I have to hand in the thesis to my supervisor, but I could neither find him in the faculty nor contact him, but I know his house.
Is it advisable to hand in a thesis by visiting my supervisor's house?
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Sign up to join this communityI have to hand in the thesis to my supervisor, but I could neither find him in the faculty nor contact him, but I know his house.
Is it advisable to hand in a thesis by visiting my supervisor's house?
I wouldn't find it okay if someone would come to my house because of that. Work and personal life should be separate and it would be inappropriate to visit the supervisor there.
Does he not have an office? If nobody can tell you where to find him, then you should call him or write an email and ask for an appointment.
As a faculty member, I value my privacy. Home is home and work is work. Unless I suggest this myself, I would be displeased by a student coming to my house unannounced.
Following on from a comment by the OP that this supervisor has refused to give his supervisees his personal contact details, I think it's important to say very strongly that no, in this case it is entirely inappropriate to go to the supervisor's house.
To even ask it is creepy and weird. If a student actually did this, after I'd refused to give out my personal contact details, I'd be talking to the university administration office; and, depending on their advice and whether or not this had happened before with this student, the police might get involved too. Based on previous experiences, when a student with this sort of serious boundary problem starts creating these sorts of issues, it's important to act decisively and quickly to close things down before they escalate into really serious problems.
So no, don't go round to your supervisor's house, given that they've already refused to give you their personal contact details. To do so would be creepy and weird.
Ask the department administrator how you should hand in your thesis to your supervisor: they will either take it on their behalf, or point you at a suitable location to leave it, or provide other guidance.
I have myself handed in a thesis by visiting a professor's house. But I had contacted him beforehand.
You need to answer -
If the answer is no
, don't bother with going to house.
As mentioned previously in comments, this answer really depends on the culture of where in the world you are. Within my country, South Africa, I am positive that none of my professors would mind in the slightest if I tracked him down at his home for any query at all. I'd say he would invite me in for coffee while we discussed the issue at hand.
Of course there are exceptions to any rule. There are probably some professors in my institution that would indeed take offence. It could also depend to some small degree on the professor's specific attitude towards the student in question.
I'm talking about an environment where the amount of students any single professor would supervise is small enough that he would know each student personally at least to some degree.
To recap, in my institution I would and have tracked professors down at their homes if I have any queries, even if the reason is not considered particularly urgent.
How do you know your advisor is at home? What if he is on vacation? What if he is out of country?
The purpose to hand in your thesis is to let him read it and review it? right? If he is not home, how do you know he will get your thesis and read/review it?
You need to find his whereabout first. Then contact him and ask him how and where to deliver your thesis. If he tells you to hand in the thesis to his house, do so. If he wants to get it at his office, do so. It's your responsibility to make sure he gets the thesis and read it.