Thesis supervision
Thesis supervision
Finding a thesis supervisor
Your thesis supervisor is a lecturer at the Erasmus School of Economics. Students are expected to find their own thesis supervisor.
Some departments have a thesis coordinator. If this is the case, you can contact this coordinator about who would be the most suitable supervisor for you.
Alternatively, you can ask for a list of available thesis supervisors from the secretariat.
Finally, you can contact a lecturer directly. Someone who is specialised in your topic, for example one of your former lecturers of a course or tutorial you followed.
Things you need to consider
When you are deciding who to choose as your thesis supervisor you must think about what kind of supervisor would best suit you and your research project. There are various reasons for asking a particular lecturer to be your supervisor:
- The lecturer is an expert in the field. This lecturer knows everything about your topic and can supervise you and give you tips mainly about the content.
- The lecturer is an excellent process supervisor. This person may not know everything about your topic, but they can help you to set up a decent research project and assist you with your research process.
- The lecturer has an excellent network and you need these useful contacts to conduct your research.
Making arrangements with your thesis supervisor
Once you have found a thesis supervisor, you need to make an appointment for your first meeting. During this meeting you should not only discuss your thesis proposal but also both the expectations of your supervisor and your own. Think of the following aspects:
- The kind of supervision (focus)
- Intensity/ frequency of supervision
- The method of supervision
- Assessment criteria
- Your expectations/goals and the expectations/goals of your supervisor
- Potential problems
It is a good habit to make a short summary of all agreements that you made during your conversations with your supervisor. You can also email this summary to your supervisor for future reference.
Courses
Course Writing and Presenting in English
In bachelor-3 you can take the elective FEB13070 - Writing and Presenting in English (4 cr.). You can bring in this course into your elective space. Part of this course is academic writing in English. The skills and knowledge to be gained from this course can be used when writing your thesis.
Courses
The Language & Training Centre of the Erasmus University of Rotterdam offers various courses on writing skills and other skills you need for completing your thesis. Please visit the LTC website for an overview of these courses.
Thesis Preparation Course (in Dutch)
The course 'Thesis Preparation' helps you to make a start with the writing process. This course is also offered especially for ESE students thanks to collaboration between the LTC and the ESE.
Academic Writing Course (in Dutch and in English)
You will learn how to write academic texts in the course 'Academic Writing'. This course is taught in English and in Dutch ('Academisch Schrijven').
Other courses
The LTC offers many other courses, including courses on interviewing techniques, stress management and thesis presentation. Please visit the LTC website for a complete overview.
Courses University Library
Becoming information literate
The University Library (UB-EUR) offers several courses to increase your information literacy skills. By increasing your information literacy skills, you can search, select, obtain and evaluate scholarly information more effectively. You can find the course offer on the website of the University Library.
Refworks
Refworks is an online research management, writing and collaboration tool. You can use this tool to easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies.
The University Library offers a course Refworks. You can find more information about this course on the website of the University Library.
You can also visit the website of Refworks (www.refworks.com) for more information about Refworks.
Workshop Financial Databases
The University Library also offers Workshops Financial Databases, in which you will learn to use several financial databases. You will need these financial databases if you have to collect financial data of quoted companies worldwide.
You can find more information about the Workshop Financial Databases on the website of the University Library.
Help with thesis problems
Problems with your thesis supervisor
You may encounter problems with your thesis supervisor. For example, you may have different expectations of the supervision you are getting from your supervisor or you may disagree about the direction of your thesis. If this is the case, you can either go to the thesis coordinator or to the confidential advisor of the department. For more information you can contact the secretariat of the department. Alternatively, you can contact a student advisor.
Personal problems
Supervision for personal problems can be given by study advisers, student counsellors or university psychologists. For more information about individual supervision for personal problems you can contact the study advisers.
