The Master’s Thesis (TFM) is an original and unpublished piece of research, written individually by the student in consultation with their assigned supervisor, and assessed by a panel of academic staff holding a PhD in a public session.

The research will be carried out along three lines of study: (i) a theoretical or historical study of the performing arts; (ii) a theoretical reflection and conceptualisation centred on a complete creative process (a play, a performance); or (iii) the editing of a theatrical text or theoretical or critical material on the performing arts.

The work must be of a specialised academic nature and comply with the conventions of the discipline.

Steps

1. A preliminary meeting for students enrolled on the Master’s Thesis (TFM) with the module coordinator, at which guidelines for the successful individual completion of the TFM will be set out (see the calendar below).

2. Students will submit a proposal for their thesis topic to the module coordinator (provisional title, very brief abstract, summary bibliography). The module coordinator, with the approval of the MUET Academic Committee, will assign a supervisor based on the nature of the chosen topic.

3. Guidance and discussion sessions with the supervisor: (i) final selection of the topic; (ii) subsequent approval by the coordinator; and (iii) guidance sessions with the supervisor on the preparation of the thesis: consultations on the bibliography, and the drafting and presentation of a provisional outline. A minimum of three sessions must be held, and the form for each supervision session, signed by the supervisor, must be submitted to the designated area on the virtual campus within the established deadlines (see calendar)

4. Drafting of a report containing a brief outline of: a) an introduction to the Master’s Thesis; b) the initial hypothesis; c) objectives and research questions; d) the state of the literature; e) research methodology; f) a provisional table of contents; g) significant progress made; and h) any doubts or problems. The report must not exceed 4 pages (8,400 characters including spaces). This report must be submitted to the supervisor and the module coordinator within the deadlines set out in the Master’s Thesis calendar. The student will receive timely feedback on their document from his/her supervisor.

5. Attendance at the face-to-face seminar with the supervisors at the UAB’s Faculty.

6. Preparation of the thesis: (i) submission of the thesis in instalments as instructed by the supervisor; (ii) submission of a complete first draft of the thesis within the deadline set out in the Master’s Thesis calendar; and (iii) final submission of the thesis: one copy for each member of the examination board, one copy to the module coordinator via the virtual campus, and another to the Integrated Departmental Administrative Support Unit for Philology <uisad.filologies.tercer.cicle@uab.cat>

7. Theses submitted after the deadline will not be accepted.

8. Publication of the examination panels, dates and rooms for presentations (see calendar). The student must submit a copy of the thesis to each member of the examination panel.

9. Public defence session and assessment of the thesis.

Work Schedule

16 October (morning)

Introductory session: initial guidance on the Master’s Thesis.

30 October

Submission of an initial proposal to the coordinator

13 November

Assignment of supervisors

4 December

Submission of a final proposal to the coordinator and the assigned supervisor

27 December – 4 December

Submission of the first supervision report.

12 February (morning)

Face-to-face seminar

1–14 March

Submission of the second supervision report

12–24 May

Submission of the third supervision report

1 June

Submission of a full version

Guidelines

The methodology adopted for the preparation of the Master’s Thesis will depend on the chosen topic and the assigned supervisor.

Individual guidance from the supervisor is combined with support from the module co-ordinator throughout the process of preparing the Master’s Thesis.

The following general considerations regarding the characteristics of the thesis must be borne in mind:

1. The Master’s Thesis must be between 25 and 60 pages in length, plus annexes. Please refer to the full submission guidelines on the virtual campus.
2. Studies that are not original or unpublished will not be accepted. Any instances of plagiarism, whether total or partial, will result in immediate failure of the module.
3. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not permitted at any stage. Any thesis containing passages generated by AI will be considered a breach of academic integrity and will result in the assignment being marked as 0, with no opportunity for resit, or, in more severe cases, in more severe sanctions.
4. Master’s theses may be written in Catalan or Spanish. Theses must demonstrate appropriate use of register, grammar and spelling in the language in which they are written. Poorly written Master’s theses may be excluded from the defence by the supervisor or assessed negatively by the examination board.
5. All sources used must be thoroughly referenced. Please refer to the citation conventions in the ‘Submission Guidelines’ document on the Moodle platform.
6. In the event that the Master’s thesis involves a creative process, the student must consider, as a minimum, the following aspects: initial hypothesis, research questions, theoretical frameworks, artistic precedents (contextualisation), methodological explanation, monitoring and documentation of the process, and, finally, brief conclusions. If the creative process involves third parties, signed consent forms for the use of their images and/or participation must be included in the thesis annexes.
7. All Master’s Theses must include brief conclusions relating to the objectives set out in the introduction.
8. All Master’s Theses may include an appendix containing unpublished material (textual documents, images, audio-visual recordings, etc.). Where applicable, permission for use must be included.
9. The Master’s Thesis may only be submitted and defended with the supervisor’s approval (signed and dated).
10. The supervisor must oversee the process of preparing the Master’s Thesis through face-to-face supervision sessions (at least three) and has the authority to refuse to authorise the submission of any thesis they consider inadequate or which has failed to meet the submission deadlines or any of the established rules.

General guidelines on compulsory supervision sessions:

First: review and revision of the initial proposal, taking into account the comments from the Master’s Thesis Coordination Team.

Second: The student must submit a written project proposal, agreed upon with their supervisor, during the first compulsory supervision session. The document must include the provisional title, the rationale or problem statement, the general objectives, the methodology and the schedule. It may also include any information that the supervisor considers relevant to the proposal (e.g. formulation of the hypothesis or predictions, definition of basic concepts, or a preliminary table of contents).

Third: Students must submit a written section of the thesis that includes, as a minimum, the introduction, a review of the literature or the state of the art, the research objectives or questions, the bibliography and, where applicable, a description of the methodology and the sections agreed upon by the supervisor and the student during the previous supervision session.

A change of supervisor is only permitted in exceptional circumstances and for very good reason. From 1 March, no changes will be authorised.

The title page of the Master’s Thesis must include the full title, the author’s name, the supervisor’s name, the name of the Master’s programme and the academic year (see template in the Moodle classroom)

The public defence of the Master’s Thesis must take place in person and may only be held on the dates scheduled at the start of the academic year, in accordance with the module timetable. Theses submitted outside the established deadline will not be accepted. With regard to assessment, see below.

The above points, which govern the module's activities, do not allow any exemptions or exceptions.

Note: 15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the calendar established by the centre/degree, for students to complete the evaluation surveys on the performance of the teaching staff and the evaluation of the subject/module.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

The module will be evaluated based on the presentation and public defence of the TFM. It is necessary to have previously attended the mandatory coordination and tutoring sessions.

The work, presented with the tutor's approval, will be evaluated by a panel appointed by the module coordinator, with the consent of the Master's Academic Committee.

The tutor will submit a TFM evaluation report to the panel. Their evaluation will account for 35% of the final grade.

The panel will be made up of specialist professors (PhD)

The public defence session is face-to-face and must last a maximum of one hour and will be distributed in the following way:

- 15 minutes of presentation for the author of the work, in which they must only present the conclusions and the strong and weak points

of the work;

- 20 minutes for the members of the panel

- 15 minutes of debate/reply/deliberation.

The members of the panel will complete the TFM evaluation report, and once signed by all three, it will be submitted to the UISAD of Philologies of the UAB.

Evaluation criteria (see the detailed deployment of the rubrics in the Moodle classroom)

1. Supervisor's report: 35%

Formal quality of the Master’s Thesis

Content and results

Work process

2. Panel evaluation of the written report: 40 %

Concept and design of the study

Academic style and bibliographical references

Content and results

3. Oral defence: 25%

Organisation and clarity of presentation

Supporting materials

Relevance to the content of the Master’s Thesis and adherence to the time limit.

Additional notes

1. The TFM is subject to the same ordinary and extraordinary review processes as any other subject in the master's degree.

2. In the event that the student commits any irregularity that could lead to a significant variation in the grade of an assessment act (plagiarism, improper use of AI, etc.), this assessment act will be graded 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. If several irregularities occur, the final grade for this subject will be zero. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is not permitted in any of its phases. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered alack of academic honesty and will result in the activity being graded 0 and not being able to be recovered, or greater sanctions in serious cases.

3. In the event that, due to force majeure, the defence cannot be carried out in person, its format will be adapted to the possibilities offered by the UAB's virtual tools.