We recommend that you begin reflecting on your thesis early, perhaps already when you start your Master’s degree programme.
- Consider possible topics
- Find potential main and co-supervisors
You can seek inspiration in the courses you find exciting, talk to your teachers or the head of the programme.
You should also consider if you want to do your thesis in collaboration with a company, and whether you want to do it individually or as a group project in collaboration with a fellow student.
Your main supervisor has the formal responsibility for supervising you in relation to the academic content of the thesis project and must participate in the final thesis examination. However, the main supervisor is not supposed to read and correct the entire report before you submit it.
In order for your main supervisor to be able to help you in the best possible way, it is important that you are open and honest with your main supervisor in relation to any challenges, questions and problems that arise during the project period. The earlier you respond to any challenges and problems, the greater the likelihood that you and your main supervisor will have time to address them so you can get to the finish line on time.
If you the thesis project partially or entirely at a foreign university, or in collaboration with a company, you will typically have an external co-supervisor there. In such cases, you must also have an internal main supervisor at SDU. An agreement must made, specifying the division of work between the supervisors, so that the internal main supervisor ensures that the thesis complies with applicable norms and guidelines for scientific theses.
- Make a project timeline with objectives
Plan the entire thesis project process by making a project timeline with objectives for your own personal use alongside the working plan which is part of your project description. Drawing up objectives requires that you clarify what overall parts you divide the thesis project into: preliminary preparations, literature searching, reading, data collection, analysis, writing, feedback, proofreading and so on.
Having done that, you need to think the process through backwards and ask yourself: If I must submit my thesis on 1 June, when do I need to have my proofreading ready? My analysis? And continue until you have worked out an overall timeline.
The process of dividing the timeline into objectives also requires dividing the main tasks into smaller parts. For example, ask yourself: If I must begin my analysis in April, when do I need to have my experiments done? Continue dividing the main tasks into objectives until you have a concrete objective for approximately each week.
Try to be as concrete as possible in order to make sure that it is possible for you to know when each task is completed. It's more motivating to have clear smaller objectives than a large objective lying, for example, several months out into the future.
- Highlight your progress and celebrate your successes
When you have defined clear, concrete objectives you can use them to highlight your progress throughout the thesis process. By focusing on your progress you can achieve a sense of accomplishment, thereby improving and strengthening your own effort to reach your goals.
Highlight your thesis progress, for example by writing your concrete tasks on post-its. One task for each post-it, that you hang on a wall, put on your desk or somewhere similar. You can then remove or curl up your post-its as you complete each task. Using this method will give you a sense that you have achieved something, combined with the fact that your process will be more visible.
Another method is to use a log book, where you can reflect on and track your process, for example: What did I do today? What am I doing tomorrow? What is going well? What am I having doubts about? In doing this it will become clear how you are progressing in the process.
Also remember to celebrate your successes and your pile of post-its by doing something good for yourself or doing activities you care about, for example coffee with Jonas, watching a film or going for a run. By celebrating your successes you create a positive working environment, that will help push you forward one step at a time.
- A weekly timetable for thesis, work and leisure
Another practical exercise could be to draw up a timetable for the following week every Sunday, dividing your time into time devoted to the thesis, leisure and, in case you have a student job, work. The advantage of having a timetable is motivation, because you know exactly when to work on your thesis and when you can do other things. It also ensures that you can have a good conscience whenever you spend time on other activities.
- Find a good setting for working on your thesis
It may be a good idea to work on your thesis away from home. That way your time is divided into time working with the thesis and leisure time. Being away from your private sphere, where you perhaps both eat, hang out and sleep, could make it easier for you to manage the time you spend working on the thesis. The study area may be somewhere on SDU or outside of SDU, for example your local library or at the company you cooperate with on your thesis.
- Clear your mental desk and avoid procrastination
It's impossible to concentrate when you mental desk is messy: 'buy a gift for mom', 'trade the shift at work', 'call Anne'. Therefore, it's a good idea to park that mental noise. And a genius place to park it is on a to-do list. When you have written everything down, your brain will have the feeling that you have taken care of it and you will be able to focus better.
It's a good idea to remove potential triggers of procrastination that might disturb you. I may be that you put your phone away. Different studies show that after a disturbance, such as a text message, it can take up to 15 minutes to return to your work and continue where you left off.
If you have a hard time putting your phone or social media away when you're working on your thesis, try the app Forrest to keep focused. Trees grow on your screen until a whole forest emerges if you can keep your focus.
- Face the challenges!
If you find yourself faced with challenges during the thesis process, act on them straight away and talk to someone who may help you. Once you get trapped in a vicious cycle, it is very difficult to break it.
