4.2.2 Topic proposal

The actual thesis work begins with submitting a topic proposal in the Wihi service. In the Wihi service, you can carry out the thesis in project form. Wihi creates a schedule for the thesis and divides it into different phases and tasks. Wihi acts as a joint project tool used by both you and your thesis tutor – a place where you can discuss and share files and where you can structure your work using a variety of tasks. Your tutor can see the progress of your thesis by following your progress with the tasks and by commenting on your work in Wihi.

Wihi assigns three phases that relate to actually carrying out the thesis as well as one phase that precedes these and one that follows them: Project plan, Phase 1: One third of thesis completed, Phase 2: two thirds of thesis completed and Phase 3: Thesis is ready for assessment. After phase 3, there is still the ‘Thesis assessment’ phase. When the principal thesis tutor approves phases 1–3 in Wihi, the thesis courses in the Peppi PLP are automatically marked as complete. See the courses section for how to modify your PLP (4.2.1).

The topic proposal for the thesis is made by filling in the topic proposal form in Wihi according to the instructions below.

1. Log in to Wihi using your Jamk user IDs.

You will be presented with the Wihi student home page. If you have multiple rights to study, select from the right side the right to study to which your thesis relates (see Figure 1).

2. Click the Create a topic proposal button on the home page (Figure 2) to open the form for filling in.

3. Fill in the form.

• Group members:
  • If you are doing the thesis together with one or several other students, you must invite the other participants to the same thesis view in Wihi (Figure 3). This means that they can also participate in the guidance provided and communicate with the tutor.

• Thesis information:
  • In the ‘Thesis title’ fields, fill in the preliminary name of the thesis in Finnish and English (NB: for English programmes, write the name in English in both fields).
  • The specialisation may be, for example, an optional study path for your degree programme (e.g. marketing within the Business Administration degree programme) or the broader topic area of your thesis (e.g. the elderly, marketing, quality management, the energy industry). If your degree programme does not have such options, you can leave the field blank.
  • The planned start and end date for the thesis
  • The thesis type is selected from the drop-down menu. If you are an bachelor’s student, select as type Bachelor’s Thesis assessment criteria (thesis started or mainly completed after 1.8.2023). A master’s student, select as type Master’s Thesis assessment criteria 1.8.2023 > (thesis started or mainly competed after 1.8.2023).
  • Advising time preference: In addition, you can propose a time for guidance that suits you best (daytime, evening, or whenever).
• For instructions on filling out the fields in the form, please see the illustrations below (Figures 4 and 5). The first field is a mandatory field.
• If the thesis is being done for a commissioner, fill in their name and contact information in the field provided (Figure 6).
• Describe in the ‘Readiness’ field the areas shown in Figure 6.
• By ticking the box underneath the topic proposal, you commit to complying with good scientific practice in your work and agree that your texts can be checked using the plagiarism detection program.
• Finally, click the ‘Submit’ button. You can also save the topic proposal as a draft and continue working on it later.
• The topic proposal will be sent to the degree coordinator for your degree programme (Wihi coordinator), who may request further refinements to the topic proposal before approving the topic. Information on issues requiring refinements and a notification of acceptance of the topic proposal will be sent to your Jamk email. At the same time the topic proposal is accepted, the coordinator selects a principal thesis tutor for your thesis. Once the principal thesis tutor has also approved the topic proposal, both you and your tutor will be able to access the initial view for the actual thesis project (Figure 7).

Figure 4. Describing the significance of the content and results of the work on the topic proposal form

Figure 5. Describing the planned tools and working methods on the topic proposal form

On the right side of the initial view, below the ‘Tasks’ and ‘Information’ sections, you can see the details of the thesis (topic proposal), possible statements from stakeholders (usually the commissioner) and your tutor’s details.

In the middle of the view are the functions related to the different phases of the thesis project. These functions are the same at all phases of the thesis.