Admission requirements
This course is obligatory for students of the MSc Industrial Ecology (joint degree TU Delft and Leiden University).
This course is only open for students that are enrolled in the MSc Industrial Ecology.
Description
During the course, students follow a guided approach towards writing a thesis proposal. Through their identified topics, students define the research gap and research questions concerning their research, and learn how to motivate the work and explain how methods help in achieving the research objective. Students become more competent in the design and planning of research projects by learning how to design research flow diagrams, Gantt charts, and breakdown the work in smaller manageable tasks with clear objectives. Students also learn how to provide insightful peer-review to fellow researchers, and as a result become more critical of their own work and writing.
The final outcome of the participation in this course is a research proposal that serves as a tool to guide the student through their Thesis Research Project.
Be aware, the Thesis Preparation Course (TPC) 1 taught during period 2 has a different setup than the Thesis Preparation Course 2 taught during semester 2. Please consult the study guide of TPC 2 for further information on this course setup.
Course objectives
After completing this course, students will be able to:
Write a scientific research proposal
Elaborate problem statements and motivate their research
Perform a literature review to identify core concepts and a research gap
Formulate effective and clear research questions, hypotheses, aims and objectives
Articulate methods and data requirements coherent with the research questions
Draw research diagrams and Gantt charts
Create a time-bound research plan
Provide peer-reviews
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
The course uses lectures, workshops and assignments to teach students how to write a research proposal. Every lecture is composed of a lecture and a workshop.
Students are expected to work on their own research proposal throughout the course. It is therefore required to begin the course with a defined topic to work on throughout the duration of the course. Students will need to submit their defined topic through the Brightspace assignment prior the start of the course.
Students also have to submit the intermediate deliverable composed of a draft of the core chapters, and participate in a peer-review process in which the intermediate deliverable of a peer is reviewed. An in-person peer-review process of different elements of the research proposal is part of the workshops.
~70% (4/6 lectures) minimum attendance is required to complete the course.
Assessment method
The grade will be based on the final version of the research proposal ( ~3500 words).
The following elements are not graded, but are mandatory to pass the course:
Submitting the intermediate deliverable.
Participating in peer reviews of the intermediate deliverable of fellow students.
Attending at least 4 out of 6 lectures/workshops (~70% attendance requirement).
Final grades are expressed by means of a figure between 1 and 10, rounded to the nearest half. The grade 5,5 cannot be granted. Grades between 5,01 and 5,49 are rounded to 5,0 and grades between 5,50 and 5,99 are rounded to 6,0.
Assessment
The scientific staff of TU Delft and Leiden University will assess the final research proposals according to the assessment scheme that is available on Brightspace.
Weighing
The final research proposal accounts for 100% of the final grade.
Resit
There will be one resit moment. The format of the assessment is identical to the original test.
Inspection and Feedback
An inspection and feedback session is offered on the student’s request.
Reading list
Relevant literature will be made available via Brightspace.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
- Contact the course coordinators dr. Franco Donati and dr. Ingeborg Kluts
Remarks
MSc Industrial Ecology students can register for the course and exam via MystudyMap.
There will be several workshops during the course. Most communication and feedback will go via Brightspace.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.