LORE / Teaching / Thesis Master: Master Thesis Computer Science

Beoordelingscriteria

Studenten vragen zich vaak af wanneer hun thesis "goed" is. Daar is geen gemakkelijk antwoord op te geven, aangezien dat sterk afhang van het soort onderwerp, de promotor, ... . Anderzijds krijgt je thesis op het einde van het jaar wel een beoordeling, en moeten er dus ergens criteria zijn waaraan je thesis wordt afgemeten.

Daarom hebben we de beoordelingscriteria op papier gezet, zodat het voor jullie makkelijker wordt om te weten wat van jullie verwacht wordt. Het document in kwestie is te vinden op [ CriteriaMasterProef.pdf | CriteriaMasterProef.doc ]

Uit de introductie: Het sluitstuk van de opleiding informatica is de eindverhandeling, ook wel de licentiaatsthesis of kortweg thesis genoemd. Daar moet een student aantonen dat hij zelfstandig (maar onder begeleiding van een promotor) een complex onderwerp op een wetenschappelijke manier kan uitdiepen en het verworven inzicht in een coherente tekst kan neerschrijven; Maar er is een probleem bij de gelijkwaardige beoordeling van die eindverhandelingen. Inderdaad, inherent aan het thesismodel is de verscheidenheid aan promotoren en dus ook aan criteria om een licentiaatsthesis te beoordelen. Die verscheidenheid is een belangrijk voordeel (studenten kiezen de begeleidingsstijl die best bij hun past) maar tegelijkertijd ook het voornaamste nadeel (studenten kiezen de weg van de minste weerstand). Bovendien is het niet altijd even duidelijk hoe verschillende wetenschappelijke technieken zich tot elkaar verhouden. Vandaar een poging om vast te leggen welke beoordelingscriteria er zijn en hoe belangrijk ze doorwegen ten opzichte van elkaar. Daarbij is het op termijn de bedoeling om te komen tot eenvormige criteria voor de beoordeling van eindverhandelingen informatica.

About the Text

At the end of the masters project, you will have to report your findings in a written text of approximately 80 pages. That's what will be used to evaluate your work.

In principle, this text must be written in Dutch. In practice, it is allowed to submit a text with (a) a Dutch title and (b) a 3 to 5 page Dutch summary and (c) a 80 page English "appendix".

a) Essential Advice

You must be able to summarize your thesis in one sentence (the THESIS).

[ local copy | http://www.elec.uq.edu.au/~marks/PGadvice/diss-advice.html ]

b) Writing Tips

The 4 line abstract
A brilliant technique on how to structure an abstract in four sentences
(and other tips on how to structure your arguments to get the message across).
[ BeckAbstract.html ]
How to Organize your Thesis
Good pragmatic advice on how to organise your thesis work and thesis text.
[ http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/thesis.html ]
Technical writing
Some practical tips on technical writing; including tips on structure (numbering of sections, figures, ...), writing style (use verbs instead of nouns) as well as contents (write briefly).
[ http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~norman/papers/good_writing/good_writing_index.html ]
Tips, Tools & Ideas to Improve Your Writing
Some simple rules of the thumb to help you "getting the message across".
[ http://www.aci-plus.com/tips/ ]
Advice on Research and Writing
A list of links to papers on how to do research and how to communicate effectively (primarily for computer scientists).
[ http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~mleone/how-to.html ]
Dissertation news
Dissertation News is a 6-issue-per-year bulletin offering guidance and support for ASGS-member doctoral students, and information of value to faculty members on advising and counseling graduate students.
[ http://www.asgs.org/Diss_Nws.htm ]

c) Reading Tips

Reading Technical Papers
Some tips on how to read and digest the dense writing style of academic prose.
[ local copy ]

About The Defense

After submission of the thesis text you will have to defend it in front of a jury of 3 members of the department (the so-called reading committee) plus all possible attendees (a thesis defense is open to anyone interested and you can of course invite family and friends). You should prepare a presentation of about 15 to 20 minutes (20 minutes being the absolute maximum) en then expect some 10 to 15 minutes of questions.

Typically we organise a rehearsal session where you can do a "dry-run" of the presentation for an audience of other students.

Some rules of the thumb

count on 3 to 5 minutes per slide (==> 5 to 6 slides, incl title and conclusion).
follow the "fish-model" (e.g., (a) the problem, (b) why is the probleem relevant, (c) what is my solution, (d) which experiment did I perform to show that my solution is a good one, (f) conclusions).
emphasize your contribution (explaining the Related Work is for instance not necessary).
assume that the audience has read your thesis (at least the jury has, and those are the ones that matter !)
you may go into technical matter, but not in too much detail (they can read that in the text)
a demonstration is not necessary, unless its an essential part of your story.
Remember that a demonstration takes a lot of time and you only have 20 minutes; sometimes a slide with a screen dump is just as good.

More tips

Garr Reynolds Presentation tips
[ http://www.garrreynolds.com/Presentation/index.html ]
Lots of well illustrated tips to create memorable presentations.
Presentationzen
[ http://www.presentationzen.com/ ]
Additional blog with comparisons and examples concerning how to present well by Garr Reynolds.
Avoid the Big Five Presentation Mistakes
[ http://www.acm.org/sigplan/oopsla/oopsla97/av/avoid.pdf ]
How to Present a Paper in Theorethical Computer Science: a Speaker's Guide for Students
[ http://www.eng.unt.edu/ian/guides/postscript/speaker.pdf ]
Presentatietips uit de praktijk (in Dutch)
[ http://www.r20.nl/boek_Presentatietips.htm ]
Lots of practical advice on giving presentations in a (no longer) free 200 page book. Advice ranges from down-to-earth "last minute" preparations (control the room temperature !) to strategic advice (payment, accept or decline an invitation, ...)

Apprenticeships

The idea of apprenticeships is that the students work closely together with companies on a particular topic of interest. Afterwards, the students have to write a final report (their thesis), under supervision of both the contact person for the project and a contact person within LORE.

We have organized the information on apprenticeships guided by LORE members in three sections:


	Lab On REengineering - Antwerpen, last modified 13:24:54 09 October 2009