Afteryourtopicisapproved Draft Your Thesis

Afteryourtopicisapproved Draft Your Thesis

Hochschule Esslingen – University of Applied Sciences / Seite1
z.Schr.v.14. April 2019
Master’sThesisWritingGuidelines

Introduction

AMaster’sThesisisaformalpresentationofanobjective,criticalinvestigation,andistobewritteninaformalscholarlymannerinstandardEnglish.Itisimportantthatstyle,usageandpunctuationbeconsistent.Thequalityofboththepresentationandcontentofthefinishedthesisisamajorconsiderationinitsacceptance.Athesismustdemonstrateoriginality,appropriateorganization,aclearpurpose,criticalanalysis,independentthinking,andaccurateandcompletedocumentation.Description,cataloging,compilation,orothersimpleproceduresarenotsufficient.

Afteryourtopicisapproved draft your thesis…

Draftandrevisethethesis

Lengthofthethesis: 80– 100pages(bodyofthetextonly)

Note:Facultymembersaswellasthegraduateadvisorarenotexpectedtotaketimetomakeextensivecorrectionsorrevisions.Theyareencouraged,instead,toreturndraftmaterialstothestudentwithgeneralinstructionsandsuggestionsforbringingthethesisuptorequiredstandards.

Afteryourdraftisfinished…

Completethefinalcontent.

Completethefinalformalrevision.

Prepareyourfinalmanuscriptforbinding.

GeneralFormatRequirements

Eitherthefollowingoranyformalreferencebookcanbeusedasaguidetothesisstructure.

  1. WordProcessingPrograms:Itisrequiredtouseawordprocessingprogramonapersonalcomputer.Professionalquality,up-to-datesoftwareisrecommended.
  1. PaperStock:PapermustbeA4210x297mmoritsinternationalequivalent(8.5x11inch),andofsuchqualityastoinsurereproductionofperfectcopies.(Onion-skinortexturedpapersareunacceptable.)Printononlytherightsideofeachsheet.
  1. Font,PointSize,TypeStyles:Athesisshouldhaveacleanandsimplelook,withoutornamentationorunnecessarycomplexity.Font,pointsize,andtypestyle(useofboldface,underlining)mustbeconsistentthroughoutthethesis.Thepointsizeis12points.
  1. Spacing,Margins,Indenting,andAlignmentofText:
  • Spacing:1.5-line-spacethetext.Exceptionsarefootnotes.Leaveonespaceaftereachword,comma,colon,andsemicolon.
  • Margins:Allpagesofthethesismusthavethesamemargins.Leftmargin:1½”,rightmargin:1”,topandbottommargins:1¼”.Pagenumbersmaybeplacedoutsidethesemargins.Indentthetexttwoinchesfromtheleftmargintoallowforbinding.
  • Indenting:Indentparagraphsfivespaces.
  • AlignmentofTextRequirements:Alltextmustbejustified(evenrightedge).
  1. PaginationRequirements:Eachpageinthethesis(exceptthetitlepageandtheblanksheetsatfrontandback)shouldhaveapagenumber.
  • Typeofnumbering:UselowercaseRomannumeralsforthepreliminarypages,beginningwith“ii”forthepagefollowingthetitlepage.UseArabicnumeralsforthebalanceofthethesis,beginningwiththenumber“1”forthefirstpageoftext.Fromhereon,theentirethesisshouldbenumberedconsecutively.Thisincludesmaps,figures,otherillustrations,bibliographyandappendices.Usethesamefont,pointsizeandstyleforpagenumbersasyouuseforthetextofthethesis.
  • Placementsofnumberonthepage:ForthepreliminarypageswhichrequirelowercaseRomannumerals(i,ii,iii,iv,etc.),thepagenumbershouldbeplacedapproximately½”to1”fromthebottomofthepageinthecenter.Fortheotherpages,beginningwiththefirstchapterofthetext,thepagenumbershouldbeplacedintheupperright-handcorner,approximately½”to1”fromthetopofthepageand1”fromtherightmargin.Usethenumberonly.Donotaddaheaderorornamentation(parentheses,dashes,etc.).Thepagenumbershouldbeatleast½”fromthebodyofthetext.
  1. SubheadingRequirements:Itsrecommendedtoputthreeorfourblanklinesbeforesubheadingsandtwoblanksaftersubheadings. Subheadingsshouldbeflushleft.Youmayuseacombinationofallcaps,bold,underliningtodistinguishbetweendifferentweightsofsubheading.Whateverformatischosenforsubheadings,allsubheadingsofthesameweightareformattedinthesameway.
  1. QuotationRequirements:Indentablockquotationfivespacesfromtheleftandrightmargins.Usethesamefontandpointsizeforthequotationasthemainbodyofthethesis.
  1. FootnoteRequirements:Footnotesareatthebottomofthepageforthecitationsmadeonthatpage.Usealineseparatingthefootnotefromthetextandleftjustifythefootnote.Single-spacebetweenfootnotelinesanddouble-spacebetweenfootnotes.Usethesamefontasthemainbodyofthethesis.Thepointsizeis10points.
  1. Itisthestudent’sresponsibilitytoarrangeforbindingservices.

SpecificFormatRequirements

  1. Thethesismustcontainaminimumofthefoursectionslistedbelowinboldfacedtype.Additionalsections,aslistedbelowandmarkedbyasterisks,areoptional:
  • Cover
  • Blankpage
  • Titlepage
  • Copyrightpage*
  • Abstract(aseparatecopyinaddition)
  • Preface
  • Tableofcontents
  • Listoffigures,graphs,photos,plates,mapsortables*
  • Bodyofthetext(80– 100pages)
  • Bibliography
  • Appendix*
  • Blankpage
  1. Anabstractisadefinitivestatementoftheproblem,abriefdescriptionoftheresearchmethodandmajorfindings,andconclusions.Itislimitedtotwopages.Single-spacethetextandusethesamemarginsasthebodyofthethesis.ThesepagesmustbenumberedwithlowercaseRomannumerals,centeredbetweenthemarginsatthebottomofthepage.
  1. Aprefaceiswrittentoexplainthemotivationformakingthestudy,thebackgroundfortheproject,scopeofresearch,andpurposeofthepaper.Theprefacesectionshouldbedouble-spacedandhavethesamemarginsasthebodyofthethesis.Itmayalsoincludesomeacknowledgements.
  1. Thetableofcontents:Youshoulddoublespacebetweenallthemajorsectionheadings.Youmaysinglespacebetweensubheadsthatarelistedunderthemainheadings.Allcolumnsmustalignneatly–raggedcolumnsarenotacceptable.ThetableofcontentsmustbenumberedwithalowercaseRomannumeralcenteredbetweenthemarginsofthebottomofthepage(s).
  1. Thebodyofthetextofthethesisshouldbeseparatedintowell-defineddivisions,suchaschapters.Thetextshouldcontain:
  • Objectives(½page)
  • ProjectPlan
  • TheoreticalAspects:Analysisoftheexistingtechnology/literature/research
  • Pragmaticaspects:Conceptandactionplan,includingmilestones
  • Conclusions
  • Criticalobjections:goalsandprocess(2–3pages)
  • Futureprospects
  1. Thebibliographycontainsalltheworksyouciteinthetextofthethesis.Itdoesnotincludeothersthatyoureadbutthatdidnotaccountforideasordatainthethesis.

ParentheticalReferences

  1. Parentheticalreferencesinthetextidentifythelocationofthematerialwithintheoriginalwork.
  1. BasicContent:
  • Workswithonenamelisted:Usetheauthor’slastnameandthepagereference,e.g.Brown281.
  • Workswithtwoorthreeauthors:Includeallnamesintheparentheticalreference,e.g.Maier,Miller,andSmith765.
  • Workwithonenameand“etal.”,e.g.Maieretal.765.
  • Workwithgroupasauthor,e.g.President’sCommissiononEnergy315.
  1. Ifyouquoteorparaphraseanoriginalsource,youputitintoquotationmarks(directquotation).
  1. Ifyouquotethecontentofasourceinyourownwords,youdonotusequotationmarks.Howeveryoumustfootnotethispassage(indirectquotation).
  1. Thethesismustbetheworkofthestudentonly.Materialfromothersourceshasbeenintroducedproperlydefined.Thestudentisresponsibleforobservingtheregulationsapplyingtoproperidentificationofsources.Plagiarismdisqualifiesthethesis.

Formalities

  1. Coverpage:Master’sthesis,titleofthethesis,1stprofessor,2ndprofessor (or supervisor of company),author
  1. Submission until the required deadline
  1. Ithastoincludethecertificationofauthenticity:“IherebydeclarethatIhavewrittentheattachedworkaloneandwithoutanyotherreferenceworksthanthosementioned.Allthoughtsorquotationstakendirectlyorindirectlyfromothersourceshavebeennotedassuch.Furthermore,Ihavenotusedthiswork,partsofthisworkorbasicideasfromthisworktoachievecreditsinanyacademiccourseatanytime.“
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