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CONTENTS
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Background
This page describes the information about the writing of the project work in Autumn semester and master's thesis in Spring semester. The project work corresponds to 15 ECTS and the master's thesis work corresponds to 30 ECTS. The project work is around 20 weeks. Master thesis work is for complete one semester. The students usually spend substantial time to carry out the research work during the semester, and the students deliver the project or master thesis at the end of the corresponding semester. This section provides guideline and help for the academic writing of the project work and the master's thesis. Overall guideline is available from NTNU (Academic writing - For students - NTNU), however, this is very generic guideline and applicable to all student. We, in the Waterpower laboratory, have developed customized help to our students. The developed guideline and help does neither guarantee high grade nor high quality of work. Same time, it is important to remember, good quality writing with clarity helps reader (or examiner) and make good impression about the scientific work. Since we are using identical structure and template for the project and master's thesis, the guideline is valid for both and no distinction is made. This guideline is valid for both project report and the master's thesis (hereafter referred as thesis). The project report and master's thesis are delivered via Inspera assessment system in NTNU. Instructions on the submission on Inspera is communicated by the administration (not supervisors) from the EPT.
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It is highly recommended to write project report and master's thesis in LaTeX. We have created a suitable template, which is customized for your need and 'ready to use'. Moreover, the template broadly follow the recommendations from NTNU Grafisk senter therefore, you do not have worry about the formatting. The template provides all essential information related to LaTeX writing and in-built packages. To use this template, you need an user account in Overleaf. NTNU has subscription to the Overleaf therefore use NTNU's email and password (SSO login) to obtain free access. We regularly update the template as soon as we find an error or suggestions. Read instructions and help provided in the template carefully. This template provides help only on LaTeX writing.
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Cover page
The front and back cover pages are already included in the template for both project report and master's thesis. The cover pages broadly follow the guideline or example provided by Grafisk senter. The cover pages will be updated depending on document class selection,
\documentclass[project,final]{ntnuthesis}
\documentclass[msc,final]{ntnuthesis}Preface
Proposed length: Half page
Preface is combination of formal and informal text, and summarizes your journey, personal and professional as well as contribution of others. Preface also describes how the chapters are organized, I mean flow of chapters. This will help reader on what to expect. Preface is in fact, blend among acknowledgment, abstract and conclusion. Preface is an optional hence, if you do not have any specific to write, you can skip this chapter.
Abstract
Proposed length: 1 page
The main purpose of an abstract is to contextualize and describe the work in a concise and easily understood manner. The abstract should not contain highly technical and scientific phrases. Potential reader from other engineering background can understand your work. Read through the entire thesis and distill main points or a short summary. Sentence connectivity and clarity in writing are extremely important in the abstract. Clarity is achieved by providing information in a predictable order (something like storyline). Consolidate the below points into 2 -- 4 paragraphs. Remember that the sentences must be linked to each other, similar to a story line. The examiner will like to read the abstract and encouraged to read the thesis.
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-- Write abstract after completing all chapters and appendices of the thesis. Then, revise the abstract after one day with fresh mood. -- Make sure that there are no spelling errors in the abstract. -- Try to main number words in the abstract between 150 and 300. |
Acknowledgement
Proposed length: 1 page
Acknowledgement section is placed after the abstract. In acknowledgement, you recognize and express gratitude to all those who contributed and supported you during your work. The acknowledgment is absolutely your choice and language. Please note that the acknowledgment is not part of evaluation.
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- If you are writing thesis in the Waterpower Laboratory, and use space, computers, etc., it is nice to acknowledge the laboratory. You can copy this phrase and put as part of the acknowledgement: Research work presented in here is conducted in the Waterpower Laboratory. The laboratory combines more than 100 years of experience in research and education in Norway. It has played leading roles for the development of global hydropower, including efficient designs and implementation of turbines.
- When you are conducting experiments in the laboratory and took the help from the technicians, include this phrase: I am thankful to the laboratory engineer and the technicians for help to prepare the test rig and completing the measurements. I acknowledge their contributions.
- When you are conducting numerical simulations using supercomputer, i.e., Idun, include this phrase: Numerical simulations presented here are conducted using IDUN computing cluster. The Idun cluster is a project between NTNU’s faculties and the IT division that aims at providing a high-availability and professionally administrated compute platform for NTNU researchers.
Disclaimer
This chapter is included in 2024 due to increased use AI and avoid any plagiarism related issues. Write your disclaimer, if any. This can be related to the project work data usage, use of chatGPT/AI or related to joint thesis work, limited resourced to complete the thesis work, or something you would like the examiners should know during the thesis evaluation. Example of the text is available in the template. You can also write limitations, if any, you have experienced during your work, which directly/indirectly impacted the quality of the work, or you could not complete some of the tasks.
Nomenclatures
It is highly recommended to use nomenclatures presented in IEC standards and the relevant international standards. Please select appropriate Greek letters. Standardization of nomenclature is extremely valuable so the potential readers will understand the nomenclatures. The nomenclatures have to be in the following exact order (group): Abbreviation -> Latin symbols -> Dimensionless numbers -> Greek symbols -> Superscripts and subscripts. Arrange nomenclatures in alphabetical order in each group under the respective headings. Some nomenclatures are pre-defined in the template. Delete the additional nomenclatures, if those are not relevant.
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Above guideline must be followed everywhere in the thesis, e.g., chapters, paragraphs, equations, etc. The same rules applied where ever you use math and equations in the thesis. It is strongly recommended to use NIST guideline, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), for prescribing the symbols and the numbers. Checklist on page number five and six of NIST guide provides short detail to prescribe the units.
Chapter 1. Introduction
Proposed length: 2 - 3 pages or depending on need
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This chapter should provide a comprehensive detail about the research, which you are going to present. You can also divide this chapter into subsections depending on need. The last paragraph (100 words) should outline the thesis/project chapters as well as broad organization. Write goal and main objectives of your research work at the end of the chapter. You should consider bullet points to write the objectives.
Chapter 2. Literature review
Proposed length: 2 - 4 pages or depending on need
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- What are the key terms and concepts?
- How relevant is this article to my specific topic?
- What are the major relationships, trends and patterns?
- How has the author structured the arguments?
- How authoritative and credible is this source?
- What are the differences and similarities between the sources?
- Are there any gaps in the literature that require further study?
Chapter 3. Theory and methods
Proposed length: 4 - 7 pages or depending on need
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This is the last chapter before the results. Therefore, you should provide sufficient information that will help reader to interpret the results. Do not repeat information, which is already presented in chapter 1 and chapter 2. Avoid figures and illustrations from literature. You should prepare your own illustrations and present here. This chapter represents your own work and its description hence borrowing someone's illustration will not give positive impact.
Chapter 4. Results and discussions
Proposed length: 8 - 15 pages or depending on need
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There is no well-defined structure for this chapter because research content vary from one topic to another. However, you can think of following questions while writing this chapter.
Extra read: How to write dissertation discussion chapter |
Chapter 5. Conclusions
Proposed length: 1 - 2 pages
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At some point when you are toward the end of your writing, remove yourself from your work and free-write to these questions:
You can also think of following points.
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Future work
Proposed length: 1/2 page
The future work is a place for you to explain where, in your opinion, the results can lead and potential extension of the work. What do you think are the next steps to take? What other questions do your results raise? Do you think certain paths seem to be more promising than others? Another way to look at the future work section, is a way to sort of ``claim” an area of research.
References
Bibliography / references are generally placed before the appendix. Here you will list all the references you have used in the chapters. There is no specific guideline on how many minimum numbers of references should be included. It is equally important to avoid very few or very high number of references. Also avoid citing nonscientific websites or contents. For citation of references, we generally follow numbering style. That means the references are cited in sequence as you go on citing the references. The current citation style is borrowed from the ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering. Some examples of citations can be found here: References - ASME. The required BibTeX (*.bst) for the LaTeX reference organization is already included in Overleaf. This file is also available at the repository: https://ctan.org/pkg/asmejour?lang=en. You can directly export bibtex styled references from zotero using export options and citation type BibTeX. Read Appendix A in the template for more information on bibliography.
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How to cite your project work Since the project work of Autumn semester is not publishable, you need to create bibliography manually in 'bibliography.bib' file. It is acceptable to cite your project work in the master thesis. Use following guide to create bib item manually to cite project work: @mastersthesis{..., % Write citation id here, your last name and year.
address = {Trondheim, Norway},
title = {...}, % Write title of your project in small-case
school = {Department of Energy and Process Engineering,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology},
author = {..., ...}, % Write your last name, first name
year = {...} % Write year of project submission
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Extra
For figures, tables, equations and other contents, please look into appendices of the given LaTeX template. The template provides comprehensive detail.