Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course is jointly organized by the School of Electrical Engineering and the Language Centre. The learning objectives concern both the overall thesis process as well as the writing process. Upon completion of this course, students will be able to

• recognise the different phases in his/her Master s thesis process
• write a schedule, including a research plan, supporting the timely completion of the Master s thesis
• understand the principles of scientific research and communication
• recognise the organisational and language features specific to the major divisions of a Master s thesis in engineering disciplines,
• employ metatextual strategies to produce clear, reader-friendly text,
• apply advanced features of cohesion, grammar and punctuation common to academic writing in a Master s thesis,
• assess common weaknesses in academic texts and revise to improve readability

Credits: 2

Schedule: 13.09.2021 - 31.07.2022

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Clemens Icheln, Pasi Lassila, Pekka Forsman, Robert Millar, Jenni Tulensalo, Kenneth Pennington, Anya Siddiqi

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  During the course, students set goals for the Master s thesis process, write and submit a research plan, as well as provide and receive peer feedback on this research plan.  After submitting the final version of the research plan, students write an initial draft of the introduction chapter and revise it based on face-to-face feedback with a writing instructor. Before writing this initial draft, students will work through online materials focusing on the structure, function and language features specific to the introduction chapter.   

  Working life skills: Knowledge of research in own field, Skills in foreign languages, Information retrieval skills, Written communication, Self-awareness, Critical thinking skills, Analytical skills, Life-long learning skills, and Self-confidence. 

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course activities consist of one introductory lecture, group discussions and peer-reviews, assignment submissions, online tutorial videos and exercises, as well as one revised version of the thesis introduction chapter. All assignments are related to students' own thesis topic/project. 

  The assessment is based on successful

  • completion of individual assignment submissions,
  • participation in peer-reviews, discussions and feedback sessions, 
  • revision of own thesis introduction chapter 

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Contact/Online teaching 1 h

  Contact meetings 2 h

  Independent work 51 h

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Available online in MyCourses

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Timing of the course: Student should enrol to the course when he/she has agreed on the thesis topic and is about to start preparing the research plan. Enrolment to the course is possible at any time during periods I-V. According the proposed course schedule, the duration of the course is 3 months starting from the date of enrolment.

  Teaching Period:

  2020-2021 Autumn I-Spring V

  2021-2022 Autumn I-Spring V

  Course Homepage: https://mycourses.aalto.fi/course/search.php?search=ELEC-E0210

  Registration for Courses: In the academic year 2021-2022, registration for courses will take place on Sisu (sisu.aalto.fi) instead of WebOodi.

Description