Master thesisM. Heyns and G. GroesenekenProgram Directors

Master thesisMaster thesis = research project

o intended to bring the student in close contact with a international and multidisciplinary research environment

o work in close collaboration with researchers, PhD students, postdocs and professors

Master thesis• 24 ects = 600-720 hours of work

o corresponds roughly with on average 17 to 20 hours per weeko but this includes exam and holiday periods, so in practice it is more

like 20 hours per weeko thesis work is spread over the full academic yearo usually students have less time in sem 1 than in sem 2, but already

make sure to spend sufficient time in sem 1 on the thesis!• Advice: start early enough, work regularly!

o contact your daily supervisor asap to learn what is expected and agree on your workplan

Purpose of the master thesisElements that determine your results• Carry out a substantial research project on an advanced

topic in an independent way• Important aspects (relative weight can vary in each thesis):

o Literature studyo Analysis of the problem/problem statemento Formulation of a solutiono Implementation: a design (device, circuit, system, etc.), planning of

experiments, prepare samples…o Verification/demonstration (experimental or simulation results)o Critical analysis and interpretation of results

Purpose of the master thesisElements that determine your results• High level of autonomy, perseverance, creativity and sense

for initiativeo Develop/establish a workplan in an autonomous way and realise ito Time management is very important

• Reportingo Both oral and written reporting (quality of the text is very important,

both formal and informal)

• Critical attitude, be able to draw scientifically based conclusions !

Note: Don’t forget to enjoy your opportunity to do advanced research and have “fun” in research.

Role promoter, daily supervisor• Supervisor and promoter are NOT the responsible of your

master thesiso STUDENT is the final responsible, supervisor/promoter help

• Promotero follows the thesis work from a distanceo discusses the progress of the thesis with the supervisor (e.g. if

changes in direction are needed)o not always a lot or direct contact with the student

Role promoter, daily supervisor• Supervisor and promoter are NOT the responsible of your

master thesiso STUDENT is the final responsible, supervisor/promoter help

• Daily supervisoro have very close and regular contact (min once/week, in the

beginning even more) o follows the progress, helps, suggests, advises, coaches, proposes

changes if needed

• Each thesis is integrated in a research teamo Make sure to present your work regularly to the team to get

feedback and suggestions and to learn to give good presentations

Master thesis reporting• Midterm presentation

o to receive feedback and detect problems

• Thesis manuscripto to learn to write a full scientific report

• Final presentationo to learn to present and defend your work

Guidelines regarding the thesis (writing, outline, cover page, and so on…):

https://eng.kuleuven.be/english/students/master-thesis/master-thesis

Midterm presentation• Prepare a presentation of 20 min, Dutch or English• Evaluation of the progress, not scored• Detect problems and if needed discuss remedies• Planned after sem 1 exams (to be announced) !• Outline:

o Context: discuss broader context of your researcho Problem statement: what problem do you want to solve ?o Objective: what do you want to achieve ? Measurable targets ?

Specifications ?o Approach + resultso Preliminary conclusionso Planning till the end

Thesis text• Full report on your thesis work• English for ENG-master, Dutch for NL-master but

permission to write in English can be given by POC• Should be uploaded electronically. See information on the

website: https://eng.kuleuven.be/english/students/master-thesis/masters-thesis/digital-masters-thesis-1

• Latex, Word templates and cover page instructions are available on the faculty website. Read them before writing !

Thesis text• Deliver hardcopies to the jury members and to

program director, at the latest 2 weeks before the date of final defenseo If you cant make the deadline: delay is possible only if

jury members agree ! (but preferably should be avoided)

Thesis text• Dont wait till the end to start writing• Write the parts as soon as you are ready to write them

o e.g. literature review: write immediately after it is finished, eventualy update later on with extra information

o E.g. context and problem statement: write once it is clear to you, update later !

• Outline (can be different per thesis)o Abstract (= 1 paragraph summary)o Introduction (=context, problem statement, objective)o State-of-art/Literature studyo Devices/experiments (=approach)o Results (evt with benchmarking)o Conclusions (summarize main findings and learning)

Final presentation• 45 minutes per student• Prepare a presentation of 25 min, 10 min questions• After the questions: discussion among the jury members• Evaluation of the final result• Scored• Planned before the June exams !• Deadline for submission around the third week of May • If not ready: 3rd examination period• Outline:

o Context: discuss broader context of your researcho Problem statement: what problem did you solve ?o Objective: what did you want to achieve ? Measurable targets ?

Specifications ?o Approach + resultso Final conclusionso Outlook

https://eng.kuleuven.be/english/students/master-thesis/master-thesis• 45 minutes per student• Prepare a presentation of 25 min, 10 min questions• After the questions: discussion among the jury members• Evaluation of the final result• Scored• Planned before the June exams !• Deadline for submission around the third week of May • If not ready: 3rd examination period• Outline:

o Context: discuss broader context of your researcho Problem statement: what problem did you solve ?o Objective: what did you want to achieve ? Measurable targets ?

Specifications ?o Approach + resultso Final conclusionso Outlook

https://eng.kuleuven.be/english/students/master-thesis/master-thesis• 45 minutes per student• Prepare a presentation of 25 min, 10 min questions• After the questions: discussion among the jury members• Evaluation of the final result• Scored• Planned before the June exams !• Deadline for submission around the third week of May • If not ready: 3rd examination period• Outline:

o Context: discuss broader context of your researcho Problem statement: what problem did you solve ?o Objective: what did you want to achieve ? Measurable targets ?

Specifications ?o Approach + resultso Final conclusionso Outlook

Be aware for plagiarism and fraudü Plagiarism is any identical or lightly-altered use of one's

own or someone else’s work (ideas, texts, structures, images, plans, and so on…) without adequate reference to the source:o The literal or near-literal use of (part of) someone else’s texto Copying images, diagrams, graphics, figures, sound or image

fragments, etc.o Paraphrasing someone else’s arguments o Translating texts

ü Make sure that you use the correct way to make references in your text (e.g. reference to publications, book chapters, “literal quotes”, …)

Be aware for plagiarism and fraudü Plagiarism damages the quality of a paper and thus can

be interpreted as fraud. Other forms of fraud lean towards plagiarism and are just as intolerable, such as:o Commissioning or having papers revised (whether or not for pay), and

passing this off as one’s own worko The re-use of one’s own work and passing it off as a new papero Simulating or falsifying research data

ü ATTENTION: (attempts to) fraude during an exam is strongly penalized !

Be aware for plagiarism and fraudPossible sanctions: equivalent to exam fraud

ü An invalid exam: the student needs to retake the exam ü An appropriate mark or zero for the assignment or the examination in

question ü No marks for some or any of the examinations during the examination

period in question ü Exclusion for one or more course units. The student receives a zero for

the course units in question and will only be able to retake an examination in the next academic year

ü Exclusion for a programme of study. ü Loss of the right to enrolment in the next academic year or the two

next academic years.

Be aware for plagiarism and fraudPossible sanctions: equivalent to exam fraud

ü An invalid exam: the student needs to retake the exam ü An appropriate mark or zero for the assignment or the examination in

question ü No marks for some or any of the examinations during the examination

period in question ü Exclusion for one or more course units. The student receives a zero for

the course units in question and will only be able to retake an examination in the next academic year

ü Exclusion for a programme of study. ü Loss of the right to enrolment in the next academic year or the two

next academic years.

Master thesis evaluation• Master thesis is finalized with a public presentation

(defense).• The master thesis will be evaluated by a jury of at least

4 persons: o the promotoro the daily supervisoro minimum 2 assessors

Master thesis evaluation• You are evaluated on three aspects:

o The process: the work during the year (ability to work independently, critical sense, inventivity, creativity, degree of complexity)

o The product: the final product and/or the text (scientific content, style, language, care, legibility, structure). Your master thesis will go into the KULeuven library, so the quality of the text is an important evaluation criterium.

o The presentation and oral examination (style, language, care, structure, completeness, timing)

Evaluation• criteria

Evaluation• scores

Master thesis evaluationü Scoring on the basis of weighted average of the scores

of the jury members

o Promoter(s): 25%o Daily supervisor: 25%o Assessor 1: 25%o Assessor 2: 25%

ü In case the promoter is acting as daily supervisor the weight is 40%, rest is equally distributed between assessors (40-30-30)