Topic outline

  • Introduction

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    The Master's thesis represents the end of a student's educational program. The post-graduate student becomes the  author of a personal project, which consist of extensive and in-depth:

    a) empirical research which can be experimental or observational/ correlational, or
    b) a critical analysis and review of the literature on empirical and theoretical topics and issues. 

    A Supervisor who guides you is needed in order to write a thesis. The Supervisor can be a faculty member of the Department of Psychology or a faculty member who teaches a course within the Bachelor or Master's programs organized by the Department. The supervisor must ensure that the thesis respects the scientific standards of the academic community, guiding the student in all phases of the thesis, providing useful indications to improve the work. 

    The student may contact a faculty member personally, who can agree to be a Supervisor. A student who has not contacted a faculty member personally may apply for an ex officio assignment of the Supervisor (see the dedicated sections for information on procedures).

    In order to facilitate the search for a Supervisor, from the beginning of 2021 a Thesis Bulletin Board  will be active, a space in which each professor can, if they wish, indicate research projects on which students can potentially work for their thesis. 

    On average, a master thesis takes about 12 months to complete. 

    Once the thesis has been completed, the student must submit the Application Form for the Evaluation in order to obtain a Degree (i.e., domanda d’ammissione alla valutazione della prova finale), within the deadlines established for the graduation session in which he/she intends to participate. There are at least four graduation sessions in an academic year. 

    All the norms that regulate the steps for the attainment of the Degree are contained in the Thesis Regulations, shown below. We encourage you to read them carefully. 

    Warning! If plagiarism is found within the thesis, the procedure described in the Regulations will be activated and sanctions applied. Further useful information can be found in the guidelines on how to write a thesis and how to report statistical results.

  • Supervisor Assignment

     

    Personal assignment of a supervisor:

    1. Consult the Thesis Bulletin Board  to find a project of interest and/or
    2. Consult the faculty pages on the Department website to learn about the research topics of each Professor in order to identify those which may be of interest;
    3. Contact the professor with whom you would like to work on your  thesis to discuss a potential project to work on together;
    4. Via email obtain the explicit consent of the professor, for example, by using this form;
    5. After having made arrangements with the faculty member, fill out the Assignment of the Thesis Supervisor form (online form, please use an incognito browser session to access the form); 
    6. The thesis office will accept the application, unless otherwise specified.
      The application can be submitted at any time of the year, with the exception of periods dedicated to ex officio assignments. 

    Ex officio assignment of a Supervisor:

    If you have not contacted a professor personally, you can apply for the ex officio assignment using this form online (please use an incognito browser session to access the form).

    1. The request for the ex officio assignment must be made during the following periods of the year: 18-28 February, 20-30 June, 20-30 October.
    2. The places available and professors working in each field of research can be found at this link. The more positions available, the greater the chance that you will be assigned to a faculty member in that research field.
    3. The student states his or her preferences for each field in the application, in order, starting from one’s first choice to the last.
    4. At the end of the periods allowed for the submission of applications, the Thesis Committee reviews the applications that were submitted. Applications are evaluated in order according to:
    • The number of CFU achieved (the more CFUs, the higher in the ranking); if the students have the same ranking,
    • The date on which the Supervisor request form was sent will be considered.

          The CFU to be considered are those achieved on the date of the application, excluding supernumerary credits

        5. The Thesis Commission evaluates the list thus formed and students will be assigned a Supervisor who corresponds to the highest choice for which a professor is available.
        6. The topic of the thesis must be agreed upon with the faculty member who will assume the role of Supervisor.

    Changing Supervisor:

    If you wish to change your choice by relinquishing the assignment of the supervisor (with a personal assignment or ex oficio assignment), you must submit a relinquishment application through the same online form provided for the personal assignment of the supervisor. At the same time as applying for the relinquishment of the supervisor, the student must submit the request for the assignment of a new supervisor.

    • Database
      Thesis Bulletin Board Database

  • Authorization for data collection outside of the University

    •  Students who need to collect data for their thesis IN STRUCTURES OTHER THAN THE UNIVERSITY need an authorization.
    Therefore, those students NEED TO contact the Student Secretariat by email, at tesi.psicologia@unimib.it, to get the official authorization before beginning the data-collection.

    Requirements:
    - Being post-graduate students, i.e., having an official supervisor for the thesis,
    - Having paid all tuition fees.

    To request the authorization, students need to send the following documents to the Student Secretariat:
    - The exact name of the establishment in which the data will be collected.
    - The specific name of the office / department / school in which the data will be collected, if it differs from the establishment
    - The address of the physical place in which the student will collect the data.
    - PEC address


    Once the secretariat receives this information, the following steps are necessary for the authorization:
    1) The Secretariat will send you an email with a document. You need to fill-in the document and ask your thesis supervisor to sign it bi digital sign.
    2) You need to scan the document and send it via email to the secretariat. The document will be officially registered.
    3) The authorization will be sent by PEC to establishment and to you by email, to keep a copy in case it is requested by the establishment.