Foreword

This section aims at giving the student of the European Master Program a short description of the rules and procedures the Faculty has set forth for regulating his/her thesis work.

1. The Choice of the Topic and the Supervising Faculty Member
   The student should choose the topic of his/her thesis on the basis of personal interests and knowledge accumulated during the years of the program, as well as on the basis of formative experiences and research collaborations that occurred within and outside the hosting institute, University of Rome “Foro Italico”.
   In this context, it is critical to ensure that the topic is thematically relevant to the study, understanding, and applied work in the general area, of “preventive and adapted physical activity.”
   It also is critical to ensure that the topic can realistically be pursued. In this regard, the student must choose a topic that can clearly tap onto the expertise, competence, and research interests of a Supervisor who will be one of the many Faculty members who – either in Rome or in the partner European Institutions – has formally joined the Program and substantively contributed to its teaching and formative objectives. The Supervisor can also be an external expert entrusted by a Faculty member in agreement with the Program Coordinator.
2. The Supervising Faculty Member
   The student will be responsible for ensuring that the chosen person is in fact available to follow and supervise the work necessary for the thesis.
   Once this has been ascertained, this person will be the Supervisor of the thesis and will be responsible for ensuring that the thesis work is prepared according to the rules that are put forth in this document.
   The student will be responsible for maintaining a continuing and meaningful relationship with the supervisor. The student should keep the supervisor informed regularly about the progress on the thesis work, of the problems that may be encountered, and of any difficulty or doubt that may arise throughout the work.
   The supervisor will primarily be responsible for keeping the student “on track,” that is, focused on the work and its guiding ideas, as well as for providing the guidance on any theoretical, methodological, or operational and logistic problem that the student may face.
   These reciprocal responsibilities should guarantee, if met, a high-quality outcome of the thesis work. It must be noted, however, that it is both the supervisor’s and the student’s responsibility to carefully establish a time schedule that is sensible to, and realistically framed within the total amount of 30 credits (and corresponding student work hours) that the thesis is assigned to.
   In this regard, the student should carefully plan and organize the whole process, from the moment of contacting the supervisor for discussing the thesis to the moment of preparing and handing in the final document of the thesis.
3. Modalities of Thesis
   The value of the thesis must and will be measured according to the commitment and quality work that the student will be able to demonstrate throughout the process of planning, preparing, and completing his/her thesis.
   The thesis should be an academic writing of a minimum of 60 pages (all included), dealing with a topic of scientific and/or practical interest in one of the specialistic areas related to the program, carefully organized and edited. The presentation in front of the Evaluating Committee (power point or similar) should last 20 – 25 minutes and will be followed by discussion (10-15 minutes).
   Out of these general indications, there is no format or modality of thesis that is “mandatory.” Rather, the student will be free to plan, propose to, and agree upon with his/her supervisor one of many possible types of thesis, ranging from a review of the literature on the topic of interest, to a research study requiring collection, analysis and report of data, to the design of a research project.
4. Phases of Thesis Work
   The thesis work would necessarily unfold along a series of 3 phases that are quite typical and critical to achieving a high quality in the writing and “packaging” of the thesis.
   The 1st phase is concerned with the definition of the “problem” or set of questions that the thesis will address and possibly contribute to scientifically. This phase is critical, and most of the success of the thesis will rely on the student’s ability to precisely define and articulate this task for his/her work. In this regard, one of the most important tools is the ability to remain focused on a specific issue or theme and be able to articulate the issue in terms of a question or questions that can be answered either directly (via an experimental thesis) or indirectly (via a literature review). During this phase, it will be critical to conduct a preliminary literature review and prepare the outline of the whole thesis as closely as possible to the final document, so that the student (in close contact with the supervisor) will be able to plan ahead his/her work, be it an experimental thesis, a critical literature review, or a research project.
   The 2nd phase should be concerned with conducting a thorough review of the literature that is necessary to the thesis. One important aspect of this phase is to ascertain whether the question or theme that has been chosen for the thesis has been answered or addressed by the scientific community. This is not to say that the theme or questions become unimportant (ideas, questions, or any theme can always be articulated and developed further!). It is only a warning to ensure that the student work is framed in the rightful context of inquiry.
   The 3rd phase is concerned with the actual organization and writing of the thesis. In the case in which the thesis is a research (experimental) study conducted by the student, this phase will involve the organization, conduction, and completion of the actual research. The organization and writing of the thesis will need to comply also with the criteria that are detailed below (section f).
   It is necessary that the student and the Supervisor carefully agree on the time schedule of this 3rd phase of the work. For instance, a close-to-final version of the thesis should be ready at least 30 days before the office deadline of presentation of the document, so that the Supervisor has the possibility to review it and make additional suggestions, should they be needed. Obviously, this implies that previous drafts have been agreed upon much earlier.
5. Writing Characteristics of the Thesis Document
   The document should be prepared according to the following formal rules:
   1. Double line, Times New Roman as font, and 12 as point size (or Arial 10).
   2. A4 as the page format on only one side of the page.
   3. The page number should be located at the top right corner of each page.
   4. Left and right margins should be of about 2 ½ inches (about 4 cm).
   5. Top and bottom margins should be about 1 ½ inches (about 3 cm).
   6. The front page of the document should include the complete title, name and surname of the student, name and surname of the Supervisor, and the academic year. A sample of the Thesis first page is available for download in the Moodle Learning Platform.
   7. A second page should include a 300-word abstract of the work.
   8. A third page (plus any additional pages, as needed) should include a detailed Table of Contents of the thesis. The thesis will need to fully comply with this outline.
   9. The list of References, to be put at the end, will need to comply with the following guidelines:
      Books:
      Jarvie G., Maguire J. (1994). Sport and Leisure in Social Thought, London, Academic Press.
      Articles:
      Eriksson G. (1976). Minerals and rock throwing. Journal of Sport Management, 15:134-149.
      Book chapters:
      Vanplew W. (1989). Horse-racing, in T. Mason (ed.), Sport in Britain: A Social History, Cambridge, Academic Press, pp. 215-44.
      World Wide Web Citations:
      www.sportquest.com, DD-MM-YYYY.
6. Thesis evaluation and rating (see table Final Thesis Evaluation Criteria)
   1. Supervisor Evaluation
      The Supervisor will sign the dissertation, thereby certifying that it is sufficient, and give it a rating (0=sufficient; 1=satisfactory; 2=good; 3=very good) utilizing the Thesis Application Form.
   2. Reviewer Evaluation
      The thesis manuscript will be evaluated and similarly rated (0=sufficient; 1=satisfactory; 2=good; 3=very good) by the Reviewer selected by the teaching coordinator in accordance with the Thesis topic.
   3. Committee Evaluation
      Taking into consideration the submitted manuscript, the Thesis presentation and discussion will be rated (1=sufficient; 2=satisfactory; 3=good; 4=very good; 5=excellent) by the Evaluation Committee, usually including also the candidate’s supervisor.