What is a Master’s Thesis (1)

A document that stands on its own feet
Typically describes a topic, investigates a problem, and describes a solution
Not like an exam: Worked on for a long time, revised multiple times, etc.
Independent work under guidance

What is a Master’s Thesis (2)

Contributes something new to a field
For example:
- A new algorithm
- New experimental results or new insights
- New applications/implementations of existing theory/algorithms
- A survey of results
- Etc.

Two variants

Long thesis (most common)
- 60 credits (“studiepoeng”)
- Ca. 100 pages (but heavily depends on topic)
- Often over three semesters

Short thesis
- 30 credits
- 17 weeks
- Fixed start and deadline
- 70 pages (heavily depends on topic)

Long thesis (60 credits)

Often more open-ended
Student encouraged to participate more in the formulation of the topic
Deadline more flexible (can ask for extensions)
Can start working once the topic is decided

Short thesis (30 credits)

Topic more focused
Often formulated as a concrete problem to solve
Less freedom to shape problem/topic
Hard deadlines

Your topic

Can often be tailored to your interests
You will work on it for a long time, make sure it is something you find interesting!
So:

Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.
Alternatively:

If you can’t choose what you love, learn to love what you choose.

Results

The result (program, prototype implementation, etc.) is not the most important
- E.g. the concrete program storing and searching strings with emoticons

The important part is the insights gained in the process of developing the solution
- Which properties of emoticon strings you use for efficient search
- Why or how does your program work?
- What makes emoticons different from normal characters
- Etc.

Also important to document and present your solution

… and Failure

Failure can be just as interesting as success!
E.g. a failed experiment, failing to solve a difficult problem, etc.
In case of failure describe the insights you got in the process
- Why did you fail?
- Does the failure tell us something new about the problem?
- How should your approach be changed in order to accommodate these insights?

Your supervisor

Your supervisor is there to help you develop your skills
They will be your discussion partner
They will be your guide in the topic’s field
Tip: Write and share text with your supervisor often!
Don’t be afraid to ask “stupid” questions!
Expect constructive criticism
Make a plan for supervision

The essay (only for long thesis)

Typical deadline: 1. June 2024
Topic decided by you and your supervisor
Gets you started with writing
Helps you get an overview
Text often reused in the final thesis
Typically 10-15 pages
Gets approved by your supervisor
1-2 cycles of feedback and revision before submission
Tip: Use the essay to get comfortable with the field, tools, supervision, etc.

Thesis: Structure and content

Varies from thesis to thesis, but generally:

- Introduction
- Background, theory, methodology
- Presentation of the work
- Analysis and discussion
- Conclusion and suggestions for future work
- Appendix

The thesis should be readable by a fellow master student at IFI with some knowledge about the field.
Tip: Look at other’s theses for inspiration: https://www.duo.uio.no
Tip: Make the document and a tentative structure early

Collaboration

Two or more students can collaborate
Can either:
- Write complete thesis together (maximum 2 students)
- “Fork thesis”
- Collaborate only on experiments and data gathering
Collaboration can give drive and added creativity
But discuss potential conflict areas:
- How much effort each puts in
- How often one should meet
- How should you handle disagreements

Writing thesis with a company

Motivating that someone is waiting for your work and might apply it!
Learning about an industry, a company or an applied topic
“Networking”

Things to note:

Ownership of ideas, source code, etc. should be cleared in advance
The boundaries between thesis work and free labour is difficult
Think through ethical issues in advance
Discuss issues as soon as they come up with your (internal) supervisor

Writing – Making sense to yourself

Write everything relevant down, right away
Don’t wait until you have all details figured out
- Read, write, collect data, design, program - All at the same time (with different weights)
Writing about something often makes it clear what you understand and don’t yet understand
If you can’t formulate it, you haven’t finished thinking about it
Expect to rewrite the same paragraph multiple times
Writing a clear and simple text takes a lot of effort
For some, writing a diary/log is helpful

Writing – Making sense to others

Your reader cannot look inside your head
Write complete proper sentences, also for your supervisor
Use spellcheckers
- Can use aspell for LaTeX or similar (e.g. aspell -c thesis.tex)
Guide the reader through your text
- Refresh their memory, sum up, use internal references in your text, etc.
- Make proper bridges between sections (“Now we have seen… We will now look at…”)

Signposting
- “I am aware of X, but this is outside the scope of this thesis”
- “I am aware of problem Y, and I will get back to this in section Z.”

Language

Either English or a Scandinavian language
Pick the language that you are most comfortable with, given the topic and supervisor
Be consistent
- Make an effort to translate English terms into Norwegian
- Try not to write like this:
  
  Vi skal lage et “object oriented program” som tar “user input” via et “command-line shell” som blir “parsed” og “translated” til et “dictionary”.
Define non-standard or translated words you use in your introduction/background section or in a separate dictionary
If you use many mathematical symbols, make a list of symbols together with their meaning
Tip: http://sokogskriv.no/en/ is a helpful resource on referencing (styles, formal requirements, etc.)

Writing style

Each field has its own style conventions
Get fimilar with these when reading background material and related work
Try to follow the conventions of your field
Still room for your own style within these conventions
These conventions also concern structure, see e.g.:

Important principles of thesis writing

Never copy-paste work from others!
However, you can quote others, assuming proper referencing
Make sure you do proper referencing
Try to find original source
References used for:
- giving credits (quotes, images, etc.)
- supporting claims
- making a web of science (related work, more info on topic, etc.)
Ask your supervisor when in doubt
Note: Not allowed to use content generated by ChatGPT (or similar tool) as if it is made by you

Motivation

Your motivation will vary from day to day
Some days you might be thrilled over your progress
Other days you may feel that everything you have done so far is worthless
This is completely normal!
Tip: Find out what motivates you!

Deadlines

Deadlines is perhaps the most important factor in “getting things done”
You only have three formal deadlines
- The study plan (should already be delivered)
- The essay
- The deadline for the entire thesis

Gamification

For my PhD I made the following point system:

Wrote down all remaining TODOs
Gave each TODO a score of 1, 3, 7 or 7n points
Each day needed to do 7 points worth of TODOs
Awarded myself 1 point for splitting a large TODO into smaller TODOs
Points assigned such that TODOs done well before deadline

# TODOS:
(1) Fix missing citation in section 3.1
(1) Move definition of "graph" from section 4.1 to 3.9
(3) Define the term "natural graph" in section 4.2
(3) Fix fig. 2.6 to reflect changes in surrounding text
(7) Write section 4.3

Expect a crisis (or several)

Theme too difficult or too broad
Experiments fail or other failures
Writer’s block
The impostor syndrome (“I am a fraud” or “I know nothing”)
- Tip: Save your early drafts and see how far you have come!

Utilize student community (“rubber duck”, discuss, reading groups, etc.)
In general: Seek critique of your work, ideas and writing!

Failing/struggling is part of the learning process!

  
  
  
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Slides at http://leifhka.org/talks/thesis-writing (Press ‘A’ for reading mode)

Introduction to Thesis Writing