Course Description - Thesis Project
1 Introduction
The thesis project is conducted as a 15 or 30-credit course depending on
the degree level. This document contains information and guidelines for how
the course, given at the IDE academy, is implemented.
The course includes the following elements:
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Recognition of prior knowledge. To start the thesis requires that at
most two courses within the program have not been finished
Submission of project idea before a specified date
Oral presentation at three seminars: start, half-time and final
Training in source search (reference handling) and report writing
Presentation of the thesis results on poster or as demo
Delivery of a written final report for examination
Individual oral presentation of project and results
Oral and written opposition on another thesis
Registration of the final report in DiVA
1.1 Objectives of the thesis (see also the syllabus for the thesis project)
The thesis shall prepare the student for future professional activities
(the thesis is often an entrance to the first employment as engineer or
researcher or continued studies after graduation) and shall show that the
student has attained the level of knowledge, skills and understanding
needed to successfully do and report an satisfactory thesis in the study
direction.
In the thesis report, it is important to show that it presents engineering
research relevant work and results and that it requires application of both
technical and interpersonal skills. Further that the student is anchored in
reality and can combine theory, practice and methods in a results-oriented
and holistic way, and also can get things done within a limited time.
The most common form of thesis is done as a development / research project
carried out in collaboration with a company or organisation, working in a
technical business area or using a technology. It can also be performed at
one of the university's research institutions, as part of a larger research
or training project. A third option is to propose and implement an own
idea.
The thesis subject must be selected so that it is relevant for the
education program as well as can show the students skills in using the
knowledge for analysis and solution of a thesis task within direction of
the program. The examiner does not accept theses that do not meet these
criteria. The typical thesis is an analysis or synthesis investigation,
related to an embedded system, a computer system, a computer program, a
communication protocol, a robot, an electronic sensor, a controller, or the
use of services or systems based on such techniques or innovations etc. The
thesis may also consist of a survey investigation. Such an investigation
shall be intended to be used as a basis for decisions in a company or
organization.
An important part of thesis work is to define a problem and the state of
knowledge in relation to this problem and then analyse and examine
different models and methods to solve the problem. The final choice of
model / method should be supported by reference to relevant related work or
surveys.
1.2 Prerequisites
To be accepted to the course at most two other courses may remain
unfinished. It is the responsibility of the project team to show the
examiner that all the project members fulfil these prerequisites. This is
done through an excerpt from LADOK for each project member. If there are
points lacking, a plan must be given showing how the student will achieve
the entry requirements in time. Students who have not attained theses
requirements will not be allowed to start the project, but must wait for
the next course.
1.3 Supervision and tutoring
Each project shall have a teacher or a researcher at the University as main
supervisor. If the project is done at a company the company shall appoint a
mentor / co-supervisor. The project team and the supervisors specify the
task jointly and have regular meetings to monitor the progress. It is
important that the thesis is well specified from the start. The project
group's ability to work effectively in a group is an important part of the
thesis project.
The supervisor at the university has a number of hours for supervision of
the thesis. Approximately half of this time can be used for meetings with
the supervisor. The rest must be reserved for the report reading, etc.
1.4 Group size
Ideally, the group will consist of two students. Depending on the project,
the number of students may vary between one and three (if more it is
necessary to divide the work into sub-projects and separated thesis
reports). The proposal sent to the examiner shall include a justification
for the group size. If the project consists of students from various
programs, the project must be designed so that it is suitable for both
programs.
1.5 Responsibilities
The proposer of a project (for example a company) can never require that
the work is completed at a certain time point or that a particular result
achieved. Proposals having such demands are not suitable as thesis
projects.
1.6 Work environment, premises and equipment needs
If all the necessary equipment is in the company premises and thus it is
difficult to perform the work elsewhere or if it is a wish of the company,
then the work must be done there. If the required equipment is available at
the university, the work can be carried out at the university.
1.7 Costs
Supervision, school equipment and project facilities are available for
free. Material costs, purchase of standards, equipment (missing at the
school), and travel costs caused by the work, are paid for by the company.
Any payment for travels between company and university becomes a matter
between the company and the project team.
1.8 Privacy
If you or the company desires, a confidentiality agreement can be written
between the company and the people who receive insight into, e.g. products
or ideas. Authorship rights, etc. should be agreed on in a contract before
the work starts. No contracts can be written between companies and
University.
1.9 Right of invention
Copyright and other Intellectual Property (IP) rights are governed by
Swedish law. Agreements on copyright distribution should be written.
Basically, the student has the copyright of the material produced.
1.10 How to find or propose a thesis subject
The work is preferably carried out in close cooperation with a company.
Thus to find a project identify a company or business area that you would
like to work in and contact them (send them a presentation of yourself).
Take advantage of the contacts you already have, for example, the companies
you worked for in the past. They may have several thesis project proposals.
The examiner or course responsible provided access to thesis proposals that
emerge both from within the university and from companies. You might also
get own ideas or ideas to contact companies from previous thesis on your
program.
An information meeting about the thesis project is held in the study period
before the thesis begins. At that meeting the program responsible or the
examiner may also provide suggestions for thesis projects.
1.11 Submission/selection of thesis project proposal
Proposals should be selected and send to the examiner at the end of the
study period before the thesis work starts. The form in Appendix 1 shall be
used.
The proposal shall contain:
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A brief summary of the task with a clear description of the problem,
the research questions and the kinds of results expected.
A justification for the number of students in the group. It must be
apparent that the work is such that the number of students is
justified.
An estimate of the resources needed (money, equipment, software,
etc.).
If applicable; name, phone number and email address of the contact
person at the company.
If the examiner finds that the thesis proposal is not appropriate or needs
to be refined the examiner shall notify this and ask you to change. After
the approval you are assigned a supervisor at the university. The examiner
and the main supervisor are responsible for that the level and direction
of the project proposal has a chance to meet the requirements for a
thesis. You as student are responsible for that the actual work and end
result meets the requirements for the thesis project.
1.12 Schedule and toll gates for the thesis project
Each student or group doing a thesis project within the school of IDE at
Halmstad University must follow the schedule, outlined below. The student’s
performance during this process is evaluated and will influence the final
grade according to given grading criteria. For practical reasons projects
and students can be organized in topic area groups. For each such group the
three seminars are to be attended. Issues such as those mentioned below
should be discussed in project or topic area group meetings with the
involved supervisor(s) before or after scheduled toll gate seminars, to
prepare and / or follow up these seminars.
Below is the process with one information meeting and three scheduled
seminars during the course where all project groups are attending and some
issues to deal with before or after the seminars for example in meetings
with the supervisor. Two days before the seminars each thesis project must
submit their presentation material to all other students, supervisors and
examiners in the course. Each student shall then prepare questions or
comments on the material submitted by one other project in the specific
topic area group. This to facilitate the discussion about and the feedback
on the material presented.
Information Meeting: Information (given in the teaching period preceding
the course start) about project proposals, project selection, rules,
grading criteria and the project process
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Submission of “project proposal form” to the examiner.
Meeting with the supervisor to discuss the problem and what questions
a study can answer.
Gathering of state of art and related work information relevant to
the problem and questions.
Discussion of possible methods to address the problem and answer the
questions.
Start Seminar: Students present their selected projects with focus on:
problem, motivation, user needs, research questions to answer, state of
art, related work, method for doing the investigation/experiment and a time
plan.
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Is the problem defined and limited to a manageable scope?
What are the research questions and how are answers to be found?
What is the time plan and what experiment resources are needed?
Experiments or test cases to be performed to get answers / results
and evidence for claims and conclusions.
Discussion of experiment plan with regards to completeness or need
for refinement.
Half Time Seminar: Presentation and discussion of experiment results and
analysis giving answers to the research questions
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Feedback on experiment, results and analysis.
Outline of report (incl. structure, language, references, figures,
diagrams and report templates, etc).
Rehearsal of oral presentation with focus on motivation, research
question and achieved results. Feedback on rehearsal presentation
and presentation material.
Students act as opponents and give open questions and feedback on one
other project.
Final Seminar: Final written and oral presentation of the thesis
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Refinement of written report based on feedback from opponent,
supervisor and examiner.
Final report is sent for approval and grading to the examiner at most
3 weeks after the presentation.
For each individual student: the student, the supervisor and the
examiner fills and signs a grade calculation template.
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If given the grade 3, 4 or 5 the approved report is uploaded to Diva
and then grading result is registered in LADOC.
2 Implementation of the thesis work
The thesis project course corresponds to 30 HP corresponding to 20 weeks
full-time studies. There is one session per year in the spring semester.
Note that there are only two examination events per course. If you miss
both of these occasions you have to re-register and redo the course.
2.1 Support
The library organizes training in source search and references handling.
There is also a lecture in report writing.
2.2 Project Diary
Each project shall maintain a project diary, including also a time log
where each project member activities and use of time are reported to the
supervisor; using an on-line reporting tool or Wiki or the BlackBoard
tools.
2.3 Project Plan Seminar
Before the start seminar the project group must make a plan on how to work
with the thesis. The plan shall be approved by the supervisor and the
company. The project plan must be much more extensive and concrete than the
information submitted in the project proposal. The project plan must be
sent to the examiner before the seminar and then presented orally at the
start seminar. Students who have not attained the qualification
requirements at the time of the start seminar will not be allowed to
continue the course.
2.4 Half time seminar
At the half-time seminar the project group shall present the results
achieved in the project so far, compare the results with the project plan
and present a refined plan on how the project objectives will be achieved,
including giving opposition on another thesis project. Before the seminar,
the students shall submit a mid-term report to the examiner and the
opponents. At the half time seminar, the examiner assesses the work
progress. Projects that are not expected to be ready to the first
examination event will make their presentation at the second examination
event. The project plan and the supervision schedule will have to be
adjusted accordingly.
2.5 Final seminar
The final report is a very important part of the thesis project
examination. A preliminary final report must be sent to the examiner about
one week before the final seminar. It is important that this report is
close to the final report; it should not be missing large chunks or be full
with language errors (it must be approved by the supervisor before it is
sent to the examiner and opponents). The preliminary final report must only
be changed based on comments from opponents and examiner. The preliminary
final report is the basis for any price allocation for the best thesis and
the like.
2.2 Final seminar with opposition
After you have submitted your preliminary final report you have to present
the project orally at the final seminar. At this seminar, the project
groups also oppose to each other. This is an important moment in the
course.
2.3 Individual examination
At this time you meet only the examiner individually who will ask specific
questions about your work. The purpose of this is to ensure individual
examination and that the examiner will have the opportunity to ask more
questions if any issues are arising in the process.
2.4 Expo
At the end of the spring semester, you show the result of your thesis on a
poster or as a demo at an exhibition event. This is an opportunity that can
make your work known by visitors to the University. If presenting your work
in the examination session two, you will not have the opportunity to do
this.
2.5 Examination
Students are graded according to grading criteria based mainly on group
performance, but also on each individual's performance. After grading the
report is uploaded in DIVA and then grades are registered in LADOC.