Guidelines for Master's Theses

Working Group on Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics, Institute for Sustainable Economic Development

This guide is designed to help you structure your work process and complete your master's thesis according to scientific standards and within an acceptable time. In this guide, we explain our expectations of you and give helpful recommendations for the process..

1. Basics: What is the goal of a master's thesis?

According to the National Qualifications Framework, people with a Master's degree should have the following skills: 

  • have demonstrated knowledge and understanding, ... that provides a basis or opportunity for originality in the development and/or application of ideas, often in a research context; 
  • their knowledge and understanding and problem-solving skills in new or unfamiliar contexts ... in their field of study; 
  • have the ability to integrate knowledge and deal with complexity ...; 
  • be able to communicate their conclusions and the knowledge and principles on which they are based clearly and unambiguously, both to experts and laypeople; 
  • have learning strategies that enable them to continue their studies in a largely self-determined and autonomous  manner. 

You should demonstrate the achievement of these goals (among others) with your master's thesis. This means that you should dedicate your master's thesis to a research question that is relevant and has not yet been adequately answered, guided by existing research. At the same time, a master's thesis can provide interesting and relevant results, but it is important to have a well-defined research question and not to try to "solve all the problems of this world", as research usually takes place in many small steps and extensions.

You should work on your research question as independently as possible and structure the work process largely by yourself. We accompany you and provide assistance, but assume that you will independently acquire or have already acquired the optimal approach to the work process, the necessary methods, scientific work in general, etc. 

2. Which topics are suitable for our working group?

In accordance with the research areas of the members of the Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Economics working group, we supervise master's theses in the following areas:

  • Agricultural economics in the broadest sense (questions along the entire value chain of food)
  • Environmental economics (especially environmental issues in the field of agriculture and land use)
  • Agricultural sociology (in particular questions about environmentally relevant behaviour of farmers and land ownership structures)
  • Regional Economics
  • Economics of Urban Spaces
  • Efficiency and productivity analyses as well as analyses of the convergence of economic (e.g. GDP/capita) and environmental indicators (e.g. GHG emission intensity) at national, regional or farm level
  • Economics in general

We sometimes advertise such topics on our website as well as on the BOKU thesis exchange platform. You will also find suggestions for interesting questions in the courses offered by our working group and are welcome to ask us about possible topics for Master's theses there. However, you can also approach us with your own ideas from the above-mentioned areas.

Important: You should already have basic knowledge in the subject area you want to research; this applies in particular to the possible methods (e.g. economic modeling, econometrics (e.g. regression analysis, linear optimization), statistics, qualitative methods) that you will use. Also, the topic should match your personal interests. These are also visible in the specialisations and courses you have taken during your Master's programme. 

3. I have a suitable research idea, what now?

If you have a research idea that meets the above criteria, the next step is to find a supervisor for the thesis. Ideally, this process is as follows:

  • Contact the person who could supervise you. Who this is depends on your specific topic and the method you want to use (e.g. find out about our research topics and the theses we have already supervised in the Boku fis), or with whom you have already attended a course. An initial contact email should include:
  • A short description of the topic you want to work on, including an approximate research question and idea of the method or data
  • A list of thematically relevant (!) Courses you have already completed
  • Your potential supervisor will let you know whether supervision is possible in principle, i.e. whether the topic fits their research area, whether supervision capacities are available, etc. This can also happen in a conversation where you are already discussing the first details.
  • After a positive response, you proceed as discussed with the potential supervisor. This can imply writing a concept or outline before you receive your confirmation of supervision, or you begin to work right away. In any case, it is advisable to set up a schedule for your planned work.
  • As soon as your topic and your supervisor (team) have been determined, you can register your thesis with the Office of the Dean of Studies. All information on this, as well as on all other administrative tasks, can be found on the pages of the Admissions Office.
  • For a master's thesis, a workload of approx. 30 ECTS is usually estimated in the curriculum, which corresponds to full-time work (40h/week) for half a year. It is thus recommended to start working on your thesis when you can really concentrate on the work and move forward quickly.
  • There is no predetermined number of words or pages you need to write; what counts is the quality of the content.
  • Keep appointments you planned with your supervisor (submissions, meetings)! In return, you can also expect the same from us. We do our best to give you timely feedback on your work, but our availability depends on our own schedule, not your urgency. Therefore, plan deadlines (e.g., end of semester) early on and keep in mind that (good) feedback takes time.
  • If you collect data yourself, be sure to discuss the survey instrument (questionnaire/interview guide/...) with your supervisor and only collect the data after the instrument has been 'approved'. Please also pay attention to the specifications and guidelines regarding data protection and good scientific practice (see also guidelines of the OeAWI)!
  • If you get stuck in your work, first try to find solutions yourself and only then contact the supervisor. Take advantage of the library's offers on literature search, books/guides for writing theses available there; exchange ideas with colleagues in a similar situation, etc. The psychosocial counselling centre of BOKU and the psychological student counselling service also  offer free counselling and support.
  • If you have substantive or methodological questions and challenges that you cannot solve yourself, contact your supervisor and describe your problem as precisely as possible and what you have already tried to solve it.
  • If you have to interrupt your work on the Master's thesis for a longer period of time (job, illness, etc.), please let your supervisor know.
  • You must present your thesis at least once in the Institute's Master's seminar. You will present the state of your work at the respective point in time, e.g. detailed research plan and survey instrument, initial results, etc. Your supervisor will make an appointment with you – usually several students present together, so that you have several listeners and can receive feedback. 

Other FAQs, information and tips

Requirements: depending on the topic and supervisor, you may have to complete certain courses (e.g. econometrics, qualitative methods, etc.) prior to working on your thesis. Check with your supervisor about any such requirements. 

Language: The Master's thesis can be written in German or English. It must be grammatically and orthographically correct, so consider language editing, at least using AI tools – your supervisor is not responsible for these tasks!  

AI use: You can use text-generating AI tools to support the writing process or other parts of the work (e.g. programming, literature search). However, you have to check any generated texts or other outputs for correctness. In addition, you must indicate in the thesis which tool(s) you used for which tasks, and at which point in the work. For example, you can refer to the sub-activities of a thesis listed in this template: https://digital.uni-hohenheim.de/fileadmin/einrichtungen/digital/COGNISANCE_Generative_AI_Declaration.docx 

Formal requirements: 

  • The master's thesis should be written in a gender-sensitive way. A "general clause" (à la "women are always included even if male wordings are used") at the beginning of the work is not recommended for this. Be consistent in your choice of wording, i.e. opt for one variant of gender-neutral formulations and keep it for the entire work.
  • Pay attention to general requirements for academic texts: sensible argumentative design of paragraphs and subchapters; Mention of tables/graphics in the text body; titles of tables and figures; Chapter structure (not too few or too many levels of structure); no complicated language (avoid convoluted sentences, passive phrases, etc.); etc.
  • Correct, consistent citation of the literature used! We highly recommend using reference management software. Be aware: every thesis is subjected to a plagiarism check, which also recognizes different languages (translations)!