TEMPLATE FOR MASTER THESIS

Template manual introduction

This manual is designed to help you with the process of submitting your Master Thesis to the Central Bohemia University. These guidelines provide you with a quick reference as you prepare your work. This manual also contains further explanations of form and style as well as a wide range of suggestions and advice that should clarify the rules. Each master thesis must contain all the components included in this template however students are obliged to discuss the final structure with their advisor.

Obligatory Standards for Master Thesis

Editing of the text

  • A4 format, justified, line spacing 1.5
  • Margins – top 25mm, bottom 25mm, left 35mm, right 15mm
  • Headlines – font Arial or Palatino, font size 20pt and less
  • Standard text – font Times New Roman, font size 12pt
  • Paragraph space – before 0pt, after 12pt
  • Each main chapter (title level 1) starts on new page
  • Chapters to be numbered using decimal system (1, 1.1., 1.2., 1.3., 2,2.1., etc.)
  • Footnote text: Times New Roman 10, single spacing
  • First numbered page is Introduction, position left bottom
  • Numbering continues till last page of the thesis including Appendices
  • Type italic use only for Latin names of species – plants and animals

Page sequence

  • Declaration – see Appendix
  • Acknowledgements – see Appendix
  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • Table of contents
  • Introduction
  • Literature Review
  • Methods
  • Results, main findings
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • List of Figures or Tables (if there are any)
  • List of Appendices (if there are any)

Pictures and Tables

Tables, pictures and figures must have all necessary items (number, title), titles of columns and rows. The source of data and notes must be shown under the table.

Tables, pictures and figures (graphs) are numbered individually. Every table picture and graph MUST be commented on in the text BEFORE its appearance in the text. It is not allowed that they would be simply graphical illustrations to chapters (or subchapters) without them being commented on in the text.

Example:

Figure 1: Central Bohemia University logo

Source: CBU (2016)

If the source is the author himself/herself then: Source: Author

The manuscript text must be 1.5-spaced throughout, including between headings/subheadings and before and after tables and figures. Double spacing can be used between a figure caption and text only if it is necessary to separate the caption from the text of the thesis. Spacing after punctuation that ends a sentence can be either single spacing or 1.5 spacing, as long as there is consistency throughout the dissertation or thesis.

Title levels and bullet points

Each chapter must be numbered with using of decimal system. Text font is recommended Arial or Palatino, bold. Font size depends on the level of title. Title of first level has 20pt, second level has 18pt, third level has 16pt,…

Example:

  1. Title level 1 (20pt)
  2. Title level 2 (18pt)
  3. Title level 3 (16pt)
  4. Title level 4 (14pt)

Bulletpoints examples:

  • Bulletpoint of 1st level
  • Bulletpoint of 2nd level
  • Bulletpoint of 3rd level

Numbered bulletpoints examples:

  1. Bulletpoint of 1st level
  2. Bulletpoint of 2nd level
  3. Bulletpoint of 3rd level

Detailed information on the content of the work

Study at the faculty concludes with elaborating of the Master Thesis which is evaluated by the supervisor of the thesis and an opponent.

The subject chosen should be viewed in light of future career plans. Students have been offered positions as a direct result of their MBA Capstone project. The Capstone Project can take many forms, including a research based document (a dissertation/diploma thesis), business plan, case study or report (or indeed a combination of elements of these). A very popular option amongst students is to work with an organisation on a project that will add value to its business. The output is a substantial report combining the student’s experience and knowledge to provide research, analysis and recommendations. The Student Projects Manager (supervisor) works with students to facilitate engagement.

Students must follow the CBU template for the Capstone project if it will take form of a diploma thesis and the diploma thesis supervisor is there to control and oversee the process of writing the thesis. When a Student chooses a topic, a supervisor agrees to supervise his or her capstone project or thesis. The topic is approved by the supervisor and the study department within 15 days set for approval. Student can start work on his or her capstone project (a diploma thesis) when topic approved. If the topic is not approved, a study department sends three alternative topics to choose from. These topics ought to be relatively close to former topic. By the deadline for handing in diploma theses or project, a Student must hand in electronic version of his or her project or diploma thesis using ELMS and deliver one printed copy to a study department at CBU.

Reviews of a capstone project or diploma thesis are written by a project or thesis supervisor and an opponent (both persons may be recommended by the Student, who may provide their CV’s for approval to the Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs). This review must be disclosed using the ELMS to the Student at least a week before the defense.

If a Student does not defend his or her project or thesis, a second option for defense is granted. In case a Student is unsuccessful in the second term as well, the Student has to change the topic. Depending on learning Schedule, a study department or the Vice rector for academic affairs decides when the defense will be held. CBU checks all theses for plagiarism. In case a plagiarized text is found, DEGREE study of the Student may be ended solely by decision of the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs without any right to refund of any sum or payment.

Table of contents[1]

Declaration......

Acknowledgements......

Abstract......

Keywords......

Table of contents......

1.Introduction...... 1

1.1.Title level 22

1.1.1.Title level 32

1.1.1.1.Title level 43

3.1.1.1.Title level 4

2.Main text...... 4

2.1.Title level 27

2.1.1.Title level 37

2.1.1.1.Title level 48

4.Conclusion

5.References

6.List of Figures (If there are any)

7.List of appendices (if there are any)

Abstract

The abstract is an important component of your thesis. Presented at the beginning of the thesis, it is likely the first substantive description of your work read by an external examiner. You should view it as an opportunity to set accurate expectations of the reader for whole text. The abstract is a summary of the whole thesis focusing a bit more on results and conclusions than on motivation. It presents all the major elements of your work in a highly condensed form.

Currently, the maximum size for an abstract is 250 words.

A good abstract has the following qualities:

  • uses one or more well developed paragraphs: these are unified coherent, concise,
  • uses an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents the purpose, results, conclusions, and recommendations,
  • follows the chronology of the thesis,
  • provides logical connections between the information included.

Suggested structure for research based abstracts:

Motivation: Why do we care?

Problem statement: What problem are you trying to solve? What is the scope of your work (a generalized approach, or for a specific situation)?

Approach: How did you go about solving or making progress on the problem? Did you use simulation, analytic models, prototype construction, or analysis of field data for an actual product? What was the extent of your work?

Results: What's the answer/findings/results? Try to be as specific as possible and avoid vague interpretations.

Conclusions: What are the implications of your answer? Is it going to change the world (unlikely), be a significant "win", be a nice hack, or simply serve as a road sign indicating that this path is a waste of time (all of the previous results are useful). Are your results general, potentially generalizable, or specific to a particular case?

Keywords

The author describes the contents of the master’s thesis with keywords that make the work easy for readers to find. Keyword should present both the recommended forms of the words and parallel and synonymous expressions. Try using such keywords that make the topic more specific when read together with headline. (3 – 6 keywords)

Introduction (1st Chapter)

Includes an analysis of recent developments in the field of the chosen topic and reasons for choosing the topic. A master thesis should show how a given student has the ability to apply theoretical knowledge gained during their studies and therefore the goal of the thesis should have specific applications in practice. The goal relates directly to the topic of the master thesis. The idea of a master thesis is not to describe things which are obvious and trivial but to clarify the relationship between phenomena, explain them on the basis of various theories and methods and to comment on them on the basis of one’s own knowledge and experience.

Literature Review (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 typically presents a synthesis and critical analysis of research, theory, and literature relevant to your research problem. The purpose of the “literature review” is to set the context of your study: Discover what your topic means to others and to yourself, what the forces behind your topic are, why they impact your topic the way they do, and how your topic fits into the larger landscape of theories and ideas relevant to your topic. While it is expected that your review will be a comprehensive representation of your understanding of the state of the problem, you should be certain that all of the literature you review clearly relates to the research problem you are examining. The literature review should build in a logically organized way so that your readers understand all perspectives of the problem, its history, current status, and importance. It is the fundament on which you build your own research.

Methods (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 typically describes in detail how the study will be conducted, how evidence will be collected, recorded, analysed, organized, and how meaning will be interpreted. These methods are the tools you used to answer the questions you set out in Chapter 1. The details you provide here will display your knowledge of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods and research design. This includes discussion of the rationale and utility of the investigative tools you chose to use, such as surveys, unstructured or structured interviews, statistical analyses, etc. It also includes discussion of your research design components: why was this site and/or this specific population selected, why were participants included or not in data analysis, what kind of controls did you impose on the setting of your study? How did you organize your data and interpret meaning from it? This chapter also sets forth the way that you will present the data in Chapter 4.

Results and Discussion – Conclusion (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 satisfies the promises made in Chapter 3. In Chapter 3, you promise the reader that you will use your research methods in a certain way to access certain information. Chapter 4 is where you show how well your methods worked by reporting back the evidence you recorded. If in Chapter 3 you said that you would record the perspectives of new teachers in inner city schools, Chapter 4 should contain a well-organized report of those perspectives. Because Chapter 4 is for the reporting of your unique data, there are fewer conventions or standards and more stylistic considerations of how you will present your data in such a way that will best convey its meaning. Many qualitative theses do not confine the presentation of data to a single chapter in order to more appropriately demonstrate its depth and complexity. Qualitative studies will often include a discussion of findings as they are presented in order to draw connections and trace the interconnectedness of evidence in a more fluid narrative. Most quantitative dissertations present results exclusively in Chapter 4 with a discussion of those results in the following chapter.

References

The list of literature used is to be written according to currently applicable standards. The recommended norm for making citations is APA. For a master thesis of a theoretical nature the list of literature should include at least 30 titles, for a research-based thesis it should be approximately 15. A lesser number of titles for such topics may be, under certain circumstances regarded as a reason not to allow a master thesis through to the oral examination. However, certain topics and diploma theses in general are so specific, that any higher number of references than just few would not make sense (e.g. when working primarily with confidential private company data or working on a topic, that has not been developed thoroughly even from the point of fundamental research yet). Therefore, please consult with your supervisor if number of references is appropriate to your specific topic and scope of the diploma thesis.

Beware of using citations of unsupported or unreliable sources (for example, be very careful when quoting from Wikipedia or try to avoid citing such sources completely – again, please consult this with your supervisor).

All sources used MUST be properly cited!

As mentioned, please use APA 5th or 6th which are supported by References function of Microsoft Word. Do not use Microsoft Word 2007 and older for citations as those versions did not fully correspond with citation norms required. Please use full http links to as many sources as possible. For very long paths – case of specific databases or very long names of files (more than two lines of whole reference, please use path shortening services like bit.ly, tr.im, cli.gs, or tinyurl.com). Here please find examples of references (see Elknd of two sources with same in-text citation ID Elkind (2008), which to be identified correctly will be with added a/b to the year – for in-text citation and reference as well):

  • E.g Zhu, Y., Wittmann, X., & Mike, W. P. (2012). Institution-based barriers to innovation in SMEs in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 29(4), 1131-1142. doi:
  • Elkind, D. (2008a, Spring). Can we play? Greater Good, 4(4), 14-17.
  • Elkind, D. (2008b, June 27). The price of hurrying children [Web blog post]. Retrieved from
  • McKibben, B. (2007, October). Carbon’s new math. National Geographic, 212(4), 32-37.

NON-Latin script: If the original language of your reference source is non-Latin script (Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, Korean, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic etc.) then official transliteration must be used in front of the translated article name which will be put in brackets:

  • Peking university library. (2013) Běijīng dàxué túshū guǎn xiàowài dúzhě jiēdài bànfǎ [The Peking university library collections borrow system]. Retrieved March 10, 2013, from http://lib.pku.edu.cn/portal/fw/rgzn/guizhangzhidu/notice15

Transliteration: For transliteration of non-Latin article names use Google translator. Just enter original name of article in the left frame and you can copy the transliterated article name just from beneath it.

To create a bibliography please use MS Word (2010 or newer) function References.

List of Figures, Tables, Appendices (If there are any)

These lists includes contents of all Figures and Tables. It is necessary to present listing of all mentioned Figures and Tables. If it is important to enclose some Figures or Tables that aren´t mentioned during thesis or if they are huge, you can enclose them to Appendix. First page called List of Appendices containing listing of Appendices. Each appendix starts on a new page.


MASTER THESIS

YearName

Keep confidential till September 2020


MASTER THESIS

Name of thesis

Author: NameYear Prague

Keep confidential till September 2020

Declaration

I declare that I have written my diploma thesis on the topic of ...... independently under the supervision of the advisor of my diploma thesis and using only those expert texts and sources of information which are quoted and included in the list of literature and sources. As the author of this diploma thesis I declare that in the process of writing this thesis I did not violate the copyright of any third parties and that I am fully aware of the consequences of violating provision § 11 and those following in the law on intellectual property rights no. 121/2000.

In……………………. On ……………………………………

(Name)

Keep confidential till September 2020

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor ______for the continuous support of my MBA study and related research, for his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time.

Keep confidential till September 2020

Sample: List of Appendices

X.List of Figures

Figure 1: Title 1...... 15

Figure 2: Title 27

Figure 3: Title 3...... 28

Figure 4: Title 4...... 30

Figure 5: Title 5...... 31

X. List of Appendices

1 – Title of Appendix 1

2 – Title of Appendix 2

3 – Title of Appendix 3

4 – Title of Appendix 4

5 – Title of Appendix 5

[1] This structure is recommended for research based diploma theses. Other types of the Captstone Project may have different type of structure. Please consult your structure with your supervisor. Please use predefined styles so the automatically generated Table of Contents has this structure.