Information on writing a dissertation

CHOOSING THE TOPIC

In order to graduate, you need to propose a dissertation subject to your supervisor. The topic you choose must be related to one of the Scientific-Disciplinary Sectors in your study plan, as listed in the Course Regulation.

The supervisor must be a professor within your Programme, not necessarily teaching the same subject of the dissertation. However, the supervisor must be in charge of one teaching activity belonging to the group of Scientific-Disciplinary Sectors established in the Course Regulation.

For any variation of said rule the students need to submit official request to the Study Plan Committee (entrusted by the Degree Programme Board) by filing the dedicated form. For more information please contact the Students Administration Office.

The students must prove to be able to build and summarize a fundamental bibliography on the topic, and re-elaborate it in an original way, using informatic tools and following the required rules.

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

The dissertation must follow standardized drafting guidelines; papers written in different way other than specified will not be accepted for the evaluation.  

- each page must consist of 32-35 rows; each row must be 65-70 characters long; the font used must be either Times, Courier or Helvetica;

- front page needs to be redacted following the guidelines provided in the attachment;

- images and tables must be included in the UNI format (A4 or A3);

- the document needs to be saved in the .pdf format;

The supervisor is in charge of verifying the compliance to these guidelines.

FINAL GRADE

The Graduation Committee will evaluate the students’ whole academic career following specific guidelines: dissertation, curriculum of studies, time taken to complete their studies, transfers from another University or Degree Programme.

The Committee expresses their assessment with a grade out of 110. The evaluation will be considered to be positive with a grade between 66 (minimum) and 110 (maximum). In case of granting the maximum grade, the Committee might deliberate, with unanimous vote, to grant the honours.

The final grade is determined taking into consideration the evaluation of the dissertation and the degree average score.

The evaluation of the dissertation can be graded with a maximum of 6 points; 8 points might be awarded in specific occurrences (if the thesis holds a high scientific value or if the supervisor has submitted a written request).

The average score is calculated by transforming the weighted average of the passed exams, which is expressed with a grade out of thirty, into a grade out of one hundred and ten. To do so the weighted average is multiplied by 110 and then divided by 30.

To assess the weighted average, one needs to:

1. Obtain the list of passed exams;
2. Multiply each grade by the corresponding number of credits (ID and RC exams are not to be considered; the grade of 30 with honours is to be considered as 30).
3. Sum the results;
4. Divide the sum by the total amount of credits as previously considered;

The number of single honours does not weight in the average but it may be taken into consideration by the Committee to grant the grade of 110 with honours, according to specific regulations.

Taking into consideration all of these elements, the Committee will decide the final grade, which will be proclaimed after the discussion.