Starting on your final thesis is a big deal. You have been working towards this for years, learning and trying out theory and methods on case. Now it is time to work independently on a project that should be of great interest to you. Your thesis process will be interesting, hopefully fun, and sometimes hard. Luckily, you are not alone. In addition to your supervisor, you can find information on how to work on and in the end write your thesis, useful links and resources in this online supervision guidelines, and on this specific page your fellow students give you their best advice.
This is an non-exhaustive list – if you have anything to add, please let your supervisor or your student representatives at DBM know.
Expectations for the process:
- You are responsible for your thesis
- The supervisor’s role is to help guide you through the process
Expectations for meetings with your supervisor:
- Find out how to best get in touch with your supervisor. Discuss what the best way and time of contacting each other is. Is it by phone or e-mail, during the morning, afternoon or evenings?
- Book your meetings early. When scheduling a meeting or having a deadline coming up, please be mindful that your supervisor will need time to read your sections and provide feedback. Your supervisor has other commitments and it can take time before the feedback is ready or before a meeting can be scheduled.
- Send short passages of text. Please do not expect your supervisor to be able to read through your entire thesis. Sometimes providing a shorter section is better as the feedback will be more detailed.
- Be prepared. At the meetings, you are supposed to come prepared with specific questions, or seek help to certain issues, you are facing. In some cases, it might be helpful to let your supervisor know beforehand, what is on the agenda.
- For example, instead of asking: “What do you think I should do?”, you could ask: “I have thought about doing x based on (author’s name) article regarding x topic. Do you think that makes sense?”
- You are allowed – and highly encouraged to – ask clarifying questions during the feedback if you are not clear on what your supervisor means.
- For example, ask: “What do you mean when you say x, y and z?”
- Using the feedback is not mandatory. Your supervisor is providing his/her opinion on the topic based on own knowledge and experience. It is up to you, whether you wish to follow their advice or not, but keep in mind that your supervisor will also grade your final thesis in the end.
For more information, please also read “Use your Master Thesis Supervisor”, which can be found here.