Essay

Graded essay

The goal of this essay is to give you training in scientific writing and an opportunity to think through how the course content can be applied in a degree project. You will practice writing primarily in a scientific style, but also in a popular science style. Your work will be based on a Bachelor’s Thesis in Computer Science.

Your essay should begin with a readable summary of the thesis intended for a layperson who probably has no deep knowledge of computer science. Give a brief explanation of what the thesis is about and a discussion of its interest to the general public. (1 page maximum).

Next comes a section with general scientific considerations in connection with the thesis. This may include historical references, philosophical terms such as anti-realism or the HD-method, statistical concepts such as correlation or null hypothesis, CS themes such as P vs NP, a discussion of ethical issues related to the thesis topic, an analysis of the arguments in the thesis, a discussion of the reproducibility of the work as published in the thesis, etc. (2 pages recommended length).

Try to make as much use of the course content as possible while staying relevant to the topic. Remember to refer to all sources of information used in a correct and complete way. You can choose any commonly used convention for references, but this needs to be followed consistently. This section should be written in an academic style

In the final (third) section, you should give suggestions for how the work could be improved to satisfy the requirements of a Masters' thesis.  Focus on the content rather than minor language details, though you may also make suggestions related to the presentation. Since the Bachelor's thesis was written a couple of years ago it is very likely that there is new research in the area. Find a number of relevant newer references in addition to those cited in the Bachelor's thesis, and explain how these connect to the thesis work and how it could be improved or extended (older references that are not included in the thesis may also be considered). (2 pages recommended length).

KTH guidelines for master's theses can be found here, and an informal Swedish translation here.

Formal requirements

• Title page with your name, and the name of the Bachelor's Thesis under scrutiny.
• Part 1 (Summary). Maximum 1 page.
• Part 2 (Scientific considerations). Recommended length 2 pages.
• Part 3 (Suggestions). Recommended length 2 pages.
• List of references
• Font size 10pt
• Your essay must be checked with spell checking and grammar checking tools (e.g. Grammarly) before submission, and carefully proofread manually after that. Your reference list should be checked so that all references are correct and complete. The essay will be checked for plagiarism - text by others can only be used in the form of explicit quotes with a source.
• You will be asked to review the essays of three other students. You are also required to submit your own essay for review.
• LaTeX submissions are encouraged; the submission should be a pdf file.

Dates

• December 9,  2020  -  January 6, 2021 Peer review in Peergrade
  • You may hand in the preliminary version of your essay in Peergrade for peer review at any time between these dates. This will be a Live Session so if you hand in earlier, you will receive earlier feedback. 
• January 8, 2020, 17:00. Final version due in Canvas
  • Deadline for submitting the final version of your essay (after review)  in Canvas.

Grading

Your essay will be graded according to the following criteria:

• A late essay will not get a higher grade than E.
• An essay that does not fulfill all criteria for pass will receive Fx (and must hand in again).
• An essay that in addition to the pass criteria also fulfills some of the "pass with distinction" criteria will get a higher grade than E.

Pass: 

• The essay fulfills the formal requirements,
• The essay is easy to read and understand, and the language is of acceptable quality.
• The student has summarized the thesis in an appropriate way
• The student has written about scientific considerations in connection with the thesis subject, and shows an ability to connect to the course content.
• The student has identified areas that need improvement, and given consideration both to the presentation and the scientific content.
• All sources are properly referenced, with references given correctly. 

Pass with distinction:

• The style is well adapted to the target audience for each of the three sections. 
• The language of the essay is up to the standard expected for submission of scientific articles to an international journal, i.e., correct and reasonably idiomatic.
• The summary is interesting and comprehensible for a layperson.
• The general scientific considerations are clearly connected to the thesis and show a broad knowledge of course content, both relating to the theory of science and to research methodology.
• The author gives constructive and insightful suggestions for improvement and development of the thesis, and cites multiple relevant references connected to the thesis topic.

More details on grading policies may be added later.

Essay subjects (Bachelor's theses)

Resources

• Free grammar and spelling checkers on the web: Grammarly and GrammarCheck
• The Centre for Academic Writing (CAW/CAS)
• How to write a summary  - from University of Washington Odegaard Research and Writing Centre, with more good advice here Links to an external site..
• Popular science writing. - a guide from Lund University
• Tips on writing a popular science summary Links to an external site. - from Chalmers University