GUIDE
for the preparation of a Master Thesis and Scientific Term Papers
1 Advice on Scientific Working
1.1 Collection of literature A scientific paper offers an opportunity to study the literature on a specific subject in greater detail. The student is expected to find and to work out the relevant part of literature himself. Alongside the initial assistance from the tutoring member of staff, the candidate, as an essential part of his examination, should grasp and develop an idea of the existing and relevant literature independently. The candidate is therefore expected to have the skill and knowledge to use the library at the University of Bremen, as well as to tap further documental resources. References to this, alongside with further enquiries, are to be found in chapter 3 of this guide. 1.2 Processing of literature Through the Master Thesis the candidate should show, that he is in a position to deal with a problem of business or economics independently, through scientific methods and within a given period of time. The handling and processing of literature material belongs, amongst others, to the scientific methods for which the following guidelines apply: The aggregate amount of literature on a specific subject represents the state of scientific achievement in that field. It is neither expected of the candidate to know all the facets and research developments, nor is it permitted to “reinvent the wheel”. Therefore, a well balanced literature study must not be limited to platitude, but not indulge in quibbles neither. With the student gaining experience, the requirement for a higher level of scientific content in his work rises. A Master Thesis may not stay at a level that only consists of quotation and summary contributions. Its more ambitious to select the literature, and arrange it into groups, in historical order or in opinion spectra. This preliminary work will help to detect gaps and inconsistencies as a pivot for one`s own ideas. Publication of research results is the medium of communication in the world of science. To understand the literature, to make oneself understood and for the preservation of this medium of communication, it is absolutely necessary that the candidate complies with the generally accepted form restrictions (cf formal guidelines).
1.3 Suggestions on organising the work with regard to scientific standards
The Master Thesis involves the task of solving a problem, by scientific methods and within a given period. The possible lack of time in the final stages can be prevented, if the candidate adheres to the following guidelines:
The sifting, compilation and analysis of the literature has not to be seen as an unproductive phase, but as a necessary part of the scientific process. The student should therefore concentrate on his (library-) work, but not despair if the first days (or if necessary weeks) don’t bring any visible results in the form of manuscript pages. At the beginning of the following phase, experiences and own thoughts should be made up, structured and put into the context of an outline. At this stage it is most useful to consult the tutor. The structure, corresponding to a later contents page, should be set up; its elaboration into a fine tuned detailed structure is a core component of scientific working. The rather technical conclusion phase of the work has not to be underestimated. An outline is not a complete edifice of ideas. Key words and index cards do not make up a finished concept. To transform one`s own ideas into a generally comprehensible text is time-consuming and demanding work. Proficiency in the use of word processing programmes, best acquired beforehand, is an absolute necessity. Through proper use, e.g. the functions for structuring a table of contents, time can be saved and double effort be avoided. The bibliography should be compiled parallel to the text itself (see chapter 2.2 Bibliography), in order to minimize the effort for a going-over later on. A good guideline for the allocation of time is the division into four almost equally long sequences, where the first three are based on the reference model mentioned above and the fourth could serve as a security buffer.
2 Guidelines for the layout
2.1 Format requirements for external layout External Form The Master Thesis should be word processed and printed out (on one side only) on A4 paper and in cased form (seizing!). Furthermore, an additional copy in an electronic format (disc, email, etc.), compatible with MS Word 2000 has to be handed in. The Master Thesis should be between 30 to 40 pages long. This does not apply for the type of the “Scientific Thesis”, which should contain about 80 pages. The left-hand marginal should be 6 cm, right-hand marginal 1 cm. At the top and bottom of the page, the marginal should be 2 cm. 2
The size of the thesis
Text: margins
Text: script
The line spacing in the text should be 1,5 and 12-point font must be used. Permitted text styles: Arial and Times New Roman. The chosen text style has to be kept throughout the work. For footnotes 10-point text has to be used and single spacing is sufficient. The headings must be formatted uniformly and have to stand out from the surrounding text (different text size, bold type or underlining). New paragraphs should be preceded by a space line. Also illustrations and other representations should be optically segregated from the text. Footnotes, references, further notes, necessary calculations for the understanding of the text, illustrations, tables, diagrams and calculation formulas should be consecutively numbered each. The front page should not be numbered . The table of contents and indices should be consecutively numbered continuously with capital Roman numerals. There, the front page should be counted as page number one. The text, appendix and bibliography should be numbered – starting with one – consecutively throughout with Arabic numbers. The page numbers should be placed in the upper right-hand corner of each page. Important formulas belong into separate lines and should be segregated from the text through double-spacing and if necessary be moved. If the formulas will be referred to at a later stage, they have to be numbered.
Headings
Paragraphs
Numberings
Page numbers
Formulas
2.2 Structure The structure of the Master Thesis should be formed along the following pattern: front page, table of contents, abbreviations- and symbol index respectively, illustration- and table index, if applicable text with introduction, the particular chapters, conclusion and outlook, if applicable, appendix, bibliography, statutory declaration (not required in Term Papers).
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Front page The front page of the Master Thesis, has to be shaped according to the subsequent sample:
Master Thesis (Title) Submitted to Prof. Dr. ……
(Fore- and surname) (Address and telephone) (Student number) (Place and submission date)
Table of contents In the Master Thesis the disposition is reflected through the table of contents. The table of contents has to be a list of all the components of the treatise. Page numbers for the particular levels and sub-levels of the disposition must be given. There should be no more than five levels and sublevels (i.e. 1.1.1.1.1 maximally). For the chapter arrangement no item or subitem should stand alone without a further corresponding coordinative item (i.e. for a 1.1 a subsequent 1.2 is required). The chapters should be balanced and each should have its own value. Every section title has to be understandable, a reference to a higher level is inadmissible. Full sentences, as well as questions should be avoided. The following is an example: Table of Contents 1. 2. 2.1 2.2 Delimitation Title main chapter 1 Title chapter 1 Title chapter 2 II 1 3 3 5 5 8 12 16 4
2.2.1 Title sub-chapter 2.1 2.2.2 Title sub-chapter 2.2 2.3 3. Title chapter 3 Title main chapter 2
The section headings have to express content, not form, i.e. instead of “introduction” and “conclusion” there should be written e.g.: “delimitation of the problem”, “structure, objective and strategy of the treatise” as well as a “summary of the results”. Should a line of subchapters prefix an introductory paragraph, it must not be placed just between the chapter heading and the heading of the first sub-chapter. Moreover, in this case the introduction has to be seen as an autonomous sub-chapter and with a corresponding heading. Principally, abbreviations should be avoided in the text. An abbreviation list is required for use of professionally relevant abbreviations in the text. Common short forms, such as i.e., etc. need not to be entered. In the index, the abbreviations should be split into two tables and alphabetically ordered. Additionally they must be defined at the place of their first employment in the text (e.g. Strategic Business Unit, subsequently SBU). Abbreviations should not be used in headings. If mathematical, economic or IT symbols are used, they should be shown in a separate symbol index. The first time a symbol is used it must either be defined in brackets or in the footnotes. All illustrations in the treatise are to be listed in an illustration index (with page numbers). The same applies for tables.
Text The introduction should present the addressed topic and depict it from a broader context. It should motivate the reader to read the treatise and describe its question, goals and objectives. It should also roughly represent the particular chapters and their content. The text should be clearly constructed using space intervals. The use of a special layout, e.g. bold type or underlining, should be practiced sparsely and then always consistently. All technical terminology used in the text, which is not commonly comprehensible, has to be defined. The constituents, which could disturb the flow of reading, should be mentioned in footnotes. This applies for, e.g. original texts in foreign tongue, re-used quotations, longer quotations, notes of the author or references to other parts of the treatise. Footnotes should appear at the lower part of the relevant page, and under no circumstances should they appear at the end of the chapter or text. All illustrations and tables, must have their source acknowledged directly under the respective element; the term “source:” has to be explicitely mentioned. The source of tables and illustrations which are depicted in a modified form, should be referred to through an addition e.g. “drawing on:” or “relating to:”. Representative elements employed should be referred to in the text. The use of illustrations and tables requires an illustration- and table index. When referring to other parts of the text, it is necessary that the exact page number or at least chapter is given, simply quoting “above” is insufficient.
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QUOTATIONS Every thought, which is adopted from someone else, has to be quoted. The used sources have to be given in an unambiguous way and to be strictly verifiable. When it comes to thoughts that are not just a couple of sentences, but pages long, this fact has to be acknowledged unambiguously. When in doubt about whether to use a quotation to back up an argument, it is always better to err on the safe side. It is not obligatory to quote general knowledge. A violation of this rules will be considered as plagiarism, one of the most serious offenses in the academic world, and result in the subsequent failure of the treatise. Basic rules for quoting: The quote has to be taken directly from its primary source i.e. text source A quotes from source B, then source B has to be quoted. The quotation has to be functional, i.e. the quotation should contain only what is needed. The acknowledgment of the source has to be unambiguous. How to quote For simplicity and space saving reasons, contrary to the recommended conventional detailed citations, the footnotes should be shortened: Name of the Author (Year), page number. Example: Barney (2002), p. 23. If a publication has more than one author it should be quoted according to the following pattern: Example: Sanchez et al. (1996), p. 24 Always the latest edition should be quoted, as long as the text is not taken from an earlier edition. Word for word quotations should be acknowledged by quotation marks, omissions and own additions should be pointed out. One`s own translations of quotations in a foreign tongue, should be supplemented with the original text in a footnote. Important: Quotations do not replace the candidate`s own scientific contribution. A tessellation of quotations is not a Master Thesis. A quotation which conveys the general sense serves primarily as a mean to point out the thoughts, not the words, of an author. The extent of such a quotation has to be unambigously recognisable. Sometimes it may be suitable to refer to the source directly in the text. Consequently an introductory statement, e.g. “The following statement is based on…” or “Teece states …” has to be given. Additionally, the source has to be put into a footnote, as with word for word quotations, but with the further reference as “see:” etc.. The addition “see:” has not to be used with word for word quoting. Confirming, contradictory and background information can be indicated by “see also”. Strictly spoken, footnotes only refer to the addressed phrase. If more sentences or an entire paragraph are quoted or adopted from a source this should be acknowledged adequately and 6
unambiguously. Quotations in quotations should be indicated through “apostrophes”. A footnote, which applies for the whole sentence should be placed immediately after the period. If a word needs further explanation the footnote should be placed immediately after the word. Further guidelines: The footnote text should be seen as an independent text and should therefore begin with a capital letter and end with a period (e.g.: See Theisen (1998), p. 134.). The location of a footnote is easier when formatted, i.e. the text is moved away from the number. One has to be careful to place the footnotes on the proper page. If more sources belong to a footnote they should be separated by a semicolon.
Quoting from Internet sources In general In principle, the use of online-sources in scientific papers is possible, as long as the manner and way of the publication can be identified. Therefore it is necessary to state the time of access to the document on the internet, because most domains are updated regularly, with the consequence, that many documents are available only temporarily or at least modiefied or changed in a likewise manner. For this reason, the quoted internet sources must be archived and, together with the treatise, handed in separately. A printed as well as an e-format are required. Bear in mind that the internet is an ubiquitous medium, which contains various types of information, from serious academic contributions to such of entirely commercial, subjective and private nature. Frequently information, e.g. law texts or newspaper articles, is available on the internet as well as in printed form. In this case the printed source has to be quoted. How to quote using footnotes On grounds of unity, simplicity and space saving, quotations of internet sources should be abbreviated as following: Author (Year), published on the internet [page number, date “accessed day”]. Example: Bleuel (1996), published on the internet [p. 3, date 24-05-2000]. First indicate the author of the respective internet source and the year of the last update of the internet page. Afterwards follows the indication “published on the internet” and subsequently the page number and the date of access. For the specification of page number refer to your own printout of the article. For the handling of internet sources in the bibliography see further down.
Appendix The appendix is the place for texts, illustrations and tables, which do not originate from the author himself, e.g. forms, extracts from catalogues or codes, calculations and formal derivations. Parts of the treatise, which could disturb the flow of argumentation should be placed in here, too. Under no circumstances should the appendix be used to circumvent the page limit. 7
Bibliography All used sources should be put in alphabetical order by authors name (resp. by the editor of the volume). When more than one publication of a particular author is used, it should be put in order of the year of publication. Publications without an indicated author should be referred to as “Anonymous”. The following data and formal guidelines are required: 1. Books: Name, Forename (year of publication): Title of book, Edition (if more than one), Place of publication: Publisher, Year. Barney, Jay B. (2002): Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage, 2nd Ed., Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, 2002.
2. Articles in journals or other periodicals: Name, Forename (year of publication): Title of the article, in: “Title of the newspaper”, Volume (year), Issue number (unless year counting isn’t continuously numbered), Page number. Bühner, Rolf; Spindler, Heinz Josef (1986): Synergieerwartungen bei Unternehmenszusammenschlüssen, in: “Der Betrieb”, Vol. 39 (1986), p. 601-606. Dow, Joe (1990): Industrial Market Research, in: “Journal of Marketing”, Vol. 43 (1990), No. 4, p. 185-192. 3. Articles in edited books: Name, Forename (year of publication): Title of the article, in: Name, Forename (of the editor) (ed.): Title of the book, printing place: Publisher, Year, Page numbers. Plinke, Wulff (1997): Grundlagen des Geschäftsbeziehungsmanagements, in: Kleinaltenkamp, Michael/Plinke, Wulff (Eds.): Geschäftsbeziehungsmanagement, Berlin: Springer, 1997, p.1-61. 4. Internet Sources: Name, Forename (Year): Title, Place of publication on the internet, Accessed date : URL: Formula://Internet-Protocol - Paths [Place “enquiry date“]. Bleuel, Jochen (2000): Quotes of internet sources, 27-05-2000 : URL : http://www.compuserve.com/homepages/jbleu/ip-zitl.htm [Date 24-05-2000] As with all traditional sources, the following should be indicated: first the author`s name, year of the last update (if there isn’t any, then alternatively year of access) and the title of the publication. Additionally the specification “published on the internet” should be entered for all sources that are available through the internet.
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In internet source specifications including dots and hyphens are frequently used. An internet address must be transcribed exactly, e.g. capital- small letters, or it will not be recognised. A source quotation always starts with “URL”, which is the abbreviation for the widely spread uniform resource locator. It is responsible for the unambiguous use of the resources. The “formula” (http) specifies the server, normally “http”. Other servers can also be found e.g. “mailto”, “news”, “ftp”, “telnet”, “gopher” or “wais”. The “InternetProtocol- Part” (ourworld.compuserve.com) is between the double slash and a single slash the address of the computer on which the information is saved on. The “path” homepages/jbleuel/ip-zit.htm) names the location of the source on the computer. As the URLs can change, you always have to include the date [e.g. “accessed date”] on which the document was accessed, as well as the URL etc. Hint: The documents can often be found in so called “frames”. When this is the case, the URL will only show the start page. To obtain the exact URL click on the hyperlink, which will direct you to the requested internet site, right click on the mouse and choose from the opened pop-up-menu the option “open in new window”. It will then show the more detailed URL site. The bibliography should have line spacing of 1.5 spacing, but between the separate source acknowledgements a spacing of 2.0 should be applied. If a source acknowledgment is longer than one line, the second and all the following lines have to bo placed 2 cm to the right from the left border, sometimes referred to as “hanging”. Every source acknowledgment has to end with a full stop.
Statutory Declaration Plagiarism is one of the most serious offenses in the academic world. With regard to any Scientific Paper its consequence is subsequent failure. In severe cases the effect can be a denial of any further examinations in the programme, leading to virtual expulsion from it. Furthermore, with regard to the Master Thesis, in which the Statutory Declaration forms an integral part, any violation will draw criminal charges!
I hereby confirm, that I have independently composed this Master Thesis and that no other than the indicated aid and sources have been used. This work has not been presented to any other examination board. (Place, Date, Candidate’s signature)
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Guidelines for appropriate language and style Besides certain formal guidelines a scientific paper must comply with distinctive linguistic standards. It has to be free from mistakes (complete sentences, correct orthography and grammar) and display a logical structure. Further guidelines are: Choice of concise phraseology clear and unambiguous language objective style, avoiding phrases like e.g.: “I believe”, “I suppose”, “in my opinion”, “of course”. The common use of rhetoric as: fillers, e.g. “like mentioned above”, exaggerated, normative and unnecessary phrases as “unbelievable”, “enormous”, conventional wisdom, trivialities in foreign words have no place in scientific papers and should therefore be avoided. The following guidelines will help to adjust the personal style: short and concrete sentences; only whole sentences, no omissions, clear logical relationship between sentences, coherent linguistic flow, balanced sentence structure, eschew questions. Scientific papers contribute to further academic discussion and the candidate should therefore not express a display of his subjective opinion. Therefore, the personal I-form has to be considered inappropriate. Those passages, under the condition that intellectual property of others has been correctly identified, which represent more than common knowledge, demonstrate the author`s proprietary achievement. Those passages should not just regurgitate facts that are already known. One`s own achievement can be shown through a restructuring in a new, different, debatable manner and by addressing omitted or ignored aspects. The author`s creative proprietary achievement and his critical reflections are evident to the examiners, even without expressive notice on his personal opinion.
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Guidelines for the collection of literature
It is recommendable to work on the internet, to obtain extensive information about the library, regarding loans, opening hours etc., as well as the research possibilities via OPAC. The internet search engines are useful, but very often result in a high level of deflection. Generally the homepage of the State- and University Library Bremen (http://www.suub.uni-bremen.de/) serves as a good portal to different other libraries and databases. Research using the OPAC server This server is designed to explore the library of Bremen (OPAC) or nationwide German libraries (DBlopac). Access is through “Library Catalogue / Bibliothekskatalog”. Another helpful resource to be accessed from the homepage of the State- and University Library
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Bremen is “E-LIB”. Nevertheless in some cases it is also recommended to use the respective internal library system, as OPAC does not always show all results. Research using the WISO- data bases This data base is useful to every Master Thesis candidate, when searching for articles from newspapers and periodicals. An example: “WISO 1” contains all the data on business literature from the data base BLISS and the daily- and economic press from the data base FITT. The WISO – data bases can be accessed from the library. Helpful material, “how to use the data base” can also be found. SUBITO – country wide document service Through the internet orders can be taken from libraries all over Germany. Requested newspaper articles can be delivered within three days. Deliveries from foreign countries are not excluded. The reserved texts are scanned and sent by either E-mail, Fax or FTP. The costs: the price by e-mail delivery ca. € 4. Through more conventional communications – perhaps Fax – round about € 7. To put in an order, registration as an user is required. An overview on access possibilities, prices, participating libraries and application formalities can be found at: http://www.subito-doc.de/
Internet Some hints for research possibilities over the internet: DBI-Link (use guest status) Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliotheken der Universität Regensburg Gabriel – Europe`s National Libraries Libweb – Libraries worldwide External loans [“Fernleihen”] From the University library long distance loans [“Fernleihen”] are possible, but long waiting periods have to be taken into account.
http://www.dbilink.de http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/kvk.html http://www.bibliothek.uniregensburg.de/ezeit/fl.phtml?bibid=UBR http://www.ddb.de/gabriel/en/welcome.html http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/
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