A Masters choice: Thesis Topic

During the last weeks I was busy coming up with a research topic for my master thesis and finding a suitable supervisor. Already at the very beginning of the Master we had a lecture about the procedure for the master thesis. Of course it is helpful to get these information as soon as possible, but at that moment you are more worried about finding your way around the university, getting to know fellow students and passing your courses. In general the idea is that you can hand in your own topic if you find a professor who supervises you. The other option is to choose a topic from a given lists from the university in around February. The deadline for handing in your own topic, was yesterday (17.12), so already around half a year before your actual research course, you have to think about it. 

The whole process for finding a supervisor can be very time consuming, so I say start early! In my case, I already had a supervisor, but unfortunately around 2 weeks before the deadline it turned out that I am not able to write under her supervision. So I had to start all over again: I asked my way around the professors I still new from my Bachelor study, but also approached some which I did not know. I would say the most difficult part is to find a supervisor, who has expertise in the area you are interested in and having an existing data set to analyze. Coming up with your own data might be too challenging for a Master thesis. I ended up with a research topic I am really interested in and I will participate in an actual lab research.  I will write about non-monetary incentives and their effect on corporate social responsibility.

So be aware if you start your master that soon enough you have to think about your thesis topic already. Don’t start too late, since complications can always occur and you need to change your plan of actions.