Thesis and state exam information MSc.
( As a final of theMSc program the students make a Thesis. This document contains the requirements of making a thesison MSc training. The requirements of Thesison BSc training can be found here.)
The Subjects of Thesis
The prerequisite of registration on Thesis II is that a student completed all the subjects of the first academic year conceded in the model curriculum in the previous closed semesters. The prerequisite of the subject Thesis II is a completed Thesis I course.In justified cases the subjects of Thesis I and Thesis II can be registered on in the same semester with the admission of the Head of Department and the supervisor’s proposal. In this case a student have to produce such great performance that is proportionate to 15 weeks multiple 24 hours per week that is equal with 360 hours of work so that the subjects can be completed with a grade conceded by the supervisor. The criteria for completing the subjects are determined by the subject supervisor.
The selected topic must be announced on a Thesis topic announcement form. This document must be signed by the referee and the supervisor before handing in and the parts of the task to be developed must be designated too.
A Thesis can be handed in any time and during its development once it can be modified. After handing in a student has the right to take the forthcoming state exam in case he/she has gained the credits laid down, completed the criteria subjects (physical education, internship). The state exam must be applied for separately at the Department and at the International Office. The deadline of application is the last workday of the 8th week of the semester.
The MSc Thesis
A student has to make his Thesis within the framework of Thesis I and Thesis II subjects. A student can make a Thesis of a topic conceded from an outer firm (from an internship place or other companies) approved and announced by the Department or of a topic announced by the Department according to the student’s choice. The topic of a Thesis can be a continued topic for example of an essay to the Scientific Students' Associations (SSA). This Thesis is not equivalent of the Thesis on BSc training.
This Thesis is the evidence that a candidate has completed all the requirements of a scientific field (here: mechatronical sciences) and he is capable to perform any engineering tasks at the highest level andto control assigned BSc graduated engineersor to launch individual scientific researches. Therefore the requirements for content of the Thesis are much more advanced level.
There is a significant rule that to quote or transfer parts from the student’s earlier written thesis is forbidden but it can be relied on. Quotation and transfer is permitted from earlier written essays toSSA by the student with appropriate reference, if his essay to SSA was not used for his thesis on BSc. See the concepts here.
Students must hand in their thesis in two bound copies in room 120 at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Debrecen. A student receives two copies of the Thesis Application Sheetbefore the deadline of handing in, which must be laced up into two copies of the Thesis.
Documents required for the confidentiality procedure:
- Agreement between the University and the Company – must be filled in in four copies, be signed and must be handed in in room 120. One of the four copies must be laced up into the thesis.
- Confidentiality Agreement between the Student and the Company
The Structure of theThesis is the following:
Top cover: the title „Thesis”, the student’s name (as a writer) and the academic year must be included.
• Inner cover: The name of the university, the faculty, the major, the writer’s name, the title of the thesis and the year of submission, the supervisor’s and referee’s names must be included. The Thesis Application Sheet (original, signed by the Head of Department)
• Thesis evaluation sheet (only one of the copies that remains at the department)
• Plagiarism Statement and a fine quality passport photo not older than one year
• Table of contents
• A summary of the thesis (in Hungarian and in English).
• Main part
Introduction: representation of the task, the purpose of the thesis, justification of the task, a short summary about the structure of the thesis. (maximum of 3 pages).
1. Theoretical summary (minimum of 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 what theory,others’ previously presentedresearch 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 30 vocational books, articles, conference, 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.)
2. Main paragraph: elaboration of the task (minimum 30 pages)
3. Summary: evaluation of the results, introducing further possibilities of improvement.
4. Acknowledgements for the support in task elaboration. (optional)
5 Bibliography: guideline on the bases of ISO 690:2010, originally Mechatronics Engineers (MSc) has the right to apply the referential formof IEEE community, that is equaled to ISO 690:2010 standard: handling references in Word documents, MS guideline
• Appendix (optional)
The length of the thesis must be about 90 pages (from the cover to 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 70 pages, the maximum must be 110 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.
A minimum five maximum six-page summarized description (a summary) in English about the project done must be handed in on separated sheets in one copy. The bibliography of it must contain only the literature applied in the summary. It’s 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 inthe 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. ([5] Armin Masoumian, IstvánPógár, GézaHusi: FPGA Based Line Follower Robot, Thesis, Mechatronics Engineering BSc major, Faculty of Engineering, 2017.)
The thesis and the summary both written on the same CD (only one!) must be handed in to the department. The thesis must be in PDF format definitely on the CD. The summary must be both in PDF and Word format on the CD.
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.
Sample file in written exam test
TOPICS OF THE STATE EXAM
State Exam Schedule:
Part I.: Mechatronics Theory: design, method and technologies (Written Exam):
Topics related with major subjects of Mechatronics MSc.:
(1) Measurement and Modelling,
(2) Dynamics of Mechatronics Systems,
(3) Digital Servo Drives,
(4) Selected Chapters from Electronics,
(5) Design of Mechatronics Systems, and
(6) Real-Time Embedded Systems Progrgaming
Part II.: Industrial application of Mechatronics System (IAMS) and Theoretical background of Thesis (Oral Exam):
Selected topics related to the theoretical background of IAMS activities and thesis done by the applicant.
Notice: List of suggested topics of Part I. will be selected to the applicant after Thesis submission. Selected topics will be interviewed in greater details in the oral exam.
Part III.: Thesis Defence (Oral Presentation Exam)
Evaluation of Presentation and Technical Communication Skills.
Notice: The applicant should present and defend the result of thesis in front of academic and industrial experts group.
In case a thesis is made in a Laboratory of the Department, according to the Chairman’s decision the Board can have a look at the result of the thesis work in the premises. The candidate must prepare for it during the previous days of the State Exam and he must have the tools, instruments be available for a presentation. If the object of the thesis is movable it can be taken in to the Department (e.g. a mobile robot, an electroniccaretc.), and it can be presented at the defense of the thesis. A classroom is going to be assigned for the presentation. If the production cannot be introduced (as it does not exist or it cannot be delivered to the department) the presentation must provide such films, photos that give evidencethat the work have been done by the candidate himself.
Main parts of the presentation (10 minutes presentation and 5 minutes discussion):
1. The title of the thesis, the author’s name (1 slide)
2 The content of the presentation (1 slide)
3. Problem proposition, the task to be solved (2 slides)
4. An approach in principle for problem solving, derivations and guidelines for physics, mechanics,electrotechnics, mechatronics, a factual summary of the applied principles, knowledge (3 slides)
5. Introduction of the solution (main steps and results of the work (1-3 slides)
6. The results achieved. (1-2 slides)
7. Conclusions, proposing solutions, further improvements (1-2 slides)
8. Appreciation (for the firm, the consultant, the supervisor etc.) (1 slide)
9. Response to the written review (it will be use during discussion)
In the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th part of the presentation graphs, consequences, equations must be applied to introduce the task, textual description must be avoided. A movie can also be applied into the 6th part if it makes sense.
After presentation, the interrogators can ask the candidate to respond to the written review and answer to some questions of the reviewer, moreover other theoretical and practical questions will be asked on the topic of the thesis.
A candidate fails the State Exam if
- he does not acquire at least a result of 40% on the written exam;
- he fails the theme chosen on the oral exam on any of the subject groups (in such cases he must retake this part (on the failed subject group) of the state exam not earlier than the next exam period;
- The defense of the thesis is failed. (in such cases the thesis must be corrected according to the review, the defense must be repeated not earlier than the next exam period).
How to make good presentation for final exam?
1. Use color theme with high contrast. What is good for the screen, may not appropriate for projector.
2. Use large letters and simple sentences. Do not put too much information to one slide.
3. 10 minutes presentation and 5 minutes discussion. Please keep the time for presentation!
4. Prepare 10 core slides + title, outlook, etc. You may prepare other/extra sides with more theoretical details during discussion. I suggest to prepare extra slides for reviewers' questions. You get is after the written exam.
Suggested content:
Title, content, aim and objectives, theoretical background, design, implementation, experimental results, validation (design vs. experiment), conclusion.
Use note window below the slides to develop what you want to say. Do not read the slides during presentation! Use presentation manager to control the time.
Practice your presentation loud at least 3 times!
When you start your presentation, Introduce yourself and welcome the judge. "Jó napot kívánok! A nevem X Y. Mechatronika MSc hallgató. Az előadásomat szeretném angolul megtartani."
The defense is public! Please invite your fiends to be proud of you, and create friendly atmosphere. Dress Code is casual.