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I am currently writing my thesis, and so far I've mentioned some well known related artcles focusing on a certain family of methods. My advisor has also published a similiar work, which is not influential or as diverse compared to other methods - the work also focuses more on utilization aspect rather than benchmark one.

My advisor wants me to mention his work - I feel it would be a little out of place in my thesis, unless I mention some older not necessarily state-of-the-art methods. What should I do?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this is a master thesis. Aside from that, what feels wrong to me is not having a choice to comply or not with the request and treating citations as a currency. It's a small thing, but if it weren't my advisor I would probably refuse.

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  • What kind of thesis is this? Bachelor, master, PhD? – Mark Sep 25 '17 at 23:06
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    Just cite it. If something is relevant, even not in the way you see it precisely, I recommend being generous here. Being too stringent in your citation is not a good way to go, especially if it's your advisor. Nobody likes authors who are citation-parsimonious :) – Dilworth Sep 25 '17 at 23:10
  • @Mark it's master – yghr Sep 25 '17 at 23:22
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    Agree with Dilworth, just cite it. But first check if it isn't such that maybe your advisor knows something that makes his work cite-worthy, in the sense that it should be discussed a bit? Could your work be based upon his to some extend? – Mark Sep 25 '17 at 23:32
  • I'll discuss it with him. I'm afraid that mentioning my doubts will upset him. – yghr Sep 26 '17 at 8:39
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You are working on that subject because your advisor has worked on sth. similar, aren't you. His mentoring will have been based on that work. By not mentioning it you would be hiding valuable information from the reader.

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  • At least where I got my M.Sc. from, the thesis document is supposed to indicate who the advisor was. That should be enough to indicate whose know-how was consulted for the thesis. – HAEM Sep 26 '17 at 7:00
  • It's the same here. The front page of the thesis mentions who the advisor is. – yghr Sep 27 '17 at 13:01

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