IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Graduate Programme
Contents
Introduction2
Week Rhythm and Important d.. 3
Finding the Right Supervisor 4
Writing a Project Description
5
Filling Out the Thesis Contract 6
Planning your Thesis Work
7
Content of a Thesis
8
Deliverable and the Exam
9
Tips and Tricks for Academic... 1
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Students14
Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Introduction
Welcome to the 4th and last semester of the IT Product Design
graduate programme. We hope you will enjoy working fulltime on your own research, and we look forward to seeing and
experiencing the results in June.
In the 4th semester you will only work on one project: your thesis.
It might be obvious, but your thesis will be an ITPD thesis. This
means that your thesis contribution should be positioned in
between design, research, and/or organization. For example, you
can do a ‘research through design’ project, where you construct
artefacts to develop ITPD related theories; you can use artefacts
as a means of engagement in a larger organization; or you can
research how organizations practice and understand design.
This is a great opportunity to pursue a direction that aligns with
your interest, to demonstrate and develop your gathered skills,
competences, and knowledge from the first three semesters.
In this course guide you will find what is required from an ITPD
thesis. In a nutshell: the thesis should introduce a relevant topic of
inquiry, articulate a research question, and contribute with a reply
to this question. The structure in between these phases should
have clear transitions, decisions should be transparent, ‘design’
in its broadest sense should be used, your responsibilities in the
project should be clear, and the topic and contribution should be
relevant in light of related ITPD theories.
The Course Curriculum is the legal basis for this programme
and you can find it here: http://www.sdu.dk/en/information_til/
studerende_ved_sdu/din_uddannelse/kandidat/it_produktudvikling/
uddannelsens_opbygning. If you are in doubt about the precise
exam requirements, marks, credit, etc. refer to that document.
The curriculum is approved by the Study Board for Information
and Communication Studies, and it can only be modified with the
acceptance of the Study Board.
Your IT Product Design tutors.
December 2016, Kolding
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Week Rhythm and Important Dates
Throughout the last three semesters you have been used to
receiving a schedule from us letting you know when you have
classes and suggesting how to distribute your time between
different projects. This semester it is up to you to schedule your
work in order to complete the thesis in time for the final hand-in
date on 1 June 2017. It is important to dedicate time for reading
and writing and maybe have a weekly meeting with a study group.
The schedule below is just a suggestion, but we do encourage you
to create a weekly schedule of your own.
Monday
9.00-12.00
Reviewing
Literature
Tuesday
Wednesday
Project
Work
Thursday
Project
Work
Friday
Writing
Project
Work
Writing
Project
Work
LUNCH
13.00-16.00
Reviewing
Literature
Project
Work
Weekly
Study
Group
Meeting
Important Dates
Holidays
Easter Holiday
Prayer Day
Ascesion Day
Whitsunday
Conference
SIDeR’17
Study Group
Weekly meeting
Poster Exhibition
10 April – 17 April
12 May
25 May – 26 May
5 June
Every Wednesday
15 March
80 % Hand-in
Thesis draft
1 May
Thesis Trial
Presenting your
research
17 May – 18 May
Final Hand-in
Thesis submission
1 June
Thesis Exam
Presenting your
research
19 June – 21 June
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Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Finding the Right Supervisor
When looking for a supervisor for you thesis you might want to
consider which of the SDU Design researchers makes the best
match with the topic of your thesis.
If it is possible to find a supervisor who shares some of the same
research interests the collaboration will obviously be more fruitful
and rewarding for both parties.
Take the time to find out what the SDU Design researchers are
currently working on, maybe by simply asking them during an
informal conversation. Would he or she be interested in working
with you on the research you will be doing for your thesis?
And do not worry that you will not be able to find someone with
the same research interest. Of course it might be that no SDU
Design researcher shares the exact same research interest, but if
you are enthusiastic about your work, chances are you will be able
to make at least one of the SDU Design researchers enthusiastic
about your work too.
What to do if you have no idea what to write about? Again, it is a
good idea to engage in conversation with one of our researchers,
maybe someone who’s work you found particularly interesting.
This person might be able to help you understand what it is
you are interested in, and together you will form an interesting
research question.
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Writing the Project Description
As a minimum your thesis description should include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Working title
Research question
Synopsis
Outline of theory/reading list
Outline of empirical data/data
Methodological reflections
Work plan
References (probably between five and ten good references)
Each section should be at least two or three sentences long. Some
might be longer.
The thesis proposal should show that you have given thought to
the whole process of writing a thesis, and that you will make the
deadline.
Company Collaboration
If you want to collaborate with a company during your thesis
work it is a good idea to start looking for a company as early as
possible. Make sure that it is not only about what the company
wants, but also about what you want to do with your thesis.
If you choose to write your thesis in cooperation with a company,
the company might ask you to sign a Non-Disclosure-Agreement
(NDA). If you are in doubt about any of the legal issues you can
contact Henrik Talbro from SDU’s legal office: [email protected]
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Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Filling Out the Thesis Contract
The thesis contract is a legally binding contract between you and
the university. Once the thesis contract has been accepted by the
Head of Studies it can only be altered via an application to the
Study Board for Information and Communication Studies.
You need to fill out the thesis contract and attach a thesis
supervision plan and a project description via http://www.sdu.dk/
en/information_til/studerende_ved_sdu/din_uddannelse/kandidat/
it_produktudvikling/speciale. Choose “Deadlines” and the relevant
semester “Doing the Master’s thesis in a Spring semester (as of
Spring 2017)”.
The page http://www.sdu.dk/en/information_til/studerende_ved_
sdu/din_uddannelse/kandidat/it_produktudvikling/speciale
should provide you with most of the necessesary information.
The final titel of your thesis needs to be submitted aproximately
two weeks before the deadline.i.e. 18 May 2017 via “Stages
through the thesis process” http://www.sdu.dk/en/information_til/
studerende_ved_sdu/din_uddannelse/kandidat/it_produktudvikling/
speciale/formelle+faser.
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Planning your Thesis Work
Your thesis proposal and thesis contract provide you with a solid
ground to start the semester. However, at the end of the semester
you will have to end up with a written thesis. It is therefore of
great help to start early with writing, and to identify your thesis
audience as soon as possible.
Know Your Audience
Being aware of the position of your project stakeholders is one of
most important takeaways from ITPD. This also counts for your
thesis: knowing for who you are writing your thesis is of great
help in positioning your work to relevant theories, and in filtering
out relevant information from empirical material. Your audience
can be an academic audience such as design anthropologists or
interaction design researchers, or an industrial audience such as
experience designers or innovation managers.
Start Early With Writing
There is no consensus of how to best write your thesis or how to
best structure your work. This will probably be based upon your
personal preferences and the consultations of your supervisor.
However, a general advice is to start writing as early as possible!
• Academic research is a practice that you can get better at by
doing it: reading academic articles, finding out about academic
arguments (eg through reversed outlines), and writing up bits
and pieces in a logical manner. At first this will require quite
some effort, but by starting early you will be at speed in good
time.
• It is of great help to write up your thoughts or experiences
while they are still fresh in mind. Not only because you will
remember important details, but also because writing them
up is a form of intermediate analysis and structuring of your
thoughts.
• Your first thesis draft is most likely not perfect. Typically, a
thesis requires 1 or 2 more drafts to be ready, because writing
might get you stuck in certain patterns of thinking that can
only be broken by not looking at your writings for a while.
Starting early will sharpen your thoughts help you to re-frame
your work later on.
• Thinking and writing are very strongly connected: as you write
you externalize your thoughts, and new ideas might come up
as you write. So starting early helps you implementing some of
these ideas.
• And last but not least, writing up your thoughts early enables
your supervisor to give valuable input in time!
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Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Content of a Thesis
The master thesis (30 ECTS) should contain a minimum of 12.000
words and a maximum of 20.000 words depending on the design
production. If you calculate with 400 words per page it is between
30 and 50 pages of pure text. Of course you are welcome to add
pictures, tables etc. that do not count as text.
The recommended length does not include front page, table of
contents, abstract (summary), references, appendix.
Content
Introduction to the topic of investigation / problem– address to a
field, audience, and anticipate on the contribution
Literature review (state of the art)
Your project context, methods and approach
Your data, and how it was collected
Data analysis
Critical reflection on the problem(s) encountered, limitations of the
approach, context, etc.
Contributions, conclusions, results
Discussion / implications
References
The Cover Page and Title Page
The content of the cover and title pages are listed below.
Cover Page
Title Page
Title and subtitle
Name of the author(s)
Title and subtitle
Name of the author(s)
Name of University
Name of University
Name of education
- and logo
Name of education
- e.g. M.Sc. IT Product Design
Name of supervisor
What sort of report is it?
- e.g. master thesis
Hand-in date
Company logo
- if the thesis is written in
collaboration with a company
Your signature
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Deliverable and the Exam
The hand-in date for your thesis is 1 June 2017.
Deliverable
• Three hard copies of your thesis (one for your supervisor, one
for the external examiner, and one for the thesis library)
• Upload the PDF version of your thesis to BlackBoard in the
course “Thesis. IT Product design - 1st June 2017”
• Send a PDF version of your thesis to the Course Coordinator
(Vicki Sørensen Lei [email protected])
• Send a PDF of your abstract to the Course Coordinator (we use
this to make a thesis collection to send as invitation to your
exam)
The Exam
This year the thesis week runs from 19 June – 21 June 2017, and a
detailed schedule of the exams will be handed out later.
At the exam you may set up the room as you like and present
your results in a format that you think conveys your work in the
best possible way. Supervisors and examiners are always keen
to see and touch physical things and also to be engaged in you
presentation.
You are welcome to invite guests to your presentation, we will
also invite 1st year students and other people who might have an
interest in your work. If you have been working with a company
and you had to sign an NDA you can choose between having no
guests or having the guests sign an NDA.
The exam consits of:
• The presentation of your thesis – 25 minutes
• Questions from examiner and supervisor – 25 minutes
• Discussion of grade – 40 minutes
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Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Tips and Tricks for Academic Writing
Writing is like most skills, there are some ‘naturals’ who have a
flair for written communication, but everyone can improve to a
decent level through practice. Here are some things to consider:
Audience and Purpose
Consider your target group or your audience, maybe keeping a
particular person in mind whilst writing. A thesis is not merely
a conversation on paper, but an opportunity for crafting a
convincing argument that supports your main points. You want
your thesis to stand on its own, but not insult your reader with too
much detail. For instance, you want a clear introduction stating
what your thesis is about, but do not give detailed accounts about
the credentials of your references.
Structure
Generally a thesis should have a number of clearly identifiable
sections: a title, perhaps a subtitle, an introduction, a main
body and a conclusion (see Content on p. 8). By just reading the
introduction and the conclusion, your reader should be able to
form a picture of what your thesis is about and decide whether he
wants to read the whole thing. Like a presentation, tell them what
you are going to tell them (introduction), tell them (body), and tell
them what you told them (conclusion). As a reader, it is confusing
when the conclusions do not have any relationship to what you
talked about in the introduction.
Balanced Perspective
It may sound strange but your story becomes more convincing
when you argue both ‘for’ and ‘against’. Try to weigh perspectives
against each other. Things are rarely black and white. Arguing
through different perspectives shows that you have a deeper
understanding of the field. This lends strength to your
argumentation. You’re not on the shopping channel: Your
audience tends to get suspicious when you cry ‘hallelujah’ all the
time. Show that you have thought about any disadvantages of your
ideas and how to counteract them.
Title/Headings
The title should of course cover as well as possible what is in your
thesis. A title like ‘Interaction Design’ is way too general. The same
goes for section headings and subheadings. Meaningful section
headings and subheadings should give the reader an idea of what
to expect by just flipping through the pages.
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
References
There are a few basic ideas behind referencing.
It is highly rare that all the ideas are your own, so you want to do
some justice to the people who inspired you.
You want to show that you know the area you write about.
Someone who would like to read more on a particular subject
should be able to find the source material using the references at
the end. This means that a reference list should be complete.
Depending on the kind of reference you may need: the name of
the author, his/her initial(s), year of publication, name of the book
or name of article, the name of the book/proceedings the article
appeared in, the editors and the publisher. If you refer to a film
you should at least mention the name of the film, the director and
the year of release. Of course a film is not literature, so you use a
heading called ‘References’.
Air to Breathe
Don’t rant on for pages and pages without section breaks,
paragraph breaks or white space. Try to give the reader a break —
literally.
Spelling
Very few people are able to write without any spelling mistakes. It
is okay if you cannot spell, just make sure that no one ever finds
out. At the very least this means that you run a spell check before
you hand in the final version. Since a spell checker catches only
existing words, proofreading is crucial. Simply reading your thesis
out loud to yourself is a beneficial first step in this process.
Grammar
Have your work proofread. After you have worked on a text for a
while you cannot spot your own mistakes anymore.
Information Source
There is a big difference in validity between commercial
statements, company literature, and academic or scientific
documents. Be selective (critical) in the information you use.
Quote Properly
It is a really bad idea to put words in other people’s mouths. If you
communicate or criticize other people’s ideas you must beware
not to change them. Ideas—even if they are anecdotes—should
not evolve like jokes that become a little bit different every time
they are told. It makes a bad impression if you claim someone said
something at a conference and if one of your readers happened to
be there too and thinks: “That’s not quite what was said though...”.
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Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Plagiarism
Using other people’s material without reference, is a serious
academic offence that can result in examine failure. Be sure to
familiarize yourself with plagiarism rules and regulations at SDU.
Word choice
Try to make your document easy to read, but in a professional
manner. Use words that are within your range (vocabulary) of
understanding. It is quite obvious and tacky when you use big
academic words that are unnecessary. Also, be careful about
misusing terms like “etc.” Instead, show the reader that you know
what you are talking about.
Illustrations
Illustrations are a nice way of making difficult material more
readable. You can make diagrams to clarify your view of things.
Or you can use photos or drawings to illustrate your ideas. Even if
you cannot find illustrations that exactly communicate what you
mean then still you may find things that approach your ideas.
File format
When you send a written text by email make sure you cause the
recipient as little hassle as possible. It never hurts to get your
audience in a good mood before they start reading. Our preferred
format is PDF. It is readable on most platforms, ends up very
small, and for the moment it is your best bet to try to make sure
the recipient sees your text in the way you intended in terms of
layout, fonts, margins, pictures etc.
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
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Department of Design and Communication
IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Students
Class of 2017
Aida Tabrizi
[email protected]
Erica Vannucci
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Ferran Altarriba Bertran
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Ida Naeve
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Jakub Sypniewski
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Jakub Rybar
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Janne Mascha Beuthel
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Lennart Schlüther
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Mirzel Avdic
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Ondrej Henek
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Peter Heinzl
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Roza Oikonomou
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Thomas William Neville
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Steven Beck Klingberg
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Zin Wint Htet
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IT Product Design Course Guide 1234
Class of 2018
Aleksandar Borislavov Novakov
[email protected]
Alexander Balling Fredriksen
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Alexandros Sapounidis
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Anansan Henrik Ratnakumar
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Anastasia Giannousi
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Artem Bockarev
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Camilla Schibsbye
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Christina Fyhn Nielsen
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Donna Marie St Claire Jørgensen
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Dora Vagner
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Helene Toft Nørregaard
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Ivan Nikolov
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Katrine Løck Worm
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Katrine Truelsen
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Kingsley Ehidiame Ihionkhan
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Kristaps Tunsts
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Larissa Vivian Naegele
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Lars Viberg-Sørensen
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Mónica Ferrer Durán
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Pauline Fredskilde
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Pavels Konstantinovs
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Randi Jessen
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Sofus Bach Poulsen
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Sophie Christin Meyer
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Takami Sugiyama
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15
Department of Design and Communication
University of Southern Denmark
Universitetsparken 1
DK-6000 Kolding
SDU Design