  Using the techniques of chiral effective field theories we evaluate the so
called generalized polarizabilities of the nucleon, which characterize the
structure dependent components in virtual Compton scattering (VCS) as probed in
the electron scattering reaction e N \to e' N gamma. Results are given for both
spin-dependent and spin-independent structure effects to O(p^3) in SU(2) Heavy
Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory and to O(epsilon^3) in the SU(2) Small Scale
Expansion. Finally we compare our calculations with results from the pioneering
VCS experiment on the proton from Mainz.
