Centria Guide for Thesis and Academic Writing

1. Arrange a kick-off meeting where the thesis contract is drawn up. In the meeting, define the research question(s), aims, topic and schedule, as well as a potential working-life instructor. Set a time for the next meeting.

2. Ensure your methodological expertise for guiding the thesis work. More information for example from the following work:

• Hakala, J. T. 2004. Opinnäyteopas ammattikorkeakouluille. 2. p. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
• Kananen, J. 2016. Opinnäytetyön ja pro gradun ohjaajan opas. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän ammattikorkeakoulu.
• Vilkka, H. & Airaksinen, T. 2004. Toiminnallisen opinnäytetyön ohjaajan käsikirja. Helsinki: Tammi.
• Hakala, J. T., Hughes, G., Hughes, L. & Hakala, J. T. 2000. Creative thesis writing: A guide to development and research work. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.
• Kananen, J. 2013. Design research (applied action research) as thesis research: A practical guide for thesis research. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän ammattikorkeakoulu.
• Paltridge, B. & Starfield, S. 2007. Thesis and dissertation writing in a second language: A handbook for supervisors. London: Routledge.

3.  Familiarize yourself with copyright guidelines (for example regarding use of pictures):

Kopiosto: The ABC of copyright
JAMK: https://blogit.jamk.fi/oppari/2018/11/07/kuvan-kopiointi-netista-oppariin/ (in Finnish)
Aalto University: How to use images 

4. Familiarize yourself with the ethical guidelines and responsible conduct of research for example according to the recommendations of Arene, the Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences. On page 16 is the supervisor's checklist

5. Familiarize yourself with the Guide for Thesis and Academic Writing and the Word template.

6. Meet the thesis student regularly during the process and stay in touch using for example e-mail. Remember still to use the resources of 15h per thesis report so that there is time for the feedback, review, seminars and maturity test in the final stages. The supervisor of the thesis content reviews the reliability of the used sources and the equivalence of references in the report.

7.  Maturity test: Familiarize yourself with the maturity test guidelines. Arrange a test appointment with the student and draw up the headings. When the text is written, send the maturity test to the English teacher for review. Notice if there are Finnish students in the international degree programmes they must still write the maturity test in their language of schooling (Finnish/ Swedish, see chapter 12).

8.  The student sends  the thesis report for language review in WIHI. Text guidance is requested at 2/3 stage from language teachers, and this guidance does not affect the evaluation of the thesis yet. Support material related to academic writing can be found on itslearning platform in a course called Thesis.

9. Assessment: Base your assessment on the assessment criteria. In practice-based work notice that the work is assessed as a whole, the product of the work is only one part of the thesis work and is also examined only as one part. The language teacher assesses the written presentation.
 

Reference
 

Hakala, J. T. 2004. Opinnäyteopas ammattikorkeakouluille. 2. p. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.