CS Design Thesis Platform 2023-
Topic outline
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Creative Sustainability thesis process guidelines
In the links below, you will find information on the thesis process in the Creative Sustainability programme in Design. The thesis process includes the Thesis Plan Proposal, PART 1 (Extended Thesis Plan), PART 2 (Fieldwork, analysis & oral presentation) and PART 3 (Final thesis hand-in). Students receive 10 ECTs upon the approval of completion of each part.-
Thesis Plan Proposal guidelines
Here are guidelines for the Thesis Plan Proposal in the Creative Sustainability program.
The Thesis Plan Proposal acts an opening for the thesis. It should contain a specific thesis idea and supporting concepts. This plan, as it is understood to be a reflection of work that is in-process, helps facilitate discussion between the student and potential supervisors. The Thesis Plan Proposal is a prerequisite and precursor to the Extended Thesis Plan.
The TPO's MyCourses page has helpful resources regarding the writing the Thesis Plan Proposal, including the Thesis Plan Proposal template. However, even if the template suggest that you have a preliminary literature review done, the CS Thesis Plan proposal does not require this.Your Thesis Plan Proposal should contain:
- An abstract (one paragraph)
- The background (what is the topic area and why is it important)
- A research question (your preliminary idea of what are you trying to find out in your thesis)
- The method (how are you going to be working in your thesis)
- Possible partners in the project and potential advisors/supervisors
- Potential costs of the project and funding if applicable
- An estimated schedule of the project: separate blocks of time should be allocated for different parts of the thesis
-Risks of the project and a plan for dealing with setbacks if they arise
Thesis Plan Proposals should be submitted here at least five days before the date of the presentations. On presentation day, students present a short (less than ten minutes), visual presentation of their thesis ideas for feedback. The next date for the presentations is Friday 29th September.
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PART 1 guidelines
The purpose of these guidelines is to give details on what is required from students in the Creative Sustainability programme to pass the thesis process PART 1, ‘Extended Thesis plan’.
Extended Thesis Plan
Students need to participate in a Thesis Plan Proposal presentation prior to writing their Extended Thesis Plan. The Thesis Plan Proposal should include a topic area, tentative research questions and ideas for methods. The plan at this stage will be used to assign a supervisor for the student and approve the topic.
Students then write an Extended Thesis Plan and meet with a supervisor in order to get approval for the plan and the 10 ECTS for the first phase of the thesis. This meeting and approval should happen in November-December. Extended Thesis Plans should be submitted by email directly to supervisors. Please also upload your approved Extended Thesis Plan here.
The Extended Thesis Plan needs to contain:
-Student name, student number
-Provisional title
-Supervisor
-Advisor(s)
Introduction: What is this thesis about? Why have you chosen this topic? What is its significance, what are its aims? What could this thesis contribute to debate and practice in the field of Creative Sustainability?
Background: Review of this topic. What do we know already? What angles, conceptual frameworks and methods have been used? What is the current state of knowledge?
Your theoretical/conceptual framework: How do you approach your topic? You can draw on previous literature on the topic, or argue for a different approach.
Methods: How will you carry out the work? What are you planning to do? How will you collect/make your material? How will you treat/analyze it? How will the methods you are considering help you produce the evidence and analysis that your thesis needs?
Timetable with a rough allocation of working hours
List of references that is properly formatted
A suitable length for this text is approximately 10 pages (not including your reference list and images). Write in proper academic style. Use references in the text and list all your references in a reference list. This way, you produce text that will be useful for you in the final thesis. You can use images as well. Take time to edit your text thoroughly and annotate your references.
PART 1 is a useful step in your thesis journey. However, bear in mind that thesis work is a creative process, and no two individuals can have the same experience. Supervisors recognize that student performance may vary considerably while still conforming broadly to the three 10 ECTS sections. In awarding credits, supervisors will use their judgment to help you get the best possible results. They will also recognize that later phases of your process may necessitate changes in e.g. methods. Take PART 1 as a very useful and essential compass/map/orientation for your thesis journey.
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PART 2 guidelines
Thesis PART 2 comprises the work that you do to gain more knowledge about your topic (probably a mix of empirical work and design activities depending on your method(s), as well as reading and writing). In PART 2 use the thesis text as a medium for organizing and working with data and ideas. Thesis PART 2 includes an oral presentation of your thesis.
Thesis PART 2 credits will be issued when you have presented your thesis, preferably at one of the CS Design PART 2 presentation days. Part 2 text should be approved by the supervisor before the presentation. Please register in MyCourses and inform your supervisor if you want to present your thesis as part of the CS Design presentation day. The presentations should be planned for 10 min duration.
The thesis text should include at this point the following:
1) You describe your methodology. (‘What did you do?’). Reflect on how the work unfolded in respect to the plan.
2) You document the new data you have collected in a way that is useful to you. (‘What did you manage to gather and collect?’). Reflect on the sufficiency and reliability of the data or the informativeness of your production.
3) You explain what you have been doing with your data. This is your analytical method. (Think of this step as describing your next steps after collecting data).
4) You describe what is emerging from your analysis. Organise your data. Treat/analyse your own data with the help of the concepts from PART 1 (Extended Thesis Plan). (Think about this as reporting what you observe when you engage with your data with the selected conceptual lenses, tools and frameworks).
Item 1) and 3) will be directly useful for writing about methods and data in the final thesis. Item 4) is more tentative, but you do need to present some initial interpretations of the data in a conceptual language that will fit the final text, even if your results are still pending.
If your thesis is a design project, the same steps apply. You need to describe what you did, what was created, your approaches to analyzing the outcome, and the tentative results of the analysis.
Thesis PART 2 should follow your Extended Thesis Plan (Thesis PART 1). If your plan requires major adjustments, negotiate these with your supervisor/advisor and also let your supervisor know about significant alterations. You will ideally make use of your Thesis Plan Proposal and Extended Thesis Plan in PART 2.
Please submit your full thesis draft before the PART 2 presentation day to your supervisor. Some supervisors have their own MyCourses page for full-text submission, please check with them if they want you to submit directly on their page. Here is a list of supervisor's MyCourses page:
PART 2 oral presentation is a mandatory part of thesis work and needs to be completed before the final thesis hand-in in eAge. When your thesis is ready to be evaluated, please participate in one of the CS Design PART 2 presentation days to get an examination permission from your supervisor. The oral presentation must be completed before examination permission can be given.
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Part 3 guidelines
Before submitting your final thesis to the eAge system (i.e. Thesis PART 3), after your Thesis Part 2 presentation, enter your thesis draft into the Turnitin-plagiarism detection system. Please use “Independent Turnitin Originality Check” and send the result report to your advisor. If your advisor is from outside Aalto, please check the result report with your supervisor. In ARTS, Turnitin is used as a tool to check if all your citations in your thesis work are done correctly. Your draft should have all the text parts including the abstract and the reference list.
Review your text's Turnitin report together with your advisor, and edit your text accordingly if needed, before submitting your final thesis for review to your supervisor and department.
In the case that you have an advisor from outside of Aalto, you can check your Turnitin report with you supervisor. Confirm this with your advisor/supervisor beforehand.
You should submit your full text to Turnitin 3 weeks before the deadline for submitting your final thesis. Dates for final thesis hand-in can be found here. Make sure to receive approval from your advisor and supervisor before uploading the final thesis in eAge.
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