ASC / UCU Thesis Event

Deans Introductory Talk

November 18, 2014
 What the thesis should be
What UCU students look forward to:

Doing something you really want to do

Showing your worth in terms of knowledge and

skills, independence and professionalism

An energizing and rewarding experience!

 What the thesis should not be
Finally an opportunity to take it easy

Too little, too late

Not taking the matter in your own hands

Poor planning
 The thesis
420 hours of work

Carefully planned together with your tutor,

thesis coordinator, supervisor

The expectations are very clear:

http://intranet.ucu.uu.nl/index.php?page=resea
rch-thesis
 Thesis procedures document
- Options for planning
- How and when to get started
- Thesis coordinators
- Submitting / grading
- Other important information

The student is in charge!

 New opportunity
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH THESIS PROJECTS

- Thesis groups, with an umbrella theme

- Benefitting from working together
- Being in a real research environmnt
- Extra opportunities (briefings, joint visits,
conference presentation, et cetera)
 UR thesis projects 2015
Project Coordinator
Psychological disorders and the brain T.b.d.
Flying Dutchman as cultural memory Agnes Andeweg
Narco-Mex Drugs & Making modern Mexico Wil Pansters
The compelling museum Mary Bouquet, Tijana Zakula, Gert-
Jan Vroege
Securitization of North-South relationships Gerard van der Ree
The Self and Identity Christel Lutz
Measuring Air Quality in Utrecht Bas Defize, Anton van de Ven, Guus
de Krom
bEUcitizen Studies in European citizenship Frans van Waarden, Sybe de Vries
 Dr. Annemieke Meijer
Writing Center coordinator
UCU has a Writing Center
1. Individual appointments with students

Send an email to ucu.wcenter@uu.nl

I reply the same day
We schedule a meeting the same week
 A common misunderstanding
Although I generally write good papers and
obtain good grades for them, my work and my
analytic understanding of research would have
much benefited if I had gone to the Center
earlier in my UCU career. Yet, I thought the
Writing Center was only meant for the bottom
20% of the college, for the people who really
could not put a single meaningful sentence
together.
What topic(s) did last years students discuss during
their session(s) at the Writing & Skills Center?

the methodology of my thesis

the research question(s) of my thesis

the literature review for my thesis

the organization of the work on my thesis

my CV or motivation letter

the use of English in my paper

the structure of my paper

the focus of my paper

the structure of the research & writing process in general

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Some shameless self-advertisement

How would you rate your experience at the Writing &

Skills Center?
very negative negative neutral positive very positive

0% 0% 0% 22,22% 77,78%
 2. Thesis writers workshops

First one on Tuesday, 25 November, 3-5, Voltaire A

Topic: how to narrow down your topic & formulate a
research question
More to follow in the Spring (how to write a literature
review, how to develop sub-questions, etc.)
 3. A dedicated Workspace

under construction, ready in January

Library with links & materials
youll be made a member automatically
ucu.wcenter@uu.nl
WRITING AND
PLANNING YOUR
THESIS
Frederica Martijn
fredericamartijn@hotmail.com
WHAT DID I DO?
Psychology/Criminology

When love hurts: an exploratory study into the possibilities

of virtual child pornography for individuals with pedophilic
interests

An Internet survey (hosted on Tor) amongst non-

incarcerated pedophiles about their opinion on (legal)
virtual child pornography and its effects
GENERAL
1. PICK SOMETHING YOU FIND INTERESTING

Your thesis is basically the one assignment where there are absolutely no
restrictions (except for the Major you write in) as to what you can write about

Start thinking about your topic early: what is something you would really like to
know more about?

At the same time: stay realistic. Its not a PhD, you wont have funds, you have
limited time

Think about who can be your supervisor: is there someone who is an expert on
your topic?

Consider being part of a research group

GENERAL
2. ASK FOR HELP

People that helped me: supervisor, sexologist, Tor, moderator, personal

contact via e-mail, teachers and friends for statistics, uncle and friends for
language checking

Realize that a lot of people will be willing to help

Professors, fellow students, family members, friends, peers

Look into getting a buddy

Study groups
GENERAL
3. READ READ READ, TALK TALK TALK

KEEP YOUR LIST OF REFERENCES UPDATED (you really dont want to

have to look up 50+ references in the last days before your thesis) - try
something like Mendeley

Try to find good reviews/meta-analyses/books to help you get going

Wikipedia and regular articles are good to get inspiration

If you get stuck, discuss what you are stuck on with others by being too
far involved with your own topic you can lose oversight

Other people sometimes have very creative/new insights and views on

what you are writing

Feedback from others than your supervisor

PLANNING
Literature review
- Basis of your thesis
- Needs to be sound
- Takes up quite a lot of time
- What are you writing for/about?

If you are going to collect original data: make sure you

have enough time
- Have some extra time in case
- Not enough participants
- Not enough data
PLANNING
Having the big picture in mind / those 420 hours
- Dont just start writing
- What are you writing about?
- How will it add to my hypothesis?
- Is it necessary?

Be responsible
- Stick to your appointments
- Dont lie to yourself
- Be aware of what you are capable of
- Be honest (to your supervisor)
QUESTIONS?