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Master’s thesis – a piece of cake ?

This guide outlines the basic principles and steps involved in successfully completing a Master's thesis project, covering goal-setting, research methods, academic writing, and scientific communication. It emphasizes meticulous planning, effective research strategies, and the importance of clear communication and academic independence.

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Master’s thesis – a piece of cake ?

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  1. Master’sthesis –a piece of cake? Per Ertbjerg Department of Food and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki, Finland

  2. Basic principles • Thesis work is a project!! • Clearly set goals • Schedule/deadline • October 31, 2015 • i.e at the beginning of October • Goal: in the end of August • Resources given • Responsibilities

  3. Basic principles • Before the start the supervisorsknowmoreabout the subjectthat the studentdoes • After the process the studentknowsmorethan the supervisors (about the particularsubject!) • The studentshowsher/hisacademicindependence and skills • Academicreading, writing and calculating • Scientificthinking • Mastering of methods of the subjectarea • Abilityto collect, criticallyevaluate and utilizescientificmaterial • Ability to doscientificknowledgetransfer

  4. Scientific communication • Ability to do a literature review and write a report • Ability to write a report about own experimental research • Ability to prepare a scientific publication • Ability to write professional papers • Ability to prepare a scientific oral presentation with PowerPoint (or similar)presentation • Ability to communicate orally in various situations (one to hundreds of people) • Speak loud • Speak clear • Do not worry too much about your English • Native: speak slowly, loud and clear

  5. Slooooowly!

  6. Clear!!

  7. Loud!!!

  8. ????? What?? Why?? Whatdoweknow?? How dowegetwhatwewant to know??

  9. What?? • Ultimategoal (purpose) • Specificfocuses, operationalaims • Actualtargets, whatwillbeneeded to do • Allparties/actorsmustunderstandsimilarly and agree • Ultimate goal purpose  foundations  plan  results  discussion  conclusions • Reporting  Thesis  Publication? • ’What’ +`’Why’ = ’introduction’

  10. Why ??? • Whydoyouwant to knowthat, whereareyougoing to use the gatheredknowledge? • Basic research, • Appliedresearch • Problemsolving • Allparties/actorsmustunderstandsimilarly and agreeuponit

  11. Whatdoweknow in advance ??? • General exam, consistingallmaterial of the main subject • Literaturereview • Basic knowledge • Specificknowledge • Methodologies • Usemodernsystems

  12. How ? (plan) • Design of the study • Y-variables • thosethatyouwant to measure/know • X-variables • thosethatyouvary/control • Samplenumbers • Preliminarytests • Statisticalpower • Statisticalmethods for presenting the results and hypothesetesting • Methods

  13. Practicaladvice • Read the coursedescriptions • https://moodle.helsinki.fi/course/view.php?id=5245 • How will a thesiswillevaluated and graded? • Make /ask to beestablish a studygroup • Supervisors and co-supervisors • Othergraduatestudents • Read previousMSctheses • Textbooks Reviews  Originalresearcharticles • Modernmethods(Google, Wikipedia etc.)??

  14. Practicaladvice • Planeverythingcarefully • Have a notebook(qualityassurance) • Collectallreferencesimmeadiately into a list and usemodernsystems (e.g. Refwork) • Collectyourexperimental data ontosheetsimmediately and follow the resultsduring the studyregularly • Plan the tables and figures in advance

  15. Schedule (Helsinki style) • August: • discuss with yoursupervisor(s) about the theme • Plan the studyprogram (courses) • Discuss with yoursupervisors • September: • Collectbasicknowledgeabout the broaderarea • Read textbooksabout the subject • Try to findreviewarticles and centraloriginalresearcharticlesabout the theme (supervisors help!) • October: • Continue with articles • Write the table of contents and discuss with yoursupervisors • Start to focus on methods • Start to write the literaturereview

  16. Schedule (cont.) • November • Starttestingyourmethods • Collectsomeexperimentalmaterial •  youwilllearnyourmethods •  youwillgetinformationaboutyourmaterial and the variationin itconcerningyourstudy design • December • Continue the aboveactivities • Continue the reviewwriting • Make the researchplan, estimatingthe statisticalpower • Make sure that the scientificbackground and detailedresearchplan is readyby the end of the year

  17. Schedule (cont.) • January – March • Do the study!!! • Have the tablesready • Collectalwaysimmediately the results and make the calculations • April – May • Finalchecking the literaturereview and writing the discussion and conclusions • June - July • Completing the thesiswriting • Practicaltraining • Finalexam • Keep the schedules!!!

  18. Summary • What ?? • Why ?? • Whatdoweknownow ?? • How dowegetwhatwewant to know ?? • Academicindependence and skills • The new knowledge • Discussion and conclusionsare the mostimportantparts

  19. Schedule • Literaturereview • TargedlineDecember2014 • Preliminaryresearchplan • Preliminarytests • TargedlineDecember2014 • FinalresearchPlanstartof January • Experimentalpart • TargedlineMarch2015 • Manuscript • TargedlineMay2015 • (Practicaltraining) • June- Juli2015 • (Finalexam) • August 2015 • SeminarsMay … August • Thesisevaluated and accepted, midSeptember2015!!!

  20. Practical • Regulargroupmeetings (everysecondweek) • (More) Regularmeetingswith the supervisors • Samesampleswhenapplicable • Jointliteraturedatabase • Jointresearchresultsdatabase • Uselibrary • Web of Sciences, Scopus • References –function • Books and Journals(ask for advice!)

  21. Excercise on thesisplanning • On Saturday • Youshouldchooseyourarea of interest of the themesintroducedhere, the finaloneor for thisexcerciseonly • Youwillmake a preliminaryplan for the study • Discussionabout the plans in smallgroups • Presentation of the plans

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