Master's degree project

To obtain your master's degree and to be eligible for doctoral studies you have to complete at least one degree project (30 - 60 credits).

Student writing on a laptop.
Photo: Niklas Björling

In contrast to our other courses a degree project may be started at any time during the academic year. Before you start you need to register, as for any other course. This is handled at the Student Office, upon receipt of a signed contract. 

Below we have gathered instructions and information about the thesis process. 

We have also developed a checklist to help you navigate through the administrative procedures of the project. The checklist can also be found at Fysikums informationssida in Athena.

Checklist for Master's thesis (33 Kb)

 

 

You need to find a suitable topic for your project together with a supervisor (this is mandatory) for it. The responsibility for this lies primarily with you. To find a project you can contact representatives from the various research groups at the Department of Physics. At Fysikums informationssida in Athena you can find the presentations from the latest information meeting about degree projects, which contains suggested topics and contact information. You can also find suggestions for projects at the home pages of the research divisions or at the notice boards at the department. 

Go to the research divisions page

Go to Athena

For external degree projects, you can search online. MyCareer is a job site for students and graduates of Stockholm University where jobs, internships and thesis projects can be found. It is possible to do a project with a supervisor who is external to the Department of Physics. However, in this case we require an assistant supervisor who is a teacher at the Department of Physics.

Go to MyCareer

 

To find out the time you have to complete your project you take the number of credit points (30/45/60) and divide by 1.5. The result (20/30/40) is the number of weeks assuming full-time study. Note that only weeks during term counts (20 weeks per autumn/spring term). That is, the 12 weeks between terms during the summer are not included.

On your contract you specify for every term how many weeks you plan to work (which hence should add to 20/30/40). Any deviations from this plan must be reported to your contact person as well as to your supervisor (e.g. if you get ill).

If you are not done by your end date, it is still possible to submit late. However, after the end date you are not officially a student on this course. This may have consequences for e.g. housing, insurance and resident permits when applicable. Also, if you submit more than 6/9/12 weeks late the highest grade you can recieve is C.

If you do a shorter project, you include more optional courses in your degree. If you want to discuss what would suit you best, contact the coordinator for your programme.

Degree projects normally run full time. However, in some cases the work can be carried out part time, e.g. if there are necessary lecture courses running in parallel. If you want to do your project part time, you should discuss this with your contact person before you start the project, and it must be written in your contract.  

Links to the syllabi for degree projects

 

Together with your supervisor you should write a project plan, which is then sent to the coordinator for the degree projects (see bottom of this page). This plan should contain a preliminary title, number of credits, name of the supervisor and any assistant supervisor, a short descriptive text, and a preliminary schedule. You must also include enough information to assess whether the project fulfils the requirements in the syllabus: “an advanced degree project in the physics area”.

 

When the coordinator for the degree projects approves your project plan, you will be assigned a contact person. Together with your contact person you should discuss your planned work and fill out a contract form for the project, which includes start- and end- dates. This contract is then handed to the student office, whereafter you will be registered on the appropriate course. Your contact person is usually also your examiner for the course.
If you want to do your project part-time, you should discuss this with your contact person before the project starts, and it should be written into your contract. In the event of a long-term illness, you should report this to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency to be sure of getting an extension period. You should also inform your contact person and the academic advisor.

 

Follow up

When you write your contract you and your contact person will also agree on a time for a follow-up meeting, about one month after you start the project. The purpose of this meeting is to give you a chance to discuss your schedule, and how your work is progressing, as well as bring up any problems. If you wish, your supervisor can be present at the meeting. During the course of the project your contact person will monitor your progress. You are of course also welcome to contact your contact person on your own initiative, if you want to bring something up.

Supervision and the right to change supervisor

The supervisor for a degree project shall be available during the term time when the project is running. You have the right to at least one hour of supervision per week, but it is natural that the amount of supervision is adapted to the nature of your work and your own wishes. It is reasonable that, during term time, your supervisor meets with you once a week, to follow up how your work is progressing.

If you think that your supervision is not satisfactory, you should first bring it up with your contact person. If the problem is not resolved, you have the right to change supervisor by request to the board of the Department of Physics.

Free print-outs

While you are doing your project, you are eligible for free print-outs via Printomat at the Department of Physics. In order to get access to this you need to complete a form and hand it to Ronni Barouta (A4:1015, ronni.barouta@fysik.su.se) along with a copy of your contract. The end date is set to the end date on your contract + 1 month. If necessary, this time may be extended after renewed application. The form is available here:

Form temporary account (pdf) (92 Kb)

 

We recommend that you start to write your report as early as possible! We recommend that you use our templates, available either in Word (111 Kb) or Latex (63 Kb) . The report should be written in English or Swedish. It should be written such that also physicists who are not experts in the field of you project can understand it. As a suitable target audience, think of your fellow students. Remember that your evaluators are not necessarily experts in the area of your particular project.

In the introduction you should define the problem, and how you approached it. You should also try to put it into a wider context, such that the reader can understand why the project has been undertaken. Towards the end you should describe and discuss the results you achieved. Be careful with the structure, such that it is possible to follow a “red thread” through your text. References to the results from earlier research, and known relations, should be accompanied by citations in a format used by scientific journals. Furthermore, remember that your report becomes more readable if you put some of the heavier material, such as code listings or lengthy derivations, into appendices. Tables should be accompanied by headings and figures by captions. Don’t forget labels and units on coordinate axes.

The report should also contain an abstract of about one half A4 page. The abstract should be placed immediately after your title page.

For external projects you may also use the logo/layout of the company for the cover page.

Regarding the length of the report, it is usually determined by context. As a rough guidance a 45-credit project may run to about 50 pages, excluding appendices. Note though, that the length of your report must be determined by much space you need to convey the contents, as indicated above. A lengthy report is not judged as a mark of quality. On the contrary, an overly long and/or badly structured text can be seen as a deficiency.

The thesis must be written in your own words. Obviously, this means that plagiarism is not allowed. When you submit your thesis it will automatically be checked for plagiarism. More about plagiarism can be found here. It also means that AI-tools such as ChatGPT must not be used to generate text.

 

The examination consists of the written and an oral presentation. The project is evaluated by an examination committee consisting of two teachers, of which one is the examiner. The supervisor is asked for input of your work, but is otherwise not involved in the grading.

Written report

When the report has been completed, a PDF should be sent to the coordinator. The coordinator will check for plagiarism using the text-matching tool of Stockholm University. Unless the report has obvious problems, the coordinator will assign a member of the committee for degree projects to, together with your examiner, assess your work. After reading your report they will judge whether your work is sufficient to progress to the mandatory oral presentation. If not, you will be given the chance to revise your report.

Oral presentation

An oral presentation of your project shall be given at the Department of Physics. The date of your presentation is set together with your supervisor and the two members of your examination committee. The presentation should be in the form of a 30-45-minute lecture. Thereafter at least 30 minutes should be set aside for questioning. The presentation is open to the public. E-mail studievagledare@fysik.su.se with relevant information for the announcement

 

Directly after your presentation, your examination committee will convene to decide your grade. In connection with this meeting, they will seek the input from your supervisor regarding how the project has been carried out. The project is graded using the 7-step scale A (top grade) to F (fail). For external projects, the external supervisor is consulted before the presentation. To be eligible for the highest grades, A and B, your report must be submitted 26/39/52 term weeks for 30/45/60-credit projects. Term weeks are defined as weeks during the official terms of Stockholm University. Note that there are two terms, spring and autumn each 20 weeks long and separated by a 12-week summer break. Thus there are no breaks at Christmas or Easter. The committee for degree projects can allow exceptions from this rule in the event of extenuating circumstances. 

Before your result is registered in LADOK, you need to submit a copy of your report to the student office. This copy will be archived.

Assessment points

The assessment is based on the items 1-3 in relation to the level and scope of the project.

1.  The written report

  • Science (understanding and discussing the problem, scientific attitude, discussion of results, scientifically valid conclusion)
  • Content (choice of presented material: theory, results, figures, tables)
  • Form (disposition, quality of figures and tables, proper references)
  • Language (professional expression, correct language, accuracy and rigour)

2.  The oral presentation

  • Science (understanding of the problem, consistency with the written report)
  • Content (choice of presented material: theory, results, figures, tables)
  • Form (presentation clarity, style and rigorousness)
  • Discussion (ability to answer questions, defend the work and level of scientific discussion)

3.  Work performance (in consultation with the supervisor, who does not take part in the decision)

  • Planning and follow up, documentation of work
  • Experimental/theoretical skills, independence of supervisors
  • Ability to draw own conclusions
  • Ability to take initiative

The items are weighted according to: 50% written report, 25% oral presentation, 25% work performance.

 

Grade Typical score % Achievement level Description
A 94-100 Excellent The student has achieved all criteria in a very good way, or in a few cases a good way.
B 80-93 Very good The student has achieved the criteria in a mostly very good way, and otherwise in a good way.
C 64-79 Good The student has achieved the criteria in a mostly very good or good way, and otherwise in an adequate way.
D 50-63 Satisfactory The student has achieved all criteria in an adequate way, and in some cases in a good way.
E 33-49 Adequate The student has achieved all criteria in an at least adequate way.
Fx 30-32 Fail, some additional work required The student has achieved most criteria in an at least adequate way, but in some cases inadequate.
F 0-29 Fail, much additional work required The student shows significant inadequacies in relation to the assessment criteria.

 

 

Students are encouraged to upload a PDF of their report on DiVA, the publication data base of Stockholm University.

Quick Reference for students (416 Kb)

 

Coordinator for degree projects

Svante Jonsell
Tfn: 08-5537 8625
e-mail: svante.jonsell@fysik.su.se.


Medical Radiation Physics

Iuliana Toma-Dasu
Tfn: 08-553 780 82
e-mail: Iuliana.Livia.Dasu@fysik.su.se

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