A Master Thesis Project at ICT/KTH Some practical guidelines by Vlad Vlassov and Thomas Sjöland IMIT/ICT/KTH

2 Choosing a project to perform In which area (topic)? –2G1004 Software technology; 2G1001 Computer Systems; 2G1021 Telecommunication Systems, etc. –Should correspond to your specialization. –See: Where? –At a company The project work is usually paid –At a department A project work is not paid, as it’s considered as a ordinary course Examiner and supervisors: –An examiner. Check a list of examiners assigned to topics See a list of IMIT examiners at: –An academic supervisor (can be also an examiner) –An industrial supervisor

3 Types of projects Development –Expected results: a prototype, results of evaluation (comparison) Research-oriented –Expected results: surveys, design choices and issues, design (use cases, architecture, protocols), a basic prototype, evaluation procedure, evaluation Evaluation –Expected results: models, evaluation/simulation procedure, a simulation environment or/and an evaluation test-bed, simulation/evaluation results In either case, a project includes literature study –Relevant technologies; related work (if any)

4 A typical time plan and deliverables P month ~20 weeks 5 Reading, studyingDesign, development Implementation and evaluation Writing and revising the report, Prepare presentation 1. Specification (in 2 weeks)2. Detailed working plan TOC (Table of Contents) 3. Lit. study report4. Description of use cases system architecture, protocols, etc. 5. A system prototype6. Evaluation results7. Thesis draft

5 1. A project specification Should clearly define the amount of work and expected results –Important to agree on the specification in the beginning Can be written by –an industrial advisor (together with a student) –an academic advisor (together with a student) –a student Should include: –Background information –Motivation for the project (whether it is worth a master degree) –Problem statement. Requirements –Expected results –How results must be evaluated

6 2. TOC (Table Of Contents) To be delivered by the end of the 1st month TOC is a Detailed working plan Shows a structure of the thesis A short abstract for each chapter –What is it about –Expected results Should include timing TOC will be revised while the project progresses

7 3. Literature study Expected that –you will apply a knowledge you got earlier –you will get a new knowledge needed to perform the project, to make and to motivate design and development decisions and solutions You show your ability to search, select and study relevant literature (papers, books, tutorials, manuals, etc.) and related work A literature study report should be delivered by the end of the 2nd month

8 A literature study report It’s an introductory part of your thesis Should include: –Background –Motivation –A detailed problem statement. Requirements –Expected results –How to evaluate –Related work (survey and discussion) –Existing solutions (systems, etc.) –Survey of relevant technologies, environments, tools, etc. You should choose technologies, environments, etc., to be used in the project, and motivate your choices –Some conclusions

9 Information sources: papers In proceedings –Workshops Usually include papers describing work in progress, ideas (which might be not yet properly validated and evaluated) –Conferences Usually include papers describing rather completed work with strong evaluation –Symposiums Usually Include papers describing some completed work (project) with strong evaluation –Different scale: international, local Sponsored by IEEE and/or ACM –You should find major workshops, conferences, symposiums which are most relevant to your topic. Ask you advisors to help. In journals –IEEE, ACM, Elsevier-published journals; Transactions –Journals specialized on specific topics; special issues; surveys

10 E-Libraries KTH Library Full text e-journals, conference proceedings, etc: IEEE digital library (a.k.a. IEEE Xplore) Find the link at The ACM digital library Find a link at You get free access, if you access from a computer with an IP address in the KTH domain

11 Other sources Books Specifications User manuals Tutorials Technical reports Theses Courses Much information is available on the Web Web pages

12 What to read? What can be skimmed or skipped? Should be critical to what you are reading and selective in what you are reading Who are authors? Affiliation? –Industry (.com): can be just an advertisement. However, most of information is trusty when it’s related to research and development Which company? IBM, Intel, Sun, Microsoft, … –Academia (.edu): can be a “raw” idea not properly evaluated Which university? North America (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, CMU, Caltech,…), Europe, Asia, Australia, Central or South America Which research group? (well established, well known in this area, etc.) Which project? (scale, competed or in progress, etc.) –Consortium (.org), e.g. OMG, Globus Where it has been reported? –Level of a forum (conference, workshop, symposium) –Level of a journal

13 Typical structure of a thesis Abstract Introduction Background Method –Presents use cases and a system design (architecture, protocols, diagrams, etc.) Implementation –Describes implementation Analysis –Validation, Evaluation Conclusions and future work References Appendixes (if any)

14 How to describe Design and development: –May follow RUP (Rational Unified Process) Vision, use cases, UML diagrams, etc. –Should describe a structure of the system; how it operates; typical usage. Implementation –Describe only most essential and important classes, interfaces, modules, etc. –Should give an estimate of the amount of code you have developed –If required, docs, sources and user manuals (if any) can be placed in appendixes –Indicate problems (if any) that you have faced when implementing a system prototype

15 Evaluation of results Validation –Functionality tests should show that a system prototype works as expected –Use cases can help Evaluation –Evaluation procedure: evaluation flow, input and output parameters How good is your application Define a notion of quality, e.g. performance, scalability, reliability, etc. –What is performance in your case: throughput, response time, or execution time, etc.? Requirements should help to define a quality measure How and what to measure. Ranges of input parameters. Sensitivity analysis. –Evaluation environment: a test-bed, benchmarks, test applications

16 Conclusions Summary –What have you done, achieved, solved Conclusions Future work

17 Final stages A first thesis draft should be delivered to supervisors 1- 1,5 month before the presentation –May require several revisions A final draft should be given to an opponent 2-3 weeks before the presentation The time depends on the opponent: how fast he/she can read your report and write an opposition protocol Opponent: –Should come up with an opposition protocol to be sent to the examiner a few days before the presentation –The examiner can make a decision whether to proceed to the presentation, or to postpone the presentation until the thesis is revised (if needed)

18 Presentation minutes (20-30 slides) –May have more slides (hide some slides) to answer questions –Put all figures (and tables) on slides to avoid drawing Discussion with an opponent Questions

19 More advices A text editor –Select an editor (e.g. MS Word) that provides an automatic update of cross-references, spelling and grammar checker, changes tracker, convenient drawing tool, comments, etc. Literature study –Keep a list of references –Take notes when reading A project web site –Helps to keep a list related links and show how the project is progressing –Take and keep notes of project meeting –Diary –Protect some sensitive data with a password