Department of Translation Studies

Conditions for Completion of Studies

Conditions for Completion of Studies

The degree can be completed by those who have completed all the obligations according to the syllabus, including mandatory mobility, the master's thesis and its defence, in the total volume of 120 KT.

Master's thesis

The master's thesis in the joint interdisciplinary master's study program Digital Linguistics represents the final set of study obligations and is evaluated with 20 credit points according to the syllabus. Each year, the program council draws up a list of proposed topics or thematic areas of master's theses for the following academic year. Topics are publicly announced on the program's website. Students are encouraged to propose the topics they wish to address in their master's thesis; the proposed topic is approved by the program council with the consent of the supervisor. 

Supervisors for master's theses are university teachers who teach on the study program Digital Linguistics. For students who are enrolled in the study program at the University of Ljubljana, which is their home university, the supervisor must also be from the University of Ljubljana and not from the partner university. Higher education teachers from partner universities (Masaryk University, University of Zagreb) can be co-supervisors for master's theses. The supervisor can also be a teacher with whom the student has not attended any course. Exceptionally, supervisors can also be other higher education teachers from the three participating faculties (FF, FDV, FRI), if they agree with supervising and if the proposed topic is approved by the program council. The candidate only chooses a supervisor, not a co-supervisor, but the supervisor can determine a co-supervisor based on the candidate's proposed topic.

Master's thesis topic application process

1. To apply for a master's thesis topic, the student must be enrolled in the 2nd year of the study program.
2. The student chooses the topic of the master's thesis in agreement with the chosen supervisor, usually by January 31 of the current academic year. The student, in cooperation with the supervisor, prepares the proposal of the thesis (see appendix 1). When the supervisor (and potential co-supervisor) confirms the proposal of the thesis, the student submits it to the secretariat of the Department of Translation, namely by February 28 of the current academic year, together with the prescribed form for registering the topic of the master's thesis (form no. 1). If a co-supervisor participates in the master's thesis, the prescribed form must be signed by both the supervisor and the co-supervisor.
3. A topic is confirmed when it is approved by the program board. For this purpose, it meets no later than March 15 of the current academic year and informs the student, supervisor and potential co-supervisor about the confirmation of the topic. Upon confirmation of the topic, the program council also determines the committee for the defence of the master's thesis. Form no. 1 and the confirmed proposal is kept by the Secretariat of the Department.
4. An approved topic is valid for two years from the date of approval. After this date, the student must register the topic again.

In the proposal of the topic of the master's thesis, the student defines:
a. the relevance, goals and importance of the final paper with a short review of the literature (200-400 words), 
b. research questions and/or hypotheses (50-150 words),
c. planned research plan and applied methodology (50-150 words),
d. the intended structure of the final version of the thesis in the form of an index (50-150 words) and
e. basic literature and basic sources (at least 15 units).

The scope of the Master's thesis depends on the topic and methodology, but in principle, the thesis without a list of references and appendices should be 15,000 - 20,000 words long. 

The Master's thesis on the Digital Linguistics program can be written in Slovenian or English. If the thesis is written in Slovenian, it must have a longer summary in English (1500 to 2500 words), and vice versa - for theses in English, a longer summary in Slovenian is mandatory. 

During the preparation of the master's thesis, the student regularly reports on the progress to the supervisor and potential co-supervisor, the frequency of reports and consultations is agreed upon by the student with the supervisor and potential co-supervisor. 

The candidate submits the master's thesis for review by the supervisor and potential co-supervisor. Students who wish to complete their studies in the current academic year must submit their master's thesis for review by June 30 at the latest. The supervisor and potential co-supervisor sign the form specified in the FF Master's Regulations (form no. 2) upon assessing the suitability for the defence of the master's thesis. The student then submits the master's thesis to the secretariat of the Department of Translation Studies, together with the application for the master's thesis, the proposal and a signed statement by the supervisor on content suitability (i.e. together with forms 1 and 2), uploads the master's thesis electronically to VIS and submits one hardbound copy of the thesis (library copy). When submitting the master's thesis, the student fills out the application form for the defence of the master's thesis (form no. 3 in the FF Master's Regulations) in the department's secretariat. The date and place of the master's thesis defence is determined by the supervisor in agreement with the committee and the secretariat of the Department of Translation Studies, which manages the administrative procedures.

Regarding other details in the creation of the master's thesis, students should follow the FF Rules. 

Topics for master's thesis

Current topics can be found by following this link. 

Technical instructions

The Chicago Manual of Style is used when citing sources and literature. When designing a master's thesis, students are recommended to use tools for automatic bibliography generation, e.g. built-in bibliographic system in Microsoft WordEndNoteMendeleyZoteroBibLaTeX, BibTex, etc.

Instructions for citing sources in PDF format

Proposal

Example of proposal

Rules and forms

Regulations on master's thesis and completion of studies in 2nd-level programs