About this Guide

About this Guide#

Welcome to the Information Literacy Master Thesis Guide. This guide was created to be used as a reference for all the information skills you need during your master thesis process.

The guide has two goals:

  • Recapping basic information skills you will have learned during your bachelor (for TU Delft bachelor students; as part of the Information Literacy 1 and Information Literacy 2 courses)

  • Providing basic information, and templates specific for master-level information skills (i.e. advanced searching & source evaluation, synthesizing, exploring academic literature, publishing)

This guide is not meant to provide highly detailed information, but provides basic strategies to get started and things to be aware of when working with information during your thesis journey. While basic information skills needed will be the same for any master program, specific details are program-dependent and should be discussed with your thesis supervisor.

Structure of the Guide#

This resource is divided into 5 chapters. Each chapter represents an information skill you will need during your master thesis journey. The guide is not meant to be read front to back in one go. Instead, you can consult the different chapters depending on which phase of your project you are in and what information you need. You can see a detailed overview of the skills below:

overview of thesis process

Learning Goals#

The learning goals of the guide are based on the five information skills you need during your master thesis journey. For the different phases, the following learning goals have been formulated:

  1. Explore: Apply basic steps for orientation on the topic or question of your master thesis.

  2. Search: Set up and store a basic search strategy for scientific literature for your master thesis.

  3. Evaluate and Select: Use strategies to broadly evaluate sources, select information for your master thesis and know how to store information effectively.

  4. Process: Understand how to read, summarise and synthesise during your master thesis.

  5. Share: Apply correct citation and copyright practices when handing in your master thesis. Know about open science principles.

For a more detailed overview of the learning goals download the Learning Goals Overview or look at the toggle below:

Overview of Learning Goals and Learning Objectives

Learning Goal

Learning Objectives

1: Explore
Apply basic steps for orientation on the topic or question of your master thesis

1a. Know how to do a general orientation on your topic
1b. Know how to do an initial exploration of academic literature
1c. Understand how to formulate a question for an information search

2: Search
Set up and store a basic search strategy for scientific literature for your master thesis

2a. Know different types of academic databases and how to access them
2b. Set up a keyword search strategy for a search in an academic database
2c. Check and improve an initial search strategy
2d. Know additional ways to find academic literature
2e. Use documentation and search alerts to update your search during your project

3: Evaluate and Select
Use strategies to broadly evaluate sources, select information for your master thesis and know how to store information effectively

3a. Understand the importance of evaluating GenAI and other information sources
3b. Use the CRAAP framework to assess relevance and reliability of a source
3c. Apply the title-abstract method to select academic literature
3d. Use relevant software and best practices to store information

4: Process
Understand how to read, summarise and synthesise during your master thesis

4a. Apply best practices when reading literature for your master thesis
4b. Know how to summarise a source
4c. Understand how the process of synthesising works and know how to get started

5: Share
Apply correct citation and copyright practices when sharing the results of your master thesis. Know about open science principles

5a. Understand ways of citing, apply a correct referencing style and create a reference list for a variety of sources
5b. Know why and how you should acknowledge the use of AI in your work
5c. Correctly (re)use sources in accordance with their copyright licensing and know your own rights
5d. Know about open science principles

Book Structure#

The book starts with a chapter that provides an overview of all the information skills that you need during your master thesis, and how they relate to different phases in the research process. If you are new to the book, we recommend you start there.

Following this are five chapters, related to the five skills. Each chapter includes a landing page. Here you will find:

  • An introduction and an explanation of the value of the topic

  • An overview of the detailed steps part of the skill

  • A template you can use directly while working on your master thesis

After the landing page, you can find more detailed information on all the steps that are part of each specific skill. When applicable, the chapters include additional guided activities to help you apply the information while working on your master thesis.

Tip

Want to learn from what previous students have done? In the TU Delft Thesis Repository you can access master theses made by students from your own program!

About the TeachBook Format#

This book is a TeachBook: a website build using Jupyter Books and Sphinx. The book includes several helpful features. Using the menu on the top right you can:

  • Access Accessibility features (switching to OpenDyslexic font and high contrast)

  • Open/close all dropdowns on a page

  • Connect to the repository of the book to make comments and suggest edits

  • Download individual pages of the book

  • Switch to full screen

  • Switch between Dark / Colour Mode

Templates & Handouts#

We have a document available with a short handout, and the combined templates for each of the chapters:

You can consult the individual templates for each of the chapters to apply the skills as you are working on your thesis: