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
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable.
Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
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
Every student of all years must enroll via MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you will see step by step how to enroll in courses in MyStudyMap. Note that your enrollment is only completed when you submit your course planning in the 'Ready for enrollment' tab by clicking 'submit'.
There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to register for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam. Keep in mind that there are enrollment deadlines, see this page for more information.
Extensive FAQ on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
- Contact the course coordinators Franco Donati (f.donati@cml.leidenuniv.nl) and Ingeborg Kluts (i.n.kluts@cml.leidenuniv.nl).
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.