REPORTING INSTRUCTIONS
Bachelor’s / Master’s thesis
2018
CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
2 THESIS STRUCTURE …………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
3 TEXT PAGES ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
3.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
3.2 Main content …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
3.3 Research methods …………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
3.4 Results and analysis ………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
3.4.1 Key results …………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
3.4.2 Development suggestions for thesis commissioners …………………………………. 6
3.4.3 Ideas and suggestions for further research and development ……………………. 6
4 HEADINGS, CHAPTERS AND PARAGRAPHS ………………………………………………….. 7
5 INFORMATION SEARCH ………………………………………………………………………………… 7
6 APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
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1 INTRODUCTION
This document includes the key details of reporting bachelor’s or master’s the-ses at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, ie Xamk. The guidelines introduce the structure of the theses and the main principles of in-formation search. The bachelor’s thesis process also includes a maturity test. Information on writing this test for the bachelor’s and master’s degrees both is available in separate documents on Xamk students’ intranet Student. There are also separate documents with information on the assessment criteria of bachelor’s and master’s thesis.
Most importantly, there is a separate thesis template for writing bachelor’s and master’s thesis. Its purpose is to guarantee that all Xamk bachelor’s and mas-ter’s theses have similar outlook and referencing. The document with instruc-tions on writing references is titled Referencing guidelines. In addition, Xamk students should follow the more detailed instructions of their degree pro-grammes.
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2 THESIS STRUCTURE
Bachelor’s and master’s theses must follow the standards for research report writing. The body of such reports consists of the following sections that repre-sent structural details, not headings:
title page
summary in Finnish
abstract in English
(foreword or preface)
table of contents
(symbols, abbreviations and terms)
introduction
main content, including materials and methods
results and analysis
conclusions
list of references
(table of figures)
appendices.
The items listed in brackets may be included or omitted, as appropriate.
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3 TEXT PAGES
The text pages are the core of the thesis. The introduction provides a lead-in to the topic. After that, the topic is further discussed in 3 to 5 main chapters which are finally followed by the results and conclusions.
3.1 Introduction
The introduction presents the study as a whole, including the related back-ground, research problems and the scope and objectives of the bachelor’s or master’s thesis. This part can also introduce the stimulus and impulse for the study, its different process stages, background organisations and where the study was conducted. Also similar previous studies or testing and relevant the-oretical background can be introduced, but the introduction does not describe or comment on the results of the present study.
Instead, the introduction should include definitions for all the essential con-cepts of the study. It can also outline the thesis structure and mention key sources. The recommended length for the introduction is 1 to 5 pages, and its starting page is the first page to display page number.
3.2 Main content
The main content of bachelor’s and master’s theses deals with the materials and methods applied. This discussion is divided into several chapters under specified headings based on the needs of the study. Therefore, the content of the study determines the methods, order of presentation and division into chapters.
The first part dealing with materials and methods introduces the background theory and previous knowledge in the field used to support the study. A tech-nical task is often described in what is known as a ‘specification’, which pre-sents the objectives of the study, though not all disciplines have this. This de-scription is followed by a report on how these objectives were achieved; that is, how the problems were solved. If the task involves testing, the system test environment, tests themselves, and the results are accurately and illustratively described.
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3.3 Research methods
Research and development work produces knowledge to support understand-ing and decision-making, and research and development problems aim at un-derstanding phenomena, so that they could be changed and developed. To solve such problems research methods are used. As these methods are cho-sen based on the research and development problem under study, the prob-lem must be well defined and thoroughly known.
Research methods also determine what kind of material is collected to answer and solve research and development questions and problems. There are qual-itative, quantitative and processual research methods, and the choice for the method should always be justified. This is also important for the reliability and credibility of the bachelor’s or master’s theses.
3.4 Results and analysis
The evaluation of the reliability and applicability of the results, as well as the achievement of the objectives is an important, and often the most personal, part of the theses. This section provides not only the evaluation of the results, but also a general view of the study, including a discussion of the problems, results, and conclusions. In addition, the applicability of the results and the possible need for further study are discussed. The section reports which ques-tions and problems presented at the beginning were answered and solved. Also problems that remained unsolved are mentioned here.
3.4.1 Key results
The conclusions introduce the key results of the study and combine them to the information presented under the introduction and materials and methods. The past tense is used to refer to the purpose, hypotheses, implementation and results. The present tense, in turn, is used when assessing the implica-tions of the results and considering explanations and the possibilities of apply-ing and making use of the results. If necessary, there can be subheadings.
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The final thesis parts consider the meaning of the results as well as to what extent and how they correspond to the research problems defined in the be-ginning. In other words, this section gives clear and justified answers to the re-search questions presented, without emotional discussion and comments.
If there were hypotheses, the discussion explains how the results supported the hypotheses. The assessment of the results does not introduce information that has not been discussed earlier and comparisons aim at finding differ-ences and similarities and explaining factors affecting the results. This section can also assess how the research material, timing and other details affected the results.
3.4.2 Development suggestions for thesis commissioners
One aim of bachelor’s and master’s theses is to produce new and practical in-formation and added value for thesis commissioners and working life. The conclusions show students’ abilities in creative and innovative research and development activities. This section also demonstrates their skills in critical thinking and in applying theoretical information into practice.
Bachelor’s and master’s theses provide thesis commissioners with practical ideas for development. Students should justify and present these ideas in as a practical way as possible. Based on the suggestions introduced the thesis commissioners should be able to develop their operations.
3.4.3 Ideas and suggestions for further research and development
The conclusions based on the results show what information the thesis pro-duced. In addition, this section discusses which topic related details are still worth studying and developing further. This is a good point to consider the reli-ability of the study and related factors.
The conclusions end with students’ consideration of their own learning in terms of the research process and the objectives set. In addition, the discus-sion presents and evaluates the possibilities of making use of the research re-sults. Also new topics for research and development are introduced.and as-sessed.
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4 HEADINGS, CHAPTERS AND PARAGRAPHS
The thesis title should reflect the content of the study. A good title is appropri-ate, concise and informative and it attracts the reader’s attention. It is recom-mended that titles in the form of questions or exclamations should be avoided in theses.
Moving on to chapters, their length may vary according to content. As a rule, however, they should not be excessively long or short. For example, one or two paragraphs only are not enough to form a chapter. The headings for chap-ters and their subsections are numbered.
Occasionally, unnumbered headings can be used. They are so-called guiding headings which are excluded from the heading hierarchy and the table of con-tents. These headings are recommended instead of numerous numbered headings for short chapters. There is an example of a guiding heading below, at the beginning of the next paragraph. This kind of headings may be written in bold print.
Paragraph division
Paragraphs are separated by an empty line, and their first lines are not in-dented. One paragraph should ideally include only one main idea; a core sen-tence that is specified, explained and illustrated by the rest of the text. For the ease of reading, paragraphs should vary in length. As a rule, however, para-graphs shorter than three sentences and longer than half a page should be avoided.
5 INFORMATION SEARCH
Students should study the basic concepts and terminology used in the litera-ture on their research topic. This literature is available both in printed and electronic form. Periodicals and serial publications may also serve as refer-ence sources since they publish new discoveries before they can be found in any textbook. Students should also consult field related reference books and academic standards. Books can be acquired through distance loan services
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provided by the UAS and university libraries, and the library also provides up-dated information on databases that can be accessed from Xamk. In addition, it is recommended to use the information services of cities’ public libraries, and information is available in the databases of different fields.
It is usually a good idea to start with the most recent publications, since they have references to materials published earlier. There is a wide range of source material available, with varying quality. This is why students are en-couraged to exercise source criticism, especially when retrieving data from in-formation networks, since the published material may fail to meet scientific standards.
When studying the source material, making notes is important. Excerpts worth citing or otherwise important should be photocopied. It is especially important to immediately write down the reference data of all source material.
Once the topic and objectives of the thesis are established, the next step is to find out what is already known about the topic in order to avoid rewriting previ-ous studies. The best guidance on how to use source material in the field is often given by the thesis supervisor. The website of Xamk Library offers useful information about data search, and students can ask the information special-ists for personal guidance.
The sources used in Bachelor’s or Master’s theses must always be mentioned both in the list of references at the end of the theses and in the text. The main principle of referencing is to tell the reader — either in the body of text or by means of a reference — whose knowledge or ideas are cited, and where this information can be verified. Primarily, the reference should be an original study, article or similar. Inadequately or ambiguously marked sources may re-sult in plagiarism that is strictly forbidden: any thesis that contains plagiarism will not be approved. To ensure that no plagiarism is involved, all theses are checked with the Urkund plagiarism detection software prior to approval and evaluation.
All published texts are protected by the Copyright Act (404/1961) which thesis authors must respect. That is, no passage of text written by somebody else
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can be used as such, or copied to theses. Instead, source texts should be par-aphrased or summarised in the authors’ own words. The thesis text must al-ways include a reference when it presents information gathered from a source material. Also, where theses make use of images or audiovisual material, the relevant provisions laid down in the Act should be adhered to.
6 APPENDICES
Placed at the end of the theses, appendices contain the material that is neces-sary, but cannot be properly placed in the body text, including example calcu-lations, printouts and graphic presentations of uncommon size. All data essen-tially relevant to the topic must be presented in the body text, not in an appen-dix. Appendices are listed under the heading APPENDICES in the table of contents. Similar to figures and tables, appendices must also be discussed in the body text. In other words, uncommented appendices must not be added to the study, but both an appendix and the text it is connected to must be under-standable on their own. Appendices must contain all the information neces-sary for interpretation: a heading and caption.
Appendices do not necessarily have a running page number. Instead, they are numbered by adding the word Appendix, together with the relevant ordinal number, in the right top corner of the page. There is no full stop after the ordi-nal number. Appendices with multiple pages are introduced for instance with Appendix 1/2, where the first number indicates the number of the appendix and the second the page number. In other words, Appendix 1/2 refers to the second page of the first appendix. The appendices follow the same order in which they are referred to in the body text, and there are more examples for numbering appendices in the document titled Thesis template.
