Student Guidelines for Master’s thesis
Introduction
This document aims to provide a guide for the preparation of a master’s thesis for the postgraduate program ‘Informatics Engineering’. A master’s thesis must show that the student is able to work in a scholarly manner and is acquainted with the principal works published on the subject of the thesis. As much as possible, it should be an original contribution. For the program, a master’s thesis generally consists of approximately 80-100 pages. The period of study is typically the last semester, but generally speaking, it may commence earlier following approval by the Coordinating Committee of the program. At present the program accepts master’s thesis in a single format which is that of an academic report. Other possible formats such as for example a compilation of papers / articles or industrial thesis is currently not acceptable. Special attention is to be given to the two forms – ‘Thesis proposal form’ and ‘Notice of intention to submit thesis’ – to be prepared and submitted by all students prior to or in the course of the thesis work, respectively.
Responsibilities of the student
1. Find a supervisor and a topic for your thesis
Students are advised to initiate the following steps as early as possible and in any case prior to registering for the third semester
- Decide on an appropriate thesis topic and draft the idea
- Find a thesis supervisor. Supervisor must be a member of the General Assembly of the Department
- Revisit and finalize the thesis topic in collaboration with your thesis supervisor
- Discuss expectations and the terms for collaboration with your thesis supervisor
- As needed, obtain other approvals such as ethics approvals
- Develop a work plan and give your thesis supervisor a copy
- Optionally define co-supervisors for the thesis. Co-supervisors must also belong to the General Assembly of the Department.
2. Submit the thesis proposal form
- Prepare, in colaboration with your supervisor, and submit to the MSc Secretariat the ‘Thesis proposal form’ for initial screening and review
- Liaise with the members of the Coordinating Committee of the program to streamline, fine-tune and revise the ‘Thesis proposal form’ (if needed)
- Resubmit (if needed) the final ‘Thesis proposal form’
3. Working for the thesis
- Collaborate with your supervisor to define technical details, methods to be used and approach
- Meet with your thesis supervisor and co-supervisors and submit drafts of your work
- Consider writing one or two progress reports and send these documents to your thesis supervisor and co-supervisors for comments
4. Thesis submission intention
One month before the end of the thesis
- Determine the exact title of the thesis in collaboration with your thesis supervisor
- Determine jointly with your thesis supervisor your official thesis submission date
- Determine jointly with your thesis supervisor the other two examiners for your thesis. The third examiner is the supervisor. Examiners can be members of the General Assembly of the program or external academics and / or recognized researchers
- Prepare and submit the ‘Notice of intension to submit thesis’ to the MSc Secretariat
5. Thesis approval by examiners
- Complete the preparation of your thesis for submission in final document form, according to the guidelines.
- Submit your thesis to your examiners, as needed, for approval
- Along with your thesis supervisor read the examiners’ evaluation reports
- Make the necessary correction / updates
- Finish making the changes required by your examiners
- resubmit your thesis to the examiners for their approval
6. Defending the thesis
Shortly after the approval of your report by examiners
- In collaboration with your thesis supervisor, prepare your oral presentation (30-40 minutes)
- Be prepared to respond to questions from the audience during the defence
7. Final submission
- Submit one electronic copy of your final thesis report to the MSc Secretariat and a second one to the library for upload to the institutional repository.