1. Master’s thesis Experiences and thoughts of a supervisor

2. Professor
Esko Niemi
Production engineering
Supervised about 120 master’s thesis projects
Also as an advisor in the industry and in different universities
Own thesis in 1984 “TiN coating in high speed steel tapping”

3. Agenda What is a master’s thesis?
How and from where do you get a topic?
Start-up meeting
Roles
Funding
Contents and process
About writing
Grading
Common mistakes in writing a thesis

4. Master’s thesis?
MSc thesis is a final (research) project of your studies – work content 30 ECTS points
Normal length is 6 months
Usually from the area of your major subject
The student has to demonstrate mature thinking and aptitude for independent problem solving
Scope of work limited and suitable
Topic must be reasonably demanding
An objective must be formulated
Scientific (or at least systematic) methods must be applied
Realizes as a 70 – 120 page report
The project is supervised and graded

5. From where do you get a topic?
Summer job / industry project employer
Ads on bulletin boards (Aalto CareerWeb etc.)
Internet sources (e.g. ), mailing lists
Research groups in Aalto and VTT
Active contact to companies by phone and
Professor’s individual topics
Your own topic
Be active

6. Start-up meeting
Participants: Student, supervisor, advisor, and other experts and relevant persons
Preferably at the place of work
Agenda (student presents, then discussion)
Formalities: administrative (and financial) arrangements, language, publication, IPR issues – professors do not make NDAs –, grading and advising arrangements
Definition of objective and scope
Research plan
Table of contents of thesis
Schedule
Student prepares minutes of meeting

7. Roles Student does do the work
Advisor or advisor team: Instructs and does follow-up and adjusts objective(s) if necessary
Supervisor follows-up and instructs at a lower frequency; participates usually in 2 – 3 common follow- up meetings during the project.
Support - if big problems occur
Grading, mostly based on report
Supervisor’s contribution to the actual substance is often low

8. Funding
Company or other institution (Aalto research projects, too) usually makes a fixed-term employment contract
Company or other institution pays a compensation for the thesis work as a service (”työkorvaus” in Finnish)
Scholarship. Company makes a donation to the Foundation for Aalto University Science and Technology (ARTS and BIZ have similar arrangements)
Own funding
State student allowance
Contract: Usually employment contract; no contract if scholarship; for work compensation, Aalto has a contract model in Inside: -> Thesis contract template. Support in case of odd contract proposals can be asked from Learning services’ lawyers. Aalto is never a party in thesis project contracts with an outside institution.

9. Thesis contents Introduction Background problem Research question(s)
Objective(s)
Scope
(Description of the place of work)
(Report structure)

10. Thesis contents Literature review
Describe all relevant existing knowledge about the subject of the research based on literature
Start from general issues but quickly narrow scope to resources closely related to your problem and useful for your work
Do not repeat basic text book knowledge that should be known and is not interesting
In scientific research (which masters theses usually are not), a research gap is presented
Avoid web references and non-public sources
In literature review you do not say anything about your particular research case: your contribution, case company, case products etc.

11. Thesis contents Research description - empirical
Start with a detailed problem definition and description of experimental arrangements or model development
Present your experiments and results
Analyze results statistically or directly draw conclusions, but always in a systematic way (analysis or discussion)
Possibly more experiments and new analyses…
Draw conclusions
Evaluate reliability of results
Compare achieved results with research objectives
Did you answer the research questions?
Recommendations for further research

12. Thesis contents Research description – development topics
Start with a description of the present system (process, product, etc.) or requirements, if completely new development is in question
Describe earlier studies, data you collect, interviews, and other material, etc.
Analyze and discuss your data: Calculate and present descriptive statistics and do other statistical analyses. Visualize data and analysis results with graphs. Discuss what you see and pinpoint key issues and largest improvement potential

13. Thesis contents …research description – development topics…
Synthesis/results: Develop improvement measures and ideas
This can be general deduction or a known systematic development process like DFX, QFD etc., even application of lean concepts
Present your solution(s)
Evaluate solution(s) you propose: Test them with physical experiments if possible, simulation or some other way
Is the problem solved, questions answered and/or what is the best alternative?
When comparing alternatives, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), SWOT-analysis etc. can be used

14. Thesis contents …research description – development topics
Conclusions are made: ”The problem seems to be solved with the proposed solution, which is good for this and that reason…”
In development topics, an action list can be proposed that is grouped to immediate actions, actions requiring further planning or investments, and long-run development programs
As many readers only look at conclusions, it is a good idea to refer to the Results section
Compare your results to objectives. Were research questions answered?
Reliability of results

15. Thesis contents About research methods
In scientific research, the development process behind conclusions must be reliable so that the final outcome is true.
Here main methods are deduction - reasoning based on facts -, and induction, - reasoning based on a (large) number of empirical results.
Master’s thesis work is not usually scientific research, and requirements set on the quality of deriving conclusions are not that high.
However, it is important that all relevant information and data is acquired and used and that the reasoning is based on existing knowledge and the work is systematic. If possible, use different methods and cross check your results.

16. About writing Process writing
Start writing immediately in the beginning of the project, do not leave it to the end
Make notes all the time
Write under different sub-topics at different times
Sleep over night if you get stuck
You can not write your thesis in one go, you need to look at it with ”fresh eyes”, review, and iterate
Finally try to get as many colleagues, friends, relatives, professionals etc. as you can to proof-read your text. It should not be the professor’s task to correct language and style.

17. Grading
“In the thesis, the student must demonstrate ability to discuss the topic in a mature way”
Grading criteria
• Definition of research scope and goals
• Command of the topic
• Methods, conclusions
• Contribution to knowledge and thesis structure
• Presentation and language
Familiarize yourself with detailed criteria in the Master’s thesis guide.

18. Grading – grade Excellent (5):
Definition of the research scope and goals: The goals have been presented clearly, and the research scope is clearly defined, which indicates deep under-standing of the topic. The goals are set high but are attainable.
Command of the topic: The sources used have been selected not only appropriately but critically; the number of relevant works cited is sufficient, consisting primarily of high-quality scientific publications (journals or other peer-reviewed forums). The results have been evaluated in the light of the cited works, as well as in that of prior research and theories on the topic. In addition, the student demonstrates deep understanding of the research topic.
Methods and conclusions: The student demonstrates command of the relevant research methods, uses appropriate and justified methods, reports the research process and the methods accurately and precisely and justifies the choices made. The reliability and transferability of the results have been thoroughly evaluated, and the thesis may be based on exceptionally extensive empirical data. In addition, the line of reasoning behind the conclusions is particularly clear, accurate and critical and proves that the student has gained a deep understanding of the topic. The research results provide thorough answers to the posed research question.
Contribution to knowledge and thesis structure: The results meet the standards of international conference publications, even though it is not necessary that the thesis contribute to new scientific knowledge. The results are of interest to academia or industry or otherwise relevant to professionals in the field. The student has produced a meritorious thesis independently while the contributions of the thesis advisor and supervisor have been minor.
Presentation and language: The appearance, presentation and language of the thesis are impeccable.

19. Common mistakes in writing
Poor language
Jargon
Tautology
Repetition of same content
Long sentences
Unnecessary use of commercial brand names
Failure to define important concepts and key words
Missing references (from text) to figures, tables, and appendices or numbering is wrong
Fonts in figures and tables are too small or too large

20. Common mistakes in writing
References to external sources are missing when presenting relevant facts or propositions
References to books are made without providing page numbers
Literature review and the author’s contribution overlap so that the reader can not be sure which is which
Figures do not add values but are just decoration
Failure to explain what is shown in a figure, what is relevant and what can be concluded from it
Empirical results, analysis, and conclusions are mixed so that the reader can not be sure which is which
New analysis is presented in Summary
An incomplete manuscript is submitted as final – I do not like my time to be undervalued and wasted