Prepering, writing, and presenting diploma

thessisJan Hanacek

Dept of Pathological Physiology JFM CU in Martin

Introduction

To be useful, your DT needs to be explained clearly to others - to colleagues, to referees

This presentation provides information on how to prepare each

section of a diploma thesis (DT), covering the title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements and references

Essential informations and advice on how to present and defend diploma thesis creates one part of this guide

The presentation of DT is an attempt to make for the students the task of finishing a graduate degree at Jessenius Fakulty of Medicine CU in Martin much easier

Diploma thesis (DT)

The main purposes

Students can independently:

1) to report new results (experimental, clinical, review...),

2) put his/her work in a wider, interesting and exciting context,

3) plan and carry out a scientific study,

4) analyse present data critically,

5) interpret work critically while highlighting its main contributions to the field. 6) to confirm their competence in defined field of medicine

Where you can find essential informations on DT

Internal Regulation of CU No. 7/2011: „Basic Essentials of Theses, Rigorous Theses and Habilitation Theses, Check of Their Originality, Their Storage and Accessing at Comenius University in Bratislava“

Internal regulation No. 3/2012 JFM CU: “Decision of the Deanof the JFM CU in Martin CU on Theses (bachelor´s and master´s) of students of JFMED CU

Manual for study evidence and diploma thesis

Diploma thesis assignemnt form

Record of diploma thesis preparation

Comenius University in Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin

DIPLOMA THESIS ASSIGNMENT

general medicine

Name and surname of student, e-mail: Signature: Topic of Diploma Thesis:

Name, surname, title and address of diploma thesis tutor, department, e-mail: Signature: Date of Diploma Thesis assignment:

Ethical aspects (please mark one of the boxes): No approval of Ethical committee is necessary for the thesis. The thesis constitutes a part of project already approved by Ethical committee (please write No. of approval and duration of the project): _______________________________________________________________ The thesis preparation needs to be approved by Ethical committee.

Change of topic or tutors of Diploma Thesis Date of request: Date of approval: Signature: New topic of Diploma Thesis: Name, surname, title, address of new tutor, department, e-mail: Signature:

Diploma Thesis description: (minimal number of literature sources - 4)

Please submit the original of Assignment signed by tutor to Study department at Dean’s office, Záborského 2, 036 45 Martin, until April 15, 2010. The copy stays at the department of tutor.

Internal Regulation of CU No. 7/2011

Article 1

Basic Principles of bachelor´s and master´s theses

Recommended extent of a master´s thesis is a minimum 30 – 50 standard pp

Draft subjects of theses are published by training work places by means of the academic information system (hereinafter referred to as “AIS”)

A student selects a subject of his (her) thesis by means of AIS within 2 months

from the first day of a determined period for selection at the latest, and after

an agreement with his (her) advisor he/she signs in this subject in AIS. Time

period for signing will be determined by the dean

After acceptance of the thesis subject and a student by an advisor, an advisor

prints out final assignment of the thesis and sends the original (after signing by

an advisor and a head of a work place) to the study department, the copy is

archived at an appropriate work place.

In case the student selects his/her own subject, he/she also proposes an advisor.

The subject and the advisor must be approved by the head of an appropriate

work place. Administrator of Theses at an appropriate work place enters

the subjects in AIS.

If the thesis content requires ethics committee approval, a student submits, at the

advisor´s recommendation, documents for approval to the Ethics Committee

of JFMED CU in Martin. This information must be entered to AIS by an advisor

when the thesis assignment is being approved.

Article 2

Submitting of Thesis, its Accessing, License Agreement on Use of Thesis

Comenius University in Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin

RECORD OF DIPLOMA THESIS PREPARATION

Record sheet of contact lessons (consultations)

Semester (strike through invalid): 4th year SS 5th year WS 5th

year SS

Surname, and name of student:

Number of study group:

Surname, name, and title of tutor:

E-mail of tutor:

Date of consultation No. of

lessons Content

Signature of tutor

*Lessons total:

Comments and remarks of tutor to student`s evaluation:

Evaluation of student`s activity by tutor (A – E, poss. Fx):

Date: Signature of tutor:

The sections of diploma thesis

Depends on the type of DT (scientific/clinical/case

study/ review) on which is the thesis based

I. If it is based on experiments and clinical trials

– title

– abstract and/or summary

– introduction

– material and methods

– results

– discussion

– aknowledgement

II. If it is based on casuistics (case studies)

– title – abstract and/or summary – introduction – appropriate analysis of medical problem

– discussion – proposals or recommendations for clinical practice

III. If it is based on objective summary of knowledge in selected topic (review, survey, meta-analysis)

– title – summary – introduction

– review of relevant literature/problem, related to topic with own comments and attitude of student

The skills you need to develop for a good DT

Are manifold:

– good overview of the literature,

– good planning (not to left all up to the last weeks close to deadline),

– hard and effective working in the face of a deadline,

– abilities to good data analysis,

– good writing qualities,

– feeling for nice lay-out (plan),

– endurance and a proper degree of perfectionism.

II. How to prepare casuistic/case study/case report

A case report is a way of communicating information to the medical world

about a rare or unreported feature(s), condition, complication, or

intervention by publishing it in a medical journal.

Case report can be one form of diploma thesis

A case study is a puzzle that has to be solvedStages in writing a case report

● Finding a rare/sutable case/cases

● Literature search (related to analysed case)

● Collecting information related to the case, including

consent

● Summarising and writing

● Revising and editing

Format for writing a case report

Introduction

– Case report—the real

story – History – Clinical features

– Investigations

– Treatment and outcome

– Progress

● Discussion—review of literature – Arguments – Message – Recommendations, if any

Conclusion

● References

Introduction – describe your case report in one sentence/ shortly

– also mention how rare/frequent it is

Case report

You have to summarise the information that you have

gathered:

- a brief history - important and relevant positive and negative findings

- details of investigations, treatment, and the condition of the patient after treatment. Don’t include unnecessary details,

Remember, this part should be read like an interesting

story, which your reader should enjoy One common form of presentation is to divide it into separate paragraphs with history, examination, investigation, treatment, and outcome in separate paragraphs

1) explain the objective of reporting the case,

2) you must subsequently describe what others have written

before about the condition or any related feature, be generous in quoting

the literature but don’t go into unnecessary details

Discussion – review of literature

3) - most important stage in the discussion is to substantiate the message you are trying to convey

- you must be able to describe the cause of the condition or

why a particular procedure or feature was chosen

- how did it influence the outcome?

- how does it differ from usual and what are your

recommendations?

- Are there any lessons to be learnt? All (or at least, most) of

these questions need to be answered in the discussion

Conclusion

This is not always necessary in a case report but if it is, summariseyour message in a few sentences

You are allowed to have a party once you have put

your completed case report in the mailbox!

Remember:

A good case is more than just a description. It is information arranged

in such a way that the reader is put in the same position as the case

writer was at the beginning when he or she was faced with a new

situation and asked to figure out what was going on.

How to write a literature review

The purpose of a literature review is to offer an overview of significant

literature published on a topic.

There are different forms of literatury review, e.g. traditional clinical

review (updates), systematic reviews, meta-analysis

Updates selectively review the medical literature while discussing a topic broadly.

Nonquantitative systematic reviews comprehensively examine the medical literature, seeking to identify and synthesize all relevantinformation to formulate the best approach to diagnosis or treatment.

Meta-analyses (quantitative systematic reviews) seek to answer a focused clinical question, using rigorous statistical analysis

of pooled research studies

Elements of a literature review - 1

A literature review should include:

– An overview of the subject, issue or theory under

consideration, along

with the objectives of the literature review,

– Division of works under review into categories (e.g. those in

support of a particular position, those against, and those offering alternative

theses entirely),

Elements of a literature review - 2

– Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from

the others,

– Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions, and make the greatest

contribution to the understanding and development of their area

of research.

Steps to prepare a literature review

Preparation of a literature review may be divided into 4 broad

stages:

– Define your topic: you must define your topic and components

of your topic

– Search for materials: use search tools (such as the library

catalogue, databases, bibliographies, internet) to find materials about your topic

– Evaluate what you have found: read and evaluate what you

have found in order to determine which material makes a significant

contribution to the understanding of the topic

– Analysis and interpretation: provide a discussion of the

findings and

conclusions of the pertinent literature

Evaluating material

In assessing each piece, consideration should be given to:

– Provenance: What are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence, if yes, what kind? convincing evidence or rather vague – Objectivity: Is contrary data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's point?

– Persuasiveness: Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?

– Value: Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to

an understanding of the subject?

How to present diploma thesis orally

Organisation of the paper

The best way to organise a paper for oral presentation is to proceed in the same logical pathway that one usually does in writing a paper, starting with "what was the problem?" and ending with "what is the solution?"

Oral presentation of a paper does not constitute publication,and therefore differentrules apply.

The greatest distinction is that the published paper must contain the full experimental protocol, so that the experiments can be repeated.

The oral presentation, however, need not and should not contain all of

the experimental detail,

Extensive citation of the literature is also undesirable in an oral presentation

Presentation of the paper

Most oral presentations are short (with a limit of 15 minutes at defense

meeting).

No matter how well organized, too many ideas too quickly presented will be

confusing. You should stick to your most important point or result and stress

that. There will not be time for you to present all your other ideas.

There are, of course, other and longer types of oral presentations. Even so,

you should go slowly, carefully presenting a few main points or themes. If

you proceed too fast, especially at the beginning, your audience will lose the

thread; the daydreams will begin and your message will be lost.

Slide-Show Presentations

Digital slide-show presentations provide you with the means to createand slide-shows from a computer.

The electronic slide show allows you to include sounds and video clips.

Regardless of the medium you choose, organization of your topic isthe key:

- Each slide should be designed to cover one major point, with abulleted text listing no more than six subtopics related to it.

- The main heading should be at least 20 to 24 points, with subtopics no

smaller than16 points. If the room in which you are presenting is large, use

larger font sizes.

- When a tables or graphs is used, list them by name and set all the typein at least 14 points, so that it can be read at a distance