91ÇàÇà²Ý

Apply for the approval of your thesis supervisor, advisor(s) and topic in (mystudies.aalto.fi) by creating a thesis record in the Thesis tab of MyStudies. Instructions on how to create the thesis record can be found from MyStudies. It is strongly recommended that you apply for approval of the supervisor, advisor(s) and topic as soon as you have agreed on a topic with your thesis supervisor.

The application is processed by the suggested thesis supervisor and another decision maker, who is either the programme director or major responsible professor, depending on your programme. The application is processed within a month. You will be informed by email and in MyStudies when the application has been approved.

Please note, that the supervisor, advisor(s) and topic must be approved in MyStudies before you can submit the final version of the thesis for evaluation. Application must be submitted in MyStudies at the latest a month before submitting the thesis to ensure, that the supervisor, advisor(s) and topic approval is processed before submitting the thesis.

The target time for completing the thesis is six months. Time used for completing the thesis affects the thesis evaluation. Note, that this time period is not calculated from the approval date of the supervisor, advisor(s) and topic but from the actual start date of the thesis as agreed and judged by the thesis supervisor.

In the thesis record you can set planned start date for the thesis and estimate of when the thesis will be completed. These dates are non-binding. They are intended to serve as a framework for your thesis work, and you should agree on the target time for thesis completion with your supervisor and advisor(s).

Support courses for thesis writing:

• ELEC-E0210 Master's Thesis Process
• LC-1322 Thesis Writing for engineers (MSc) (w)
• LC-1315 Tools for Master's Thesis
• LC-7109 Tieteellinen kirjoittaminen maisteriopiskelijoille

Other support services:

• Writing clinic (language support for writing in English offered by the language center)
• Starting Point of Wellbeing’s Theses & Tomatoes
• (online tool for practicing scientific writing and prevention of plagiarism). Detailed instructions in the section 'Turnitin as Part of Thesis Writing.'

Write your thesis on a master's thesis template. Two templates are available:

• (recommended). For LaTeX use Aalto provides free accounts for students on Overleaf (a web-based Latex tool) or you can download a on your own computer.
• .

Make sure that before submitting the final version of your thesis to MyStudies, you have generated a Turnitin report of its draft. 

The Turnitin check is performed to provide feedback on your work, to appropriately correct similar text for the next version, to avoid plagiarism, and to ensure your thesis is ready for submission. 

When you submit your final thesis version for evaluation, grading, and archiving, the system will automatically generate a Turnitin report for your thesis. It is not possible to edit the thesis you have submitted for evaluation and grading after the submission deadline. Therefore, using Turnitin while writing the thesis and before submission is highly recommended.

Ensure that you get a Turnitin similarity report of the draft of your thesis and abstract either 1) independently or 2) under your supervisor's supervision. 

1) Independent Turnitin originality check  

There is a MyCourses workspace for students, where you can submit a draft of your thesis into "Submission for drafts" section. See also  

2) Using Turnitin under supervision 

Your supervisor might have a personal MyCourses workspace for creating a Turnitin report.

Using your supervisor’s workspace to create the report enables you to receive guidance and assistance in interpreting the report. Check the list of existing supervisors' workspaces .
 
If your thesis supervisor does not have a workspace for generating the Turnitin report and you would like feedback on the report you have independently generated in the student workspace, contact your thesis supervisor. 

Read more about plagiarism and the responsibilities and rights of Turnitin users. 

Please note that a master’s thesis is a public document once it has been approved. The thesis cannot have any confidential sections. If there are confidential sections, only the "visible" part of the thesis will be evaluated and the thesis must form a coherent whole without the concealed parts. Read more about theses as public documents.

To have your Master's thesis approved:

• check the application deadlines below
• convert your thesis into pdf/A format (instructions). Please make sure that your thesis file is not too big (less than 100 MB).
• in (mystudies.aalto.fi -> thesis), fill in all the required information concerning the thesis, upload the final pdf/A version of your thesis and accept the Turnitin conditions.
• if you also want to apply for graduation, see the instructions under Graduation.
   

Please make sure that the electronic version submitted in the application is the final and corrected version of your thesis. After submission it is no longer possible to modify the thesis.

Based on the final version of the thesis

• the Turnitin similarity report, which is visible to both the student and the thesis supervisor, will be automatically generated
• your supervisor will write the evaluation statement
• the degree programme committee will make the thesis evaluation
• the university will archive the thesis and it is used for example as the official copy of the thesis in thesis grade appeal cases.
   

The degree programme committee evaluates and grades the thesis based on the written statement and grade proposal provided by the thesis supervisor. The evaluation statement will be provided to the student in MyStudies after the Committee meeting and at the same time when the student receives information on the Committee's decision. The evaluation decision is subject to appeal, i.e., students dissatisfied with the evaluation may submit an appeal.