This course consists of two major parts. The paper reading part aims to enhance the ability of students to read and review papers in Mathematical Finance critically as well as to make them acquainted with some modeling practices in selected areas. In the writing part, the students are expected to read and summarize papers of their own choice that are connected to the topic of their Master thesis and to present their master thesis proposal. These two parts together will  prepare the students for doing a high-quality independent research in their thesis.

Full attendance is compulsory. This means that students should attend at least 80% of all lectures, at most one lecture can be missed.

In the reading part, we  meet seven times during the semester. The first session is reserved for organisational issues In each of the following six %five
sessions, two key papers  will be discussed. Course participants  should read all  papers carefully and in detail and then share their understanding of those papers with the group. To facilitate the process, each student has to present one paper during the course (approximately 30 minutes in total). 
The presentation will be followed by group discussions. Before the group discussion starts, a short questionnaire has to be filled out. by all students.  In this way students should be stimulated to critically reflect on the content of the discussed paper.  The course instructor will be available before and during the sessions to assist students understanding the technical details of the papers.

In the reading part, the students are expected to:

• Read the papers assigned for each session thoroughly
• Present once during the semester
• Actively participate in group discussions
• Fill out questionnaires on every paper
• In preparing their  presentation students are strongly encouraged to read other papers related to the selected topic and back their comments by referring to the literature.

The writing part serves to  increase the ability to write scientifically about papers related to the master thesis topic and to refine the master thesis proposal. The proposal presentations are  scheduled for  January; at present 2 sessions are planned for this. In the writing part  students should read and summarize in writing 2 research papers (normally related to the topic of their master thesis); deadline for this is Dec 18,11 pm. Additionally, each student has to present a proposal for her/his thesis (in January 2025); each student has a slot of 30 min (20 minutes presentation, 10 min discussion and feedback).  Details will be announced in the course. The revised set of slides for the proposals is a deliverable.

The grade will be based entirely on in-class activities. There will be no final exam. The final grade will be a weighted average of reading (60%) and writing (40%) sections grades.

Reading Part: Paper presentation 50%, questionaires and active class participation 50%,. 

Writing Part: written part 50%, proposal presentation 50%.

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