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CERES GRADUATE STUDENT GUIDE
Information for Current and Prospective
CERES Members Working with
or Wanting to Work with
Dr. Derek Baker
Prepared by
Dr. Derek Baker
Last Updated
April 9, 2011*
*If you downloaded this from the web and are considering working with me, email me to see if I have a more recent version of this document. Copyright Information: All material presented herein is original, developed by Derek Baker, and is copyrighted. This work can be freely distributed and used under a Creative Commons Attribution License as long as proper acknowledgement is given, such as a link to http://www.metu.edu.tr/~dbaker.
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Table of Contents
1. Information for Prospective CERES Members ....................................................................................... 1 1.1. Areas in which I want to advise graduate students....................................................................... 1 1.2. Characteristics of Students that I want to Advise ......................................................................... 2 1.3. Goals and Evaluation ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.4. Basic Requirements for Me to Agree to Advise a Student ............................................................ 3
2. General Expectations and Path to Graduation ...................................................................................... 4 2.1. CERES Conferences ........................................................................................................................ 4 2.2. Classes ........................................................................................................................................... 4 2.3. Research and Thesis/Dissertation ................................................................................................. 4 2.4. Graduation Timeline ...................................................................................................................... 6 2.5. Recommendation Letters for PhD Programs ................................................................................. 7
3. Thesis Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 8 4. Thesis Proposal .................................................................................................................................... 9 5. ME 590 Thesis Seminar ....................................................................................................................... 11 6. Journal Articles and Conference Papers .............................................................................................. 12 7. Thesis ................................................................................................................................................. 13 8. Important Writing Guidelines (Draft: Needs Work) ............................................................................. 15 9. Presentation Guidelines (Draft: Needs Work) ..................................................................................... 18
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1. Information for Prospective CERES Members
1.1. Areas in which I want to advise graduate students I am presently looking for students to perform research in the following areas:
1. Fuel Cells and Hydrogen: You will be co‐advised by Dr. Mehmet Sankir of TOBB ETU where our fuel cell research lab is. Due to intellectual property (IP) right concerns and the significant investment made in this lab for the experimental equipment, we will only accept fulltime students (i.e., you cannot be working outside the university) and we will expect you to spend significant time in the lab. To graduate with an MS degree you will need to submit and preferably publish 1‐journal article. This research group is very appropriate for PhD students and MS students who are committed to pursuing a PhD.
2. Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP): I am collaborating with Dr. Eray Uzgoren from the METU Northern Cyprus Campus and Dr. Haydar Livatyali of TÜBİTAK MAM. A parabolic trough collector (PTC) concentrating solar thermal system has been installed at the METU Northern Cyprus campus to be used to generate electricity and provide cooling and heating (a tri‐generation system). We are looking for students who will do their course work at Ankara and spend some time at the Northern Cyprus campus for experimental work. There may be opportunities for a teaching assistantship at the Northern Cyprus campus while doing your experimental work. Dr. Haydar Livatyali leads TÜBİTAK MAM’s CSP group and we are looking to co‐advise students on studies related to direct steam generation (DSG) and general CSP simulations.
3. Energy Storage: Dr. Oğuz Uzol from METU’s Aerospace Engineering Department and founder of METU’s Wind Energy Research Centre (RÜZGEM) and I are interested in co‐advising graduate students on studies related to energy storage technologies for intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
I am currently advising students in the following areas. I can advise more students in these areas, but finding more students in these areas is not critical.
1. Thermal Powered Heat Pumps (e.g., solar thermal powered adsorption heat pumps for cooling): I regularly co‐advise students with Drs. Bilgin Kaftanoğlu and Cemil Yamalı in this area. Our main focus thus far is on adsorption cooling systems. Other possible areas include liquid desiccant, absorption systems, and solid desiccant systems.
2. Smart Grid Analyses for Enabling the Large Scale Integration of Intermittent Energy Sources into the Electrical Grid: I am interested in quantifying renewable energy resources, how well intermittent energy resources coincide with electricity demand both temporally and spatially, and the degree to which Smart Grid technologies such as energy storage and load shifting can enable the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources into the grid.
3. Thermodynamic Based Sustainability Indicators for the Electricity Sector: Developing and applying metrics that incorporate exergy, environmental and economic indicators at the national level.
4. Building Energy Simulations (BES): Modeling and simulation of high performance (clean/green) buildings.
5. Other: I am willing to advise working students on other topics, as long as the student has a clear idea of the area in which they want to work and the necessary push to move their research forward.
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1.2. Characteristics of Students that I want to Advise Historically I treated graduate research as a rather isolated endeavor between the student and the
adviser(s). While this model worked for some students, there were too many students for which this model failed. After a lot of critical thinking about how I can be a better adviser, I am moving more and more toward a Research Group model under the broad name CERES. This research group model rests on the following two principles.
1. The sharing of ideas and experiences among CERES Members strengthens all members’ research and professional development.
2. The success of any one group member can create opportunities for other group members, and therefore as a group we should all work to make all members successful.
In this context, CERES Members includes not only current students, but also faculty members (e.g., me) and CERES Alumni. Within this research group model, I see one of my major responsibilities as actively working to create a framework that encourages a collaborative and supportive culture among CERES Members. CERES Student Members are expected to simultaneously focus on achieving their own well‐defined Research Objectives and actively contributing to the larger CERES group. Specifically,
1. I expect CERES Student Members to look not only to me and the existing literature for guidance, but also to other CERES Members, particularly their senior and peer group members.
2. I expect CERES Student Members to transfer their knowledge and experiences about their research and classes to other CERES Members, particularly their peer and junior group members.
3. I expect CERES Members to be complete CERES Members, which includes not only Research, but also Education (cerEs) and Service (cereS). As we move forward I will likely be increasingly involved in Education and Service related activities. One of my goals for pursuing these activities (which require my time and energy and in many cases results in no extra pay) is to leverage these activities to improve graduate education within our group and to create opportunities for our group members. Although you may feel that my education and service related activities are reducing my time available to advise you (which is true), I expect you to realize that in the bigger picture these activities are good for the larger group. Additionally, I may ask for students to support these Education and Service related activities. Specifically, if a you help me with my Education and Service activities, I will be more willing to help you with your research.
1.3. Goals and Evaluation I have almost reached the maximum number of graduate students allowed, and therefore I have to be
careful about any more graduate students that I accept. After a student begins working with me, one of two outcomes is possible: 1) The student graduates with me as their adviser; or, 2) The student switches advisers or leaves the program. I want all students who begin working with me to graduate with me as their adviser. However, if a student is not going to graduate with me as their adviser, for both the student’s benefit and my benefit, the sooner this student switches advisers or leaves the program the better, because continuing with me as this student’s adviser is a waste of the student’s time, a waste of my time, and if I have reached the maximum number of graduate students allowed, means I cannot accept a new student who would graduate with me. To help more students graduate with me as their adviser and to identify as soon as possible students who are not likely to graduate with me as their adviser, at the start of each semester we will define short (1‐semester) and long term (until graduation) goals, assess how well you met the goals we defined previously, and assess your progress toward your desired graduation date.
An extremely important evaluation will occur at the end of your first year. This evaluation will be based on a your grades and research (Thesis Introduction, Thesis Proposal, and general progress). The following are rough letter grade equivalents for this 1‐year evaluation based on a grading scale where a graduate student must have BB average or higher to graduate:
BB to AA: The student has a C.GPA of 3.0 or higher and has completed a good thesis proposal. I am not worried about this student and my expectation is that this student will graduate with a strong thesis and on time.
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CC to CB: The student has a C.GPA less than 3.0 or is not making satisfactory progress on their research (but not both). I am a little bit worried about this student. The student has 1‐year to improve their weak area; if improvement is not seen in one year, the student should seriously consider switching advisors or leaving the program.
DC or lower: The student has a C.GPA less than 3.0 and is not making satisfactory progress on their research. I am very concerned that this student will not graduate with me as their adviser. The student and I will discuss whether it makes sense for this student to either switch advisers or leave the graduate program.
1.4. Basic Requirements for Me to Agree to Advise a Student If you are too busy (e.g., with work) to be successful,
I am too busy to be your adviser.
Historically approximately half of the graduate students who start working with me leave the graduate program without graduating for various reasons. In some cases students that do not initially strike me as being particularly remarkable end‐up being my most successful students, while students who initially strike me as showing great promise end‐up leaving the program. Since I am obviously not too good at knowing which students will be successful, my current attitude is to give students a chance to prove that they can be successful at the graduate level by accepting graduate students for a 1‐year trial period based on the following conditions:
1. Space: I must be able to take more graduate students (we are limited in the number of graduate students we can advise and I am currently close to my limit).
2. Application: I have limited space to take new students for the Fall 2011. Preference will be given to students who are able to start their research over the summer 2011, such as by starting a literature review in their area of interest. This research can be done remotely (i.e., outside Ankara) via email and the internet. The goal is for the student to gain experience working with me and vice versa before we formally agree to collaborate. Contact me for specific requirements for this application.
3. Commitment: At all times I will be very clear (transparent) in terms of expected progress on classes and research. If after 1‐year you are not making satisfactory progress on your research and classes, I will actively start encouraging you to either switch advisers or leave the program. For example, I may start assigning “U” (unsatisfactory) for your research class, and after receiving the 2nd “U” you will be dismissed from the program.
My requirements for graduate students are different from other advisers in our Department. As a new graduate student you should critically evaluate different possible advisers and identify the best adviser for you, which may be different from the best adviser for your friend.
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2. General Expectations and Path to Graduation
2.1. CERES Conferences At the start of each Fall and Spring semester, our research group will have a CERES Conference. The
Motivation for these conferences is two‐fold:
1. To help CERES members make a significant contribution to the scientific community through their research while graduating in a timely manner;
2. To strengthen METU’s position as one of Turkey’s leading graduate and research universities.
The primary Objectives for these conferences are as follows:
1. To encourage CERES members to clearly define their research goals, think critically about their research methodology and results, and make a significant step forward in their research and toward graduation;
2. To give CERES members experience communicating their research through writing and oral presentations.
3. To provide a forum in which CERES members can benefit from the knowledge, ideas, and experiences of other students;
4. To encourage and prepare CERES members to disseminate their research through conference and journal publications;
5. To develop a cohesive and collaborative research culture among CERES members.
All CERES members are expected to attend and contribute to these conferences. With the expectation that most of the information presented will be raw and preliminary, these conferences are not intended for a wider audience.
2.2. Classes Unless a student’s graduate C.GPA is over 3.0, they have completed their 3rd semester, or they were a
top student as an undergraduate, I will expect students to only focus on their classes for the first 2‐3 semesters (not including winter or summer breaks). All of my graduate students have found their first semester significantly more difficult than they ever imagined and repeat at least one course from their first semester.
2.3. Research and Thesis/Dissertation (I will use the word Thesis in this section since most of my graduate students are MS and not PhD
students, but Dissertation can be substituted for Thesis for PhD students.)
I feel that my primary role as an adviser is to help you develop the skills to define an appropriate Research Objective through a Literature Review, to
reach your Research Objective through Systematic Research, and to Communicate your Results to a larger audience.
Importantly, I expect many students will only have a vague idea for their thesis topic when they start working with me. I may suggest a topic or you may have your own area of interest, but either way you are expected to complete a comprehensive literature review to clearly define a Research Question and Objectives. I will set very clear milestones to first help you formulate a meaningful Research Question and Objectives through the Thesis Introduction and Thesis Proposal described below. I will then provide very clear milestones to keep you moving forward with your research and ultimately to have you complete your thesis in a timely and quality manner. The major milestones are as follows:
1. Thesis Introduction: A very broad introduction to your area of interest. This will serve as a draft for the first part of your Thesis Proposal. You will make a short 3‐5 minute presentation on your Thesis
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Introduction at the Spring CERES Conference in your first year. See Section 3 for details on the Thesis Introduction.
2. Thesis Proposal: A detailed review of the literature in your area of interest leading to a Research Question, a concise statement of the specific Objective of your Research, and a timeline to graduation (e.g., Gantt Chart). This document will serve as a draft for part of your thesis. You will make a 15‐minute presentation of your Thesis Proposal at the Fall CERES Conference after your first summer in graduate school. This presentation will form the basis for your ME 590 Thesis Seminar. See Section 4 for details on the Thesis Proposal.
3. ME 590 Thesis Seminar: You will present an updated version of your Thesis Proposal to a group of METU MSc students enrolled in ME 590 and a METU ME faculty member (jury member) who is not your adviser. See Section 5 for details on the Thesis Seminar.
4. Thesis: A detailed account of the your research. See Section 6 for details on the Thesis.
In addition to these major milestones, we will work together to set other goals based on your specific needs and career goals.
The following example is adapted from how Erdem Emre Pınar defined his thesis topic. Note Erdem followed these steps closely but not exactly, but based on our experiences this is how I would try to advise him with the benefit of hindsight. Based on his current job, Erdem wanted to write a thesis in the area of solar applications in the aviation industry, which is too broad for a thesis but is a good starting point. For his Thesis Introduction, Erdem performed a broad literature review of different applications of solar technologies in the aviation industry, and of these different applications he decided that he wanted to research solar powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s), which while being a more refined topic is still too broad for a thesis. For his Thesis Proposal, Erdem did an extensive literature review on recent research in solar powered UAV’s and identified a specific series of detailed papers on Energy Optimal Path Planning of Solar Powered UAV’s that he found particularly interesting. From these papers, he identified the direction in which this research was proceeding, and based on this direction was able to identify important areas that had not been researched yet. He concluded the Literature Review portion of his Thesis Proposal by clearly identifying an area in which further research was required and in which he intended to make a contribution to the knowledge in this area through his thesis research. Thus he posed a well‐defined and relevant Research Question and the Objective of his Thesis is to answer this Research Question. He concluded his Thesis Proposal with a clear list of tasks and a timeline to graduation to achieve his Thesis Objective. Therefore at the completion of his Thesis Proposal Erdem had a clear vision of what he needed to accomplish for his thesis, a pathway clearly defined to complete the necessary tasks, and a well defined goal (his Thesis Objective) that we could compare his progress against and decide when his thesis is complete.
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2.4. Graduation Timeline Figure 1 is a visual representation for how I expect a nominal graduate student to proceed through the
graduate program in terms of focus (classes versus research) and demonstrated competencies, and how I will actively work to have unsuccessful students switch advisers or leave the program. My expectation is that all my graduate students will produce strong theses that will exceed the minimum requirements to graduate.
Figure 1: Demonstrated competencies versus time in graduate program. The following is a sample 3‐year graduation path for a student who starts in the Fall semester. The
actual time to graduation can vary from 2 to 3.5 years.
Semester 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Term1F WB Sp Su F WB Sp Su F WB Sp
Due2
Due2
Classes 3 2‐3 1‐3 1‐2
Research
Due2
Due2
Due2
1 F = Fall; WB = Winter Break; Sp = Spring; Su = Summer2 Due dates are the CERES Conference at the start of the semester. Presentations will be to other CERES group members at this conference.
~5‐page Thesis Definition and ~ 5 minute presentation
~25 page formal Thesis Proposal and ~ 12 minute presentation
Sample Stud
ent
All
Stud
ents
~ 12 minute presentation on research
~ 12 minute presentation on research
Thesis (Graduation)
Figure 2. Timeline to Graduate for a Nominal Student
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2.5. Recommendation Letters for PhD Programs If you would like me to write a letter of recommendation for a PhD program, you should set the
following goals:
1. If you want to continue working with me, submit 1 journal (preferred) or conference paper and preferably have this paper accepted.
2. If you want to apply to a US program ranked in the top 30, write at least one journal article or 2+ conference papers, with at least 1 conference paper being international.
3. If you want to apply to a US program ranked below ~30, write at least one conference article (national or international).
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3. Thesis Introduction
I am more interested in the experience you gain from writing this Thesis Introduction than in the
topic that you choose.
Your exact thesis topic will almost definitely evolve as your learn more about your area of interest (or may even change completely due to changing circumstances). Therefore you should treat this Thesis Introduction as the first of many, many steps toward completing their thesis. Do not be concerned about this first step being in the wrong direction. You learn more from a step taken in the wrong direction than from a step not taken. If you do change your thesis topic this experience will allow you to move forward more quickly through this part of your research with your new topic, as although your topic will be different the process will be the same.
Your Thesis Introduction should be ~ 5 pages. At least two types of Thesis Definitions are possible. The first type gives a broad introduction to your area of interest. The second type gives a broad overview of 2+ areas in which you are interested and is intended to help you choose between these two areas. The thesis definition should nominally be organized as follows (i.e., you can modify this based on your specific needs):
Copyright Notice: Include the following statement as a footer on your first page: “This is an unpublished work in progress. The work has not been fully reviewed or edited. All copyrights are retained by the author and any usage without the written consent of the author is prohibited.”
Motivation: ~ 1 page. Describe why you want to pursue a graduate degree in clean energy and a brief introduction to your broad area of interest; e.g., concentrating solar thermal power, fuel cells, high performance buildings, thermal powered cooling cycles, etc.
Literature Review: ~3 pages. Briefly summarize research related to your area of interest. Include at least 5 references, 3 of which must be journal articles, MS theses, or PhD Dissertations (this will require you to do some research). Ideally the journal articles are Review Articles which summarize the current state of the research in your field of interest.
Objective: ~ ½ page. Based on the literature review, clearly identify a more specific area in which you would like to work. For example, if in motivation you identified your broad area of interest as “concentrating solar thermal power (CSP),” the specific area may be “optimization of heat collecting element,” “modeling of power tower systems,” “thermoeconomic analysis,” etc.
References: ~ ½ page. List your references here.
Your Thesis Definition should contain at least 1 Table and 1 Figure, which can come from the literature. Give the Table and Figure a number and title; Table 1. Title; Figure 1. Title. Table titles go above the table, while Figure titles go below the figure. If you use a Table or Figure from the literature, you must reference the source in the title.
I will not specify an exact format for your Thesis Introduction, but it must look professional. A good Thesis Introduction indicates to me that this student is serious regardless of their past academic performance. A poor Thesis Definition indicates to me that this student is not serious regardless of their past academic performance.
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4. Thesis Proposal
The thesis proposal will serve as a draft of the 1st 2‐3 chapters of your thesis. You may consider formatting this according to the METU Thesis requirements. The thesis proposal will serve to clearly define your topic, develop a clear path to graduation, and communicate this information to me. A typical student will meet with me regularly during their 1st summer in graduate school while developing their thesis proposal. These students will be expected to critically read papers in this area each week (e.g. as evidenced by making lots of notes in the margins and being able to discuss the relative strengths and weaknesses of the papers) and discuss the papers with me. Through this process you will gain valuable experience in academic writing that will make writing your thesis easier. By completing this Thesis Proposal you will also have completed almost all requirements for the ME 590 Thesis Seminar, which you will take in the Fall Semester of your 2nd year. You will also gain experience completing research and documenting this research in writing by a fixed deadline and in a quality manner. Ultimately completing your thesis proposal on time gives both of us confidence that you will be able to complete your thesis by a desired (or required) date without significant problems. The thesis proposals also help me to identify students who are strong candidates to write journal articles and for an academic or research career.
Use your Thesis Introduction as a draft for your Thesis Proposal. The following is a generic outline of a thesis proposal.
Copyright Notice: Include the following statement as a footer on your first page: “This is an unpublished work in progress. The work has not been fully reviewed or edited. All copyrights are retained by the author and any usage without the written consent of the author is prohibited.”
1. Introduction: ~ 5 pages.
1.1. Very general overview of your topic. You may cite ~ 2‐5 very general references
1.2. Motivation and Scope: ~ 1 page. The motivation is why you are pursuing this research. The scope are the boundaries of your research. For the scope of your research, draw a system boundary around one small part of the universe and you will investigate for your thesis. The scope of your thesis is defining what lies inside and outside this system boundary.
2. Literature Review: ~ 10 pages. The goal for the literature is to communicate that you have a clear understanding of this field, what has been done in the past, and what has not been done in the past. Break your literature review into multiple sections. A good literature review summarizes the existing literature as consisting of individual papers. In contrast, a great literature review compares and contrasts results from different papers and ultimately identifies discrepancies that either need further research or can be explained by a unifying idea that has not previously been noted. You may find ~1‐3 papers that you find really interesting, and for your thesis you decide to first replicate the analyses in these papers and then extend the papers by doing something original. The replication is good for learning and gives confidence that you know what you are doing, while extending these papers becomes your novel contribution and is what earns you your graduate degree.
3. Objectives of Present Work: Very clearly indicate the areas that have not been researched before and that you intend to address through this work. This can be a bulleted list. Although the objective chapter may only be ~ 1 page, it is very important. Use sentences like “The present work (builds on/extends) previous work by…”; “This work represents a novel contribution to the existing body of literature by ….”; etc. A possible format for this section is as follows:
3.1. What exists: ~”Based on the literature review in Chapter 2, the most relevant work related to this thesis that currently exists is as follows:” and then have a bulleted list summarizing what has been done previously.
3.2. What is needed: “Based on the literature review in Chapter 2, developing a better understanding of the following items would make a novel contribution to this field” and then have a bulleted list.
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3.3. ~”The objectives of this thesis is to build on previous work by researching the needed items listed above.”
4. Model (Optional, depends on your progress): ~ 5 pages. See Model in Section 6 Thesis for more information on how to communicate your model.
5. Proposed Work Plan: ~ 1‐3 pages
5.1. Include a timeline line with key deadlines. Indicate when you want to graduate.
5.2. Describe the major tasks to be accomplished.
Your Thesis Proposal must contain at least 1 table and 1 figure. As a general rule, the body of your proposal (the actual chapters) should not exceed ~ 20‐25 pages, but it may exceed 35 pages after you add in cover pages, table of contents, references etc.
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5. ME 590 Thesis Seminar
Your ME 590 Thesis Seminar will basically be an updated and extended version of your Thesis Proposal. The Thesis seminar should be 25 +/‐ 5 minutes. My suggested outline for your presentation is as follows:
1. Cover slide 2. Outline slide 3. Introduction ‐‐> 1‐2 slides on why you chose your general field of research and its general
importance. 4. Literature Review ‐‐> probably 1/2 of your presentation 5. Objectives: 1‐2 slides clearly indicating the questions that have not been answered in the literature
that you would like to answer. One way to think about this is after your thesis is complete, what new knowledge do you intend to add to your field.
6. Completed Work: Present any work that you have completed. 7. Time line to graduation
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6. Journal Articles and Conference Papers
In academia, one of the most widely accepted methods to judge research, researchers, and research universities (which METU considers itself and indicates a strong commitment to graduate education and research) is the ability to publish research in peer reviewed outlets such as journals and conference proceedings. This measure is based on the idea that if your research is original and important, other researchers will want to learn about and you can (and should) publish this research. A strong component of almost all university rankings both within Turkey and internationally is number of publications. Although there is always discussion among academics and researchers about whether number of publications is a good way to judge research, researchers, and research universities, and you may or may not agree with this idea, ultimately as a researcher you will be judged in part by your publications.
Having one or more publications before you defend your thesis or dissertation communicates to your jury members that independent researchers found your research important, which makes the defense easier. Similarly, a publication provides a condensed communication of your research that can easily be assessed by others when applying for a PhD, post‐doc, or position.
At the university level, METU often asks the question “How many journal and conference publications have resulted from MS Theses and PhD Dissertations” when trying to assess the quality of our graduate programs. Additionally, there is often discussion at METU of whether to require a graduate student to publish their research before they can graduate to assure that the research reaches some minimum level of quality; this requirement presently exists at other universities.
Typically a journal article is more valuable than a conference paper. Among research journals a hierarchy exists based on the premise that the top journals only publish the best research. Having publications in top level journals opens a lot of doors in the research and academic communities. Also, promotion at METU is largely based on publishing in quality journals; specifically, one way in which I will be evaluated for promotion to Full Professor is the ability of my graduate students to publish their research. Links to more information about how publications are evaluated are available at our web site. www.metu.edu.tr/~dbaker/research.html#currentInfo.
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7. Thesis
The following is a generic outline for a thesis with theoretical work. This is merely a suggestion and can be modified as necessary.
1. Introduction: ~ 5‐8 pages. The first part of your Thesis Proposal will serve as a draft for this chapter.
1.1. Background: Give a very broad overview of the field. Maybe cite 2‐4 very general papers.
1.2. Motivation and Scope: Give specific reasons why you are undertaking this study. Very clearly define the scope of your thesis; you can’t investigate everything in this field, therefore clearly state what you will and will not consider.
2. Literature Review and Objectives: ~ 10‐30 pages. You should expand the literature review given in your Thesis Proposal.
2.1. In this chapter communicate what others have done and identify areas for improvement. Analyze and contrast previous work, but typically you do not present your original contributions here.
2.2. The goal for the literature is to communicate that you have a clear understanding of this field, what has been done in the past, and what has not been done in the past.
2.3. Break your literature review into multiple sections.
3. Objectives of Present Work: Very clearly indicate the areas that have not been researched before and that you intend to address through this work. This could be a bulleted list. Although the objective chapter may only be ~ 1 page, it is very important. A possible format for this section is as follows:
3.1. What exists: ~”Based on the literature review in Chapter 2, the most relevant work related to this thesis that existed before this thesis was undertaken is as follows:” and then have a bulleted list without references summarizing what has been done previously.
3.2. What is needed: “Based on the literature review in Chapter 2, developing a better understanding of the following items would make a novel contribution to this field” and then have a bulleted list.
3.3. ~”The objectives of this thesis is to then build on previous work by researching the needed items listed above.”
4. Model:
4.1. In this chapter communicate your mathematical model and emphasize what is novel about it. Your model can be an extension of an existing model, a novel combination of existing models, or a novel application of an existing model.
4.2. Keep the model as general as possible by specifying variables but not numeric values. For example, if you are modeling the performance of a solar energy system in Antalya, Turkey, give the general mathematical equations to describe the performance of this system without specifying any characteristics that are unique to Antalya. In this case, someone from Spain could easily apply your model presented in Chapter 3 to predict the performance of a system in Southern Spain.
4.3. Keep the solution of the model as general as possible. For example, if your model can be solved using different programming languages or software, avoid specifying what language or software you used.
4.4. Clearly differentiate your ideas from others ideas: To a large extent, all modeling work done by previous researchers should be presented in the literature review. This chapter should focus on your original contributions. The reader should easily be able to differentiate models
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developed by other people from those that you developed yourself by clearly citing the work of work. Conversely, the reader should never wonder “is this the student’s original work or did the student borrow this from someone else.”
4.5. Error Checking: Indicate how you checked the validity of your model based on an analytical solution, experimental data, energy balances, etc. For example, if your model does not satisfy conservation of energy within some acceptable limits, you know you have an error.
5. Analysis: Present the actual numeric values that you used in your model; e.g., the weather data for Antalya etc. Thus while Chp. 4 contains the general model that could be applied to any similar system anywhere in the world using any software/language, Chp. 5 describes how you applied this model to your specific system and location and what software/language you used.
6. Results:
6.1. Error Checking/Validation:
6.1.1. Present the results from your error checking: e.g., “The error in a gross energy balance strongly depends on the convergence criteria. For a convergence criteria of 10‐5, energy balance errors are on the order of 0.01% and are due to the finite difference scheme used. In the present work to reduce computation time, a convergence criteria of 10‐3 is used and the maximum energy balance error is 1%, which is considered acceptable based on the goals of the present work.”
6.1.2. Validation: Ideally you can compare your model’s results against some baseline, either experimental data or previously published results.
6.2. Results: In general, present your results in tables and figures. In the text, do not repeat the information in the table and figures, but rather explain what is significant about the data. For example, “From Table 3.3, the power of the fuel cell drops off precipitously for voltages below 0.5 V. Therefore for stable operation the fuel cell should be operated at voltages above 0.5 V.”
7. Conclusions: “In Chapter 3, the knowledge that existed before this thesis was initiated and the knowledge that was needed is clearly identified as the Objectives of this thesis. In response to these objectives, this thesis adds the following knowledge to this field.”
8. Future Work
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8. Important Writing Guidelines (Draft: Needs Work)
1. Use Automated Word Processing Features: While writing your thesis proposal, take the time to learn about the following automation features. The time invested to learn this will more than pay for itself when you write your final thesis. You don’t want a change in numbering on page 2 of your thesis to cause you to manually renumber a 120 page document when Word will do this automatically. 1.1. Automatic Formatting: You can define and apply different “Styles” to text in Word. For example,
you may define the format for all text in the body of your thesis as “Body,” with a certain font style, size, spacing, margins, etc. If you learn that the format for your body needs to be changed, you can change the format of the “Body” style, and the format for all text defined as “Body” will automatically be updated.
1.2. Section Numbering: Using automatic section numbering means that if you insert a new section, all subsequent sections and references to these numbers will be automatically updated. You can also automatically generate a table of contents.
1.3. Equation Numbering: Same idea as Section Numbering but for equations. 1.4. Table and Figure Numbering: Same idea as Section Numbering, but you can also automatically
construct your List of Figures and List of Tables. 2. Writing
2.1. Be consistent!!!: Consistent writing makes your thesis much easier to understand. I will emphasize these strongly while editing your thesis. Examples of common mistakes are as follows: 2.1.1. Always use the same terminology: Enthalpy of reaction and heat of reaction both mean
the same thing. In your thesis, decide on one term and always use it! When you first use the term you could write “The enthalpy of reaction (also called the heat of reaction) is …”, but subsequently always call this enthalpy of reaction and not heat of reaction.
2.1.2. Use consistent order: “The primary voltages losses in a PEM fuel cell are the activation, ohmic and concentration polarizations. The activation polarization is … The ohmic polarization is … The concentration polarization is …” has a consistent order but “The primary voltages losses in a PEM fuel cell are the concentration, ohmic and activation polarizations. The activation polarization is … The ohmic polarization is … The concentration polarization is …” does not have a consistent order.
2.1.3. Use consistent sentence structure: The following two sentences have parallel structure: “The activation polarization is due to sluggish reaction kinetics. The ohmic polarization is due to ohmic losses primarily in the membrane.” The following two sentences have different structure and are more difficult to understand: “The activation polarization is due to sluggish reaction kinetics. The ohmic losses primarily in the membrane cause the ohmic losses.”
2.2. Avoid Timeline Writing: Write your thesis by organizing topics. Do not write your thesis as a history. Avoid words like “first, “next”, etc unless you are describing a specific procedure that the reader should follow. Therefore do not write “First the parallel flow model A was developed but due to convergence problems we could not get results. Then parallel flow model B was developed which did not have convergence problems. Finally parallel flow model B was run.”
2.3. Avoid starting sentences with “This is,” “There are,” etc.: In the sentence “This is due to the ohmic losses,” what “This” refers to is not clear. A clearer sentence is “The ohmic polarization is due to the ohmic losses or “This loss is due to the ohmic losses.”
3. Equations: 3.1. Format: Equations typically contain a mixture of normal and italics fonts. A sample equation of the
ideal gas law where temperature varies with time can be expressed as
( )RTm tV
p= (1.1)
Here V, m, t and p are variables, R is a constant, and T is a function of time (t). By convention, the variables are presented as italics (V, m, and p). Constants are presented as normal font (R). Functions are presented as normal font with the dependent variables in parenthesis: T(t). This
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formatting convention also applies to the body of your text. Therefore, in a sentence the proper format is “The time (t) is varied from 0 to 120 seconds” where t is italics and not “The time (t) is varied from 0 to 120 seconds” where t is normal font.
3.2. Numbering: Each equation must contain a right justified equation number as shown in Eqn (1.1) above. In Word, you can easily use a “right tab” to right justify the equation number. By convention, the equation number is put in parenthesis; e.g., “(1.1) and not 1.1.” When referring to an equation in the body put the number in parenthesis; e.g., “In Eqn (1.1) ….” and not “In Eqn 1.1 …”
4. Tables and Figures: In academic writing, a sentence referring the reader to each table or figure must come before the actual table or figure. For example “The property and process information are presented in Table 1 and 2. The impact of changing the anode side humidification on the system’s efficiency and power are presented in Figure 1” would appear before Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 1. 4.1. Tables: Three examples for tables are shown as Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1: Example of a Bad Table State T P h s
1 298.15768 100 185346.254 1.23618862 425.58446 1500 264559.6297 1.35238713 1600 1351.5215 994621.3909 2.95128484 982.348121 100 610665.2841 2.3248234
Table 2 Example of a Better Table T P h s
State (K) (kPa) (kJ/kmol) (kJ/kmol·K)1 298.2 100.0 1.853E+05 1.23622 425.6 1,500 2.646E+05 1.35243 1600.0 1,352 9.946E+05 2.95134 982.3 100.0 6.107E+05 2.3248
Key features of a professional table are as follows: 1. The table title is above the table. 2. Each column and row has a heading and, if needed, units. 3. Numbers are formatted to a reasonable number of significant digits. In general, use 4‐
significant digits unless there is a reason not too, as typically presenting more than 4‐significant digits does not communicate any additional information to the reader but it does make the results harder to interpret.
4. Thick lines can be used to break the table into major regions. For long lists of data with many columns of data, including a thin horizontal line every ~ 4‐5 row can help the reader quickly follow a row across many columns. Too many lines, just like too many unnecessary numbers, make a table cluttered and difficult to read. Use your judgment on the proper number and weight of lines to use.
4.2. Figures: Exactly the same data are presented in Figures 1 and 2, but notice how differently the data appear based on presentation style.
Figure 1(a): 2nd Law Efficiency and Pressure verus Temperature, Case 1
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(b) Figure 2: (a) Case 1 and (b) Case 2 of 2nd Law Efficiency and Pressure versus Temperature Figure 2 is better than Figure 1 due to the following elements and formatting considerations 1. In academic writing, the title for a figure goes below the figure. Figure titles are not placed at the
top of the figure like Excel does automatically. 2. Unlike Figure 1, in Figure 2 the axes contain titles and units. Also, a legend is included to distinguish
between different sets of data. 3. The writer intended you to compare Cases 1 and 2 using parts (a) and (b) of the figures. However,
in Figure 1 this is difficult because the scales for (a) and (b) are different (in Figure 1(a), 300‐1800 for x‐axis and 0‐2500 for y‐axis while for Figure 1(b) 0‐2000 for the x‐axis and 0‐1800 for the y‐axis). In Figure 2, the scales for the 2‐graphs were manually set to be equal.
4. In Figure 1, the scales contain too many digits. On a graph, the number of significant digits should not exceed the accuracy with which the graph can be read. The fewer the number of digits contained on the scales, the cleaner the graph.
5. Figure 1(a) was created using the Line rather than XY Scatter plot template in Excel. Note that the horizontal spacing does not reflect the magnitude of the x‐scale; i.e., the same horizontal spacing is given for the interval 300 – 350 and 1200 – 1400. Figure 1(b) and Figure 2 were created using the XY Scatter plot template in Excel.
6. Because the range of values for pressure are of a different order of magnitude than those for the 2nd Law efficiency, the pressure data were moved to the right axis in Figure 2 while the 2nd Law efficiency data were left on the left‐axis. This makes the 2nd Law efficiency data much easier to interpret.
7. In Figure 2 the data series were formatted to be easily printed and visually distinguished: black lines on white background and consistent use of line thickness, dashed versus solid, and symbols between (a) and (b).
8. In general, start the y‐axis scale at 0 and have the maximum value similar to the maximum value for the data. The minimum and maximum x‐axis values should be similar to the minimum and maximum values for the data. If large parts of your graph are empty, think about changing the scales of the axis.
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9. Presentation Guidelines (Draft: Needs Work)
1. Keep your slide design simple: Every time I listen to a very successful researcher give a presentation, I am always amazed at how simple their slide format is. Specifically, most leading researchers will present their content on a plain white background, with maybe some color for the header and footer regions and small logos. Additionally, many leading researchers will use a completely white slide without any logos or header or footer colors. However, these same researchers tend to present very sophisticated figures that contain a lot of color. Thus the color is provided by the content that they created rather than by a generic slide format created by Microsoft. Additionally, leading researchers tend not to present content in bulleted lists but rather through graphics with supporting texts, and rather than reading from the slide, they explain the graphic.
2. By careful of low contrast items: When designing a slide, realize that the contrast provided by most data projectors is not nearly as good as that for a monitor; therefore items that are easy to see and distinguish on your computer monitor often times cannot be seen or distinguished using a data projector (i.e., it looks great on your computer but not so great when you stand up to make your presentation). Therefore avoid using light colors (as these may not be seen at all) or small color gradients (as these colors gradients may not be seen).
3. In one corner of your slides, show the slide number as “XX/NN” where XX is the slide number and NN is the total number of slides in your presentation. This helps to orient the reader to where you are in your presentation.
4. Include references on the relevant slides rather than providing a list of references at the end of your presentation. The reference should be relatively small and are often included at the bottom of a slide. Thus if you create a new presentation by mixing and matching slides from multiple presentations, the references for each slide go with the slide rather than requiring you to create a new references slide.