How...to identify the subject for bachelor or master thesis?
Choose a topic that relates to the robotics.
Find literature, read and think, discuss with your supervisor, and develop a research question. As you know, a thesis statement is the core point you want to make in your bachelor or master. It is the structuring principle. So is a research question, but it formulates what you want to find the answer to.
Develop an outline based on the research question and your readings.
Flesh out the outline into text; make time for a first, a second and preferably a third draft before the finished text (= three revisions).
This means you don't have nearly as much time as you think!!! To avoid pain, start NOW and work systematically and continuously.
Read, think, write in a continuous process, little by little, eat the elephant one bite a day.
Try to keep it fun, not just a chore or a source of stress – and lots of luck!
Your supervisor is there to help you stay on track!
There may be several difficulties in thesis work: your topic or research question may turn out not to be feasible, the literature you find may be of limited relevance or you may have missed some central references, you may get lost in your analysis or your writing.
Bachelor Thesis
The bachelor thesis is among your final tasks to complete your degree, and a chance to use and demonstrate the knowledge, skills and understanding you have acquired.
The point of the bachelor thesis is to demonstrate your ability to:
work independently
identify a relevant technical topic
review literature about it
critically analyse it and identify the gap
design a product, an industrial process or a software application
write up your findings/ achievements
The contents of a Bachelor Thesis - A proposal
Introduction. Briefly introduce the topic, explaining its relevance (e.g. to an academic debate or an important challenge – why should a reader be interested in your topic?). Present a clear research question. You can also include a short paragraph on how you intend to answer the question.
Literature review/conceptual framework. Briefly present the relevant literature to the conceptual framework, explaining how it addresses the chosen topic. Here you can indicate what perspectives in literature are relevant for the topic you will discuss. It can be useful also to present, and define very briefly, some key concepts you will use as analytical tools in your paper.
Empirical examples. Often referred to as “case studies”. Unless you discuss a purely theoretical issue, you need to design on one or more concrete examples of what you are discussing, using them to illustrate your analysis and discussion. These examples can either be taken from academic literature or from other sources (e.g., internet, scientific databases, etc.). In this part, you present the features of a case study, or case studies, that are relevant to your topic and analysis.
Discussion/analysis. This is the most central part of the thesis. This is where you make your point(s). You do his by using the concepts you presented in II as analytical tools, to discuss the empirical materials presented in III. You can discuss different concepts and approaches, you can argue for your interpretations, and you can make comparisons.
"Empirical examples" and "Discussion/analysis" parts may be braided together, so that you present one aspect of the empirical materials, discuss it, then present the next empirical aspect and discuss it, and so on.Conclusion. Summarise the key points you made in part "Discussion/analysis". What did you find, what have you learned, and how does this relate to the research question of the thesis?
References. A complete list of the references you have used in the text.
How Long Should it Be? How Long Does it Take?
A bachelor’s thesis is generally 60-80 pages on Robotics Specialisation, not including the bibliography. However, the length will vary according to the topic and the used methods, so the appropriate length will be determined by you and your supervisor.
Students who write a bachelor’s thesis generally do so over one semester.
Bachelor Thesis
Example 1
Bachelor Thesis
Example 2
Bachelor Thesis
Example 3
Master Thesis
A master's thesis enables you an opportunity to develop (and prove that you have developed) a deeper knowledge and understanding of a particular area of study. In addition to developing a deeper content knowledge, you are also demonstrating research and writing skills.
Especially during the master project you have to show that you can:
interpret a possibly general project proposal and translate it to more concrete research questions.
find and study relevant literature, software and hardware tools, and critically assess their merits.
work in a systematic way and document your findings as you progress.
work in correspondence with the level of the elective courses you have followed.
perform original work that has sufficient depth to be relevant to the research in the chair.
work independently and goal oriented under the guidance of a supervisor.
seek assistance within the research group or elsewhere, if required and beneficial for the project.
benefit from the guidance of your supervisor by scheduling regular meetings, provide the supervisor with progress reports and initiate topics that will be discussed.
organise your work by making a project plan, executing it, adjusting it when necessary, and handling unexpected developments.
write a master’s thesis that motivates your work for a general audience, and communicates the work and its results in a clear, well-structured way to your peers.
give a presentation with similar qualities to fellow-students and members of the chair.
The master's thesis is broadly understood as a demonstration of independent work and often, but not always, serves as a preparatory stage for doctoral work.
The contents of a Master Thesis - A proposal
Introduction. Briefly introduce the topic, explaining its relevance (e.g. to an academic debate or an important challenge – why should a reader be interested in your topic?). Present a clear research question. You can also include a short paragraph on how you intend to answer the question.
This chapter of the thesis usually includes a section on the Statement of the Problem (information about the specific problem), Background and Need (the background literature related to the problem), the Purpose of the Study (the focus and goal of the study), Research Questions (what questions the study proposes to answer), and other significant sections. In this chapter, you need to support all of your claims and positions using citations from empirical research studies, government reports and data, Web sites, and theory and opinion papers.
Review of the Literature. Introduces the reader to the research literature related to the topic. The literature review also provides the justification for your study as you indicate the gaps and weaknesses in the existing research. At the end of the literature review, there should also be a summary that ties together all of the literature related to the topic.
Methods/ Materials and Methodology. This section explains the research methods and design approaches that were used to conduct the study. The critical part of writing this chapter is to describe the actual procedures that were used to conduct the study.
Results and Discussions. This section should include the findings of your thesis and ONLY the findings of your thesis. The findings include:
Data presented in tables, charts, graphs, and other figures (may be placed among research text or on a separate page)
A contextual analysis of this data explaining its meaning in sentence form
Report on data collection, recruitment, and/or participants
Data that corresponds to the central research question(s)
Secondary findings (secondary outcomes, subgroup analyses, etc.)
Conclusions and Recommendations. Summarise the key points you made in part "Discussion/analysis". What did you find, what have you learned, and how does this relate to the research question of the thesis? Next, it should describe which objectives have been reached (Contributions) and how. Limitations of the results should be indicated, as well as possible future work.
References. A complete list of the references you have used in the text.
Master Thesis
Example 1
Master Thesis
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Master Thesis
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Practical Advice Regarding Bachelor and Master Thesis
Do not leave the writing to the last: working on the implementation and written thesis in parallel will force the student to clarify and reformulate ideas, which might often lead to new ideas and save time on editing, re-editing and restructuring later.
Discuss in detail with your supervisor before you start writing and design a body for your thesis: it is in the best interest of the supervisor that the student graduates as fast as possible and is left without wider difficulties. A typical problem at the beginning stage that can be fixed easily is a content structure, in which theory and practice have been clearly divided into two separate parts.
Write things in the right order: most people find it convenient to write their thesis in the order of their table of contents. It is usually a good idea to start by writing the introduction, because the introduction spells out and defines the aims and scope of the thesis. The other chapters in the opening part of the thesis usually lay out the parameters and working environment, the needed theoretical basis of the thesis etc.; they can also be written fairly early on in the process. The opening part of the thesis also includes the literature review. It is highly recommended that you keep track of your references and document them while you are writing, because you might forget or lose track of your sources later.
Do not get stuck: If you feel you are not advancing with your writing, although you feel like you know your topic, there might be something wrong in the way you work. In this case, do not waste time in wondering and fretting; instead seek advice in the instructions above. If this does not help, then usually your supervisor(s) can help you in solving your problem.
At the most difficult time it is good to remember that every engineer you see out there has once been in the same situation as you are now, and yet they were still able to graduate.
Evaluation Criteria of Bachelor or Master Thesis
1. Topic, objective and aims, research problem and research questions
Does the author justify his/her choice of topic?
Does the author clearly define his/her objectives?
Does the author state and formulate his/her research questions explicitly?
Does the author define his/her research approach clearly?
Are the research approach and research problem clear, meaningful and logical?
Is the topic especially significant or innovative?
Is the link between research questions, literature review and results explicit?
2. Literature's suitability for the study, definition of concepts and theoretical framework
Does the author link his/her topic to previous research on the topic?
Does the author demonstrate a good knowledge of previous research on the topic and summarise that research?
Does the author discuss relevant previous research and link it with his/her research problem?
Are concepts defined precisely and incisively?
Does the author discuss and analyse theoretical approaches in the field?
Does the author explain his/her choice of framework?
Is the framework built on previous research?
Are hypotheses based on possible previous results and the framework?
3. Use of methodology
Can the methods be used to answer the research problem?
Does the author justify his/her choice of methods?
Are data collection methods described precisely?
Are the data sufficient and reliable in regard to the research problem and are the criteria for reliability defined clearly?
Does the author describe his/her data handling and analysis methods?
Is the analysis transparent, clear and reliable?
Is the analysis extensive and in-depth enough?
Does the author make good use of tables, figures and summaries?
Does the author discuss the reliability and validity of the results and test their statistical significance?
4. Presentation of results and conclusions
Does the author highlight key findings and examine them in regard to previous research?
Does the author answer his/her research questions?
Does the author discuss the nature of the findings (are they surprising, new, or expected)?
Does the author interpret the findings and discuss their significance (possible scientific novelty value and significance for practical applications and their development)?
Does the author point out the limitations of the study/research and discuss topics for further research?
Does the author evaluate the success of his/her methodological choices?
5. Conventions of scientific writing and command of the research process
Is the argumentation sound and convincing?
Does the author discuss literature analytically?
Does the author link theory to empirical evidence?
Does the author demonstrate a good command of the conventions of good scientific practice?
Does the author demonstrate an imaginative approach to research?
Is the language precise, fluent and correct and does the author have a good command of scientific writing?
Are the citations (in-text citation and references) correct?
Is the structure of the thesis good and logical?
Is the work polished (correct layout, no or few typos, etc.)?
