Structure and Content of Final Theses

Structure and content of a final thesis are mostly determined by their type. We distinguish the following types of theses:

  1. Research thesis. A research thesis performs and presents traditional empirical research work. You will be given (or may have to acquire yourself) qualitative or quantitative data to analyze and present your findings.
  2. Engineering thesis. An engineering thesis performs and presents traditional engineering work; mostly this is software design and implementation in one of our projects.
  3. Design science thesis. A design science thesis focuses on creating a novel artifact; this may be either research or engineering. If you are not sure which type to choose, this may be the right choice.
  4. Business thesis. A business thesis is our catch-all for anything information systems and business related that does not neatly fit into any of the above categories.

Please talk about which type to choose with your supervisor. They may already have an opinion, stated in the original thesis offering (description). Make sure you are on the same page!

Layout and Formatting

All theses should use the same formatting as provided by these templates:

For citing relevant work, please use the APA style of citing, referencing, and listing sources.

Questions and Answers

Do not include personal information like a resume (C.V.) in your final thesis.

Students sometimes wonder about the “wissenschaftlicher Anspruch” (scientific aspiration) of a final thesis.

Additional useful materials are being collected in this Drive folder.