lachlandeer
commented
7 months ago Like this idea.
I have a bookdown template (for tisem, but we could extend it) here: https://tilburgsciencehub.com/topics/research-skills/templates-dynamic-content/templates/bookdown-theses/
though it doesn;t have a spot for code etc
We now have an excellent Master Thesis guide and many tutorials that help prepare students for success. I believe the logical next step would be condensing all our efforts to offer a cloneable master thesis/research paper repo that students can clone and then be "good to go." It should contain many standardized documents for codebooks, latex documents, code files, etc, that we already have bundled in one place. It also would allow supervisors more fine-grained, standardized access to student workflows, not contingent on the individual technological practices and prowess of individual supervisors. In the words of chatGPT:
Reasoning:
Having a cloneable repository for master thesis setups at Tilburg Scienhub offers several advantages:
Consistency: It ensures that all students start with the same basic setup, preventing discrepancies in tools, libraries, or configurations that could affect the research outcome. This consistency streamlines the grading process and facilitates collaboration among students.
Time-saving: By providing a pre-configured setup, students can focus more on their research rather than spending time on initial setup and configuration tasks. This accelerates the commencement of the actual thesis work and allows students to delve deeper into their research topics.
Version Control: With a cloneable repository, students can easily track changes made throughout their thesis project using version control systems like Git. This fosters good coding practices and enables efficient collaboration with supervisors or peers who can review and provide feedback on the codebase.
Reproducibility: A cloneable repository ensures that experiments and results are reproducible. Other researchers can replicate the findings by accessing the same codebase and environment used for the thesis project, enhancing the credibility and integrity of the research outcomes.
Accessibility: Providing a centralized repository ensures accessibility to all students, regardless of their technical expertise. It also facilitates support from faculty or technical staff, who can provide assistance or troubleshooting guidance based on the standardized setup.
In summary, implementing a cloneable repository for master thesis setups at Tilburg Scienhub aligns with our goal of fostering a supportive and conducive environment for scholarly exploration and innovation. We believe that this feature will greatly enhance the research experience for our students and contribute to the overall quality and integrity of academic outputs.