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Thesis Landing Page

Hurray! 😃 You have decided to write your thesis at the LMN. You are very welcome. Please feel free to ask any question at any time to any of your lab members. LMN believes in the power of collaboration and the fair distribution of resources. Thus receiving and providing help lies at the core of its reseach, you are now part of it.

What you need to do¶

There are several stages of the thesis project that need to be passed before being able to complete the thesis. You can find a list of all requirements under this link.

How to get started¶

Before starting your bachelor or master project, you will have to create your own masterplan. Think about your research question, note down your hypothesis and try to get a rough overview of the topic. Afterwards you can start to create your timetable. A good and general guide for writing your thesis can be found on Scribbr (in German). IMPORTANT! A rough timetable needs to be included in your project outline. This outline needs to be filled out and approved by Prof. Jansen.

A Masterplan

Time Management Hints¶

Here are some things to consider:

  • Do you need an ethics approval? If yes, plan A LOT of additional time!

  • How good is your knowledge in programming? Depending on that, you might adjust your time needed for creating a paradigm or analysing your data.

  • Do you have experience looking at imaging data? If not, make sure you get the assistence you need to identify important tissues quickly.

  • Are you interested in preregistering your project? Then make sure to add additional planning time to your timeline. At a later moment in time, however, this can also reduce your workload, as preregistrations force you to prepare yourself for your analysis.

  • Be aware that you might have to test measure one, two or more pilot participants before starting the actual measurements.

  • Make sure you have enough time for participant reruitment and measurement. You will most probably not be the only one requiring MRI scanning time.

  • Plan some extra time for correcting mistakes. It can happen that you need to rerun your analysis several times before everything is correct. This is why it is good practice to add additional time for sanity checks: Do the results make sense? Do the images look the way they should?

  • Analysis takes time, not only the planning, but also the actual execution. Depending on the power of the PC you are using and the number of participants, it can take up to days, weeks even.

Having a good timetable for your thesis is a great start but how do you keep to your goals? Here are some tips:

  • Always add some extra time, don't be too strict on your expecations.

  • What needs to be done now? What can wait? Prioritise your todos.

  • If you get stuck, ask as soon as possible! Don't spend time procrastinating!

  • Keep getting back to people if you need them to do something, don't be afraid to send another reminder.

  • Stick to your plan. Don't change your mind and add other analysis steps or research questions to your work. Do what is essential first.