- Starting guide
- How to reach me
- 2.1 Agenda template
- What do to do first
- Project Plan and Timeline
- Progressive Writing Tips
Welcome!
Hello everyone ☀️ as you know you will soon begin your thesis project 🚀 In order to make communications and interactions easier, especially for students going through a similar project, I ask you all to join this work area (if the link doesn't work, send me an email specifing which email address you want yo use and I will add you to the Slack area). This way it is easier for everyone to exchange opinions :speaking_head:, ideas:bulb:, reading suggestions:books: The best ideas have always come to me through interactions with others so don’t be afraid to share, research arises and grows also and especially through sharing!
I look forward to working with each of you 👷 Happy start of the project to everyone! 🚀
Please do not contact me by email. Slack is my preferred work tool to which I am always connected during working hours (approximately 9/17).
🗓 To book an appointment with me use this link.
I usually consider these appointments as online meetings. If you prefer to meet in person, send me a message on slack first to verify that I will be at VU on the day you want to book an appointment. My office is at the 10th floor, wing A, room 61, of the NU building.
Culture/rules 👩💻
- online or in-person meetings: you decide!
- this is your thesis, but it’s also a collaboration! 👥
- I expect you to be proactive. Don’t wait for me to be asking for an update. From the time you start the thesis I expect you to at least have a weekly update on slack and to book a biweekly appointment with me. I will give feedback during our biweekly meetings
- before your biweekly appointment prepare an agenda at least a couple of days in advance so that I can best help you. If we have meeting on Monday, get me the agenda at least Friday morning of the previous week 🔖
- please try to meet the deadlines I will propose during the course of the project ⏰ This will ensure you finish your thesis project on time and enjoy some well-deserved vacation time next summer 🏝️
🗒️ Agenda
- Topic 1
- Topic 2
- Topic 3
📝 Meeting Notes
- What we discussed:
- ...
- Decisions we made:
- ...
⏩ Next Steps
- To-do 1
- To-do 2
- To-do 3
This section describes the working tools and how they should be used.
To get the most out of slack I recommend that you add the following apps/integrations to the workspace (use the same email you used to sign up for slack):
- google calendar
- google drive
- github
Write your thesis with Overleaf. If you are not familiar with it, start familiarizing yourself with the tool before you begin writing. Once you have created the file share it with me; you can use my e-mail [email protected]
It is easier for me to review your code from here. I will create a project on Github shortly and share it with you. All the code you use must be in the github folder. Write to me privately the email you have decided to use. For convenience I recommend that you use the same email address for all tools, including slack
Create a folder in your google drive and name it like this:
Name_surname_course_academic year
Example:
Elena_Beretta_masterAI_2023
Inside create the following subfolders:
- thesis: where you will put drafts and other files related to the writing
- presentation: where you will put files related to the final presentation
- bibliography: where you will put the pdfs of the articles you have read/are going to use in the thesis. Please name the pdfs you place with the original title of the paper. This way it is easier for me to keep track of what you are reading/find a relevant article that you point out to me
Once you have created the folder on drive share it with me (as before, use [email protected]) and be sure to give me editor permissions; from time to time I might upload interesting things/articles to the folder
Once you have completed all of these steps, please fill out this google form. I need this to collect all your links in one place.
The first thing to do to begin your thesis project is to draft a Project Plan. As a rule, it is always best to send me a non-final version and give me time to correct. Within the Project Plan should be included clear research questions and in the methodology a concrete idea of how you intend to answer the research questions.
Below you will find some general information about the timeline to follow if you want to execute the thesis project in no more than 5 months:
- month 1: project plan, bibliography construction, data retrieval or dataset construction (depending on the project)
- months 2, 3: deployment
- month 4: evaluation and analysis of results
- month 4, 5: thesis writing and final delivery
- thesis presentation may be at the end of month 5 or in the following month depending on faculty availability
❗ Some important things to keep in mind:
- agree with me on clear deadlines 📅
- to proofread your work and give you useful feedback I need time, and proofreading your work is not my exclusive responsibility. Be sure to send me your work on time ⏰
- do not assume that I will always be there. Generally the months when I am away for vacation or personal reasons are August, September and December. As a rule, do not assume that I am always present, or that my colleagues are, if you do not meet agreed deadlines 🏝️
The project plan should include the following sections:
Introduction - Start with a brief introduction into the problem that your research will address, or the novel insights it is intended to yield, convincing the reader of the societal and scientific relevance of the task. If you do an external internship, also give the context of the internship provider. The intro may end with one or more research questions and/or a problem statement.
Related work - Discuss the scientific literature that addresses the same or a similar problem as your study, and make clear how your study relates and adds to this body of research. Try to give a broad but concise overview of the ways in which the problem is approached in other studies.
Methodology - Specify and motivate the proposed approach(es) that you will implement / apply. If it includes a pipeline or architecture, it makes sense to give a rough visualization and description.
Experimental set-up - Describe what the experiment(s) will look like. Depending on your study, it can include information like:
- Research design
- Dataset (including information on source, size, labelling, etc., to the extent available)
- The different variations of the approach that you will compare, as well as details on how they will be applied (library, parameter tuning, etc.)
- Participants (numbers, intended characteristics)
- Experimental procedure
- Evaluation procedure / metrics
Planning - Specify the different stages of your research, and their intended duration. You are free to choose how you want to display the planning. A gantt chart is a popular way to do so, as it can represent overlap between stages. Make sure to book in writing throughout the trajectory, and it is advisable to count back from the intended end date of your thesis to know when you would like to finalize your concept version and when the experimentation should be finished to make this happen.
The project plan should be no longer than 4 pages, excluding references.
To make the thesis writing process less daunting and more efficient, I strongly recommend adopting a progressive writing method. This approach involves writing continuously throughout the project, starting from day one 🚀
- Capture key details: 📝 writing early ensures you don’t forget important insights, decisions, or challenges encountered during your research
- Clarify your understanding: 💡 writing forces you to articulate your ideas clearly, helping you refine your research
- Better supervision: 🧑🏫 it allows me to provide targeted feedback throughout the process, reducing last-minute revisions
- Manageable workload: 📅 distributes the writing workload, avoiding the stress of completing everything at the end
-
Start with an outline: 🗂️ create a detailed outline of your thesis structure. Begin by identifying the major sections, such as:
- Introduction: uutline the problem, motivation, and research questions ✍️
- Related Work: summarize key areas of literature, their gaps, and how your work addresses them 📖
- Methodology: sketch the experimental or computational methods, tools, and workflows 🛠️
- Results: define how results will be structured (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, comparative) 📊
- Discussion: plan how to interpret results, address limitations, and propose future directions 🤔
-
Detail your subsections: 📝 under each section, brainstorm subsections and their contents. For example:
- Introduction: define subsections for background, problem definition, and research objectives
- Methodology: include subsections like data acquisition, preprocessing, model design, and evaluation metrics
Paragraph-level planning: for each subsection, jot down the main points you want to cover, the arguments to make, or the evidence to present. This detailed planning ensures that your writing has direction and purpose 📑
-
Update regularly: 🔄 add notes, comments, and draft sections as your research progresses. For instance:
- Write the Introduction as you refine your research questions
- Expand the Methodology while designing and implementing experiments
- Draft the Results section as you analyze data, noting key findings immediately
-
Iterate: 🔁 submit drafts for feedback early and often. Don’t aim for perfection; instead, focus on refining through feedback and revisions
By integrating writing into your research process and detailing your outline thoroughly, you will develop a stronger understanding of your work and reduce stress during the final stages of your thesis 🌟