Prepering, writing, and presenting diploma thessis

1. Prepering, writing, and presenting diploma thessis Jan Hanacek Dept of Pathological Physiology JFM CU in Martin

2. 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

3. 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 criticallywhile highlighting its main contributions to the field. 6) to confirm their competence in defined field of medicine

4. 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

6. 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.

7.  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

9. 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

10. 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 commentsand attitude of student

11. 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 effectiveworking in the face of a deadline, – abilitiestogood data analysis, – good writing qualities, – feeling for nice lay-out (plan), – enduranceand a proper degree of perfectionism.

12. 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 reportcan be one form of diploma thesis • A case study is a puzzle that has to be solved Stages 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. Discussion – review of literature 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 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

16. Conclusion This is not always necessary in a case report but if it is, summarise your message in a few sentences 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. You are allowed to have a party once you have put your completed case report in the mailbox!

17. 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 relevant information 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

18. 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),

19. 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.

20. 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

21. 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?

22. 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 notconstitute publication,and therefore different • rules 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

23. 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.

24. Slide-Show Presentations  Digital slide-show presentations provide you with the means to create and 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 is the key: - Each slide should be designed to cover one major point, with a bulleted 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 type in at least 14 points, so that it can be read at a distance