Me Time!

[zac's mum]

It probably depends on the field of study. Not necessarily for language majors only.


For Science-related, even my undergrad honours required a thesis writeup of our 1-year lab project. And viva voce (thesis defence) in front of a panel of 3 supervisors (1 being own supervisor). Masters and PhD would be proportionately longer number of words.

[sharonkhoo]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2086339\" time=\"1666314309\" user_id=\"2358:

Do we need to write thesis for masters? I did my mba at Nus and my friends did masters in financial engineering but We don’t recall writing anything. In my undergrad direct honours program, I only recalled doing FYP that’s all….

Some Masters have a dissertation requirement, but some are \"by coursework only\". In general, the social science and humanities ones tend to require a thesis, while some of the science-y ones may not. It depends on how the course is drawn up.

FYP is considered a mini-thesis, and gives students a chance to try their hand at it. Not all undergrad courses require an FYP - depends on the university and the course. At least in my daughter's course at NTU, it could be replaced by coursework (but would limit the class of degree).

[sharonkhoo]

MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2086341\" time=\"1666314776\" user_id=\"43981:

There can be many writings to do. I have one that of more exam and final in writing.. and another all writings at the later modules which is more than 50% of the whole.

So if there is help in the piece of write-up..hmm I personally feel the unfair advantage there..

But in our ksp kaki case, very likely more on flow/language la I guess..

At postgrad level, and even at undergrad level, the thesis is mostly judged on research, thought, arguments, proofs, experiments, etc. I doubt very much weight is placed on typos, small grammar errors, etc, unless they are so pervasive that the thesis cannot be understood well. It's not like school where 0.5 marks will be deducted for each spelling error or whatever! And postgrad theses are usually pass/fail, so small differences based on quality of writing or language errors won't make any difference in the outcome. As far as I know, in the various universities I have studied at or had contact with, there has never been any prohibition on a student discussing the content with supervisor and friends, getting comments, or asking for help in spotting errors like spelling, punctuation, grammar etc. In fact, what will probably influence the outcome more are the earlier discussions with supervisor, coursemates, etc to decide the scope and structure the thesis, what data needs to be collected, etc.

As I said, it's a slippery slope - at some point, the help might become almost like rewriting. Which is why many theses also have to be examined \"viva voce\" - the student has to make a presentation, answer questions, make a defence, etc. And it has to based on the student's (and friends' and supervisor's) integrity to a large extent. Otherwise all grading will have to be based on exams.

[ChiefKiasu]

MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2086335\" time=\"1666313316\" user_id=\"43981:

Chief, I was just thinking about the 'originality' of the work.. some people will have more passion than the others..agree.. and due to certain factors that piece of work may somehow fall below expectations.. I think not unusual kind of circumstances. But it should be that person's own job/efforts that should be evaluated right? :?

Oh... it's easy to see if the work is \"original\". Anyway, students have to pass their finished paper through a program that will state what percentage of their work may be plagiarized, and it can't be more than 15%. It's also easy for markers to detect parts of the paper that may have been copied without referencing.

Penalties are harsh... immediate failure with almost zero recourse. So don't try :nunchuk:

[Zeal mummy]

starlight1968sg\" post_id=\"2086320\" time=\"1666303869\" user_id=\"14025:

Looking forward to ME time as I had a hectic week at work

Love me time! I can spend hours doing nothing much. Have a good rest, Star!

[Zeal mummy]

ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2086360\" time=\"1666321781\" user_id=\"3:

Oh... it's easy to see if the work is \"original\". Anyway, students have to pass their finished paper through a program that will state what percentage of their work may be plagiarized, and it can't be more than 15%. It's also easy for markers to detect parts of the paper that may have been copied without referencing.

Penalties are harsh... immediate failure with almost zero recourse. So don't try :nunchuk:

Yes, my kids were told this as well. The programs are v advanced these days, it is quick and automated. Plagiarism can be detected easily. Don’t do it.

[Imp75]

I also want to do nothing but I think I am the kind cannot stop doing something and zone out. Watching Kdrama or Netflix is probably the most “do nothing” things that I do.

[MrsKiasu]

I m feeling abit overwhelming today…the more coffee I take the more ganjiong I feel…need calm myself down.

[MrsKiasu]

ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2086360\" time=\"1666321781\" user_id=\"3:

Oh... it's easy to see if the work is \"original\". Anyway, students have to pass their finished paper through a program that will state what percentage of their work may be plagiarized, and it can't be more than 15%. It's also easy for markers to detect parts of the paper that may have been copied without referencing.

Penalties are harsh... immediate failure with almost zero recourse. So don't try :nunchuk:

I guess for some when you need to pull the facts in, cannot escape even though try to change some wordings ..guess such cases should be ok ba.

[sharonkhoo]

MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2086372\" time=\"1666323577\" user_id=\"43981:

I guess for some when you need to pull the facts in, cannot escape even though try to change some wordings ..guess such cases should be ok ba.

Plagiarism of blocks of text is the easiest to detect with the various software programs available now. My daughters tell me it's used it for all written assignments, not just theses.

I thought you meant originality in thought and content - that is harder to detect except by questioning. If the student can't answer questions about why the research was structured and scoped in that way, or why a particular method was chosen, or how the data was collected, limitations of the research, etc, then those will be red flags. And the supervisor should also bear some responsibility as he/she should have discussed the project with the student along the way - if it wasn't original enough for that level (the degree of originality required is highest for PhD but less for Masters or undergrad projects), then the supervisor should have said so earlier.