title: [The supervisor has a crucial role in the medical student's degree projects. Experiences from seven semesters at Karolinska Institutet].
abstract: In Sweden degree projects have a central role in evaluation of higher education, wherefore significant resources are spent on developing students' research competence. The undergraduate medical program at Karolinska Institutet introduced its degree project course in 2010. This paper gives an overview of the course and summarizes experiences from the first seven terms. In order to finalize their projects within one term, most students need substantial support. A highly structured course and frequent progress monitoring are advantageous. Other crucial factors are the quality of the supervision and students' verbal skills as well as support in scientific writing. In addition, increased awareness of the learning outcomes already at the beginning of the course may help students to achieve the expected results. Finally, students need to recognize their own responsibility for learning.
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet - Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik Stockholm, Sweden Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik - Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Riitta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet - Institutionen för medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik (MEB), Stockholm, Sweden Karolinska Institutet - Institutionen för medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik (MEB), Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shoshan
authors.affiliation: Karolinska Institutet - Institutionen för medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik (MEB), Stockholm, Sweden Karolinska Institutet - Institutionen för medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik (MEB), Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ponzer
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000193:education; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013337:Students, Medical; D013548:Sweden