1. Bachelor’s Thesis Process
Double Degree Programme
Building Services Engineering (BSE)
Marianna Luoma, MSc, PhD

2. Structure of the Bachelor’s Thesis
Introduction
The aim of the study is written at the end of the introduction
Literature review / Theory part
Method
Results and analysis of results
Discussion
This structure is widely used in research reports and scientific articles.

3. The duration of the project
15 ECTS equals about 400 hours of work which equals 2-3 months of full time studying
The final version of the thesis report
About 30 pages
Checked by Urkund for text plagiarizing
Oral presentation to teachers and students
Written test (called maturity test)

4. Research oriented approach
Accurate concepts
Systematic and transparent working methods
Developed data acquisition and analyzing methods
Source critisism
Justification of research results and validity of the evidences
Well-founded conclusions
The use of literature sources
Proper reference markings
Text plagiarizing is not allowed

5. The roles of the student and the supervisor
The roles of the student and the supervisor may differ from the roles that students have in their home university
Student
The role is clarified in the ”Bachelor’s thesis guide”
Independent working is emphasized
Working method is research-oriented
The rules of honesty and reliability should be followed
Professional and linguistic supervisor
Guides and assists the student through the project
Sets the dead lines

6. Introduction Introduces the work to readers
Is normally quite short (1-4 pages)
Typically have three components
Small talk
Aim of the study / research problem
Structure of the study
Some supervisors likes to have a sentence:
”The aim of the study is ..”

7. Literature review
Researchers never start from scratch but base their work to earlier works done by other scientists
In literature review the writer shows that he or she knows the basic concepts of the research area and studies done earlier in that field
In literature review, the standard referencing styles are used
Language teacher helps with this
Literature review is sometimes also called as the theory part

8. Own contribution Own contribution can be e.g.: Laboratory experiment
Field experiments
Survey
Case study
Simulations with a software program
Testing
The corresponding chapters in the thesis are: method, results

9. Analysis of results / Discussion
This study was designed to …
The main results showed … Specifically, …. Furthermore, … (less important results, but still worth mentioning)
The results supported an earlier finding … and/or … Compared to earlier studies …
This finding suggests…
In conclusion, … / The main implication of this study …
Need for further research…

10. Starting the Bachelor’s thesis during the spring term
Selecting the field and topic
Select the field of your thesis
Discuss it with the supervisor
Literature
Study literature
Write a literature review
Discuss the review with the supervisor
Research plan
Write a research plan
Discuss the plan with your supervisor