Luca Pareschi

Thesis supervision guidelines

Students interested in writing their thesis under my supervision must have passed the relevant course exam and should contact me at least six months before the chosen graduation session.

In most cases, the theses I supervise are empirical (experimental) and therefore involve the collection and analysis of data. I only rarely supervise purely literature-based theses, and only when there are specific reasons to do so.

Students who wish to ask me to act as their thesis supervisor are required to present a short preliminary thesis proposal (1–2 pages) including the following elements:

• A provisional thesis title

• A brief description of the topic to be addressed

• A short explanation of how the topic relates to the content of the course

• Relevant literature already identified

• The reasons for the student’s interest in the topic

• Any other relevant background knowledge, including possible professional or work experience

• Any additional information that may be considered relevant

General notes

Writing a thesis is a stage in which students demonstrate that they have reached the level of maturity required to work independently. As supervisor, my role is to read the thesis and guide the student’s independent research process.

There is no single mandatory structure for the thesis. However, theses typically follow a structure similar to the following:

1. Introduction – presenting the topic of the thesis and the research methodology

2. Literature review – summarizing and critically discussing the relevant literature

3. Research objective – defining the research problem addressed in the thesis

4. Methodology – describing the sources of data and the methods used to analyse them

5. Results – presentation, analysis, and interpretation of the data

6. Discussion – critical discussion of the results in relation to the relevant literature

7. Conclusions

8. References (APA style)

Thesis development process

The thesis is generally developed through the following stages:

1. Submission of the proposal and definition of the research topic

2. Development of a provisional table of contents

3. Critical reading of the literature, data collection, and data analysis

4. Final definition of the table of contents

5. Writing of the chapters and revisions based on the supervisor’s feedback

6. Careful final revision of the thesis

Chapters should preferably be sent in Word format.

The schedule for drafting and revising the thesis will be agreed upon together with the supervisor. I usually prefer to read several chapters together rather than very small portions of text. In any case, draft chapters should be submitted well in advance of the final deadline.

Finally, the quality of writing is an important part of the evaluation. The ability to communicate clearly through written texts is an essential professional skill. Students are therefore strongly encouraged to pay careful attention to the clarity and quality of their writing and to revise their texts carefully before submitting them.