In the life of a student, it is both an exciting but also an exhausting time when it comes to the writing of the bachelor’s thesis. After all, it is a very special academic work that is not typically part of a student’s schedule. In addition, the bachelor’s thesis grade has a major impact on the overall attainment of the bachelor’s degree. This, in turn, has an impact on the job prospects or the admission to a master’s program. Therefore, nothing should go wrong when writing a bachelor’s thesis. In order to ensure that everything runs smoothly, some things should be considered, which are compiled here in the form of a short guideline.
Find the right topic for your bachelor’s thesis
First if all, before you can start and can finally start typing, a topic has to be created. An important factor in the choosing the topic is that it interests the student and in the best case scenario, is ecen exciting. If students connect a personal interest with a specific topic, it is easier for them to work on their bachelor’s thesis. But how do students find the right topic? For example, it is helpful to remember and to think about which seminars and lectures were especially fun and which topics stirred one’s curiosity. If an interesting topic arises, the next step should lead to the library, where the relevant literature can be found and reviewed. In doing so, students familiarise themselves different research approaches and work on the current state of research. This is the prerequisite for being able to set up an interesting research question as well as an associated hypothesis. Once these are identified, then it’s on to the exposé! In this synopsis, students justify their choice of topic, present their research question, explain why it enjoys this relevance and indicate how they intend to work on it. On the one hand, this exposé helps students to outline their thoughts on the topic of their bachelor thesis. On the other hand, students also submit this exposé to those professors they would like to supervise their bachelor thesis, and thus try to inspire them for their project.
Structure of the bachelor’s thesis
If the right superviser is found, then things can get underway. However, students shouldn’t simply start writing. The beginning of a good bachelor’s thesis is the consideration of how to structure it. The design of an outline is therefore the alpha and omegaOn the one hand, this serves to logically structure the bachelor’s thesis and on the other hand to optimally manage the time that is required to write it. Students should orient their thinking to the classical structure of a bachelor’s thesis. First the introduction, then the main part and finally the conclusion. In the introduction, the topic and its relevance are briefly described and the research question unfolded. It is important to show how the topic and the question are to be dealt with and which methods are used. The main part of course depends in particular on the research question, which is discussed and answered in herein. At this point, it is important to bring up the subject, to pick up on various issues relating to the topic of research, to clarify key concepts, to develop a rigorous line of reasoning and to find appropriate headings and subheadings. In conclusion, all results and findings of the main part of the bachelor’s thesis are brought together and the research question is answered.
Literature review
Before the bachelor’s thesis can finally be written, two further important questions have to be answered. On the one hand, students absolutely have to find out about how much specialist and secondary literature they require. On the other hand, they should know the scope of the bachelor’s thesis. Since such guidelines and requirements differ from university to university and from field of study to field of study, no binding statement can be made here. However, it is generally known that professors do not like it at all when bachelor’s theses are too long and too little literature is used. In addition, students should familiarise themselves in advance with the academic methods of working in order to be able to apply them in the writing process. All supervisors place increased value on use of correct citations and correct sources.
Writing the bachelor’s thesis
Even when the bachelor’s thesis is in the box, the work is not yet done. At this point, particularly, it becomes clear why good time management is so important. Students need to allow enough time to read their bachelor’s thesis again. They should make sure that the entire text in itself is logical, repetitions are avoided, the formalities are correctly implemented and grammatical and stylistic errors are improved. However, given that so-called operational blindness can begin to take hold, students should seek help if necessary. Of course, that means professional proofreading.
Formatting and layout of the bachelor’s thesis
Of course, the bachelor’s thesis should also make a good visual impression. This means that the cover sheet must be designed, the bibliography must not be forgotten, the line spacing, the font and the margins must be consistent and the attachment and the self-declaration of independent authorship must be included. Only then can the bachelor’s thesis be submitted with confidence.