Master's Thesis process
This page contains instructions concerning the Master's Thesis process in WAT programme and Aalto School of Engineering.
Please do also read the two key documents i.e. Thesis instructions and Thesis checklists: they are available as .pdf below.
Make sure you also read the INTO pages concerning Completing your Master's Thesis and Graduation.
You can also find some links to the courses offered by the Language Center, and a Discussion Forum to share other beneficial links, hints, thoughts and for example to find peer support or ask practical questions concerning the thesis.
WAT Master's Thesis process
The Thesis process is a compulsory part of WAT studies, so please make sure you are familiar with it. The detailed instructions are in the pdf document below, but the main steps of the process are:
-
Attending (listening to) one Master's thesis seminar
-
Presenting your research proposal in WAT Master's thesis pre-seminar
-
Attending a Finalizing session
-
Presenting your finalized thesis in WAT Master's thesis seminar
The Thesis schedule
The Thesis is scheduled for the 2nd study year's spring semester, but the implementation depends on your individual study plan. You should, however, start thinking about your interest areas already during the 1st study year and start the Thesis process in the spring term, or the 2nd year's autumn term by attending one Master's Thesis seminar and reading the Aalto ENG guidelines for Master's Thesis (please see the instructions for details).
The Thesis work starts by contacting a WAT professor and agreeing on the topic. The actual work should take around 6 months, during which you will write a research plan and present it in the WAT pre-seminar, write the thesis and attend the finalizing session, and present the finalized theses in WAT Master's Thesis seminar.
WAT Master's Thesis seminar dates
SPRING 2023: Wednesdays on Jan 18th; Feb 15th; March 15th; April 12th; May 17th; June 14th.
The seminar starts always at 15.00 (3pm sharp) @Water Building room 247a (following the seminar through Teams is still possible, but presenters ought to attend at campus).
The pre-seminar takes place in the same room (and Teams channel) at 14.00. The time of the finalising session will be agreed with the registered participants each month separately.
Applying the thesis topic and evaluation/approval
You need to apply for the Master's Thesis topic, and for Master's Thesis evaluation and approval at least two weeks prior to a degree programme committee meeting. Please, see WAT pages in Into for detailed information and the programme committee meeting dates: Completing your thesis
The evaluation form used to grade your thesis, see here.
Useful links
Below you can find links to other Thesis-related pages and courses in Into and MyCourses. Please, use the Discussion forum to share the pages and courses you have found useful, so that we can add them into this page!
Into-pages- WAT Programme's main page
- AaltoENG instructions for master's thesis, Thesis styleguides, Thesis templates, Application deadlines, Turnitin links etc..
(Completing your thesis is under the title Planning your studies)
Courses facilitating the thesis process
-
LC-1320 Thesis Writing for Engineers (MSc) (w), 1-3 credits, in English
- LC-1315 Tools for Master's Thesis, 3 credits, in English
-
LC-7105 Thesis Incubator (w) 2 credits (for students having difficulties with the thesis and scientific text), in Finnish and in English
- https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-built-environment/water-and-environmental-engineering (in the end of the page)
- FileMaster's Thesis Checklist FilePDF document