For whom

Students of the LT who want to earn the CFUs related to the internship and to the final project may choose the fast track option.

What

The student selects a Supervisor (a professor of the CdS) and selects or receives a scientific article. The student produces a textual document (Summary) and a deck of slides (Presentation Slides); then s/he delivers a Presentation using the slides.

The Summary is a pdf document that must not exceed 1500 words, plus references and possibly figures.

The Presentation Slides must be at most 10. The duration of the Presentation must not exceed 10 minutes. Presentation sessions are organized in predefined dates; talks within a session are fast-paced.

Summary, Presentation Slides and Presentation must be all in the same language, either Italian or English. If in Italian, the student will earn 3 "F" CFUs (tirocinio), plus 3 "E" CFUs (prova finale) after the presentation. If in English, the student will also earn additional  3 "F" CFUs; according to the curriculum selected by the student, such CFUs may exceed the amount of 180 required for the degree and will be recorded in the final certificate as "soprannumerari", or may be spent to complete the number of "F" CFUs required. 

How to

As soon as they begin their work, students should send the standard email ("paperless") according to the "PROCEDURA PER IL TIROCINIO ALL'INTERNO DELL'ATENEO" on the DIA Web site: https://dia.units.it/it/pagtr/14638.

Summary and Slides should be the outcome of the autonomous work of the student. However, the supervisor is available for periodical group meetings with students active in the Fast Track process. These meetings are devoted to the topics the students are dealing with, under a technical/scientific and methodological viewpoint. No preliminary evaluation is provided for the documents the student is preparing. Meetings last approximately one hour, and normally have a weekly cadence. Students who want to participate should inform the supervisor a few days in advance.

The Summary has to be delivered to the supervisor for the official evaluation not later than 20 days before the talk session date chosen by the student. Exact deadlines are provided for each graduation session. The Slides do not have to be delivered at this stage: these are evaluated as part of the Presentation (see below). The logistics of the Presentation is described in page "Prelaurea".

Summary

The Summary must be titled "Summary of" or "Extended Summary of", followed by the title of the paper (quoted). The introduction must contain a full bibliographic reference of the paper.

The Summary has to provide a brief view about the topic of the proposed scholarly articles based on the critic reading of those articles and possibly on other related articles which the student collects autonomously.

In detail, the Summary has to give information about:

1. The unique general topic of the proposed articles, with a brief discussions on why it matters.

2. The main notions, concepts, and terms related to the topic, by means of a concise and possibly formal definition.

3. The research questions the article aims to answer. A research question is what the author is trying to find out about the topic.

4. The positions, i.e., the answer to the research questions, supported in the article.

5. The arguments for supporting those positions.

6. The weak points (limitations, missing information, and alike) of those arguments.

7. Optionally, item 6. can include not only the weak points outlined by the authors themselves, but also those detected by the comparative reading of other related articles which the student may collect autonomously.

8. Optionally, possible further research questions which arise from the articles and which are not answered in the considered articles.

For points 2–5, if differences stand among the proposed scholarly articles, they have to be highlighted.

Presentation

The first slide of the Presentation must contain the title of the Summary and, in smaller font, a full bibliographic reference of the paper.

The Presentation should deliver the same information as the Summary. It has to be adapted according to the following criteria:

• The target audience is to be considered broader than that of the Summary. Point 1 above is expected to receive more focus.

• The communication medium is different: text is to be adapted consequently; figures and diagrams usage is encouraged for easing the comprehension.

• At the time of the Presentation, the student is required to provide the committee with one hardcopy of the article he/she was assigned.

Assessment

The Summary will be evaluated by the supervisor; the Talk will be evaluated by a board of professors, including the supervisor, who are familiar with the proposed scholarly articles topic.

Both evaluations will be based on the following criteria:

• Clarity

  • [summary] Is the summary understandable and easy to read?

  • [summary/talk] Is the chosen presentation order sound? Is the content over- or under- structured?

  • [summary/talk] Are the appropriate terms for relevant concepts used? Consistently?

  • [summary/talk] Is the summary and are the slides prepared according to the guidelines?

• Level of detail

  • [summary/talk] Is the information related to points 1–5 correctly provided?

• Added value

  • [summary/talk] Do the document/slides discuss other relevant scholarly articles autonomously collected by the student?

  • [summary/talk] Are possible further research questions identified?

USEFUL LINKS

Writing article summaries

Cosa NON è una fast track

Come si prepara una presentazione (bottom of this page)