Quote:
Originally Posted by Unknown111
Hey guys,
I'm currently looking into a fourth year thesis for next year and was hoping to get some insight on time commitments and potential grade deviations from Macinsiders.
For those science students currently in or have completed their thesis projects, especially in biology:
I know the minimum hrs is ~ 15-18 per week. But did you guys often find that you would work more than the minimum and how much more? Also, on average, which would have the greater workload, the research portion or the written portion?
I appreciate the help guys!
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It depends on your thesis. You should be discussing time commitment with the professors which you wish to do a thesis with. Depending on what thesis they want you to tackle, or if you want to do your own research, then they'll be different time commitments. I know some people that aren't in lab much but others who are in lab constantly.
I'm having so many problems with my thesis right now, nothing seems to be going right. I'm in lab on and off between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. I also come in on the weekends, for instance today I was in lab from 10am to 5pm. I would say 1/2 to 1/3 of the time is actual lab work while the rest is waiting (digests, pcr, incubations, etc...), so I am able to do other work while I wait.
I would say the written portion takes a greater portion. There's a research proposal, midterm report, and final thesis to be written. The amount of literary research and analysis of data will take way more time than actual lab work. It's important to remember that your thesis write up IS NOT like a lab report. Having proper references of high quality is VERY important. Since a thesis has the ability of being published, your supervisor will read every reference your put in your thesis. I believe that their name will be listed as an author if it does get published and I'm very sure he/she doesn't want to look foolish in front of peer reviewers.
