MASTER'S THESIS SEMINAR DR. SHUAIQIANG WANG DEPARTMENT OF CS-IS, JYU

ABOUT THE COURSE Objectives of the course Support the Master's study Practice Write research plans Critical evaluation and analysis Written and oral presentation of the study to the public. 5 ­credit Graded with 0~5

SCHEDULE No.TimeContentTasks after class 19.16Opening Choose topics and supervisors Read good theses and assess them 2-39~10.16Research plansA4 plan and detailed research plan 4~610~12.16Literature reviewReview and analyze literatures 7~ ~ 1.17 Mini thesis Write a mini thesis (80% literature review, structure of the thesis) 10~122~3.17Thesis writingFinish and submit your thesis

SUPERVISOR AND TOPIC Find your supervisor and your topic. See ohjeet/opinnaytetoiden_ohjaajathttps:// ohjeet/opinnaytetoiden_ohjaajat The topic can be developed independently, but the final choice is made with the supervisor.

A4 PLAN A4-plan Concepts correspond to the plan. Refine and customize your topic. Discuss with your supervisor

A4 PLAN The author's name. Topic of the thesis. Supervisor (s). A brief description of the subject, and definitions of the key terms. Motivation (Why do you want to investigate it?). Preliminary research questions. The research method, if it can already draw. A few scientific sources. Capacity to carry out the work.

RESEARCH PLAN Research plan (Refine your A4-plan) Go familiar with the research area Draw your subjects, perspectives, issues, methods, and expected results.

RESEARCH PLAN The structure is similar to A4-plan More details Motivate your research Formulate research problems, Review literatures Present research methods Outline the structure Estimate the schedule of research list the main sources of research

LITERATURE REVIEW Find the main factors in your thesis Topics and viewpoints Topics and approaches (Technique-oriented) Read quality studies related to the factors Publication Forum maintained by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies: Analyze the existing studies Find research gap: further motivate your research Make conclusions Show the author’s familiar with your area

PurposeDefine the purpose and intended goals of the review Protocol and training Define the research question and the keywords that will be used literature search. The keywords shall cover the subject matter. If multiple persons work on the review, they shall agree on the detailed procedure to be followed, to ensure consistency. Searching for the literature Systematic literature search, assuring the comprehensiveness of the search. -Initial online review through open access databases (Google Scholar), specific subject databases (ProQuest, Scopus, EBSCO, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library) -“Backward search” by checking the references in key articles -“Forward search” by checking who was citing the key articles (“Cited by” in Google Scholar) -Asking for further references by contacting experts in the field Practical screen (for inclusion) Using pre-defined criteria for judging (based on abstracts) whether a paper is of reasonable quality -Whether study’s content is relevant to the research question -Other criteria (e.g., including only empirical works, only works from specific top-journals, date of the publication, etc.) Quality appraisal (screening for exclusion) Using pre-defined criteria for judging (based on abstracts) whether a paper is of poor quality and therefore will be excluded -For quantitative works: judging an article’s data collection methodology, interventions, analysis, results and conclusions. -For qualitative works: judging how the arguments are built: deductive vs. inductive reasoning, evidence used to support claims. Data extraction Extract the applicable information from each study, based on the research question. Synthesis of studies (analysis) Combining the facts extracted from the studies -Quantitative synthesis: synthesis by aggregation (meta-analysis) of the extracted information. -Qualitative synthesis: synthesis by interpretation and synthesis by explanation. WritingReporting the procedure of literature review and the results of the synthesis: -Describing how the literature review was done. -Presenting the results of the synthesis (the main part of the writing): describing the findings narratively, and making a summary table or figure (see e.g. “Concept Matrix” (Webster and Watson 2002)*). -Drawing conclusions: what has been and what has not been done (sufficiently well), what should been done in the future. Webster, J., & Watson, R. T. (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), 13-23

MINI THESIS Results of the literature review Describe your theoretical background and previous research study Structure of the thesis Presents a framework, which is then used master's thesis in constructive or empirical part.

STRUCTURE OF A THESIS - 1 Introduction (A4 plan) Concepts and problems Motivation Research questions and objectives Methods Structure of the thesis (not included in A4 plan) Literature review Brief introduction: concepts, methods, objectives Review and analyze literatures related to Topics and viewpoints Topics and approaches (Technique-oriented) Conclusions of the literatures from your perspective

STRUCTURE OF A THESIS - 2 Methodology Research objectives and methods Data collections and experimental settings Analysis Results and observations Discussion Research questions Compare your observations with existing results in literatures Consistent/Inconsistent/new Reliability and validity Conclusion Summary and further research

ASSESSMENT 1.Work with your supervisor. 2.Your thesis will be assessed by two inspectors. Your supervisor is generally one of the two inspectors. The assessment will be finished within 1 month. 3.The inspectors may provide a detailed comments on your thesis for improvement. Revise your thesis according to the inspectors’ comments 4.Reviewers preparing the opinion of the trades. Generally, the common opinion if the examiners agree on the quality and grade of the work. If disputes arise so provides third auditor's work. 5.The opinion will be sent for approval. Master's thesis by a factor of one week to accept the statement. 6.Credits are recorded when the final work is returned to the Secretary of the Department and maturity test performed.

ASSESSMENT FORM Evaluation form: Gradu_evaluation.docx Gradu_evaluation.docx Evaluation criteria: 20thesis%20evaluation%20criteria_EN.pdf 20thesis%20evaluation%20criteria_EN.pdf

SOME EXAMPLES

TO PASS Finish the required tasks: Find a supervisor and a promising topic for your thesis A4 plan and research plan. Literature review Mini thesis. Writing exercise (Pass) vs. research exercise (High score) Show significant progress on your thesis writing Finished / Almost finished Attend the presentation sessions. Or you can pass if you finish thesis writing and pass the thesis evaluation before the end of this course

HOMEWORK 1.Find your supervisor 2.Decide the topic of your thesis 3.Choose one example. Read and try to assess it with the assessment form.

Any Questions?