Final thesis/Internship

Module title:

Final thesis/Internship

Module overview:

The objective of this module is to enable students to:
• apply theoretical and practical knowledge and skills
• utilize professional and scientific literature in an independent manner
• solve problems related to their profession
All in accordance with the degree of expertise acquired during the study programme.

Final thesis
During the module the student produces a thesis that is strongly anchored/linked with the practical application of knowledge. The thesis usually consists of an introduction to the problem and the already available solutions, and from this understanding and knowledge the student is asked to demonstrate, in writing, how they would build a solution to the problem.

The thesis is produced in consultation with a selected Mentor and in accordance with the accepted thesis topic. Students will prepare the proposition of their thesis topic using the standardised form and are supported in this by their selected mentor. Once the Final Theses Committee accepts the proposal the student starts preparing their thesis. Consultations with the mentor are enabled through in-person, online communication platforms and through e-mail and other communication platforms.

The Final Theses Committee also monitors the quality of the final theses written by students under the mentorship of individual lecturers by approving the content, aims and work schedule as well as the quality of mentoring performed by the lecturers.

Internship
As well as completing the thesis students are required to undertake an internship as part of this module to learn to apply the theoretical and practical knowledge they have acquired during their study programme to a workplace setting.

Students must liaise with the Career Centre to organize their internship, and to confirm the tasks they will undertake while on internship that will comprise part of the formal assessment of the module.

The internship is organised using Infoeduka IT system that has a list of available internships and students select an employer and topic / technology they are interested in. With the help of the Career Centre, employers then select students and their internship topic is further supported by selected mentor (within the institution) so that relevant tasks are completed during the internship. Students have an employer mentor who at the end of the internship, report on the student’s achievements during the internship.

Students who are already employed and work on relevant projects / tasks are not required to undertake the Internship, but they need to submit a written report from the employer specifying their work and self-reflective written report on their experience (same documents as would be required from students on Internship).

The aim of the module is for students to demonstrate the knowledge, understanding and skills they have learnt from the programme of study and the learning outcomes in the areas of research, application of methods, ethics, academic writing, presentation of research results, and analysis and synthesis etc.

Literature:

Essential reading:
1. Hofmann, A. (2020) Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations. 4th edn. New York: Oxford University Press.

Recommended reading:
1. Parija, S. CH. and Kate, V.,(eds.) (2017) Writing and Publishing a Scientific Research Paper. 1st edn, Singapore: Springer.
2. Day, R. A., and Gastel, B. (2011) How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. 7th edn. Oxford: Greenwood.
3. Claudio, L. (2016) How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper: The Step by Step Guide. 2nd edn. New York: Write Science Now Publishing Co.
4. Glasman-Deal, H. (2010) Science Research Writing for Non-native Speakers of English. 2nd edn. London: Imperial College Press.