursurname), use proposal template below.
  • Send the presentation as yoursurname_presentation.pdf; the subject of the e-mail must be: JEM001 Presentation (Yoursurname).
  • Send the first part of the thesis as yoursurname_firstpart.pdf; the subject of the e-mail must be JEM001 First Part (Yoursurname).

A few days after the deadlines an xls file will be published on this webpage to indicate students that passed the requirement.

Seminar: Please, take your time and go through a few good theses (= awarded by the Dean) which you can find on the website. Most of them include thesis proposals -- this is the best inspiration for you and it will answer a lot of your questions.

Read the documents "Academic Writing" and "Handbook" below. Your thesis will be evaluated according to its quality, not number of pages. If you think about writing your thesis in LaTeX, there is a template created specifically for the IES (attached below). Empirically there is a significant correlation between the usage of LaTeX and the final grade.

Examination dates: You are eligible for credits only if you fulfill all the course requirements. Always check for official deadlines in current academic year on FSV web or here.
Course requirements: Check regularly yymmdd_jem001 file below, where your fulfilled requirements are noted. To finish the course, you must fulfill:
  1. Attendance: You must attend all three seminars.
  2. Proposal: You must send us your thesis proposal (by email before the first seminar and, when approved, in hardcopy with your supervisor's signature).
  3. Presentation: For the third seminar, you must prepare slides for a 5-minute presentation and send it to us in advance.
  4. First Part: You must send us the first part of your thesis by the end of 2013 (at least 15 pages).
Attendance:
You must come to all 3 seminars. If you study abroad for the entire semester, you are free from this requirement (only in this case you are also free from the obligation to present, but you still have to send the presentation by e-mail). The exact dates of your seminar will be specified in the file "seminars_dates" below. If you cannot attend your seminars at specified date, you can switch with your colleague but need to inform us in advance. If you have problems finding your exchange partner, let us know.

Thesis proposal (TP):
You must send it by email before the first seminar (that is, you should find your topic and your supervisor before the first seminar). We may ask you to make some adjustments; in that case, always send us also the new version. Once your TP is approved, print it, get your supervisor's signature, and deliver the signed TP to Tomas Havranek's box at the IES (box #2). If you currently study abroad, you still have to send TP by email and hand in signed final version (ask your supervisor to deliver the signed TP; scanned version is acceptable for students abroad as well). We should have your signed TP before the third seminar at latest.

Presentation:
You must prepare slides and talk 5 minutes about your topic at the third seminar. You should address especially these questions: How would you describe your topic to your classmates? Why is it important? What methods do you use (or are you going to use) to test your hypotheses? You must send the slides (plus the most recent version of your thesis) to us at least 2 days before the seminar date. Please bring also a USB stick with your presentation to the seminar. To avoid technical issues, you are recommended to put your presentation into pdf format.

First Part:
You must send us at least 15 standard pages (27ths. characters including spaces, excluding abstract, cover pages, proposal and appendices) showing that you are capable of producing an academic text. Everything you send us is automatically checked for plagiarism. This first part must be approved by your supervisor and cannot be sent later than fixed deadline of December 31, 2013.

Downloadable: 130205_jem001
1_seminars_dates_121030
2_FAQ
2_FSV_deadlines
2_SIS_manual
2_SIS_manual_4advisors
2_SIS_Q&A
3_IES_thesis_proposal_example
3_IES_thesis_proposal_template
3_IES_thesis_template_LaTeX
3_IES_thesis_template_LyX
3_IES_thesis_template_Word
4_Academic_writing
4_Handbook
5_Evaluation form and sample
BASIS FOR STATE EXAM ( MEF AND CFS STUDENTS )
PODKLADY K SZK ( PRO ČESKÉ STUDENTY )