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:

•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 beforea 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) andshall 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 realityand 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 thesisis 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 beselected so that it is relevant for the education program as well as can showthe 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 synthesisinvestigation, 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 surveyinvestigation. 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 forsupervision of the thesis. Approximately half of this time can be used for meetings with the supervisor. The rest must bereserved 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 bedesigned 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 isa 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.

1.7Costs

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.

1.10How 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.

1.11Submission/selection of thesis project proposal

Proposals should be selectedand 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:

  • 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 proposalhas 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

  • 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 presenttheir 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.

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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.
  • 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 thethesis work

The thesisproject coursecorresponds to 30 HP corresponding to 20 weeksfull-time studies.There isonesessionper yearin the spring semester. Note thatthere are only twoexamination events percourse.If you missboth of theseoccasionsyou have to re-register and redothe course.
2.1 Support

The libraryorganizestraining insource searchand referenceshandling.Thereis also alectureinreport writing.

2.2 ProjectDiary

Each projectshall maintain aproject diary, including also atime logwhereeach projectmemberactivitiesand use of timeare reported to the supervisor; using an on-line reporting tool or Wiki or the BlackBoard tools.

2.3 ProjectPlan Seminar

Before thestartseminarthe project group must make aplanonhow towork withthe thesis. The planshall be approved by thesupervisorand thecompany.The project planmustbe muchmore extensive and concrete thanthe informationsubmittedin the project proposal. The project planmust be sent totheexaminerbefore the seminar andthen presentedorally at thestartseminar.Studentswho have not attainedthe qualification requirementsat the time ofthe startseminarwill not beallowed to continuethe course.
2.4Half time seminar

At thehalf-time seminarthe project group shall present the resultsachievedin the project so far,compare theresults withthe project planand presenta refinedplanon howthe project objectiveswillbe achieved, includinggiving oppositionon anotherthesisproject. Beforethe seminar, the students shallsubmitamid-term reportto the examiner andthe opponents.At the half timeseminar,the examiner assessesthe workprogress.Projects that are notexpected to beready to the first examination eventwill maketheir presentationatthe secondexamination event.The projectplan and the supervision schedule willhave to beadjusted accordingly.

2.5Final seminar

The final reportisa very important partof the thesis project examination.A preliminaryfinal reportmust be sentto the examinerabout oneweek before thefinal seminar.It is important thatthisreport is close tothe final report; itshouldnot be missinglarge chunksorbe fullwithlanguage errors(it must be approved by the supervisor beforeit is sentto the examinerand opponents). The preliminary final report must only be changed based on commentsfromopponents andexaminer.Thepreliminary final reportis the basis forany priceallocationfor the bestthesisandthe like.
2.2Final seminarwith opposition

After you havesubmitted yourpreliminaryfinal report you have to present theprojectorally at thefinal seminar.At this seminar, the project groupsalsooppose to each other.This is an importantmoment inthe course.
2.3Individualexamination

At this timeyou meetonlythe examiner individually who willask specific questionsabout your work. The purpose of thisis to ensureindividual examinationand thatthe examinerwill have the opportunityto ask more questionsif any issues arearisingin the process.
2.4Expo

At the endofthe spring semester, you show the resultofyour thesisona 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 presentingyour workintheexamination sessiontwo, 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.