Cartography Master Programme

The course list in Cartography Master programme

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State exam and degree thesis

INFORMATION ON THE PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF THE MASTER’S THESIS IN CARTOGRAPHY AND ON THE PROCEDURE OF THE STATE EXAM

• Every student has to prepare a master’s thesis. The students are free to choose the topic of their master’s thesis, but it must fit in the scope of the Cartography MSc degree programme. The title and the problem statement of the master’s thesis, and the name of the supervisor have to be reported on the MASTER’S THESIS SUBMISSION FORM (see in Neptun) and approved by the director of the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics six months prior to the state exam. The state exams are usually organized in late January in the winter semester, and in late June in the summer semester. The deadline of submitting the form depends on the date of the state exam: for a summer exam it is 15 October, for a winter exam it is 15 May. This form has to be signed by the supervisor too. It is also possible to have an external consultant from outside the Institute, but even in this case a supervisor from the Institute is needed.
• During the preparation of the master’s thesis, the student must have continuous contact with the supervisor. The final paper has to demonstrate that the student has acquired the skills of processing various sources and working with international literature as well as the professional rules of analysing and assessing information self-reliantly.
• In the master’s thesis, the student has to follow the general rules of using sources and giving references. The suggested length of the paper is minimum 25 pages without annexes, but including the figures, maps, illustrations, references. The master’s thesis has to clearly define the problem the student studied and has to end with a summary. The logical structure, correct grammar and professional style are important requirements. Further information on the form of the paper is annexed.
• Before submitting the master’s thesis, the supervisor has to approve it. If the student had no consultations, the deadline was not met, or the professional content and the formal requirements are not acceptable, the work cannot be submitted. The final master’s thesis is examined, reviewed and graded by the supervisor. If there is an external consultant too, this person also writes a review. The student has to receive the review(s) three days before the defence at least. (see FORMAL REQUIREMENTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER’S THESIS).
• The successful master’s thesis will be placed on the EDIT system of the library of the University.
• The major conclusions of the master’s thesis have to be presented in the state exam in 15 minutes, and the student has to answer questions related to the work.
• Requirements before taking the state exam:
• The student has to complete all the credit requirements set in the curriculum of the programme and has to hand in the master’s thesis with the approval of the departmental supervisor. The study requirements are not considered completed without this approval.
• The examination board grades the master’s thesis from one (unsatisfactory) to five (excellent). If the degree work is marked one, a new master’s thesis has to be made, which can be submitted only in the next examination period.
• If a paper has been awarded first prize at the National Research Conference of Students, it can be accepted as a master’s thesis and marked excellent.
• The state exam consists of two parts. First, the student has to present the master’s thesis in ten to fifteen minutes and has to answer the questions from the examination board. Second, the student has to answer a professional topic to demonstrate that the student has acquired the necessary knowledge of the profession. The list of professional topics has to be publicized on the departmental homepage at least by the time of registering for the state exam.Students get two questions, one from Question A and one from Question B.
• The student who wishes to take a state exam has to report to the Institute 30 days before the beginning of the examination period.

FORMAL REQUIREMENTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER’S THESIS

• Pages: size A4, white colour.
• Letter size: 12 points (Times New Roman).
• Spacing of lines: 1.5, hyphenated and justified lines.
• Margins: 2.5 cm on each side.
• Page numbers: continuous in Arabic numbers.
• Figures, tables, pictures: numbered and inserted in the text. Large size figures, maps etc.: in annex after the references section.

Cover page. It includes the title; the level of the programme; the name of the student; the name, position and academic degree of the supervisor (and the consultant if any); the name of the department of the supervisor; the name of the university; the year of making the master’s thesis (see sample document)

Contents

• Introduction. This chapter presents the theme of the work and positions it in the profession; summarizes the importance of studying the topic; outlines the objectives and content of the work; may include the student’s motivation of dealing with the topic.
• Development of the topic in several chapters. The processed technical literature (also in foreign language) should not be one-sided or biased. References to earlier and latest sources should be in balance. There should not be second-hand references taken from other sources. The caption of figures coming from publications has to give reference to the origin. The lettering of figures, tables etc. have to be given in English.
• Summary. One-page summary of the theme and conclusions.
• References
• Acknowledgement
• Declaration. An original document, in which the student declares that the work is an original intellectual product of the student. If there is a grave suspicion of committing plagiarism, disciplinary action may be taken against the author of the master’s thesis. This declaration (see DECLARATION) with the original signature of the student has to be the last page in the bound master’s thesis.

Degree paper proposal can be found here.

Documents for download to degree paper and state exam