INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS WRITING A THESIS UNDER MY SUPERVISION

I am very happy and honoured to be your supervisor.

Thesis is a huge undertaking and here are some ground rules that will make our cooperation
effective, fruitful, rewarding and fun
I very much look forward to working with you!

Diploma Seminar requirements

It is your responsibility to know ALL the requirements of the given diploma seminar that you
are enrolled in. Please read them carefully so that you know exactly what you need to do in
order to pass the seminar successfully.

Time management of thesis writing

Time management of writing the thesis is entirely up to the students. Managing the time wisely
is a key part of the process. It is up to the students to decide the best way to manage their time.
It is your sole responsibility to know all the necessary deadlines (such as when it is necessary
to submit the thesis).

You have all my support in a sense that I will be happy to discuss/review anything that you
send me but you should know that reviewing simply takes time. It is in your interest to get my
guidance and you simply can’t expect me to be able to review your thesis/draft chapters in a
hurry.

There are only two rules regarding the time management.

• Make sure that the whole thesis is written ONE MONTH before its submission
deadline to the Diploma seminar folder. The purpse of this arrangement is to provide
for enough time for any revisions.

• Please, design an action plan/timeschedule for your thesis in which you will outline
what you will need to accomplish each month in order to finis the thesis on time (i.e.
one month before its submission deadline to the Diploma seminar folder). You will then
send the action plan to me. Bear in mind that my reviewing simply takes time and also
that there might be many changes to your schedule.

Sending me your draft chapters and revisions

I recommend that you send me the thesis on a chapter-by-chapter basis. It is up to the students
to decide which chapter(s) they send (they do not have to necesarilly start with the first one).

Send me all your drafts in MS Word.

I will always edit, and comment on, your drafts using the Track-Changes mode in MS Word.
• If you don’t know it or if you don’t know how to use it, please find the necessary
information.

When sending me your draft, you will always

• Suggest in an email what your next step(s) will be
When sending me a revision, you will always
• explain succinctly in an email what you have done in this version, how you have
revised the previous version etc.
• explain which of my suggestions you have not decided to take on board (or to take on
board only partially).

Arranging a consultation

I am always happy to discuss whatever you need to discuss. If you want to meet online or in-
person, I will be always happy to. Please, always draft a list of the notes/ideas that you would
like to discuss during our meeting. Once you send them to me, we will arrange a specific time
for our meeting.

Some formal aspects of your thesis

Use references for any claims that you make. A general rule: the more references, the better.

Use a referencing style with in-text citations (not footnotes).

• If there is a name of the author directly in the text, the date follows immediately, such
as As Jones (2022: 31), thesis writing this thesis is a wonderful experience.

You must be consistent with referencing throughout the whole text.

Any abbreviation must be spelled out first

Any name (except for the authors/literature) must be introduced

In-text references must follow the alphabetical order.

Sources

The thesis will be based on the relevant sources (journal articles, books, news articles,
government reports, think tank papers, legal analysis, high-impact blog posts, etc.) that the
students will find themselves. Being able to find and evaluate the relevant literature for the
analysis is part of the task. Databases such as Cambridge, Oxford, SAGE, Wiley Online
available in the electronic resources of the FSS MU library are highly recommended.

Structure of your thesis

An introduction must include (among other things)

• aim of the thesis
• at least one paragraph on why your topic matters (why you have chosen this topic; why
it is relevant)
• (Research) question/puzzle that your thesis will answer
• a literature review (or state-of-the-art review) that addresses the most current research
concerning your topic. Its aim is to provide a critical survey of the existing literature –
explaining how other researchers have researched the subject matter and what their main
findings (research methods/theoretical frameworks) were.
 o Sometimes, we might agree that you will have a whole chapter dedicated to a
literature review.
o If your thesis is a literature review by a genre, obviously other rules apply.

A conclusion must include (among other things)

• Limits and weak spots of your thesis
• Avenues for further research (how subsequent research might build upon your research).