English for Education

Bachelor's Degree Programme
major and minor

Bachelor's Theses

Students should begin working on their bachelor theses in the fourth semester of their studies, which also involves taking a series of courses related to their bachelor’s thesis. These comprise the course AJ_BPp Bachelor Thesis Project in the fourth semester, the course AJ_BP Bachelor Thesis in the fifth semester and the course AJ_BPd Bachelor Thesis Completion in the sixth semester. (If your thesis is in another department, all of the codes will be different before the “_”.)

Students should choose a topic covered by one of the modules offered in this study programme. Students should then select a supervisor to contact and negotiate the details of their cooperation with. This should happen at the start of the fourth semester.

Students who are studying a double-subject study programme can choose whether to write their bachelor thesis in the English Department, in their other subject, or in Pedagogy or Psychology. The following notes apply to bachelor theses written in the English department.

The thesis must be written in English.

Students should refer to the Standard of Bachelor ́s and Master ́s and Final Theses as well as the GUIDELINES FOR WRITING BACHELOR’S, MASTER’S & FINAL THESES:

Evaluation of the thesis will be given based upon a rubric for evaluation.

Evaluation

Points for the defence will be awarded based on 4 criteria:

The proposed grade for the thesis
The quality of the presentation
The level of language use
The ability to respond to the committee’s questions

Bachelor's Thesis Defence

Bachelor supervised by the Department of English Language and Literature are defended after the exam (usually in the following two days).

Before the defence

The thesis must be uploaded into IS on time.
In addition to the electronic copy, the thesis must be delivered in one printed, spiral-bound copy to the supervisor or the department secretary.
Reports written by the supervisor and second reader will be placed in the IS archive the minimum of five work days prior to the defence. It is expected that at the defence, the student will be acquainted with the reports and will be able to react to comments made therein.

Defence procedure

The defence is administered in a committee setting and lasts 25 minutes:

Presentation (up to10 mins. max.): The student will first be asked to give a brief summary of their thesis (the topic, main arguments and outcomes) in the form of a visual presentation (PPT, poster).
Defence proper (approx. 10 mins.): The student will then be invited by the chair to react to comments in the reports. The student should speak to each point concisely. Additional questions may be asked by members of the committee
Final assessment and conclusion: the committee confer briefly and announce the final result to the student.

Thesis and defence evaluation

The final grade is calculated based on the following criteria:

The grade for the thesis proposed by the reports.
The quality of the presentation.
The quality of the defence.
The level of the student’s English.

Tips for the defence

Bring both reports with you.
Prepare notes to which you may refer to in the course of the defence.
Be brief, organized and to-the-point. Adhere to the time limit.
Be open to comments and questions. Argue your case where you see fit but acknowledge your mistakes if justified.