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The goal is to understand more why the hospital uses a particular technology as opposed to other technologies. I would like to get quantitiave data but if they don't give me that, then i will make my own analysis with existing data.

My thesis advisor says I should do some "field" research and go to visit a hospital to actually collect the data. This kind of sounds impossible to me. I'm not sure how to go about this interview? I have questions such as Whom should I contact in the hospital, how to structure the interview etc. Does anyone have any experience?

Thanks to the two of you Motivation it is. Yes Im just going on. My advisor is super-busy actually, so its a little hard to get quality time from him but its his responsibility to give us the time anyway.. Also, I was wondering how do we go about scheduling appointments for field research? Like if I want to go to get some data from a public hospital?

So based on rising_star's inputs I've stopped focussing on reading alone and have gotten to writing(even if it sounds and seems like crap!). And this is atleast adding to the number of pages, and I'm happy. I will focus on the fine-tuning a litle later in march.

rising_Star, thanks again. I'm having this thought they " I haven't read enough or I do not have enough credible sources". Your posts have been helpful to get me back on track. I wrote about 4 pages today. I have about 12 pages now. I need 40-50 more. Hmm....

thanks rising_star. I have my outline but i'm kinda getting lost on the transtiion between sections/paragraphs. Also, I'm wondering if it is a good idea to just go on reading right now and take notes(paper and pen) and then put it back into MS word.

My advisor also told me that my current master's thesis has the potential for a doctoral dissertation. Ofcourse, my thesis now is a little summarized, as you say and a PhD thesis has the scope for expanding the thesis. Look for schools in US/Canada(both great countries to get a PhD) and then look for potential advisors(if not your current advisor). Oh, btw, a PhD is a classic gateway for permanent immigration to any country.

I have my topic and a partial reading list figured out. Our master's thesis should be double-spaced font 12 and around 50 pages. Well, I only have 8 pages and my thesis is due in1.5 months. I have been reading a lot but not able to translate all of it into a concrete writing. Any tips on how to go about the whole reading+writing thing? Currently, I read, summarize, re-phrase in my mind and write. Doing this has gotten me to only 8 pages so far! Blah..and i'm starting to get stressed out. Do you think I could even finish in the next 1.5 months. any comments/questions welcome , i'm pretty dumbed out right now. Thank You!

I agree with barca, I do just that. I get a mental block, then I change to my running gear and do 5-6 miles. When I'm back, I'm even better with ideas and I end up writing atleast one page. But, that one page gives me something to work on for the next day.

Interesting, I've been thinking of designing or looking for well-established tools too! Sorry, I'm not of help but just felt like saying hello

I am in Computer Science and I notice that most of the teaching faculty in my department are male professors. However, I never once felt any discrimination. Also, just to add - female students in my class are actually few, usually 1/4th to 1/3rd of the class strength. In the field, I've, again, noticed a little more male employees than female(interesting, huh!). Ofcourse, I am happy in my program and am happy with the male/female ration too. It doesn't actually bother me. Not sure of pros or cons and never really thought about this topic until I saw this thread.

Quick reply thank you! Well, this oppurtunity is possibly for only this semester and it is paid hourly(not a stipend). I always feel bad about rejecting offers, more so since he is my current thesis advisor. You have given me excellent pointers to use for my email.

My professor emailed me last night and I asked if I want to be his GA for one of his undergrad courses. I would LOVE LOVE the oppurtunity. He coincidentally also happens to be my thesis advisor. Unfortunately, I just started another job last week which is also something that I love and I cannot take up 2 jobs right now for 2 reasons - (1) I will get overloaded (2) I am an international F-1 student, so there are some regulations to comply interms of hours worked. what do I tell him in the email that I write rejecting his offer? I have already told the professor that I might not have the authorization to work but he still gave me the chance and said I should check with the university's legal office. I'm sure I'm not eligible unless I quit the current job. Also, I don't even want to ask the legal office this question(i know the answer!) but would it be dishonest on my part (since my professor expects me to do so)? Usually, how many hours a week are graduate assistants expected to work?

fuzzylogician - Thanks. Well, it is me who is actually looking to enter a "contractual" agreement with my advisor, so that he is aware of the semester that I plan to graduate. I'm going to put down my timelines for the research and the thesis writing anyway. I imagine the thesis (around 70-100 pages) itself should not take over a month for a final copy.

cherub - Thanks. My project does not have readily-available existing data. I would need to do research for that.

I am about to submit my proposal for my master's thesis. I need to write about how I plan to collect and/or analyze data. However, I don't think I would be collecting any new data. I probably will use exisiting data from literature review. How do I mention this in my proposal? I'm not sure I can ask my advisor this Also, my proposal needs a timeline/schedule. How strict is this usually? Is this sort of a guideline to help the advisors/dept know when I plan to graduate? or is this just a formality?

No one has asked me my GPA either. Some companies do have a cut-off for applications though. The cut-off is usually 3.2 in my field( and in most fields too).

This is for the master's thesis and i'm in the CS program. My advisor is a selfish but very resourceful professor. As much as I am interested in working with him, I 'm also have emotional issues. He is not someone whom I can feel comfortable with and he is EXTREMELY moody. If he is under stress or pressure the direct impact is on his students that he is advising. Not really major stuff but he will say rude stuff. If he is in "normal" mood then he is very helpful. I do brush off his rudeness most of the times but it is not really motivating to work with him. He is the one professor in my dept. that most MS students work with for thesis because he seems to be resourceful and he is theo only one openly inviting students to work with him(for the money ofcourse). The thing is if he has the time, he will invite us over to his office for random discussions on our thesis/subject area etc. My other fear now is when the time comes to submit my thesis, I do not want him to go in "stress" mode. I do not think he will intentionally do this but it could happen. I'm looking to graduate in June next year and he knows this too. Research/Thesis in my Dept. is 2 credits for one semester. I've already completed the preliminary research/proposal etc. My options are : (1)to go the non-thesis route, and take the comps. I would feel sad for letting fo of the research/thesis but the comps are what most students do in my program(2) suck it up and put up with him I am eager to read your suggestions/thoughts. Most of us here are PhD students and I know that PhD students have far more experience on such topics. I would love to hear from you .

I forgot to mention: many students do end up failing the comps in the first attempt and then need to sit for a second attempt. Also, my dept. allows a maximum of two attempts for the comps. The comps sounds hassle-free to me but it stressful while the thesis is the otherway round for me!

Pay-off according to me – get some research experience as my field also has industry-research positions, I enjoy writing, seems less stressful than the comps, could be relevant in my job search post-graduation.

I really am in a huge dilemma. I am a Master’s student(computer science) now in my final semester of courses. I need another 3 credits to graduate. My dept. offers an option of taking the comps or registering for a 3 cr. Master’s research+thesis as part of graduation requirements. So I decided to go on with the thesis(for various reasons). I met one of the professors in my dept. And he was ok to advise me but he seemed totally laid back to me. He basically left everything on me(choice of the topic,data etc). I got frustrated since this is not a PhD dissertation and I don’t want to have to spend 2-3 years on my topic/data. Then I approached this other professor(well, he asked me if I would want to do the thesis with him). He is quite a pain in our classes but he does a lot of work in my area of interest and since he himself asked me , I decided to go ahead with him. We met twice about the proposal/thesis statement. He gave me some keywords to look up and also some papers to read. Well, I’m ok with all this. NOW, the problem is he is cocky and really self-centered . I’m just worried that he might end up delaying my graduation. The good things about working with this professor are he seems to gives us direction on where to look for data/information,happy to have students around him(well, he makes us do secretarial stuff sometimes but ok!), he seems fair(he always puts his student’s names on publications first as the primary author saying that we did most of the work, he does not steal our work and speaks highly of all his past students'). The bad thing is he is money-minded and I heard from one student that he eventually makes us sign – up for the thesis course in the following semester too. He basically returned the thesis review in may first week for this student while the student wanted to graduate end of may. So , we end up paying more and also staying longer. I don’t really care about 3 cr or 6 cr or 10 cr. or paying for higher number of credits; my only concern is I want to graduate at the end of the next semester. Ofcourse, he knows this but I’m worried he might screwup. My concerns are : should I just stick on with him and risk my graduation date?I know another student too who is starting off a thesis with him(I will have company,yay!). I'm also wondering if all this is pretty normal, after all professors are busy too and our thesis is not their only focus. Your thoughts please?

I have spoken to our graduate advisor. she said it is a two semester process. First, we work on the idea/thesis question and in the second semester we consolidate our ideas/data and write the thesis. Well, we are not collecting any new data for this thesis. I am just using existing data and performing an analysis. I agree with you - writing the thesis isn't really a hold-up. I think when I have the next meeting with my prospective advisor, I am going to bluntly and directly ask him this question. I did ask him once earlier and he said its fine.

Eigen - That is correct. Comps/non-thesis option is totally ok in my case too. I was just excited about the thesis and now don't feel like going back to the comps(but I will if I need to). I am at the end of my second year now , so I plan to do the thesis in the next semester(spring) and then graduate at the end of the spring semester.

fuzzylogician - that makes sense. My first thought too when I heard this was "probably the student did not put in enough time interms of meetings/readings etc". I have spoken to other students, some who have done the thesis with him and some others like me, and most have completed the research+thesis in one semester. Ofcourse, they were not working full-time. so I imagine that the student's timelines also count here. I also know that a handful of students who worked with this professor never graduated. This was told to me by the professor himself and he added that the students never came back to complete the degree. I think this is a "black mark" for the professor yet he still admitted it. That I feel was frank. Eigen - My program too is 2 years and then as a part of graduation requirements we need to sit for a comp exam or do a master's thesis(worth 3 cr.). Most students in my program do the comps and that's primarily because the thesis track needs a GPA of 3.5 which many don't have. I initially thought the thesis will be a nice addition to my career but now I'm feeling that the comp exam might be "easier" primarily because we don't deal with professors. I am in the Computer Science MS program. I agree with what you say about working longer and harder to finish faster. This is eaxctly what I am doing/have been doing and I do not want to postpone graduation beyond the spring semester. So I am in a dilemma here!

You might have to access the financial situation for yourself. You say you have a stipend, so basically your tuition and living expenses are taken care of. The money that comes from this part-time job is extra, but this extra might come at the cost of your grades, or worse your health. I can relate with you because I never worked in the first two semesters of my current master's program and I just started a job this month in my thirs semester. Boy, it IS stressful. I work 20 hours and the commute is 12 hours for this 20 hour job. It makes me so tired in my classes, I crave sleep andm ore time to get my study-related stuff done. Bottomline - quit the job if your finances(now and near future) are sorted out. EDIT: I would tell this fast-food job manager the truth - you scheduled me more hours than I committed to and my studies are taking a back-seat. I quit .