Studies

Organization, Schedules, Forms

The following links and documents help you to prepare each semester's schedule and they provide information on the general guidelines for studying in the North American Studies program. 

Help for specific modules

  • Study Skills

    Most modules will conclude with a written term paper. Here are some guidelines: 

  • Module "Research and Internship"

    Students are supposed to engage actively in looking for a placement for an internship or research stay. The module aims at disclosing perspectives for future careers and to establish a professional network and practical experiences. Internships and research activities should cover a period of at least four weeks, but can be broken up into smaller units. Internships should be conducted in areas of work related to a student's individual career plans. Here are some guidelines and inspirations for possible internship employers in the area of Hannover. You may also apply for a scholarship to help fund a stay abroad. Information about funding can be found here.

    Please remember to register for an examination performance (Prüfungsleistung) in the exam registration period when concretizing the module. Afterwards you should hand in a 10-page report to Prof. Mayer (pdf file). The report should be 1.5-spaced, and otherwise adhere to the MLA style. It can comprise work samples, and should delineate a) how you found your internship or research place, b) what motivated your choice, c) what exactly you were doing, d) who supervised your work, e) whether and how this activity contributed to your career planning and whether you would recommend it to other students. 

    One possible option for this module is to attend one or more summer/winter school(s). If you are interested in this, please check beforehand with the program coordinator what requirements should be met. Here are some suggestions for summer or winter schools

  • Module "Master's Thesis"

    Admission to the Master's Thesis: Please note that if you’re planning to write an interdisciplinary master thesis or if there are other reasons for getting an external examiner involved, please get written approval of this procedure by your board of examinations (Prüfungsausschuss, please contact Prof. Ruth Mayer) BEFORE you apply for admission to the exam. The approval by the board then has to be added to the application for admission to the master's thesis.

    When preparing for your Master's Thesis, please also check or revisit the guidelines for writing final theses.

    1. How to apply:
    1.1 Please complete page 1 of the application for admission.
    1.2 Submit the form as a pdf-attachment to Ines Bartling in the examinations office.
    1.3 To certify that all personal data (all (!) first names, last name, birthdate and place) have been entered correctly in the form, your entries will have to be verified by the academic examinations office. Please include a copy of a personal ID in the email. 

    2. How to get a topic:
    2.1 After the examinations office confirmed that all prerequisites have been met to be admitted to the exam, you should send page 3 of the application form to your first examiner (Erstprüfer/in), so that they can issue a topic. Please note that both first and second examiner have to sign the form. 

    3. Declaration of Originality
    Please note that you have to confirm in writing when handing in your master's thesis that 
    a)  the thesis has been written independently, 
    b)  no sources or tools have been used other than the ones indicated and cited, 
    c)  all parts of the thesis that have been taken verbatim or in paraphrases from other sources have been marked as such and 
    d)  the thesis has not been submitted in this or similar form to another institution of examination.
    This declaration has to be included in the thesis.

    4. Number of copies that have to be handed in and place of submission
    Please submit two printed copies of your final thesis to the secretary’s office of the English Seminar or drop them into the examiners' pigeonholes on the seventh floor. Additionally, send an email with a pdf-version of the thesis to the two examiners and to office@engsem.uni-hannover.de. The secretary's office will then confirm the submission to the examinations office. The copies will be distributed to the two examiners.
    Please note: for ecological and practical reasons, the English Seminar prefers softcover hot-glue binding for the theses. Please do not use hardcover binding! 

    5. Defense/Oral Exam: Your master thesis is concluded with an oral exam - a defense of your thesis. In this exam you get the chance to respond to your supervisors' evaluation, to reflect and possibly to expand on some aspects of your work. The exam takes 30 minutes, and you will be asked to represent the main points of your thesis to start with for about 10 minutes. Don't go too much into detail and do not go overtime with your presentation. No powerpoint, please. In preparation for the exam, please prepare a Thesenpapier - formulating a number of propositions (i.e. discussion points or claims) based on your thesis. These do not have to be controversial but they should give material for discussion. You should formulate no more than three propositions, and move from general to specific aspects (i.e. from the context or historical background or theorical frame to specific and selected aspects of your case study and material). Please submit this a week before the exam to both examiners. Here's a sample proposition paper.