Rules only for students started their program on the basis of the curriculum of 2017
Thesis - Mechatronics Engineering BSc
Thesis is the creative elaboration of a professional task (scientific, engineering, design, development, research or research development) in written form as defined in the requirements of the training program. By solving the task the student relies on his/her studies using national and international literature under the guidance of an internal and external supervisor. By preparing and defending thesis students who complete the Mechatronics Engineering undergraduate program prove that they are capable of the practical applications of the acquired skills, summarizing the work done and its results in a professional way, creatively solving the tasks related to the topic and doing individual professional work.
Thesis projects - industrial places
General information about the Thesis
Step-by-step guide to writing thesis
- Registering for the course "Thesis"
If you know which topic you would like to choose or which field of mechatronics engineering you are interested in, you should contact an instructor from the Department whom you would like as your supervisor. If he/she accepts your topic, you can register for his/her "Thesis" course at the beginning of the semester via the NEPTUN system. If there is no course with the chosen supervisor you can contact the administrator of the Department or the International Office (Faculty of Engineering).
- Thesis Topic Announcement Form
During the semester you can have two guiders, one instructor from the Faculty and one external supervisor. The external supervisor (referee) is usually an expert from a company where you can do for example additional research work or measurements according to your topic. The external supervisor is not obligatory.
After you have a topic, you have to negotiate its details with your supervisor(s). The Thesis Topic Announcement Form (sample file) signed by the supervisor(s) must be submitted to the Department. The external supervisor’s sign certifies that his/her company provides thesis topic for you. This first version can also be hand-written and is merely a topic plan which will usually change as soon as work on thesis goes forward.
Submission deadline for the thesis topic announcement form: 30 September every year, at the Department of Mechatronics.
Before the thesis submission deadline, as soon as its details are finalized, the same form (without signature) should be sent in MS Word to Ms Gabriella Kövér at kover.gabriella@eng.unideb.hu. This final form is the basis for the Thesis Application Sheet (original, signed by the Head of Department) which is prepared by the Department and must be bound into the thesis.
The data necessary for the Department to prepare the Thesis Application Sheet are the following:
- Name of the student, name of the specialization, full-time training
- Title of the thesis,
- Specific tasks to workout (need to discuss with the supervisor) in imperative form (Please present...!, Please make...!),
- Name of the internal tutor (supervisor),
- (Name of the external tutor, name of the company.)
- Regular consultation with the supervisor
During the semester students have to give account of the current state of the thesis to the internal tutor at least three times.
- Submitting thesis
Formal Thesis Requirements (Sample of a Thesis can be downloaded here)
The length of the thesis must be about 50 pages (from the cover but not included the appendix) line spacing is 1.5, with about 55-60 characters (including space characters) in a line. The minimum length of the thesis must be 40 pages, the maximum must be 90 pages.
In the thesis the candidate must take care of using precise language and academic style. Variables of mathematics and physics must be displayed by cursives in the text and figures. Vector quantity in physics must be displayed by bold cursives, tensor quantity must be bold.
Plagiarism is strictly forbidden! Students have to sign the Plagiarism Declaration which must be bound into thesis. The Plagiarism Declaration must be filled out electronically, as well.
What to be handed in to the administrator of the Department:
- 2 bound copy (After the state exam one copy is given back to the student, the department stores the other copy.)
- Summary
- CD
The Structure of the Thesis:
- Top cover: the title is „Thesis”, the student’s name and the year of submission must be included
- Inner cover: The name of the university, the faculty, the major, the writer’s name, the title of the thesis, the year of submission, the supervisor’s and referee’s names must be included
- Thesis Application Sheet (original, signed by the Head of Department)
- Thesis Evaluation Sheet (only one of the copies has to include it which remains at the department) (sample file)
- Plagiarism Statement (must be filled out electronically and signed by the student) and a fine quality (passport) photo not older than one year
- (Confidentiality Agreement, only if the company requests it, as the topic is confidential.)
- Table of contents
-
Abstract of the thesis (in English and in Hungarian too. Note: the Hungarian version should be prepared by your supervisor.) - Main part
- Introduction (1-3 pages): representation of the task, the purpose of the thesis, justification of the task, a short summary about the structure of the thesis.
- Theoretical summary (10-30 pages)
Literary and theoretical summary of the thesis topic. Theoretical summary is a constructed summary on the basis of the latest publications on the thesis topic that introduces: theories others’ previously presented, research results, experiments, engineering creations were applied to the thesis. Theoretical summary must include the required theoretical derivations (with right references), the familiar scientific and/or engineering results. Theoretical summary must be written on the basis of at least 10 specialized books, articles, conference articles of which a maximum of one third can be internet resource. (These publication data bases can be entered from computers registered to the university network: IEEExplore, eisz, Scopus, Science direct , data base of the library.)
- Main chapter: elaboration of the task (minimum 30 pages)
- Summary: evaluation of the results, introducing further possibilities of improvement.
- Acknowledgements for the support in task elaboration. (optional)
- Bibliography: guideline on the bases of ISO 690:2010, originally Mechatronics Engineers (BSc) have the right to apply the referential form of IEEE community, that is equaled to ISO 690:2010 standard: handling references in Word documents, MS guideline
The goal of the literature research is to sum up SOA, State-of-the-Art. In your case the undergraduate SOA, what we have studied you during undergraduate subjects. Suggested steps:
- You must identify the competences, what is required for your thesis. Example: stepping motor and drive circuit, Pneumatic circuit, machine element of cylinder and valve, PLC programming: ST, and so on.
- You must identify the subject, where you have studied those competences. You can refer to Mechatronics BSc curriculum: https://edu.unideb.hu/p/mechatronics-engineering-bsc
- You must collect all references and your notes of those subject. Then you can refer to the specific competence and SOA, what is needed to accomplish your thesis tasks.
- Appendix (optional)
Summary
A minimum five maximum six-page summarized description (sample file) about the thesis must be handed in on separated sheets in one copy. The bibliography of it must contain only the literature applied in the summary. It is relevant to know that the description does not summarize the thesis but the task has been done, therefore any reference to the thesis must be avoided, such sentences cannot be included in it like "My thesis includes 6 paragraphs." "The second part of the thesis is a literary summary." "My task was to investigate power packs in the thesis." In case it is consequential the thesis must be listed as a source in the bibliography, its authors are the candidate himself, the supervisor and the head of the department.
CD
The thesis and the summary both need to be written on the same CD (only one) and it must be handed in to the department. The thesis and the summary must be both in PDF and Word format on the CD.
Confidentiality Agreement in Hungarian is available below:
Template for Confidentiality Agreement (University - Company)
Template for Confidentiality Agreement (Student - Company)
A state exam can be started only by a candidate whose thesis and summarized description are evaluated with ’pass’ (2 in the AW5 grading scale) by the reviewers and the department.
- Thesis Review
After the submission the Department send the Thesis to the chosen reviewer. The review can be taken from the Administrator after the written part of the State Exam. At the Thesis defence the student has to answer the reviewer’s question(s). Please note that the committee can also ask further questions.
- Improving thesis with a fail mark
If thesis is evaluated with a fail mark by the reviewer, the head of department may decide to change the mark.
If thesis is evaluated with a fail mark by the head of department, the student is not allowed to take the final exam and is supposed to prepare a new thesis.