Essay

Thesis review - graded essay in Theory of Science and Scientific Methods

The purpose of this exercise is to give you training in scientific writing.You will practice both writing in a popular science style and writing in a more critical review style. You will work with an old Master's thesis: project list

Your essay should be in two parts

1. The first part will be an easily readable summary of the thesis intended for a lay-person probably without deep knowledge of computer science. You should give a brief explanation of what the thesis is about and a discussion of its possible interest for a general public.
   This part should be one page long.
• Examples from University of Cambridge podcast site "The Naked Scientist"
• Popular science writing - a guide from Lund University
2. The second part will be a critical review of the thesis. Some years ago, the requirements concerning scientific contents and format were different from current requirements. Your task is to review the thesis and give scientific comments that would help the author make the thesis comply with current standards.
   KTH has as yet not translated these standards to English but Anna-Karin Högfeldt at the ECE school has been kind enough to lend us the informal translations she uses in her course:
   • Objectives and Criteria for Degree project within 120 hp Master (not formal translation)
   • Objectives and Criteria for Degree project within 300 hp Civilingenjör (not formal translation)
   
   You should analyze the thesis and try to identify the scientific methods, principles and concepts used in the thesis. You should also suggest improvements that could be made, for instance by writing a pragraph to be inserted into the text.
   You should comment on the following points
   • References [quality, availability, relevance, etc. ]
   • Research questions [clearly stated, hypotheses, etc.]
   • Scientific theory [truth, explanation, bias, skepticism, ethics, etc.]
   • Methodology [HD, statistics, experiments, etc.]
   • Conclusions [justified, research questions answered, etc.]

   This part should be four pages long.

Formal requirements

• Your essay should be titled "Scientific comments on the Master's Thesis xxx by yyy. Reviewer: zzz."
• First part: one page
• Second part: four pages
• Font size 10pt
• Your essay must be submitted to KTH-Social no later than January 18, 2016. Upload your file as a pdf (other formats will not be accepted).

Grading

The grading is A-F according to the following criteria.

E: The summary and review have the correct format, are written in clear English in an appropriate style. The reviewer shows clear understanding of the thesis and the course basics.

C: The reviewer also gives comments that show broad knowledge in scientific methods and suggests relevant improvements.

A: An interesting and thought-provoking summary followed by a discerning and creative review. Comments and improvements show deep insight in the theory of science.