Research Projects

Basic Information

In the Masters degree, two research projects are to be completed. This must be discussed with the advisor and registered on myStudies under "Project/Thesis/Paper". The two project theses last for 12 weeks (based on a 40-hour week) and are not bound by the semester dates. If courses are attended parallel to the project theis, the time period of the project thesis will be extended accordingly. Research projects can be carried out outside ETH Zurich. In this case, the master thesis must be carried out at ETH Zurich.

Attention: As of autumn semester 2019 the University of Zurich is considered external!

Goal

The research project gives students the opportunity to familiarize themselves, under supervision, with the thematic area of their chosen field of specialization as well as with the scientific methods of operation and the methodological approaches which are used in current research. This serves as a preparation for the Masters thesis.

Report

Each research project must be completed with a written report, to be submitted to the supervisor within 12 weeks or the specified time, and in any case before the start of the Masters thesis. The report should be prepared in the form of a scientific paper (title, abstract, introduction, results, discussion, materials and methods, literature; the scope of the project is usually 5 to 10 pages).

Evaluation

The supervisor evaluates the written report on a "pass" or "fail" basis. Students with passing projects are awarded 15 credit points. The supervisor is required to carry out a final project discussion with the student.

Declaration of Originality

The students at ETH Zurich must submit with each written project (such as project work, eg)  a signed declaration  of originality. This form, the corresponding directive and the citation etiquette can be found here: www.plagiate.ethz.ch.