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License:       CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

CONTENTS

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 Department of Energy and Process Engineering (EPT) is administratively responsible for the project and master thesis students. Students from the following degree programme are generally selected.

• Energy and the Environment 5-year programme, all branches, MTENERG
• Energy and the Environment 2-year programme, MIENERG
• Electric Power Engineering (international master programme) MSELPOWER
• Mechanical Engineering 5-year programme, branch Sustainable and Energy Efficient systems, MTMASKIN
• Mechanical Engineering 2-year programme, branch Sustainable and Energy Efficient systems, MTMASKIN
• Sustainable Energy (MSSE)
• Hydropower Development (MSB1)

Students, who selected the project with Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug and Chirag Trivedi, generally work in the Waterpower laboratory.  The work can be either experimental or numerical or both depending on the allocated tasks. Students selected for the project work in the Waterpower laboratory are largely continue master's thesis work on the same topic in Spring semester. Following courses are recommended for the project and master's thesis work.

• Autumn semester project work
  • TEP4521: Bærekraftige energisystemer, fordypningsprosjekt
  • TEP4506: Bærekraftige energisystemer, fordypningsemne (select two modules)
  • TEP4166: Numerisk strømningsberegning (option for CFD related project)
• Spring semester master's thesis work
  • TEP4906: Bærekraftige energisystemer, masteroppgave

Work space and location

A dedicated place to work, a desk, a chair and a computer will be provided to the selected students. The allocation of the desk and computer is generally occur before the startup date and it will be communicated via email. We have 20 desks with permanently fitted computers in the laboratory, and the allocation is carried out depending on the tasks in the project work. The student use same place and computer everyday during the Autumn and Spring semesters. The allocation will be terminated soon after submission of the master's thesis. In addition, the students will also have access to the kitchen, refrigerator and coffee. The students also have access to the 3d printing machine, training equipment, dedicated space for lunch and study room (must be reserved prior to use). The students will also have access to the local library, which includes several books, master thesis and phd thesis.

Location: https://link.mazemap.com/99uUh32B

Startup

Tasks for the project work and the master's thesis are assigned by the main supervisor therefore it is important to contact the supervisor and request the tasks as soon as possible, preferably before the semester startup date. Tasks are generally allocated as an agreement with introductory information and expectations from the students as project work. The project work and the thesis submission date is either provided by the EPT administration or marked in the task agreement.

At the start of the Autumn semester, a common meeting (general assembly) is called with all students, researchers and staff in the Waterpower laboratory. All students are expected/recommended to join the first meeting. The important information related to the project work, work environment, health, safety, and expectations is conveyed. Everyone affiliated to the Waterpower laboratory join the meeting and introduce themselves. Representative from the Waterpower laboratory will send the meeting invitation and location at the start of the semester. The meeting is generally organized in the study room (https://link.mazemap.com/CXy3RbiH) of the laboratory. Broadly following topics are covered during the general assembly:

1. Introduction by the supervisors, Ole Gunnar Dahlhaug and Chirag Trivedi.
2. Introduction by the researchers and staff working in the laboratory.
3. Introduction by the students and oral presentation of the project topic.
4. Information on work environment, health, safety, and emergency evacuation.
5. information related to resources in the laboratory, weekly duties, mainly kitchen cleaning and maintaining workspace in the student area.
6. Handling of windows near desk during summer time.
7. Practicality on coffee machine.
8. Spring semester excursions (Tour to Nepal).
9. Weekly progress meeting with supervisors and presentations.
10. Guideline to usage of resources, such as 3d printing, library books, IT resources, etc.
11. AOB.

It is also important to make plan for the project work or master thesis at the start of the semester and discuss with the supervisor. Students are recommended to use the available template and update the corresponding tasks.

  Download project plan template.

Progress

During the semester, the students usually carry out the assigned tasks and complete the project / master's thesis work. Supervisors usually arrange a weekly progress meeting with the students, where the students make their presentation on the tasks carried out during the week and proposed future activities. Sometime, phd students also join the meeting, if the research topic is in the similar field, to address practical question related to the project tasks.

Project report and master thesis writing

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.

Experience suggests that a minimum of four weeks is required to write a high-quality thesis. Therefore, it's crucial to prepare well ahead of time to avoid a last-minute rush. Outstanding research is of little value if not well-articulated in writing. Examiners, unfamiliar with you or your daily work, will judge your thesis solely on its written text and the interpretation of results. It is advisable to allocate ample time to craft a thesis or project report.

• It is good idea to start planning of thesis writing as early possible, two month before the submission date. You can use the project plan template for thesis writing indicating the chapter wise plan and milestones.
• Define important milestones related to writing contents in the thesis. Think about the contents and their organization. Then, set milestones for different chapters of the thesis.
• You may also like to write some chapters (draft) along with your work, for example, Introduction and literature review chapters.
• Progressive writing is often a better strategy than attempting to write everything at once.
• While there's no strict page limit, aim to write concisely and avoid redundancy. This approach not only saves you time in writing but also makes for a more efficient read for the examiner.

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

Recommended 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

Recommended 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).

  Successful abstracts therefore are composed into following order.

1. General and specific background (around 75 words). Introduce the area of science that you will be speaking about and the state of knowledge in that area. Start broad in the general background, then narrow down to the relevant topic. Do not add much jargon or description.
2. Knowledge Gap (around1 75 words). Now that you’ve stated what is already known, state what is not known. What specific question or challenge is your work attempting to answer? The new knowledge in your work.
3. Method (around 100 words). State your general experimental or numerical approach, methodology to answer the question which you just posed in the ``Knowledge Gap" section.
4. Main results outcome (around 150 words). Provide a high-level description of your most important results, and discuss in 4-5 lines. This is important to show how credible work is and what are the results.
5. Conclusion (around 100 words). Describe how your findings influence our understanding of the field and/or their implications for future studies. What new knowledge you are adding to the existing state-of-the-art.

Consolidate the above 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.

Acknowledgement

Recommended 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.

First of all prepare a list of people to include in the acknowledgment. It is a good idea to thank the administrative staff, who helped you to sort out some problems during your study. Remember that the people, who do not know you personally, may read this part, so you should neither be too personal nor reveal your personal detail.

Recommendations

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.