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UCC theses CORA is the central repository for electronic copies of UCC postgraduate research theses. While we aim to provide full-text access, in certain circumstances theses may not have been provided by the graduate or may be embargoed in part or in full. To see details of all UCC theses in the UCC Library collections go to the UCC Library catalogue

Current students Information on procedures for submitting your thesis is available on the Graduate Studies Office web pages. See the UCC Library website for a list of E-theses Frequently Asked Questions

Doctoral and Research Masters' graduates Graduates who have an electronic copy of their thesis which they would like to archive in CORA can contact us at [email protected] for more details.

Contact If you have any queries about UCC e-theses please contact: Gillian Cotter, Research & Digital Services, UCC Library: [email protected]

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• Doctoral Theses
• Research Theses Submission

How to Write a Research Paper: Parts of the Paper

• Choosing Your Topic
• Citation & Style Guides This link opens in a new window
• Critical Thinking
• Evaluating Information
• Parts of the Paper
• Writing Tips from UNC-Chapel Hill
• Librarian Contact

Parts of the Research Paper Papers should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Your introductory paragraph should grab the reader's attention, state your main idea, and indicate how you will support it. The body of the paper should expand on what you have stated in the introduction. Finally, the conclusion restates the paper's thesis and should explain what you have learned, giving a wrap up of your main ideas.

1. The Title The title should be specific and indicate the theme of the research and what ideas it addresses. Use keywords that help explain your paper's topic to the reader. Try to avoid abbreviations and jargon. Think about keywords that people would use to search for your paper and include them in your title.

2. The Abstract The abstract is used by readers to get a quick overview of your paper. Typically, they are about 200 words in length (120 words minimum to  250 words maximum). The abstract should introduce the topic and thesis, and should provide a general statement about what you have found in your research. The abstract allows you to mention each major aspect of your topic and helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Because it is a summary of the entire research paper, it is often written last. 

3. The Introduction The introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and explain the focus of the research. You will introduce your overview of the topic,  your main points of information, and why this subject is important. You can introduce the current understanding and background information about the topic. Toward the end of the introduction, you add your thesis statement, and explain how you will provide information to support your research questions. This provides the purpose and focus for the rest of the paper.

4. Thesis Statement Most papers will have a thesis statement or main idea and supporting facts/ideas/arguments. State your main idea (something of interest or something to be proven or argued for or against) as your thesis statement, and then provide your supporting facts and arguments. A thesis statement is a declarative sentence that asserts the position a paper will be taking. It also points toward the paper's development. This statement should be both specific and arguable. Generally, the thesis statement will be placed at the end of the first paragraph of your paper. The remainder of your paper will support this thesis.

Students often learn to write a thesis as a first step in the writing process, but often, after research, a writer's viewpoint may change. Therefore a thesis statement may be one of the final steps in writing. 

Examples of Thesis Statements from Purdue OWL

5. The Literature Review The purpose of the literature review is to describe past important research and how it specifically relates to the research thesis. It should be a synthesis of the previous literature and the new idea being researched. The review should examine the major theories related to the topic to date and their contributors. It should include all relevant findings from credible sources, such as academic books and peer-reviewed journal articles. You will want  to:

• Explain how the literature helps the researcher understand the topic.
• Try to show connections and any disparities between the literature.
• Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
• Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.

More about writing a literature review. . .

6. The Discussion ​The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe what you have learned from your research. Make the reader understand why your topic is important. The discussion should always demonstrate what you have learned from your readings (and viewings) and how that learning has made the topic evolve, especially from the short description of main points in the introduction.Explain any new understanding or insights you have had after reading your articles and/or books. Paragraphs should use transitioning sentences to develop how one paragraph idea leads to the next. The discussion will always connect to the introduction, your thesis statement, and the literature you reviewed, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the introduction. You want to: 

• Demonstrate critical thinking, not just reporting back facts that you gathered.
• If possible, tell how the topic has evolved over the past and give it's implications for the future.
• Fully explain your main ideas with supporting information.
• Explain why your thesis is correct giving arguments to counter points.

7. The Conclusion A concluding paragraph is a brief summary of your main ideas and restates the paper's main thesis, giving the reader the sense that the stated goal of the paper has been accomplished. What have you learned by doing this research that you didn't know before? What conclusions have you drawn? You may also want to suggest further areas of study, improvement of research possibilities, etc. to demonstrate your critical thinking regarding your research.

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Writing your thesis

Stuff you need to get started.

If this is your first year as a postgraduate in UCC, welcome to the world of research. If you're returning after the summer, welcome back. This is a short note to bring you up to date on some tools you may need for your research, especially for writing your thesis.

This may sound like it's a long way away yet (unless you're just about to submit) but a little time and effort spent getting properly equipped now is going to save you a lot later on. Using the right software in the right way, you can cut up to 2–3 months off the writing time for the average 4–year PhD, and pro rata for other degrees—​like being given a free extension.

The two most important tools discussed here are your document preparation software (wordprocessor or other software) and your reference management software (bibliographic database). There may be other special software for your own discipline, but your supervisor will advise you on that.

There are translations of this page at http://students.studybay.com/?p=190 (Armenian, by Gajk Melikyan) and http://science.webhostinggeeks.com/latex (Serbo-Croat, by Anja Skrba).

Latest updates

• Para: As of April 2013, Mendeley has been…
• §2.1. Zotero
• §2.2. Mendeley
•   Using a wordprocessor
•   Using L A T E X
•   Zotero
•   Mendeley
•   JabRef
•   EndNote / ProCite / Reference Manager

1. Document preparation software

Most people use a wordprocessor because it's only software for writing that they have ever come across. Unfortunately, most wordprocessors were not designed for academic or technical writing, or for doing long or complex documents like theses. There are several alternatives, the most popular of which ( L A T E X ) is discussed in section 1.2, ‘Using L A T E X ’ below.

1.1. Using a wordprocessor

Using a wordprocessor for your thesis.

Follow the UCC requirements for theses : set the margins and line-spacing correctly.

Use a common serif typeface for readability (eg Times, Garamond, Charter, Georgia etc). Avoid using sans-serif typefaces like Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Avant Garde, etc for the text. Set the text size to 11pt or 12pt.

Be consistent: don't format the same kind of thing one way in one place and a different way in another. The best way to avoid this is to read the rest of this list!

Learn how to use the built-in named styles to automate your formatting (details: OpenOffice , Word ) and how to create your own in a template: this alone can save days of fiddling around with the font menus.

Never add manual line-breaks or page-breaks until after you have written it all and really finished editing. Otherwise you'll find that any late changes and corrections will mess up all your formatting again and again.

Use the built-in cross-reference mechanisms (details: OpenOffice , Word ) rather than typing them by hand. That way when you move bits of your text around while editing, you won't have to waste time tracking down and manually changing every cross-reference.

The same applies to the automated Table of Contents (details: OpenOffice , Word ), List of Figures, List of Tables, Index, Glossary, etc (if you need them). Don't even think of typing them by hand, otherwise you'll spend forever trying to keep them up to date.

Most important of all, use a reference manager (bibliographic database) to keep track of all the articles, books, papers, websites etc that you read. This lets you add citations formatted correctly for the style your discipline uses, and ensures that they all appear in your References section correctly sorted and formatted.

Most wordprocessors are designed for simple office documents like sales reports and business letters. To use a wordprocessor successfully for long or complex documents like theses you need to put in a lot of effort. It can sometimes also be difficult to get ‘business’-style wordprocessors to do some of the important academic tasks (eg decent mathematics, multiple footnote series, apparatus criticus , or mixed right-to-left and left-to-right languages) without a lot of additional software.

There are two wordprocessors in common use, OpenOffice (which is free) and Microsoft Word (which isn't). Both do the same kind of thing in the same kind of way, with minor variations.

There are dozens of other wordprocessors in existence but they are not supported in UCC. Few wordprocessors were ever designed for academic use; one still seen occasionally is NotaBene , but it has proved unfeasible to obtain support for it.

Please do not use obsolete or unsupported packages (eg Microsoft WordPad or Works , Apple MacWrite , Lotus Notes , etc) because we won't be able to provide any help with them.

If you decide to use a wordprocessor, you can make life easier for yourself and others by making use of automation (see the panel ‘Using a wordprocessor for your thesis’ ).

1.2. Using L A T E X

The most common alternative to using a wordprocessor is the L A T E X document preparation system. This uses a typesetting program ( T E X ), so the formatting quality is much higher than a wordprocessor. Because L A T E X already knows about how to format long or complex documents, it is also much easier to save time through automation and keep your layout consistent.

The L A T E X DVD is available free of charge for any desktop or laptop computer by contacting the Electronic Publishing Unit or you can download the software yourself from the links at the T E X Users Group web site ( Windows , Macs , Linux , and instructions ).

The major difference is that L A T E X is not a wordprocessor; it's a typesetter. Instead of fiddling with formatting menus, you just label the parts of your document as you write: title, author, heading, list, table, figure, citation, etc, and L A T E X formats them for you.

Figure 1. Writing an article in L A T E X using the Kile editor

L A T E X comes with all the automated facilities mentioned above for styling, cross-referencing, citation, Table of Contents, List of Figures, List of Tables, References, Index, Glossary, etc. It also includes automated mathematical formatting, and features for typesetting multilingual and bidirectional text, linguistics, music, chemistry, engineering, and dozens of other formats; multiple footnote series, parallel columns, and the apparatus criticus .

The unit runs free training days , and there is extensive online and printed documentation as well as forums for users in UCC , Ireland , and worldwide .

2. Reference management software: bibliographic databases

Gathering references for reading and citation takes up a large amount of time when you're researching and writing a thesis. It is very important that you record everything you read and may want to cite. You need a quick and effective way to capture and store the proper details (author, title, date, publisher or journal, volume, issue, etc). And you need a quick and effective way to get them into your document formatted in the style your discipline requires. There are hundreds of styles: Harvard, MLA, IoP, IEEE, Legal, AMA, APA, Kluwer, Elsevier, etc—​all fractionally different; and you also need to be able to reformat your references if you publish in different journals.

Reference management software makes your job easier and more accurate because it saves you doing it all manually:

You can capture full references from online sources such as web pages, library catalogues, and journal databases;

You can import and export whole files of references to and from other systems;

It stores and labels all the pieces making up a reference separately and unformatted, so it can automatically insert and reformat both the citation and the full reference.

You can choose the citation and reference style according to the rules of the format that you must adhere to.

You can add citations with a mouse-click anywhere in your document.

Never just type references into your document and format them by hand, especially if you just copy and paste them from another source (online or offline). This is completely pointless and a serious waste of your time. The formatting of citations and references demanded by academic work is detailed and exacting, something which computers are very good at doing if you give them the right information (and wholly useless if you give them the wrong information).

There are many reference management programs available; the following sections describe those in most common use. See the Wikipedia page on reference management software for some good explanations and comparisons.

2.1. Zotero

Zotero was developed by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. It is available both as a standaline program and as a plugin for the Firefox web browser ( install that first). Download and install Zotero from http://www.zotero.org/ . One click grabs the full biblographic details of any journal, library, or book page that you visit and adds it to your reference list. It recognises the reference data that libraries and publishers embed in their pages, so when you go browsing for your sources, you can add items to your collection at any time.

Figure 2. Using Zotero to save a reference from a catalogue search, and insert the citation into a document

It has plugins for OpenOffice and Word so that you can cite any document in your collection just by clicking on it (see Figure 23 above). You can copy your references to a USB stick if you've been working on a shared (lab) computer, and you can also export selected references to other reference managers like JabRef ( B I B T E X ), EndNote , ProCite , Reference Manager , etc.

Figure 3. Exporting your Zotero collection for use in another system

There are also facilities for backing-up or storing your reference data in the cloud, so that you can continue working on them even when you're away from your own computer.

2.2. Mendeley

The Mendeley Desktop is a free bibliographic manager which runs on all modern systems (Windows, Macs, and Linux). Their web site describes it as ‘like iTunes™ for research papers’. You can import and export references in different formats, including the three most important import formats, RIS/ B I B T E X /EndnoteXML, and all the popular citation formats like Harvard, Chicago, IEEE, MLA, etc. It also lets you share them with your colleagues, so it makes collaborative work (multi-authored papers) much easier because you can all be certain that you are citing the same works the same way.

Figure 4. The Mendeley desktop exporting citations in Chicago style

Like Zotero , it has plugins for Word and OpenOffice (in fact it re-uses the same plugins for efficiency), so you can just click and cite while you write.

It can synchronise with Zotero , so you can use Zotero for gathering your references, and Mendeley for managing them.

⇛  As of April 2013, Mendeley has been taken over by Elsevier , who have been the subject of much criticism for many years over dubious business ethics in respect of scholars, and who are also the target of an academic boycott . Users will need to make their own decision about whether or not they wish to support Elsevier by using Mendeley .

2.3. JabRef

JabRef is an Open Source (free) reference manager designed for use with L A T E X , but also able to import references from databases like SilverPlatter, Medline, Ovid, ISI, and file formats like EndNote; and to export references to Zotero , EndNote , and a wide variety of other systems including SQL and MODS databases, Microsoft Office 2007, web pages, and spreadsheets.

Figure 5. Using JabRef to add a citation to a L A T E X document

In common with all reference management systems, inserting a reference is a single-click operation (see Figure 5 above).

2.4. EndNote / ProCite / Reference Manager

Three popular, competing bibliographic databases all from the same company (Thomson). All of them powerful, but enormous, complex, and very expensive for personal use. The differences are largely in the range of online features and support for obsolescent file formats.

Figure 6. Using EndNote to add a citation to a Word document

EndNote has become a de facto standard in some academic and research fields, partly driven by the fact that Thomson is the supplier of a valuable citation-measurement service, which is used in many institutions to judge the relative importance of research output.

Installing L A T E X for Linux

If you have an up-to-date distribution (eg RedHat, Debian, Ubuntu, etc) with a package manager (rpm, yum, Synaptic, etc), then just install texlive-full , plus the kile or emacs editor (your choice). You do not need to install from the DVD.

If you have an older system, or one without a working package manager, borrow the T E X Live DVD from the Electronic Publishing Unit.

The Firefox browser

Firefox is a free replacement browser for Microsoft Internet Explorer . You can download it for any Windows, Mac, or Unix/Linux computer. It has a huge range of useful add-ons and plugins, the most important of which for academic work is the Zotero bibliographic database mentioned above .

Customer Reviews

Finished Papers

June 5, 2024

Thesis Gold Receives Positive Metallurgical Tests Results for Lawyers-Ranch Project: Achieves Average Precious Metal Recovery of 95% for Gold and 92% for Silver

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – June 5, 2024) – Thesis Gold Inc. (TSXV: TAU) (WKN: A3EP87) (OTCQX: THSGF) (“ Thesis ” or the “ Company “) is pleased to announce the successful completion of preliminary metallurgical testing at the Company’s 100% owned Lawyers-Ranch Project. This testing aims to assess the economics of an expanded project that integrates high-grade feed from Ranch and higher-grade underground material to a processing site at Lawyers. The program was designed based on the updated Mineral Resource Estimate from May 1, 2024 ( link to news release ). The Project is road-accessible and forms a contiguous, 495 km 2 land package in the prolific Toodoggone Mining District in northern British Columbia.

The testing, completed by SGS Canada, focused on evaluation of the project’s metallurgical response to a variety of flowsheets investigating gravity, flotation, and cyanidation methods. The comprehensive laboratory study concluded with the full treatment circuit evaluation including locked cycle flotation by testing of three separate master composites. These composites were from blended feed samples of known resources from both the Lawyers and Ranch properties that had variations in gold, silver, and sulphur head grade. The laboratory full circuit evaluation demonstrated a recovery range of 93% to 96% for gold and 86% to 96% for silver. This included producing a primary precious metal flotation concentrate with gold grades exceeding 160 g/t, indicating a marketable precious metal concentrate with favorable payables. The metallurgical results will be used as part of an updated preliminary economic assessment of the project, scheduled for Q3-2024.

Metallurgical Testing Highlights :

• Process Flowsheet Development : with gravity pretreatment, flotation, and leaching of secondary concentrate and float tails. The overall recovery range was 93% to 96% for gold and 86% to 96% for silver, demonstrating excellent extraction potential.
• Gravity Pretreatment: Recovery ranged from 20 to 38% for gold, and 2 to 10% of silver at grades exceeding 360 g/t Au and 1190 g/t Ag, which is suitable for onsite doré production.
• Primary Flotation Concentrate: Recovery ranging from 40% to 65% of gold producing a concentrate grade exceeding 160 g/t Au and 55% to 78% recovery for silver with a concentrate grade of over 5,000 g/t Ag.
• Leaching: of a secondary float concentrate and the float tailing, scavenged an additional 8-20% of gold and 12-24% of silver.

Dr. Ewan Webster, President and CEO, commented “The excellent metallurgical results from the combined Lawyers-Ranch project highlight not only the high recoveries of 95% for gold and 92% for silver but also the marketable concentrate grades. These findings, based on blended composites from potential mining areas, provide a strong foundation for the upcoming preliminary economic assessment. Given the strength of these results, our continued efforts will be directed towards optimizing capital costs, operating costs, and maximizing payables, rather than addressing fundamental process challenges.”

Flowsheet Development

The metallurgical testing initially involved variations to gravity separation, flotation, and cyanidation procedures for process optimization. The study concluded with a locked cycle flotation test on each of three master composites, with separate cyanidation of the scavenger concentrate. This was then combined with the leaching of the float tailing. The data compared well to open cycle float tests.

Each of the three master composites were to represent various mineral zones from both properties. This includes potential underground and open pit material from Lawyers and newly identified mineral zones at Ranch (see Table 1). Each zone composite was typically formed from 2 to 7 drill hole intervals averaging approximately 10 metres, with varying precious metal and sulphur (S) grades. These master composites therefore provide good confidence in the flowsheet response to the varying mineralogy of the project.

Table 1: Master Composite Blend

The flotation flowsheet for the locked cycle tests following gravity pretreatment are illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Flotation Flowsheet

Following laboratory test work optimization, the metallurgical response was confirmed by using locked cycle testing (see Figure 1 above) on three master composites representing blends from both Ranch and Lawyers. The test conditions consisted of grinding to an 80% particle passing size (P80) of 125 microns and subjecting the ground product to gravity treatment by centrifugal concentration. The centrifugal concentrate was cleaned by panning. Gravity tailing was sent to a differential flotation circuit with the primary (rougher) concentrate cleaned with a selective collector in three stages, while depressing pyrite with elevated slurry pH using lime. This generated a cleaned primary flotation concentrate accounting for approximately 2 wt.% of the feed mass having a high precious metal grades suitable for sale (see Table 2 below). A lower grade secondary scavenger flotation concentrate representing less than 3 wt.% of the mill throughput was pulled using a strong collector (potassium amyl xanthate). This material was then sent for aggressive leaching for 36 hours using high cyanide concentration. This residue was then combined with the flotation tailing for a final stage leach maintaining 1 g/L NaCN for 24 hours.

Overall, the combined testing showed that gravity pretreatment yielded a gold recoveries ranging from 17% to 38%. The silver recoveries were typically lower, ranging from 2% to 10%. When considering the combined processes of gravity and primary (rougher) flotation, the gold recoveries were notably high, with 86% for Composite M1(HG), 87% for Composite M2 (MG), and 77% for Composite M3 (LG). The combined silver recoveries were also substantial, achieving 81%, 85%, and 65% for the respective composites. The gravity and flotation concentrates demonstrated high grades and efficient recovery rates, for some zones. Stability in the locked cycle tests was generally good, with consistent mass, gold, and silver recoveries observed in the final three cycles. However, adjustments may be necessary in future test work, particularly to manage the re-floating of pyrite in high pyrite composites.

Cyanidation of the secondary flotation product further enhanced recovery. The circuit for leaching of the concentrate is small due to low mass pull, allowing for aggressive procedures in the first stage. The second stage leach is performed by recombing with float tailing, providing the overall leach response. For Composite M2 (MG), the mid grade blend cyanidation recovered an additional 9% of gold and 12% of silver. For Composite M1 (HG), the higher-grade blend recovered 8% of gold and 14% of silver, while for Composite M3 (LG), the lowest grade blend, an additional 19% of gold and 21% of silver were recovered from the overall leach circuit.

The combined metallurgical performance achieved excellent total recoveries of gold and silver. Composite M2 (MG) showed a total gold recovery of 96.3% and silver recovery of 96.4%. Composite M1 (HG) achieved 93.9% gold recovery and 94.4% silver recovery, while Composite M3 (LG) demonstrated 96.5% gold recovery and 86.3% silver recovery. These results underscore the effectiveness of the combined gravity, flotation, and cyanidation processes in maximizing precious metal recoveries. Summary of the results are available in Table 2.

Table 2: Master Composite Zone Blends and Head Assay

The preliminary findings indicate no issues with the flowsheet in terms of mass balance or recovery, affirming the project’s robustness as it progresses.

Quality Assurance and Control

Original mineral samples that were selected for metallurgical evaluation were analyzed at ALS Global Laboratories (Geochemistry Division) in Vancouver, Canada (an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited facility). The geological sampling program was undertaken by Company personnel under the direction of Rob L’Heureux, P.Geol. Metallurgical testing was primarily performed by SGS Canada Inc. at their laboratory located in Burnaby BC. SGS is globally recognized in the mining industry and accredited with International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001 for quality assurance, and ISO/IEC 17025 for general requirements of laboratory competence in testing and calibration. A secure chain of custody is maintained in transporting and storing of all samples.

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Frank Wright, P.Eng., independent metallurgical consultant and qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors Thesis Gold Inc.

“Ewan Webster”

Ewan Webster Ph.D., P.Geo. President, CEO, and Director About Thesis Gold Inc.

Thesis Gold is unlocking the combined potential of the Lawyers-Ranch Gold-Silver Project in the Toodoggone mining district of north central British Columbia, Canada. A 2022 Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Lawyers project alone projected an open-pit mining operation yielding an average of 163,000 gold equivalent ounces annually over a 12-year span 1 . By integrating the Ranch Project, the Company aims to enhance the economics and bolster the overall project’s potential. Central to this ambition was the expansive 2023 drill program, which continues to define a high-grade out-of-pit Mineral Resource at Lawyers and augment the near-surface high-grade deposits at Ranch. The project now boasts a combined Measured & Indicated Mineral Resource of 4.0 Moz and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 727 koz, at respective grades of 1.51 and 1.82 g/t AuEq. The Company roadmap includes, new metallurgical work (now delivered), a robust 2024 exploration and drill program and a combined updated Preliminary Economic Assessment slated for Q3 2024. Through these strategic moves, Thesis Gold intends to elevate the Ranch-Lawyers Project to the forefront of global precious metals ventures.

1 Preliminary Economic Assessment: Lawyers Gold & Silver Project (2022). JDS Energy & Mining.

For further information or investor relations inquiries, please contact:

Dave Burwell Vice President Corporate Development Email: [email protected] Tel: 403-410-7907 Toll Free: 1-888-221-0915

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the Company’s recently completed financings and the future plans or prospects of the Company. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to business, market, and economic risks, uncertainties, and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company’s most recent annual management’s discussion and analysis, which is available on the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.com . The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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UCC Theses: Print Copies

• Special Collections holds print copies of Masters theses from 1911-2012. To access print copies of Taught Masters theses since 2013 contact the relevant department.
• Special Collections holds print copies of Research Masters / PhDs theses from 1939-2019. To access Research Masters / PhD theses since 2020 search on CORA .

Theses must be requested in advance. For further information see Special Collections & Archives Request Form. All print theses must be consulted in the library and cannot be borrowed.

Scanning, photocopying or photographing theses is not permitted without written permission from the author.

Note: The Call Number has either DP (PhD Thesis) or DM (Masters Thesis).

How Do I Find UCC Theses Through the Catalogue?

Search by Department:

• Go to the UCC Library Catalogue .
• Select 'Theses' under 'Search Options' on the left of the screen, or click here .
• Search for the name of a department/school e.g. 'Department of Physiology' or search with keywords.
• Browse this list of theses theses from specific departments.

Search by Keyword:

• Enter the search term in the Keyword option.
• On the results page click on 'Modify Search' and limit your search to Material Type: Theses 

Note: The Call Number has either DP (PhD Thesis) or DM (Masters Thesis). Some have a link to the full text through CORA:

UCC Theses: Electronic Copies

CORA is the central repository for electronic copies of UCC research postgraduate theses. While the aim is to provide full-text access, in certain circumstances theses may not have been provided by the graduate, or may be embargoed in part or in full. Click here to browse theses. 

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• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I This link opens in a new window Central authoritative resource for North American theses with significant European content. This database is the world’s most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day. To note, this database also includes the most comprehensive available record of doctoral theses from the United Kingdom and Ireland. more... less... Access to: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: Business ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: Health & Medicine ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: History ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: Literature & Language ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: Science & Technology ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: Social Sciences ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I: The Arts

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Honors student produces prize-winning research on loneliness

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In her honors thesis, recent graduate Amber Duffy describes how loneliness influences a person’s ability to respond to stress

Amber Duffy, who graduated last semester magna cum laude , didn’t always plan to write an honor’s thesis.

She came to the University of Colorado Boulder on a pre-med track, studying neuroscience, but an introductory psychology class knocked her off that path and inspired her to change her major.  

“I really liked the behavioral aspect of psychology,” she says.

She liked psychology so much, in fact, that she wasn’t content simply to study it. She wanted to contribute to it. “If I’m not going to do medical school anymore,” she remembers thinking, “I should delve into research.”

Recent psychology and neuroscience graduate Amber Duffy won the the Outstanding Poster Presentation Talk award at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s Annual Convention in San Diego, recognizing her research on loneliness.

She contacted Erik Knight , a CU Boulder assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, with whom she’d taken a class her sophomore year, and he invited her to join his lab . She ended up working there for two years, during which time she decided to write an honor’s thesis.

The topic? Loneliness and its effect on young adults’ stress responses.

Why loneliness?  

Duffy’s interest in loneliness isn’t purely academic. Many of her friends and family have struggled with it for years, even before the pandemic, she says. And she herself, the daughter of a Taiwanese mother and a Pennsylvanian father, has often felt its sting.  

“Growing up in a multicultural family in my predominantly white town”—Castle Rock, Colorado—“it was hard for me to connect with people sometimes,” she says. “I would learn about my mom’s culture at home and then go to school or talk with friends, and they just didn’t understand how I lived.”

Her concerns over loneliness only increased when she learned of Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy’s warning that the United States is suffering from a loneliness epidemic.

“The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,” Murthy states.  

Hearing this spurred Duffy to action. She wanted to contribute to the fight against loneliness and its potentially negative consequences.

“If we expand our knowledge of loneliness,” she says, “maybe there’s a way we can come up with a more substantial treatment.”

More gas, less brakes

For her honors experiment, Duffy gathered 51 CU Boulder undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 34 and divided them randomly into a control condition and an experimental condition. Those in the former provided a low-stress comparison to those in the latter, who were put through the wringer.

First, the subjects in the experimental condition had to interview for a high-stakes job Duffy and Knight had concocted specifically for the study.

“We told them, in the moment, ‘You have five minutes to prepare a five-minute speech on why you’re the perfect applicant,’” says Duffy.

Immediately following that, subjects had to solve subtraction problems for five minutes, out loud, perfectly, starting at 6,233 and going down from there in increments of 13. “If they made a mistake,” says Duffy, “they had to start over.”

While the subjects ran these gauntlets, Duffy monitored their heart-rate variability (HRV), or the change in interval between heartbeats, and their pre-ejection period (PEP), or the time it takes for a heart to prepare to push blood to the rest of the body. Both serve as indicators of how a person’s stress-response system is functioning, Duffy explains. 

Finally, when the stress tests were done, the subjects completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3 questionnaire, which research has found to be a reliable means of measuring loneliness.

Duffy had hypothesized that lonelier subjects would have more pronounced stress responses than less lonely subjects, and indeed that’s what her data revealed.

Lonelier subjects had higher heartrates, stronger responses from their sympathetic nervous systems (SNS) and weaker responses from their parasympathetic nervous systems (PNS). Duffy likens the SNS, which controls the fight-or-flight response, to a car’s gas pedal and the PNS, which counterbalances the SNS, to a car’s brakes.

When met with stressful situations, then, lonelier individuals had more gas and less brakes, which Duffy says could have long-term health implications.

Yet she is also quick to point out that more research needs to be done, preferably with more subjects.

If we expand our knowledge of loneliness, maybe there’s a way we can come up with a more substantial treatment.”

“We only had 51 people. An increase in sample size would help with more reliable data,” she says. “It’s also important to look at more clinical and diverse populations because there are other factors that could affect loneliness levels.” 

Posters, prizes and professorships

Duffy submitted an abstract of her research to The Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s Annual Convention in San Diego, where she hoped to present a poster, thinking this would be a nice, low-key way of getting some conference experience under her belt.

Her abstract was accepted. But then a conference organizer asked her if, in addition to presenting a poster, she could also give a fifteen-minute talk. She would be the only undergraduate at the conference to do so.

Duffy balked. The thought of speaking to a roomful of PhDs intimidated her. “Most of my life I’ve heard how cutthroat academia is,” she says. But she ultimately agreed, and she was glad she did.

Her talk and poster presentation went so well that not only did she receive interest and encouragement from several doctoral programs, but she also won an award that she didn’t even know existed: the Outstanding Poster Presentation Talk award.

“In the middle of my poster presentation, a woman came up to me—I didn’t know who she was—and said, ‘I have a check here for you for $500.’ I didn’t know that was supposed to happen, but it was great!”

Now graduated, Duffy isn’t 100% sure what her next steps will be, but she’s leaning toward one day pursuing a PhD. 

“When you get a PhD, you get to do research and also work with students,” she says. “I think it would be fun to be a professor and give back in that way.”

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Call for Expressions of Interest: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024

Hosting Information

Organisation/institute, contact information, description.

Elisava, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (UVic-UCC) is seeking postdoctoral researchers of any nationality interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship  under the 2024 call for applications.

Elisava , Barcelona School of Design and Engineering of the Universitat de Vic – Universitat Central de Catalunya (UVic-UCC), fourth best Catalan university and sixth in Spain, promotes education, knowledge and research in the fields of design, industrial design engineering and communication. At Elisava we understand design and industrial design engineering as instruments to transform the world through innovation and critical reflection. Elisava is a university where you can question pre-established ideas, where you can experiment with new ways, where you can connect with the professional world and where you can find alternatives. For 60 years we have been committed to an open, flexible and multidisciplinary line of training and research, oriented towards the professional world. We have trained more than 20,000 students from over 90 countries who are prepared to face and overcome great professional challenges, taking into account social, environmental and gender aspects. Located on an urban campus in the centre of Barcelona, we have a direct impact on the city and are closely involved in its cultural life. Elisava Research , the R+D+i Center of Elisava, is a vibrant community of academic researchers in the fields of design and engineering and a solid ecosystem of international partners and collaborators. We lead the official  Consolidated Research Group ‘Research through Design’ (GRC – 2021 SGR 01497) and publish Temes de Disseny , an open-access scientific journal currently a first quartile journal (Q1) in the ‘Architecture’, ‘Cultural Studies’ and ‘Visual Arts and Performing Arts’ categories, according to the SCImago Journal & Country Rank.

The objective of MCSA Postdoctoral Fellowships is to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. The Postdoctoral Fellowships action targets researchers holding a PhD who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers. PFs help researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors. Applicants should have a PhD degree at the time of the deadline for applications (11/09/2024). Applicants who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will also be considered eligible to apply. Applicants must have a maximum of eight years experience in research, from the date of the award of their PhD degree and should comply with the MSCA mobility rules. More details here .

Applicantsmust develop an application jointly with an host organisation, and we therefore invite Expressions of Interest (EoI) for proposals interested in Elisava as a host organization in the following topics (we my consider other suggestions as well):

Temporary Public Spaces for Urban Regeneration

Roger Paez, PhD https://www.elisava.net/en/research-team/roger-paez-phd/ [email protected]

To successfully address today’s sustainability challenges, cities need to develop and implement temporary public spaces (TPSs) to creatively harness the uncertainty derived from global crises in positive ways. This demands new conceptual and operative tools such as adaptive policies, adaptive planning, and adaptable cities. Specifically, TPSs directly connect the (infra)structural relevance of public space with the need to provide flexible, adaptable solutions for urban regeneration. The challenges addressed by the project will activate culture and creativity to generate specific and innovative temporary public spaces that will contribute to envisioning and co-producing better cities. The project will use small/medium-scale interventions to develop and test temporary public spaces that are replicable, foster citizen engagement, support education in new skills and capacity building, and are extremely cost-effective in relation to their social impact. These temporary public spaces will be testbeds for new ways of life, community-building and co-responsibility towards our shared habitats, contributing directly to the European Green Deal, the New European Bauhaus and the global efforts towards a sustainable future.

Soft Digital Knitting

Marina Castán, PhD https://www.elisava.net/en/research-team/marina-castan-phd/ [email protected]

We are interested in exploring the possibilities of digital knitting technology to design innovative soft products and spaces that facilitate disassembly and recycling. We recognize that design does not exist in isolation from the natural world and other species. It acknowledges the detrimental effects of traditional design practices on the environment, such as pollution, waste generation, and the exploitation of resources. We welcome proposals that seek to mitigate these negative impacts by integrating sustainable practices throughout the entire product design value chain, including using circular materials, energy-efficient production processes, and end-of-life recycling solutions.

Collaborative and Experimental Systems

Massimo Menichinelli, Dr. https://www.elisava.net/en/research-team/massimo-meninchinelli-phd/ [email protected]

One of the emerging trends in Design and HCI practice and research of the last two decades is the interest in addressing projects and groups of users with an amplified perspective, from products to services and policies, from artifacts to cities and regions, from single users to local and online communities, from isolated projects to whole complex systems, from designers to non-designers, from human actors to non-human ones. This focus works in extending whom is considered an actor in the design processes and ecosystems, in terms of a) scale and complexity, from User-centered Design to Community-centered Design and b) agency, with a Posthuman/More-than-Human approach. Several phenomena may be identified as the cause or influence of these changes, and ICT is one of the more relevant, from Internet to the World Wide Web (change of scale), to Internet of Things and automation (change of agency). This focus has required also a conceptual shift in terms of perspective: from actors and artifacts to systems and networks. We welcome proposals interested in working in these shifts of scale and agency, especially in the co-design of services and digital technologies, for example in terms of a) making and urban manufacturing, b) regulatory sandboxes, c) more-than-human systems, at scale and with a systemic perspective.

In order to submit an EoI and for any question, please get in touch with:

[email protected] and [email protected]

Indicative timeline:

• 3 July 2024: Deadline for sending EoIs to Elisava
• 25 July 2024: First internal draft of the proposals
• 1 September 2024: Second internal draft of the proposals
• 11 September 2024: Deadline for submitting proposals
• February / April 2025: Notification of call results to applicants and start of the project (indicative, TBC)

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Research Masters Thesis Submission Steps

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When can I submit?

Please make sure you are aware of your start date. If you have made changes to your registration (for example leave of absence, this will change your submission date). Research students start in January, April, July or October and usually agree a registration period of 1 or 2 years from their start date.

Students can submit any time in their last year of study. Students must begin planning for thesis submission 6 months before their submission date.

Students receiving a recommendation of award on condition of major or minor amendments should liaise with their internal examiner and supervisor regarding completion of the amendments. RECOMMENDATIONS EXPLAINED Award, no amendments needed Student progresses to the next step which is final e-thesis submission. Find your deadline  here . Award, on condition minor amendments are carried out

• Students liaise with their internal examiner to confirm the amendments needed.
• Student carries out amendments and sends them to their internal examiner for review.
• Internal Examiner confirms approval of corrections to the Graduate Studies Office using the upload facility and confirms to the student that they can progress to final e-thesis submission  online via CORA

Award, on condition major amendments are carried out

• Student liaises with their internal examiner to confirm the amendments needed.
• Student carries out amendments and sends them to both their internal examiner and external examiner for review.
• Internal examiner and the external examiner confirms approval of corrections to the Graduate Studies Office using the upload facility and confirms to the student that they can progress to final e-thesis submission  online via CORA .
• The original examiners report along with the emails from examiners regarding major amendment completed are submitted to the next ACGSC meeting ( see dates ) for final approval.

Reject, but permit submission of a revised thesis

• Student is required to undertake a major rewrite of all or a significant part of the thesis.
• This process should be completed within 12 months and the candidate must be registered as a student.
• The new thesis needs to be  submitted as a PDF online for a new examination (see step 3).

Reject, but allow the award of a lower degree A research Masters degree is awarded in lieu of a Doctorate as the thesis stands, or such a degree is awarded subject to minor or major amendments. A recommendation will need to be made on the grade of award of the lower degree (on the original thesis). Reject No degree is awarded as the thesis is very seriously and inherently deficient. MORE INFORMATION

For detailed information   here . 

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