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After having completed a literature thesis, you are able to:
- use primary literature databases to research a topic in any of the sub-disciplines of chemistry
- identify relevant and higher impact scientific papers on a topic, and critically evaluate and extract the major findings
- summarize the major findings and conclusions of selected papers concisely and accurately in a written report
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The aim of a literature thesis is to evaluate the competence of a student to compose an informative document on a topic that is new for the student and do so in a limited period of time. The thesis should be based on scientific literature.
You can compare a literature thesis with a scientific review paper.
A literature thesis is usually linked to a master internship: in that case the topic will be chosen by or together with a member of the scientific staff of the department where the internship is performed. But the topic should be different from the subject of your internship.
The supervisor of a literature thesis can be another person than the internship supervisor. A second reviewer is not required.
In some cases (e.g. if you take an internship outside the faculty of science) you can ask any member of the academic staff in a research group mentioned in the list of approved departments for internships elswhere in this prospectus or a topic and to supervise your thesis.
A literature thesis is written in English and will usually contain up to 15-20 pages. The standard outline is: title page, contents, summary, introduction, some chapters with figures and/or tables, conclusion, list of references (including article titles). The reference list includes only work that served as a direct source of information and that is actually cited in the text.
The thesis should be written within (the equivalent of) four weeks (6 ec). With your supervisor you plan a date on which you submit a first version of the thesis and a date for submitting the final version.
You can submit one first version of the thesis that will be commented upon by the supervisor and will receive a preliminary mark.
You can then make improvements and submit a final version to be graded.
Instructional Modes
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| One draft of the literature thesis can be corrected after feedback from the supervisor. The next, final, draft will be graded.
For the registration of the final grade, a testimonium can be obtained at the Student Service Desk. |
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| Students in the masters programme of Molecular Life Sciences write two literature theses, one for each of the internships. Topics should be different.
In the master specialisation Neuroscience the course NWI-BM059 Systematic Reviews in Neuroscience counts as the first literature thesis. |
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