Special assignment on networking business is one among the category of compulsory courses offered in Telecommunications Management major, and an optional course in majors of other departments (please check the study guide 2003-04 for more details).
The student will be given from 1 to 4 credits depending
on the scope of the work and the difficulty of the topic.
The special assignment is more extensive and autonomous work than assignments
and exercises written during other courses. The objective of the course is to
familiarise student with scientific research and to give the abilities needed
while writing Masters Thesis. . Student's autonomy and
initiative will be taken into account while grading the work.
The assignment should be selected from the list of given topics.A special assignment, which is not discussed with the supervisor beforehand but returned finished, will be rejected.
Before starting work on the special assignment, a form should be
filled after discussions with the supervisor. The special assignment is a public
document and the material it contains can be used without a separate
permission. Additionally, the references used for the work has to be
publicly accessible. The document will be placed in the library of the laboratory
where it can be freely borrowed. These assignments may be put on course pages after completion.
One credit approximately corresponds to fourty working hours, so the scope
of the special assignment should correspond to the work of on average 40-160
hours.
If the student chooses an assignment of one credit, he/she has to
discuss with the supervisor at least 1-2 times during the work.If the work is for 2-4 credits there has to be one discussion per
credit during the work.This is excluding the initial meeting before the work begins. The discussion days and other arrangements are negotiated with the supervisor.
The objective of the report is to show that the student has familiarised
himself/herself with the subject. Additionally, while writing the report the
student will learn how to report scientific work. The decisions made have to be
reasoned and the facts related to possible further work should be discussed.
After conclusions a brief view to the future is recommended. This however,
should not be exaggerated. In addition to the facts student should bring out own
opinions, which naturally should be explained.
The text should be pertinent and linguistic form has to be correct. The
presentations should be clear, outlined and consequential. Terms should be used
correctly. The layout has to be well groomed. The figures should be clear and
informative. There should be correct page numbers, and numbers for tables,
figures and equations. The captions of tables and figures should be reasonable
and informative. The references have to be cited during the text, a list at the
end of the work is not be enough. The main source of the information should be
mentioned emphasised.
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The suitable length of the report is 10-15 pages per credit. If due to the e.g. nature of the work this scope is not reasonable, a different number of pages can be discussed with the supervisor.
The main structure of the work is the following (changes can be made, if necessary):
The final grading of the work is done by the supervisor or professor. The
work will be graded on a scale of 0 to 5. Especially the quality of the report
and fulfilling the objectives of the course will be paid attention to. To get
one of the higher grades, one is expected to do autonomous and unprompted work
with scientific approach to the subject. For instance, special assignments that
are linked with ones daily job and that are more like a summary or a description
of one's work, do not necessarily fulfil these criterions. If the nature of the
work, manner of performance and/or the quality of the report is not acceptable,
the work can be returned to the student for correction or some kind of further
clarification might be demanded. Satisfactory (1) or very satisfactory (2) grade
from the special assignment may prevent the commencement of writing Masters
Thesis.