Starting a Thesis
Planning for your thesis should begin well before the course starts so that you can start your thesis and be registered on the same day the course begins. Remember to apply for the course!
Finding a Suitable Project and Getting a Supervisor
You are expected to play an active role in finding a suitable project and supervisor for your thesis. This can be done, for example, by contacting researchers at EMG, government agencies, or private companies where suitable tasks are performed. If your thesis is conducted outside EMG, you will normally still be assigned an internal supervisor. You should contact the course coordinator well before the course starts to discuss the choice of subject and get a supervisor assigned.
Submitting the Registration Form and a Project Plan
To be registered for the thesis, you must submit a registration form and a project plan, and get the project plan approved by the course coordinator. The registration form is available on the course's Canvas page. If you cannot access the document, contact the course coordinator. The project plan should be a maximum of two pages and include a background, purpose/problem statement including delimitations, method, literature, and timeline. In some special cases, projects may be allocated a small budget. If a budget is requested, it should also be justified and specified in the project plan. The project plan should be written by you and approved by the supervisor and course coordinator.
Attending the Start-up Meeting
You must attend the mandatory start-up meeting held on the first day of each 15-credit block, or alternatively contact the course coordinator for exceptions. The meeting is held in English if necessary.
Work Process
Supervision
The supervisor should provide supervision corresponding to the time specified in the evaluation template. The supervisor informs you of the number of hours allocated for supervision for the current work (different hours for 15, 30, and 60-credit theses). However, it is your responsibility to ensure that meetings with the supervisor take place and that you make the best use of the supervision time allocated to you. Once the supervision time or course time is exhausted, you cannot demand further supervision and must continue the thesis on your own. Depending on the nature of the project and the student's abilities, the need for supervision may vary between projects. However, supervision should normally always include the following elements:
- An initial meeting between you and the supervisor where the work process is clarified and you discuss the required supervision.
- A discussion of the study's purpose/questions/hypotheses and choice of methods before the study begins, which may lead to adjustments to the project plan.
- A discussion of the report's structure and content well before the final submission.
- A discussion of how the results should be interpreted before the report writing is completed.
- The supervisor should also have read a complete version of the thesis, with tables, figures, and references, before it is submitted to the examiner.
It is especially important to carefully plan supervisor contacts towards the end of the thesis so that the supervisor has the opportunity to supervise and/or read through the thesis before the seminar. You bear full responsibility for the quality of the written report and the oral presentation. The supervisor's role is to provide guidance, such as advice on how tasks should be performed, demonstration of practical elements, advice on how statistical analyses should be performed, tips on how writing can be improved, etc. It is your responsibility to follow the thesis templates provided on the student web for theses. The project plan and timeline can only be changed in consultation between you, the supervisor, and the course coordinator. For longer theses (30 credits and 60 credits), you should check with your supervisor to ensure that the thesis progresses as planned at each 15-credit period. If problems are identified, the course coordinator should be contacted.
Rules to Prevent Cheating and Misconduct
Theses at the department should be conducted according to good scientific practice to prevent cheating and misconduct. It is the student's responsibility to ensure this, but the supervision should inform about these guidelines. This means following the instructions in the Rules Collection for Undergraduate Education at Umeå University. This includes, of course, that human and animal ethical permits are obtained when necessary, that informed consent is obtained when necessary, and that sensitive personal data is handled according to established norms. The supervisor should help identify potential ethical issues when discussing the project plan. You should, in consultation with the supervisor, clarify how these should be resolved (permit applications, change of method). Cheating and misconduct in research refer to intentional distortion of the research process through fraudulent actions such as data fabrication, theft or plagiarism of data, distortion of the research process through improper use of methodology, dishonest inclusion or exclusion of data, or fraudulent analysis of data that intentionally distorts the interpretation. For more detailed definitions of this, see: SOU 1999:4 - Good Practice in Research or the Swedish Research Council's website on ethics.
A Place to Work During the Thesis
It is your responsibility to arrange a place to work during the thesis. Workspaces are available at the university library, and you can also use EMG's computer lab when they are not booked for courses. In cases where a workplace in laboratories or offices at EMG is required to carry out the thesis, it is the supervisor's responsibility to arrange a suitable workplace. If access to the fixed network is required, the supervisor should contact the computer responsible at EMG according to the department's guidelines. Offices will mainly be relevant for the longest theses (60 credits).
Presentation and Examination
Presentation
You should present the thesis according to the guidelines in the document Instructions for Presentation at Thesis Seminars available on the thesis webpage. Presentation dates can be found on the course's Canvas page. The examiner must approve that the work meets the Pass level before you can present your thesis. To allow the examiner to read the work and the opponent to receive the work in time for their opposition, the thesis should be sent to the examiner well in advance. The course coordinator informs about the submission date for the current presentation occasion.
Submitting a Corrected Version
Following the seminar, you should correct your work based on the feedback from the opponent, seminar participants, and examiner. This does not mean that you must follow the criticism from the opponent and seminar participants. The criticism is feedback that you should carefully consider and evaluate. Note that the examiner may require corrections or additions that must be made for the work to be finally approved. You should submit a corrected version no later than two weeks after the seminar.
Uploading the Final Version
You should upload the final version of the thesis in DIVA for electronic publication. Instructions are available on the course's Canvas page. The thesis is then reported to LADOK.