How to Develop a Thesis Project

The MA thesis has a large workload of ~750 hours and it will form the focus of much of your study time, especially in Year 2. The choice of topic should not be taken lightly and it is important to find a topic that really interests you and will keep you motivated.

During the first semester at the University of Tartu, students choose their thesis topic and submit their initial MA thesis prospectus building on the field-specific and methodological knowledge gained in the two core courses: Introduction to Central and East European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (SVJS.00.006) and Social Science Methodology (SHRG.03.022). The MA thesis prospectus will serve as the final assessment for both of these courses and is due in January of Year 1. Instructions for writing the prospectus can be found in the following section. In this section, you will find some tips on how to choose a topic and develop it into a MA thesis research project.

A student’s MA thesis topic will almost always determine the Year 2 mobility. The assignment of the mobilities will take into account the fit between the partner institution’s research specialisations and the student’s research and/or language interests.

Topic Changes

Once the mobilities and supervisors have been allocated, students are not allowed to make major changes to the thesis topic. A substantial amount of time has been invested in providing you with feedback and allocating mobilities on the basis of the topic proposed in your MA thesis prospectus and we are unable to accommodate major changes after this times. Minor changes (e.g., to the conceptualisation and theoretical framework, case studies, and research methods) are of course allowed as the evolution your ideas is an integral part of the research development process. However, significant changes to the research topic, geographical region of study, and disciplinary field are not permitted.