The TDK Research Essay, its requirements, its assessment and its conversion to a thesis at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged
I. General
A TDK research essay is a written report of independent work performed outside the obligatory curriculum during undergraduate training. Its aim is self-education, the gaining of credit points or its presentation as a thesis, as detailed in part III below and in the Study Code of the Faculty of Medicine attachment to the Academic Study and Examination Regulations of the University of Szeged.
It is essential that the authors of research essays have demonstrated their active and productive participation in scientific research at a scientific conference. By writing research essays, authors illustrate that they can correctly apply the ethics and rules of scientific communication.
A research essay can include the author´s own research and experiments, but it can also be a case report, or clinico-pathological or statistical-demographic research. Literature reviews are not accepted as research essay. Research essays must reflect independent work, and must therefore include results that could not have been obtained without the contributions of the authors.
II. Requirements of a TDK research essay
1.The formal requirements of the TDK research paper are the same as those of a thesis
The main body of the essay (excluding the title page, the table of contents and the list of abbreviations) must be between 25 and 50 pages, including the Figures and Tables, but without the references. Page numbering should be given in the page header, centred at the top of the sheet. The paper format should be A/4 with 1.5 line spacing; margins: 3.5 cm and 2.5 cm on the left side, below, above and on the right side. Font: Times New Roman, size 12.
2. Structure of the TDK research essay
The title page
Here a larger than 12 font size may be used. In sequence from the top of the page, centred: the title of the research essay; the author(s), class year, group; “TDK research essay ”; topic supervisor(s)’ name(s), his/her position, his/her academic degree; title of the institute where the research essay was written (institute/clinic and research group); ”Szeged”; year.
List of abbreviations
On the page following the title page, in alphabetical order
The table of contents
Following the abbreviations page (maximum 1 page length)
The main body
The research essay must have the typical structure of a scientific research paper divided into separate sections including the numbering.
1. Summary (1 page at most; it may be the same as the abstract submitted for the TDK Conference)
2. Introduction
3. Objective (1 page at most)
4. Materials and methods
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions (1 page at most);
8. References (a maximum of 50; the line spacing can be single; use of reference manager software is advised);
9. Acknowledgements (not obligatory), indication of grants or support (not obligatory)
The last page
The title of the scientific conference presentation on which the research essay was based (title, presenter(s)/author(s), place and date of the conference, any prize awarded).
A declaration in which the author(s) state(s) the originality of the research and give(s) detailed information about his/her own activities, listing experiments carried out individually and any help received.
Name(s) of the author(s) and supervisor(s) with their signatures
E-mail address for correspondence
3. Other formal requirements
Figure or Table with numbers: legends should be placed under the Figures and Tables (using a smaller font size than 12 and single line spacing).
In the text of the research essay, the author must refer to Figures or Tables with the appropriate numbers (e.g. Figure 4, Table 3”, etc.)
The references should be listed in alphabetical order with numbers.
In the text, the references should be given in brackets; in the case of one author: the name and year (e.g. Abbott, 2005), in the case of two authors: both names listed by “and” and the year (e.g. Dore-Duffy and LaManna, 2007), in the case of more than two authors, the name of the first author followed by “et al.” and the year (e.g. Blasiole et al., 2007).
Examples in the case of an article or book:
Mathiisen TM, Lehre KP, Danbolt NC, Ottersen OP: The perivascular astroglial sheath provides a complete covering of the brain micro vessels: an electron microscopic 3D reconstruction. Glia. 2010; 58:1094-1103.
Franklin KBJ, Paxinos G: The mouse brain in stereotaxic coordinates. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, USA, 1997.
4. Submitting the TDK research essay
The TDK research essay written in Hungarian or English should to be submitted in two bound copies to the following address:
Secretariat of the Faculty of Medicine TDK Council
(located at the Department of Medical Physics and Informatics)
Korányi fasor 9.
Szeged 6720
The deadline for submission is 30 September. Any changes will be advertised by the Dean’s Office of the Faculty at the beginning of the academic year and will also be found on the TDT webpage.
III. Evaluation of TDK research essays and their conversion to thesis
TDK research essays are evaluated by two independent anonymous reviewers appointed by the TDT. The final point score is the average of the points awarded by the two judges. In the event of a significant difference between the scores, the essay will be evaluated by an additional reviewer.
If the TDK research essay satisfies the compulsory formal requirements, a maximum of 5 points can be awarded. 5 additional points can be awarded for the suitability and quality of the illustrations; how the illustrations support the text etc. Overall, the formal part of the essay can be scored with a maximum of 10 points. The scientific content is assessed according to the requirements of scientific journals, with a maximum of 20 points. Overall, therefore, a maximum of 30 points can be awarded.
Essays awarded at least 15 points are graded as acceptable. Essays awarded 25-30 points are awarded 1st prize, those with 20-24 points 2nd prize and those with 16-19 points 3rd prize. TDK research essays that are ranked 1st and 2nd may be rewarded financially.
Authors are notified of the assessment result within 60 days after the submission deadline.
Copies of accepted TDK research/scientific essays are kept in the library of the relevant institute/clinic. A pdf version of the essay must be sent to the secretary of the TDT, who handles the archives of the TDK homepage (http://www.med.u-szeged.hu/tdkinfo).
A student may make a written request for an accepted TDK research essay to be awarded credit points; a 1st prize essay receives 4 credit points, a 2nd prize 2 credit points and a 3rd prize 1 credit point. These credit points can be counted into the academic achievements in the following semester.
If a research essay has not been awarded credit points earlier, the student can submit a formal request to the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for the essay to be accepted as a thesis, stating that the work has not received credit points earlier. The request should be submitted to the educational office; one copy of the research essay must be attached, labelled “Thesis”, together with the evaluation of the essay (obtained from the TDT). A new written evaluation process is not necessary, but there must be an oral defence.
If a TDK essay was written by one author, it can be submitted in a modified version which meets the formal requirements of a thesis. The further evaluation is then organized by the Faculty educational office. If a research essays was written by multiple authors, the original, unmodified version can be submitted as a thesis only by the first author. In this case, the agreements to this by the co-authors must be attached to the application.
If the research paper was written by two authors and the supervisor certifies that the contributions of both were equal, both authors have the right to apply for its conversion it to a thesis. In this case, the declarations of the supervisor and both students must be attached and an indication must be given as to how each author contributed to the research essay. If there are more than two authors of the research essay, such a joint application is not possible.
