During the dissertation project, the student prepares three seminars: at the beginning of the activity (presentation of the dissertation project), in the middle (advance seminar on experimental design and methods, in English) and at the end (final seminar presenting the whole dissertation project). All three seminars are rated and contribute to the final grade. Successful completion of the third seminar is a prerequisite for admission to the final degree examination.
Initial seminar
In the initial seminar, the candidate presents the dissertation project. The presentation consists of the state of the art, i.e. a critical analysis of the scientific literature on the subject. From the state of the art must emerge the motivations that led to the development of the proposed topic, in particular hypotheses and knowledge that can potentially be acquired and that justify further research. The objectives of the dissertation and, briefly, the materials and methods to be used should then be explained. Ideally, the dissertation should answer questions and thus one should be able to provide meaning to the expected results, at least hypothetically. Most of the presentation should be dedicated to explaining the state of the art and the hypotheses of the study.
Intermediate Seminar (in English)
The intermediate seminar is held in English and is mainly dedicated to the methodological aspects of the work: illustration of the work plan and experimental design, work schedule, sampling, justification of the sample size used, data analysis and appropriateness of the analyses proposed. Both the scientific rationale and the objectives supporting the methodological choices should be reiterated at this stage. Any preliminary results should also be presented.
Final seminar - Rehearsal of the final presentation
Due to its nature, it will be held approximately one month before the date of the final degree examination in order to allow corrections to be made as a result of the discussion. Having recalled the scientific justification and objectives, most of the time will be dedicated to the reporting of the results and their interpretation. The structure of this seminar is similar to that of a congress presentation.
To view the evaluation grid for each of the three seminars click here.
For students enrolled in the first year from the 2016-17 academic year and for students enrolled in previous years, registration to dissertation seminars must be carried out at least one week before each seminar session on Esse3 and exclusively online using the links indicated below. In detail, to register for the first seminar, the teaching activity '1007201 - Research activities in preparation for final examination Part I' must be selected, for the second seminar the teaching activity '1007202 - Research activities in preparation for final examination Part II' must be selected, for the third seminar the teaching activity '1007203 - Research activities in preparation for final examination Part III' must be selected. Successful completion of each seminar results in the acquisition of 4 ECTS credits.
After each seminar, send the presentation file (in ppt or pdf format) to Prof. Michele Donati.
