Thesis tutorial

Teacher(s)

Adrioueche Ahmed; Govaerts Jan;

Language

English

Main themes

1. Training in scientific presentation skills, focusing on physics issues, under the supervision of an English language teacher of the Institut des Langues Vivantes.

         2. Public presentation in English of the state of progress of the   student's Master thesis.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Upon the completion of this teaching unit students should feel fairly confident when giving a scientific presentation in English focusing mainly on the academic field of physics, and using the scientific communication skills acquired through this teaching unit.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

The teaching unit consists in three parts:

1. Training sessions (20h) on effective oral presentation and communication techniques in science, at the Institut des Langues Vivantes; facts and figures (graphs, comparisons likelihoods, etc.), transparency design, visual support (Power Point, etc.); systematic pronunciation exercises on recurrent terms in science and in physics in particular.
2. Early on in the second term, students can rehearse their final presentation individually with the help of the language teacher (10h in all).
3. Final presentation during the second term: public talk on the state of progress of the student’s Master thesis followed by time for questions from the thesis supervisor, its readers and the English language teacher.

Teaching methods

The teaching unit consists in three parts:

1. Training sessions (20h) on effective oral presentation and communication techniques in science, at the Institut des Langues Vivantes; facts and figures (graphs, comparisons likelihoods, etc.), transparency design, visual support (Power Point, etc.); systematic pronunciation exercises on recurrent terms in science and in physics in particular.
2. Early on in the second term, students can rehearse their final presentation individually with the help of the language teacher (10h in all).
3. Final presentation during the second term: public talk on the state of progress of the student’s Master thesis followed by time for questions from the thesis supervisor, its readers and the English language teacher.

Evaluation methods

The assessment takes place right after the final oral presentation and focuses on the quality of the talk rather than on its scientific content. As to the command of the English language, the assessment focuses on the student’s progress throughout the language sessions, with due attention to the pronunciation of recurrent terms, overall fluency, and the manner in which the student has actually applied the presentation techniques and communication skills developed in class.

Faculty or entity

PHYS