Each student is required to write a Master's thesis between 30,000 and no more than 40,000 words.
The Master's thesis must prove to be an independent treatment of the theme developed by using scientific methods. In other words, the thesis must have a scientific character and be the result of research work.
It is the students' responsibility to ensure that the ideas expressed in their theses and the quotes cited are properly reported according to scientific standards. The contrary constitutes an act of plagiarism and may result in dismissal from the programme.
After consultations with a potential mentor during the 1st year of the Master's programme, students are required to submit an application to the Coordination Council with their chosen thesis topic, by the end of June at the latest. The application must be endorsed by the mentor.
The deadline for submission of the thesis proposal may be extended, but only in exceptional circumstances, by the Coordination Council. Proof of such circumstances must be provided.
Eligible mentors are exclusively the Professors and Lecturers of the MIREES courses.
The Coordination Council, on the basis of the student's application and of the Faculty's availability, approves or modifies the thesis topic, assigns a mentor, defines the deadline for submission of the final work, and appoints the second reader.
During the second year, the students finalize their theses and submit their final work by the end of July, unless differently established by the Coordination Council.
Thesis defence will take place in Forlì at the beginning of October, unless differently established by the Coordination Council.
Thesis defence Commissions consist of 3 members: the mentor, the second reader and a chairperson. The Commissions are appointed by the Coordination Council. In the event that a student is turned down by the Defence Commission, a chance to amend his/her work following instructions given by the Defence Commission itself may be offered. The date of the second thesis defence will be established by the Defence Commission. A third chance will not be offered.
Students that have not completed the planned study path within the two years of the Master's Programme will not be allowed to hand in their thesis nor defend it.
Students must comply with the standards, format and design for Master's theses, i.e. students must follow the instructions detailed in the file provided by the MIREES office, so that all requirements of layout and content organization are respected. Any deviation from this rule will result in rejection of the Master's thesis. In particular all bound copies of the thesis must incorporate the following:
In any case, the students will be provided with a style sheet on which to develop their theses, allowing them to comply without difficulty with all University of Bologna standard requirements for theses.
The students must comply with either the system of quotation and referencing in use in the U.S. or any other system, provided it is scientific and used correctly and consistently throughout the whole thesis. Students using mixed, improper, or unclear systems of quotations and references will not be admitted to the discussion and their thesis will be rejected.
Students whose mother tongue is different from English are strongly advised to have a specialist in English to check their theses before printing and make sure that their theses show no weakness in the language used and are free from spelling mistakes, otherwise they will not be admitted to the discussion and the thesis rejected.
Useful practice in order to gradually become familiar with the Bologna University standards for theses would be starting to apply them in all papers written during the first year of study in Forlì. A thesis style-sheet is being prepared and you will find it on our web site next.
By the end of September each student must choose a teacher, among the MIREES teaching staff, as mentor under the supervision of whom to conduct his/her work, after providing the mentor with a general idea of his/her research and a possible title. On the basis of the information given by the students, the mentor may accept or reject the student. In the latter case, the student must choose another teacher.
By the end of October students must send* their mentor a draft of their project and a description of the work they intend to carry out for their theses (2-3 pages); mentors will then provide feedback to amend the students' projects or approve.
By the end of December students must send* their mentor
By the end of March students must send* their mentor 25% of their theses;
By the end of May students must send* their mentor 60% of their theses and they are required to come back to Italy for a few days to show academic coordinators, mentors and MIREES students class of the next academic year their work-in-progress, possibly using a power point presentation and some hand-outs briefly summarizing the topic of the project and the degree of completion of the different parts of the research work.
By the end of June students must send* the final draft of their theses to their mentor for final approval or additional comment.
By July 25th students must deliver the final, printed and bound version of their theses in two (2) copies to MIREES office at 12 via Marchesi, together with their record book (libretto): MIREES staff will take the student's record book and one copy of the thesis to the students' secretariat and store the second copy for the records and for later use in the defense session.
It is the student's responsibility to send both mentor and second reader the bound copy of his/her thesis no later than July 25th. Students must also send* a Microsoft Word (or pdf) version of their thesis to manager.mirees@poloforli.unibo.it and the MIREES staff will take care of sending* it to their mentor, second reader and chair of the defense commission and of storing it along with the other fellow students' of his/her class: this file must be the one which the student used to print the final version of his/her thesis.
If the students abide by the above rules, their mentors will actively participate in the process of thesis writing - providing feed-back, suggestions, additional material or literature - and students will avoid jeopardizing thesis defense.
By contrast, students who fail to submit a complete electronic version of their thesis by June 30th must be aware that, under their own responsibility, they take the risk of failing to receive comprehensive feed-back from their mentor because of the summer holidays.
Finally, students who fail thesis defense will have another chance to amend their work under the instructions given by the Defense Commission. In this case a second thesis defense date will be established by the Defense Commission. A third chance will not be offered.
Needless to say, students will be admitted to thesis defense on condition that
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