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Prof. Dr.

Wolfgang Kersten
TUHH Institut W-2 D-21071 Hamburg Institut für
Logistik und Unternehmensführung

Guideline to the composition of theses

Department of Business Logistics and General Management

Hamburg University of Technology

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kersten

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Blecker


Guideline to the composition of theses

Index of contents

1 WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION ................................................................................. 3

1.1 Structure of the thesis .................................................................................. 3


1.1.1 Cover ................................................................................................... 4
1.1.2 Affidavit ............................................................................................... 4
1.1.3 Abstract .............................................................................................. 4

1.2 Formal aspects ............................................................................................. 5


1.2.1 Layout ................................................................................................. 5
1.2.2 Orthography ....................................................................................... 5
1.2.3 Integrating sources into a paper ....................................................... 5
1.2.4 Scope of the thesis ............................................................................ 7
1.2.5 Formal Constraints ............................................................................ 8

1.3 Additional information ................................................................................. 8

2 PRESENTATION ...................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Stucture of the presentation ........................................................................ 9

2.2 Formal Aspects ............................................................................................. 9


2.2.1 Used media ......................................................................................... 9
2.2.2 Layout ................................................................................................. 9
2.2.3 Time frame and scope of the presentation .................................... 10

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Guideline to the composition of theses

1 Written Documentation

1.1 Structure of the thesis

Essential elements of the thesis are:

Obligatory Structure of Prefix:


► Cover
► Task description
► Affidavit
► Abstract
► Table of Contents
► List of Abbreviations
► List of Figures
► List of Tables

Recommended Structure of the Body (Project / Industrial Context):


► Chapter 1: Introduction (2-3 Pages)
 Part 1: contextualizing Background
 Part 2: a brief statement of the problem; formulation of the scientific question
 Part 3: the approach / response to solve the problem
► Chapter 2: Theoretic Background
 The theoretic background needed to generate the solution
► Chapter 3: Model / Framework / Strategy / etc.
 The innovative section of the thesis
 Authors contribution to science
► Chapter 4: Case Study
 Application / Validation / Verification of Model
 Practical content
► Chapter 5: Conclusion
 Part 1: Summary
 Part 2: Outlook

Obligatory Structure of Suffix:


► Bibliography
► Appendix

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Guideline to the composition of theses

1.1.1 Cover

The cover may be compiled according to the author’s wishes. However it must consist
of the following:

 Title of the thesis


 The nature of the thesis (e.g. Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis, etc)
 Name of the author
 Name or logo of the university and institute
 Name of the supervisor and in case of a master thesis, his or her deputy
 According to the subject studied, other regulations are to be included

1.1.2 Affidavit

The following declaration has to be signed and enclosed:

I hereby swear that I single-handedly compiled this document. I did not make use of any
other sources than those listed here. Furthermore I swear that this document was never
handed in to another department in this or any deviated manner. Every passage
referring to or quoted from another source is identifiable as such.

Hamburg, [Date of Signature]

[Signature]

In case the regulations of the course studied demand a different formulation, the
declaration has to be exchanged.

1.1.3 Abstract

A brief and concise summary of the thesis has to be added. (max. 1 page).

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Guideline to the composition of theses

1.2 Formal aspects

1.2.1 Layout

Paper format DIN A4


Margins Left 2,5 cm; right 2 cm
Style 12-pt Times New Roman or Arial
11 pt for figures and chart legends
Line spacing and paragraph format 1 ½ lines, grouped style
Page number Bottom right
Headline Should be used according to author’s
preferences
Text On one side only

1.2.2 Orthography

English theses have to be written according to British orthography.

1.2.3 Integrating sources into a paper

1.2.3.1 Quotation

Sources have to be included conform to the Harvard citation style as follows:

 The Author’s (or abbreviation of organisation’s) name, the year of publication


have to be attached to every quote and placed in parenthesis.

 Up to three authors (publishers) may be listed and have to be separated by


slashes. More than three authors should be fully listed when referred to for the
first time. From the second citation onwards, only the first author’s (publishers)
name is listed and all others abbreviated by et al. (et alii).

 A quote has to be indicated as such by quotation marks.

 The page on which the quote is to be found has to be included.

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Guideline to the composition of theses

 If an author wrote more than one publication in one year, the publications should
be differentiated by means of an alphabetical suffix to the year.

Examples:

 …. well established formulae and graphs (Hottel / Sarofim 1967, p. 226;


Incropera / DeWitt 1990, p. 27) give us an indication of ....

 Petri nets have been used for modelling a supervisory control system of a
multipurpose batch plant (Szucs / Gerzson / Hangos 1998, pp. 1335-1344).

 Fudenberg & Tirole (1992) summarize: “a Nash equilibrium is a profile of


strategies such that each player’s strategy is an optimal response to the other
buyers’ strategies.” (p.11)

1.2.3.2 Bibliography

The bibliography contains all sources in an alphabetical order

 All sources must contain the full title, edition quoted or cited from, place and year
where it was published.

 The first and last page of essays from collected editions and magazines has to
be included.

 Internet sources have to be quoted with the web address, the day it was updated
and the day the information was retrieved.

Examples:

Monographs:

Hairer, E. / Lubich, C. / Roche, M. (1989): The numerical Solution of Differential-


Algabraic Systems by Runge-Kutta Methods, Berlin, Heidelberg

Doctoral Theses:

Krogh Jensen, A. (1998): Generation of Problem Specific Simulation Models Within an


Integrated Computer Aided System, PhD thesis, Lyngby

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Guideline to the composition of theses

Essays from Anthologies:

Glover, F. / Kelly, J. P. / Laguna, M. (1996): New advances and applications of


combining simulation and optimisation, in: Charnes, J. M. / Morrice, D. J. / Brunner, D.
T. / Swain, J. J. (eds.): Proceedings of the 1996 Winter Simulation Conference,
Association for Computing Machinery, New York, pp. 144-152

Magazines:

Marshall, V.R. / Hounslow, M.J. / Ryall, R.L. (1988): A discretized population balance for
nucleation, growth and aggregation, in: AIChEJ, 34(11), pp. 1821-1832

World Wide Web:


Barton, P. (2001): DAEPACK – suite of numerical routines for continuous and hybrid
differential algebraic equations, http://yoric.mit.edu/daepack/daepack.html, status:
11.06.2002, call: 13.08.2003

1.2.4 Scope of the thesis

The following guide values apply to the scope of your thesis:

Mechanical Engineering

Große Studienarbeit 400 hours 80 pages

Kleine Studienarbeit 200 hours 50 pages

Diplomarbeit 4 months 80 pages

AIW

Bachelor Thesis 3 months 60 pages

HWI

Diplomarbeit 6 months 80 pages

Studienarbeit 3 months 60 pages

HSL

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Guideline to the composition of theses

Master Thesis 3 months 50-60 pages

IPM

Project Study 3 months 50-60 pages

Master Thesis 6 months 70-80 pages

Working paper (Seminararbeit): According to agreement

1.2.5 Formal Constraints

Master Thesis (Diplomarbeit)


Number of copies to be handed in at the Department 3 copies
Type of binder Binding
Digital copy in MS-Word Disk or e-mail

Bachelor Thesis / Project Study (Studienarbeit)


Number of copies to be handed in at the Department 2 copies
Type of binder Binding
Digital copy in MS-Word Disk or e-mail

Working Paper (Seminararbeit)


Number of copies to be handed in at the Department 2 copies
Type of binder Binding
Digital copy in MS-Word Disk or e-mail

1.3 Additional information

For further information or help to the compilation of scientific work, feel free to consult:

Booth, W.C.; Colomb, G.G.; Williams, J.M. (2003): The craft of research, 2nd ed,
Chicago, Ill. : Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003, Signatur: TEG-135.

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Guideline to the composition of theses

2 Presentation

2.1 Stucture of the presentation

Essential parts of the presentation are:

 Title slide
 Outline
 Introduction
 Main part
 Summary

2.2 Formal Aspects

2.2.1 Used media

The presentation can be held using overheads or a beamer. In any case it is to clarify
with the tutor in time that necessary devices (overhead projector or beamer and laptop)
will be available at that time.

2.2.2 Layout

Format DIN A4 slide or beamer format


Style Alternatively: Times New Roman or Arial
At least 18 pt
Page number Each slide except the title slide contains a
page number
Layout Should be used according to author’s
preferences

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Guideline to the composition of theses

2.2.3 Time frame and scope of the presentation

The presentation should take a maximum of 20 minutes. Following the examiners will
ask questions to the work for about half an hour (for working papers possibly other time
frames are provided).

The number of slides for the talk should be chosen according to the time frame. A guide
value therefore is: 2 minutes per slide, that means to prepare about 10 slides.

Please supply a sufficient number of hand-outs (four slides per page)!

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