Thesis Guidelines

Requirements:

• We accept both Master and Bachelor theses. Interested students should have completed at least one prior course with our chair.

Topic Areas:

• We supervise Bachelor and Master theses in the field of strategy and strategic decision making.
• We welcome both empirical theses and literature review theses.
• Your detailed topic is typically define in exchange with your supervisor.
• The allocation of the supervision is mainly based on the topic.

Timing:

• You can apply for a thesis at our chair at any time.
• Allow at least four weeks between your application and the potential registration of your thesis.
• It is the student's responsibility to adhere to program regulations regarding timing. Detailed information about the official registration process can be found here:  https://www.oec.uzh.ch/de/studies/theses.html

Application:

• Students must submit their transcripts showing prior courses attended and grades obtained (Bachelor and Master level) to  johanna.rupp@business.uzh.ch.
• Prospective students will discuss their topic domain with a supervisor.
• After familiarizing themselves with the topic domain, applicants need to reconfirm their interest before the finalized topic is registered via OLAT (Instructions regarding OLAT can be found under the link above)

Process:

• Within one month of topic assignment, you are required to submit a proposal (exposé) that includes:
  • Title
  • Research question/problem statement
  • Provisional table of contents
  • A summary of intended research, including potential data and research methods, and expected outcomes/ objective of the work
  • A short literature review
  • Timeline
• Afterwards, you are expected to work independently. Further meetings will be arranged with your thesis supervisor as needed.
• Theses must be submitted no later than six months after topic assignment via OLAT.
• Empirical thesis require submitting the data set, code, interviews, and any other relevant materials.

AI Policy:

• We encourage the use of AI tools to support your thesis work.
• However, be cautious as most AI applications (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, Bing Chat) are not scientific tools or sources and require critical verification by the student. In general, when using any source, it is essential to consider its relevance, currentness and reliability.
• Any Bachelor or Master thesis must be an independent academic work of the student, not the AI tool.

Thesis Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria:

• It is essential to adhere to formal standards for your thesis. Hence, proper citation (following established standards (e.g., APA)), structure and formatting are required. 
• Information can be found in the thesis guide. Click here to download thesis guide (PDF, 59 KB)
• We do not impose any requirements regarding the word processing program used (Word, Latex, …)

Guidelines for the Structure of a Scientific Paper

Generally, the argumentation of a scientific paper should be logically structured ("red thread"). The reader should be able to follow the author's train of thought.

a) Title Page

The title page contains the title of the work, the field of study, the name of the institute and the supervising professor or assistant, the name of the author with complete address (including phone number, email address, and student ID), and the submission date.

c) Abstract

The abstract provides the reader with a brief summary of the essential aspects of the work (research question, methodology, and conclusion).

b) Table of Contents

Ensure the table of contents does not exceed three levels of hierarchy

d) List of Figures, Tables, Abbreviations

When using figures, tables, or abbreviations, they should be listed in separate directories. It is expected that these are explained in the corresponding text. Figures and tables should be numbered separately. Furthermore, the sources must be provided. Modifications to tables or figures should be marked with the indication "adapted from." Self-created figures and tables should be marked as "own representation." Tables and Figures should be consecutively numbered.

e) Numbering

The page numbering of the title page, abstract, table of contents, list of figures, tables, and abbreviations is done in Roman numerals. The page number is not listed on the title page.

f) Text Section

The text section consists of an introduction, main body, discussion and conclusion. The page numbering of the text section continues consecutively in Arabic numerals. The specific structure of the main body depends on whether you have chosen to write a literature review thesis or an empirical thesis. For an empirical thesis, it is advisable to have a literature review section, methodology section, data section and results section.

g) Bibliography

The bibliography includes all sources cited in the work, arranged alphabetically by the authors' last names. The Arabic page numbering from the text section continues.

h) Appendix

The appendix contains additional supplementary information and documents that would disrupt the flow of the text. This may include used questionnaires, verbatim interviews, a list of interviewees (with name, surname, company, position, location, and date of the interview), or other documents used in the work. It should be noted that each representation within the appendix should be renumbered. The Arabic page numbering from the text section continues.

i) Declaration of Authorship

The thesis must contain a declaration of authorship with the place, date, and signature of the author (see sample text below):
The undersigned author declares on oath that he/she has independently, without external assistance and without using other than the specified aids, prepared the present work. Thoughts taken directly or indirectly from external sources (including electronic sources) are invariably indicated as such. The work has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in the same or a similar form, for another examination. 

Formal Formatting Guidelines

a) Length of Scientific Papers

• Bachelor's Thesis: 45-60 DIN-A4 pages
• Master's Thesis: 60-80 DIN-A4 pages

These figures refer to the pure text part of the work, i.e., excluding the title page, bibliography, and other lists, as well as the appendix.

b) Layout of Scientific Papers

• Font: Times New Roman or a similar font
• Font Size: 12 pt (adjusted to the font)
• Smaller font size may be appropriate for footnotes or other material outside of the main text
• Line Spacing: 1.5 with the exception of lists, graphs, charts, footnotes, bibliographic entries, items within tables and lists in appendices
• Justified alignment with hyphenation
• Left margin of approximately 3 cm and a right margin of 3-4 cm for corrections.