1.3 Key issues of thesis guidance

The guidance of the thesis follows Principles of Guidance at Jamk (pages for students).

In the principles of guidance (point 4.) it is said e.g. that your advisor will respond to your message within a week. This rule does not apply during common holiday periods.

Forms and time reservation of the thesis guidance

• For Bachelor’s thesis is reserved 1 – 1,5 semesters (15 credits). One academic year is reserved for the Master’s thesis (30 credits). In exceptional situations, the advisor and the student can agree on another schedule.
• At the beginning of the thesis, for example in the first small group meeting, the advisor reviews the principles and practices of the thesis guidance together with the student.
• The advisor organizes small group meetings and, if necessary, you can request additional individual guidance.
• In the small group meetings, you present the progress of your work to your group, such as the thesis plan, analysis and finished thesis. Agree on the presentations with your advisor.
• You are expected to attend the guidance meetings 100% and to participate actively in the discussion. In pair work, both students participate in the guidance as equals.
• The advisor is given a maximum of 15 hours per Bachelor’s thesis and 20 hours per Master’s thesis for guidance, reading the thesis, giving feedback and assessment.
• For questions related to writing and grammar, you can make an appointment at the thesis language clinic. Thesis clinics and information search support (intra, requires login). Thesis advisor does not do language editing.
• During the thesis process, you may need individual study arrangements, for example due to dyslexia. In this case, make an appointment with the study counselor, who will assess the necessary study arrangements.

Guidance in different phases of the thesis

1. Always submit the thesis manuscripts to the Wihi system. The advisor comments on the manuscript either in writing or orally and you see the written comments from the Wihi. In the guidance meetings agree with your advisor who records the agreed topics in Wihi.
2. Scheduling the thesis (project plan): Agree on the thesis timetable in the first meeting with the advisor. Enter the planned deadlines to the Wihi system. The advisor approves the phase.
3. 1/3 Thesis planning: The advisor comments on the thesis plan and gives constructive feedback. This includes the data management plan and the Information Seeking report.
4. 2/3 Implementation: The advisor comments on the thesis manuscript and gives constructive feedback. Often at this stage, the comments are given on knowledge base and empirical methods. After that, you can ask for feedback on, for example, the interview skeleton, the questionnaire, or anything else related to data collection. After the data collection, you can ask for feedback on the preliminary results and conclusions.
5. 3/3 Reporting and assessment: The advisor or the 2nd evaluator does a preliminary examination of the thesis when a complete draft of the thesis exists (ie, all the chapters of the thesis are at least sketched). You will receive written feedback from the preliminary examination, which you can use to improve your thesis.

The student commits

1. to come prepared for both group and individual guidance meetings. Submit the material to be commented to the Wihi system before the meeting, according to the schedule agreed with your advisor.
2. to communicate with the advisor as agreed.
3. to always submit the manuscripts and other material to Wihi-system (not by e-mail or other tools).
4. to progress in your work according to the agreed schedule.
5. to follow Jamk’s Ethical Guidelines (pages for students) and data protection instructions (intra, requires login) .

The advisor commits

1. To come prepared for guidance meetings (be familiar with the material to be discussed).
2. To give both oral and written feedback to the student according to the practices agreed with them.
3. Follow Jamk’s Ethical Guidelines (pages for students) and Arene’s recommendations on responsible thesis guidance (external site) .