M. A. thesis please help

[Edwin]

Hello,

I want to write master degree thesis about ASP. NET, but I'm programming in
..NET for just 4 months. I was thinking about something about "Integration
informations system in ASP. NET (Web Services, SOA)", but my profesor
rejected it. Now I'm thinking about AJAX.

Could give me intresting suggestions?

Thank You very much for any help

Edwin

 

[Peter Bradley]

Well, I can give you an example of one that's been done (mine)

=8^)

http://www.peredur.uklinux.net/msc/

I'm surprised it's an MA, too. I would have expected an MSc (or MS in
American parlance): but you know what you're doing.


Peter

 

[Guest]

Hello,

I want to write master degree thesis about ASP. NET, but I'm programming in
.NET for just 4 months. I was thinking about something about "Integration
informations system in ASP. NET (Web Services, SOA)", but my profesor
rejected it. Now I'm thinking about AJAX.

Could give me intresting suggestions?

Sharepoint, Workflow Integration?

 

[Peter Bradley]

Perhaps I should have added that the thesis includes some ideas for further
work (as all good theses should). For example:
* Try to find out if performance differences between .NET on Windows vs
Mono on Linux are due to OS or VM differences
* Try to find out why code produced using the .NET Framework runs
comparatively slowly on the Mono VM whereas the converse is not true
* Try to find out whether .NET code on Mono is as robust under pressure as
the same code running on the .NET Framework VM

Peter

 

[John Timney \(MVP\)]

Your masters thesis needs to demonstrate research and prove the purpose of
your research (or not), so you need to find something around technology that
can be researched with a view to identifying something - like how a given
technology can lead to competitive advantage. It has to question and find
answers to those questions - its not the same as writing a paper about a
technology.

Had your thesis proposal been entitled "The role of SOA in reducing total
cost of ownership in project lifecycles" then your professor may have been
more willing to let you focus it around asp.net as a technology used to
prove this.

Make sure you pick something deliverable and relevent to todays market - if
you want to look at Ajax then perhaps "Does Ajax have a role in promoting
usability for tommorows web based systems"..

Regards

John Timney (MVP)
http://www.johntimney.com
http://www.johntimney.com/blog

 

[Peter Bradley]

Yes. That's very well put.

A master's dissertation needs to, "Contribute to the sum of human knowledge"
(UK Open University wording, IIRC). In other words, you have to describe,
in the dissertation, something that is new or which extends that which is
known. Perhaps the best test for this came from my professor when I was in
the OP's position: if you could answer the question that the dissertation's
hypothesis poses by simply reading up about it in some books and papers,
then it is not a suitable topic for a masters degree.

The OP's suggested title, "Integration informations system in ASP. NET (Web
Services, SOA)" would simply involve reading already existing texts and
presenting what they say. This is not sufficient.

Something that would be interesting would, for example, be, "A proposed set
of standard interfaces for SOA-based automatic library systems*, using
ASP.NET Web Services as an example partial implementation".

* Substitute some environment here of which you have experience (e.g.
Student record systems, room booking systems ..., whatever)

Having said that, an MSc/MA is not an M.Phil or PhD. So the candidate is
not required to perform original research to that extent. For example, you
might simply reinterpret already known evidence in a novel way. It's a fine
distinction, though. In the example I give above, there are some
pre-existing standards that might lend themselves to conversion to an SOA,
for example (e.g. Z39.50 - if someone hasn't already done it).

HTH


Peter