Course detail

Bachelor Seminar (B-AIR)

FSI-FEIAcad. year: 2027/2028

For most students, the bachelor's thesis is the first major technical text they write on their own, and the first one they will defend before a committee. This seminar guides you all the way from the assignment in Studis to the presentation at the defence.

You will learn to formulate the problem so that it is clear what you are solving and how you will know you have solved it. You will find out how to find scholarly sources and use them as building material for your argument rather than as decoration, how to cite according to the standard and how to use AI sensibly in line with BUT rules. Excerpts from real theses will show you what works and what does not, and in an online forum you will test how your formulation holds up in front of your classmates.

The semester culminates in two presentations of your own thesis: a short micro-presentation and a beta-presentation that approaches the defence in length and form. The seminar is a safe space where mistakes do not yet count towards a grade.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

2

Assignment to study programme types

Bachelor's

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

Ing. Filip Kšica, Ph.D.

Department

Institute of Automation and Computer Science (ÚAI)

Entry knowledge

The student has an assigned bachelor's thesis topic and can briefly describe what the thesis is about.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

The course is completed by course-unit credit.

Requirements for course-unit credit

  1. Active participation in seminars. Attendance is compulsory and recorded; two excused absences are tolerated, and any further absence must be compensated by completing the task of the missed seminar.
  2. Continuous assignments set in the e-learning system, for example an online forum with the formulation of one's own thesis problem and a comment on a classmate's post, a reverse outline of one's own chapter or a first version of the abstract.
  3. Micro-presentation of one's own thesis lasting 3 minutes (what the thesis solves, why and how).
  4. Beta-presentation lasting 10–12 minutes that approaches the defence in form; it must include the problem formulation, objectives, the chosen approach and the results achieved so far.
  5. Poster summarising the bachelor's thesis (problem, approach and main results), submitted to the e-learning system.

Presentations are submitted to the e-learning system. AI tools may be used in line with BUT principles; the student declares their use in the thesis and in submitted assignments.

Aims

A graduate of the course is able to:

  1. formulate the problem of their bachelor's thesis in one sentence that makes clear the problem, the approach and the measure of success,
  2. search for scholarly sources in bibliographic databases, assess their quality and relevance and integrate them into the argument of the thesis,
  3. cite sources according to ISO 690 so that the citation delimits the claim and does not attribute more to the source than it supports,
  4. build a thesis structure that makes the logic of the solution clear from the problem to the conclusion, and comply with the formal requirements of BUT and FME directives,
  5. use AI tools in line with BUT principles and verify their outputs,
  6. clearly present the problem, approach and main results of their thesis within the time limit of the defence and respond to questions.

Study aids

The course e-learning provides seminar slides, assignments, a thesis template and links to BUT and FME directives.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

FSI VUT. Směrnice děkana č. 2/2026 – Doplněk Směrnice č. 2/2026 – Závěrečné práce na VUT [online]. URL: https://www.fme.vutbr.cz/etc/soubor/z/76737 (CS)
VUT. Směrnice č. 2/2026 – Závěrečné práce na VUT [online]. URL: https://www.vut.cz/uredni-deska/vnitrni-predpisy-a-dokumenty/d323959 (CS)

Recommended reading

VUT. Zásady využívání nástrojů generativní umělé inteligence [online]. URL: https://www.vut.cz/uredni-deska/ai (CS)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme B-STR-P Bachelor's

    specialization AIŘ , 3 year of study, summer semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Exercise

26 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Ing. Filip Kšica, Ph.D.

Syllabus

1. What a successful bachelor's thesis looks like: the rules of the game (directives, schedule, template), who is who around your thesis and why the thesis must form a logical circle from the problem to the conclusion; planning backwards from the submission deadline.

2. From topic to a defensible problem: why without sources you have an opinion rather than an argument; how to search scholarly databases and how to tell whether an article is relevant to you.

3. From problem to evidence: the problem in one sentence, how you will recognise success, what you will compare your result with and where the weak points are, all on your own topics.

4. Citations that carry the argument: when a citation is just an add-on, how not to claim more than the source supports and how to synthesise several sources; ISO 690 in practice.

5. What works and what does not: analysing excerpts from real theses, i.e. structure, introduction, literature review and language through the reader's eyes; typography, equations, figures and working with the template.

6. AI as an assistant, not an author: BUT rules, where AI helps and where it harms, and how to detect hallucinations; online forum with peer feedback.

7. From text to presentation: what the forum revealed, how to turn the problem formulation into a message for the audience and how to build a graph that stands on its own without commentary.

8.–9. Micro-presentations: three minutes on what your thesis solves, why and how, with feedback from the group.

10. State examination and defence without surprises: how they work, what the committee assesses, how to build a ten-minute presentation and how to answer the committee's questions.

11.–13. Beta-presentations: a dress rehearsal for the defence with feedback; awarding of course-unit credits.