tips and tricks - ku leuven...2019/11/18 · tips and tricks : master’s thesis @ ku leuven for...
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Tips and tricks :
Master’s thesis @ KU Leuven
for Humanities and Social Sciences
Karel JoosStudy Advice ServiceNovember the 18th 2019
This evening
o 8 - 9pm:
• Tips and tricks : Master's thesis @ KU Leuven
Karel Joos, Study Advice Service KU Leuven
o 9-10pm:
• Tips and tricks : Writing skills @ KU Leuven
Maartje Everaert, ILT KU Leuven
Introduction
Content of the session: general approach
o Not: Regulations in your faculty
o Focus: how to organise thesis work
o 1 Year MA Program
Overview of session1. Goal
2. Long term planning
3. Choice of topic
4. Brainstorm
5. Library research
6. Temporary table of content (!)
7. Research
8. Analysis of results
9. Writing
10.Finishing touch
11.Role of promotor
1. Goal of master’s thesis
• Proof you can:
o Summarize large amount of information (literature)
o Restructure in own overview (table of content)
o Conduct scientific research
o Write in academic style
o Work independently (limited coaching of promotor)
• Not:
o World shocking new scientific discoveries
o Super intelligent insights
o PhD
2. Long term planning
• Oct-Nov :
o Choice of topic
o Brainstorm
o Library research
o Temporary table of content : word document that is growing
• Dec :
o Writing first draft chapter 1 : literature
• Jan - Feb :
o Research
o (Statistical) analysis of results
• March – April :
o Writing
o Rewriting literature part
• May :
o Rewriting
o Finishing touch
3. Choice of topic
• Facultary organisation
• How to decide?
• Information about other facultary rules
o How many pages
o Criteria
o Regulations about style :
• Academic reporting
• Quotes and references
• Tables
• Formal aspects (front page, …)
• …
o Deadlines
4. Brainstorm
• About :
o Where to look for information?• Relevant aspects (broader scope)
• Library (search engines)
• Other thesis, PhD research
• ….
o How to conduct your research?
o Hypotheses
o …
4. Brainstorm
• Hypothesis = statement
• Operationalisation = how to check statement
• Research
• Example
Effect + Effect -
Cause + high low
Cause - low high
5. Library research
• Get a general idea of the theoretical background of your
research by reading articles/books.
• Library : search engineso http://bib.kuleuven.be/english/ub/searching
o Limo, Eric, Web of Science, …
• Marking (post-its)
o Key concepts
• KUBIC
KUBIC
5. Library research
• Elements of reference list:
o Author(s)
o Name of book, journal
o Year of publication
o Publisher
o ? Quoting from website ?
• Composing references by digital programs:o End note
o Mendeley
o Zotero
o Docear
o Reference manager
6. Temporary table of content
• Heart of the matter!
• Difficulty :
o Large amount of information
o Trying to have the whole content of your thesis in mind?
o Unstructured
• The very problem for most students in individualcoaching!!!
6. Temporary table of content
• Preface
• Table of content
• Introduction
• Chptr 1 : Overview of literature
• Chptr 2 : Research plan
o Hypotheses, methodology, …
• Chptr 3 : Research
o Implementation, results,…
• Chptr 4 : Conclusions and suggestions for further research
o Comparison : hypotheses - results
• List of tabels, figures
• Bibliography – reference list
• Annexes
6. Temporary table of content
• From chaos to structure????
• Initial data :
?
6. Temporary table of content
• Structured data:
6. Temporary table of content
• How to structure unstructered info
o There’s no structure that perfectly fits the data
o Structure = tool to communicate with the reader
• Decide yourself what structure should be
o Example 1 : “house” : to structure according to :
• Different rooms
• Different looks from the outside
• Different phases in which it was built (first
basement,…)
• Different sorts of material used
o Example 2 : thesis
6. Temporary table of content
• Word document
o With key words on different levels
o Easy to change structure
o Write down everything you think of
• Concepts, formulas, remarks, quotes, theories,
articles,…
• Suggestions
• Things to do??
• = One overview (working paper)
o Later on : start from this document to write the same in
full sentences
7. Research
• Interview, experiments, text analysis, …
• Takes lots of time
• Prepare in advance
o Make a plan/calendar
o Appointments for an interview : 3 weeks before?
8. (Statistical) analysis
• Confrontation with quality/quantity of data
o Risk of postponing the confrontation
• A ‘negative’ result is a result as well.
9. Writing
• Final table of content
o Will be read by almost anyone
o Text itself will not always be read from a to z
• An academic reader will read :
• Table of content
• Reference list
• Conclusions
• Main results
• Text
o Starting from temporary table of content
o 1 page per day
9. Writing
• Comprehensible
o Tell story to someone
• Academic
o Objective :
• Verifiable facts
• Verifiable sources
o Clear difference between personal opinion and facts
• See next presentation : writing skills (Maartje)
9. Writing
• Meta language :
o Language about the language
o Say what you’re going to say
• “To summarize”
• “On the contrary”
• “I will focus on ….”
o Explicitation of links
• From paragraph to paragraph
• “The same result was found in…”
• “On a more general level, the results of …”
• From part to part
9. Writing
• Quotes and references
o Lots of discussion within KU Leuven(!)
o Within text + in reference list
o Facultary regulations
o Plagiarism :• http://www.kuleuven.be/plagiarism/
o What in case of :• Paraphrasing
• Summarizing only the idea of an author
• Common sense
Finishing touch
• Misspelling
• Lay out
• Tabels, figures
• …
11. What to expect from your promotor
• Differences between promotors
o Promotor >< daily supervisor
• Promotor :
o Initial indication
o Suggestions on content, research
o Reading text
o +/- 4 appointments
• Expects you to work independently
Contact
o Study Advice Service
Naamsestraat 80
3000 Leuven
016/32 43 11
www.kuleuven.be/studyadvice
Good luck!