Guidelines for Writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis at ... · Guidelines for Writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis at the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture

Guidelines for Writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis

at the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture (430) Div. Rural Sociology (430a)

Div. Societal Transition and Agriculture (430b) As of: May 2017

Table of Contents

1. What we expect from a Bachelor's thesis and a Master's thesis .................................. 2 1.1 Content requirements ......................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Formal requirements .......................................................................................................... 3

2. Procedure ......................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Some preliminary remarks .................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Prerequisite: Familiarity with our approach, participation in modules .................................. 4 2.3 Meetings, dates, and deadlines .......................................................................................... 5 2.4 Presenting your Master's thesis on the Institute’s website .................................................. 6 2.5 Publications and conferences ............................................................................................. 6

3. Structure and content-related set-up of the thesis ........................................................ 6 3.1 Structure ............................................................................................................................ 6 3.2 Content-related set-up of the research ............................................................................... 7 3.3 Additional information for Bachelor’s candidates .............................................................. 10 3.4 Additional information for literature theses ........................................................................ 10

4. Citing correctly ............................................................................................................... 12 4.1 Citing style........................................................................................................................ 12 4.2 Reference management programs ................................................................................... 15 4.3 Plagiarism ........................................................................................................................ 15

5. Formal guidelines ........................................................................................................... 15 5.1 Structure .......................................................................................................................... 15 5.2 Formatting ........................................................................................................................ 15 5.3 Criteria for evaluation ....................................................................................................... 16

6. Ethical aspects and vested interests in empirical studies .......................................... 16

Annex ....................................................................................................................................... 19 Annex 1: Differences between a Bachelor’s thesis and a Master's thesis .................................. 19 Annex 2: Template title page ..................................................................................................... 20 Annex 3: Standard formulation for the affidavit/declaration ........................................................ 21 Annex 4: Most important formatting guidelines (recommended, not binding style) ..................... 22 Annex 5: Standard formulation of free, prior, and informed declaration of consent .................... 23

Guidelines for Writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis at the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture

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Foreword These guidelines are for Bachelor’s and Master’s students who would like to complete their thesis at the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture. At the Institute, there are two divisions: “Rural Sociology” (430a, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Andrea Knierim) and “Societal Transition and Agriculture” (430b, Prof. Dr. Claudia Bieling). Both divisions pursue different specializations and research interests but have the same scientific understanding and use very similar methodological approaches. In particular, both divisions consider social science research to be obligated to the people on whom it focuses and believe that researchers have a social and ethical responsibility for their work. These guidelines thus provide the content and formal requirements for final theses and the Insti-tute’s offers for support for students. It concludes with information on ethical implications of scien-tific work.

1. What we expect from a Bachelor’s thesis and a Master’s thesis1 Both Bachelor’s and Master’s candidates are to prove with their thesis that they are capable of working on a narrowly defined topic from the division in which the thesis is written using scientific methods within a set deadline and presenting the results [„innerhalb einer gegebenen Frist ein eng umgrenztes Problem aus dem Fachgebiet, in dem die Arbeit angefertigt werden soll, […] mit wissenschaftlichen Methoden zu bearbeiten und die Ergebnisse zu präsentieren“].2 While Bache-lor’s students are to work on the defined problem with supervision, the Master’s thesis requires independent work.

In the following section, further differences in regards to the expectations placed on both types of theses will be described. If you are unsure of anything, we encourage you to contact your division supervisor at an early stage.

1.1 Content requirements3 The guiding principle of a Bachelor’s program is to provide a first university degree that qualifies the person to enter a profession. As a graduate, you should be able to produce relevant knowledge with supervision, whereby this can also mean that you “gather” the information. In the Bachelor's thesis you are therefore not expected to independently work on a previously unresearched topic and/or carry out extensive empirical studies, as usually both the necessary time and required previous knowledge are lacking.

In contrast, in addition to career preparation, the purpose of the Master’s programs is to educate qualified graduates for applied research, and the Master’s programs are to convey specialized and highly qualified knowledge. Specifically for the Master's thesis, this means that it:

1 Drawn from ALTHAUS, M. 2010. Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten: der kleine, große Unterschied. Online at http://w-wie-wissenschaft.blogspot.de/2010/12/bachelor-und-masterarbeit-der.html (accessed on 29 Sept 2015). In the examina-tion regulations for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, the terms “Arbeit” and “thesis” are used to refer to the entire work or only the written part of the work. For better readability, in these guidelines only the term “Bachelor’s thesis” or “Mas-ter’s thesis” is used. 2 DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.). 2015. Prüfungsordnung der Universität Hohenheim für die Bachelor-Studiengänge der Fakultät Agrarwissenschaften Nr. 1060 / Date: 29.07.2015, §21(1), and DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSI-TÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.). 2014. Prüfungsordnung der Universität Hohenheim für die Master-Studiengänge der Fakultät Agrarwissenschaften. Nr. 971 / Date: 16.05.2014, §20(1). 3 See footnote 1, ALTHAUS 2010.

http://w-wie-wissenschaft.blogspot.de/2010/12/bachelor-und-masterarbeit-der.html

http://w-wie-wissenschaft.blogspot.de/2010/12/bachelor-und-masterarbeit-der.html


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⁻ contains a research concept that you created independently and that can be used to under-stand in detail how you divided the scientific research question into individual questions and how you answer these systematically, reliably, and in a way that can be replicated with certain steps. You must deal with methodology in a refined way and describe why you apply which methods.

⁻ is built upon a sufficiently broad basis of scientific literature. It should be clear that you have done intensive research, and that your work is linked to existing research findings in the sub-ject.

⁻ contains specialized research. You should not only use secondary literature (textbooks and introductory works, basic literature, dictionaries) and add easily accessible subject sources, but you should carry out systematic research in relevant scientific databases in order to find current studies and expert articles from (international) scientific journals.

⁻ includes substantial studies (e.g. empirical data gathering, extensive text analyses) conducted by you. A differentiated analysis is important in this process. In addition, you should show how your findings relate to other scientific studies in this area (discussion).

1.2 Formal requirements

Bachelor’s thesis ⁻ The Bachelor’s thesis is made up of a written part and a 20-minute public presentation4 (de-

fense) followed by a 10-minute discussion. ⁻ For the Bachelor's thesis, 12 credit points are assigned (of a total of 180 credit points neces-

sary for the degree; that equals around 7% of the total number of credits).5

⁻ The time period for working on it is a maximum of three months after the topic has been as-signed and can be extended by a maximum of six weeks by the examination committee in exceptional cases upon reasoned request.6

⁻ A Bachelor's thesis should be around 40 to 50 DIN-A4 pages (maximum 2,000 characters per page).

⁻ The Bachelor’s thesis may be assigned and supervised by professors, university or private lecturers, and academic staff with the right to examine in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences as well as by a person who is not a member of the University of Hohenheim (without the previous permission of the responsible examination committee).7

Master’s thesis ⁻ The Master's thesis consists of a written part (Master's thesis) and an oral part (defense).8 At

the Institute 430, the presentation is to last 20 minutes; it is followed by a discussion lasting around 30 minutes.

4 See footnote 2, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.) 2011, §15(1). 5 See footnote 3. 6 On this point, the deadlines and criteria in the respectively valid examination regulations must be followed. 7 See footnote 2, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.) 2011, §15(3). 8 See footnote 2, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.) 2014, §20(1).


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⁻ For the Master's thesis, 30 credit points are assigned of a total of 120 credit points necessary for the degree (25% of the total number of credits).9

⁻ The time period for working on it is a maximum of six months after the topic has been assigned and can be extended by a maximum of three months by the examination committee in excep-tional cases upon reasoned request.10

⁻ A Master's thesis should be around 60 to 80 pages (maximum 2,000 characters per page). ⁻ The Master’s thesis must be assigned and supervised by a professor, university or private

lecturer, junior professor, or academic staff of the University of Hohenheim with the right to examine. With the previous permission of the responsible examination committee, it may also be assigned and supervised by a person who is not a member of the University of Hohenheim if the person has an equivalent qualification and if the topic is chosen with the approval of a professor, university or private lecturer, junior professor, or academic of the University of Ho-henheim with the right to examine. In this case, the first examiner must belong to the University of Hohenheim; the person who is not a member of the University of Hohenheim may act as a second examiner.11

In Annex 1, the differences between a Bachelor’s thesis and a Master's thesis are summarized in a table.

2. Procedure

2.1 Some preliminary remarks Doing research is like a journey: having an objective (“destination”) in mind, the traveler is curious and open for anything that comes across along the way. Besides good preparation and knowledge on possible research methods, there is need for creativity and flexibility as situations rarely occur as planned. Writing a thesis is also personal growth: you experience how you cope with difficult situations, how you get along with stress and frustration; you will also (hopefully) have good en-counters with different people, see different ways of life, perceptions, hopes, etc. – as a researcher you need to realize this personal and professional tension; and as a human being you suffer and enjoy, you experience agreement or disappointment.

With this in mind the topic of your thesis matters: not only being knowledgeable in the topic but also interest helps you to develop curiosity, ask good questions, and be persistent at times things do not flow well.

Therefore, the following points guide you when planning and structuring your research in order to master well this challenging time. In addition, we recommend personal talks with your supervisor.

2.2 Prerequisite: Familiarity with our approach, participation in modules For empirical theses, it is highly recommended that you take one of the Institute for Social Sci-ences in Agriculture’s modules, preferably one on empirical research methods; if an equivalent qualification has not already been obtained with other courses. Your supervisor might in any case

9 See footnote 7. 10On this point, the deadlines and criteria in the respectively valid examination regulations must be followed. 11 See footnote 2, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.) 2014, §20(3).


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request you to consider additional readings on research methods. In the Master's thesis, you must have taken at least one module from the Institute 430.

2.3 Meetings, dates, and deadlines12 The supervisor of the thesis at the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture is available in partic-ular for questions about content. For formal questions, you are first referred to the guidelines con-tained here as well as the provisions of the respectively valid examination regulations.

In addition to proactive contact with the supervisor, great importance is placed on participating in the Institute’s thesis colloquium.

There are a very limited number of work stations available at the Institute for working on a Master's thesis. If you are interested, you will need to speak with your supervisor.

In general, the following dates and meetings should be kept by the students:

⁻ Introductory discussion: to develop an independent topic or shortly after taking on a sug-gested topic with the primary supervisor.

⁻ Coordination discussion: with the supervisor, two to three weeks (Bachelor’s thesis) or three to five weeks (Master’s thesis) after starting work. You should present an initial con-cept (precise goals and methodological approach, timeline, outline of the thesis).

⁻ Interim discussion: with the supervisor after two months (Bachelor’s thesis) or three to four months (Master’s thesis), presentation of a final outline and a draft chapter, discussion of open questions.

⁻ Discussion in the end phase (two to four weeks before submission): with the supervisor for reviewing the thesis and clarifying final questions.

⁻ Thesis colloquium: Students who are completing their thesis at the Institute of Social Sci-ences in Agriculture should present in the Institute’s colloquium. The colloquium is not an ex-amination. It offers the opportunity to present the background, research question, methods, and possibly initial findings of the thesis as well as to discuss problems and questions that arise while working. You should present for 10 minutes and a 15-minute discussion will follow.

⁻ Defense: As a Bachelor’s candidate, you will present your work in about 20 minutes (usually with a PowerPoint presentation, but other formats are also welcome) so that the audience gains a good overview and knowledge of your findings. Following that, you will answer ques-tions about your thesis for around 10 minutes – this part is 1/3 of your final grade.13 As a Master’s candidate, you should discuss the most important points of your work in a 20-minute presentation. In this time, it is not possible to present all aspects and details of your thesis. You must concentrate on the most essential points; in the following 30-minute discussion, any remaining questions can be clarified. Here you have the opportunity to discuss critical points, but you can also emphasize and demonstrate the particular qualities of your work.

12 Drawn from SEIFFERT, P., SCHWINEKÖPER, K., LANNINGER, S. 2013. Information für Abschlussarbeiten (Bachelor / Master), Professur für Landespflege, As of: 02/2013. Uni Freiburg. Revised version by SCHMITT C. and SCHAICH H. 13 See footnote 2, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.) 2014, §15(12).


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2.4 Presenting your Master's thesis on the Institute’s website With your Master’s thesis, you are obligated to write a brief description (abstract) for the Institute’s website (in the language in which the thesis is written). In coordination with the supervisor, this abstract should be sent as soon as possible after starting work on the thesis to Ms. Regina Jung-reitmeier (430a) or Ms. Julia Rietze (430b).

The abstract (around 500 words) should contain the following points: ⁻ Background ⁻ Objectives ⁻ Methods ⁻ Expected or initial results, if possible ⁻ Table information on the degree program, deadline, first and second examiners, supervisor,

and (working) title of the thesis.

2.5 Publications and conferences

Publication of the thesis For a Master's thesis, you should generally aim to publish the work, especially if you use innovative methods or have important findings. Publication should in general include those whose intellectual thoughts contributed to the success of the project (especially the supervisor). Details should be discussed with them. A Bachelor's thesis might also be suitable for publication. Here it is also important to discuss your intentions with the respective supervisor.

The Division of Rural Sociology has a book series with the title “Kommunikation und Beratung – Sozialwissenschaftliche Schriften zur Landnutzung und Ländlichen Entwicklung”. Excellent Mas-ter’s and Bachelor's theses can be accepted into this series for publication.

Presentations at conferences In particular those students who would like to pursue an academic career are encouraged to pre-sent their work at scientific conferences. Here you should also discuss details with your supervisor.

3. Structure and content-related set-up of the thesis14 This chapter presents the possible logic structure of a thesis (chapter 3.1) and outlines in a more detailed way the expected contents of the different sections of a thesis (chapter 3.2).

3.1 Structure Depending on the topic of the thesis, you can also use divisions other than the headlines listed here in order to structure the sections in a logical way.

14 Drawn from SEIFFERT et al. 2013 (see footnote 12); also SALENTIN, K., no date. Gliederung einer empirischen Arbeit. Online at http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/ikg/dateien/kurt_salentin/gliederung_einer_empirischen_arbeit.pdf (accessed on 10 Sept 2015) and FERNUNIVERSITÄT IN HAGEN, PSYCHOLOGISCHES INSTITUT, LEHRGEBIET SOZIALPSYCHOLOGIE, no date. Informationen zur Gestaltung einer Literaturarbeit (version from November 2012). Online at http://www.fernuni-ha-gen.de/psychologie/sopsy/lehre/pdf/Lehrgebiet Sozialpsychologie_Gestaltung einer Literaturarbeit.pdf (accessed on 30 Sept 2015).

http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/ikg/dateien/kurt_salentin/gliederung_einer_empirischen_arbeit.pdf

http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/psychologie/sopsy/lehre/pdf/Lehrgebiet%20Sozialpsychologie_Gestaltung%20einer%20Literaturarbeit.pdf

http://www.fernuni-hagen.de/psychologie/sopsy/lehre/pdf/Lehrgebiet%20Sozialpsychologie_Gestaltung%20einer%20Literaturarbeit.pdf


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⁻ Cover/title page: Degree program; thesis topic; name of the student and matriculation num-ber; university, institute, and location; name of the first and second examiner; date of final submission (see template in Annex 2).

⁻ Foreword and acknowledgements: Notes on special conditions (funding sources (donors, third parties), inclusion of the work in a research project, etc.). The thesis can (but does not have to) include brief acknowledgements directed at the people and/or institutions who con-tributed to the success of your work.

⁻ Table of contents: List of all numbered chapters and sections with the corresponding pages. The numbered sections should have a maximum of 3 digits (e.g. 1.1.1; see Annex 4 and https://430a.uni-hohenheim.de/abschlussarbeiten). A table of contents can be automatically generated in Microsoft Word if the correct formatting is defined and used. Before submitting your thesis, however, you should check that the automatically generated table of contents are complete and correct.

⁻ If necessary, lists of abbreviations, tables, and figures (if abbreviations are used, these must be explained in a list of abbreviations; for tables and figures, a list can be left out if there are only a small number of them).

⁻ Extended abstract: The extended abstract should briefly reflect the entire thesis. You should therefore not write it until you are already finished with the rest of the thesis. In one to three sentences each, you should list the following points: Initial background and problem, objec-tives/hypothesis/research question(s), methods, most important findings, evaluation of the findings in relation to the research question(s), and conclusions. An abstract does not include any new findings, quotes, examples, or citations.

3.2 Content-related set-up of the research A research needs to be a well-rounded piece of work. Figure 1 illustrates the possible set-up of the working process and structure (however, this outline is not binding and deviations are possi-ble). Starting point of the research is the preliminary topic or a question. This question is put in the

center of the problem statement and described in its context. The objective delimitates the research topic and derives the research questions. Then, the chapters on theory and meth-odology follow – or the method-ology chapter only. The chapter on theory presents the relevant concepts and theories, models and their relevance and, if ap-plicable, describes the hypoth-eses which provide direction and depth for the research. There is a need for recurrent consistency checks between

Figure 1: Possible set-up of an empirical research

Problem statement,

topic

ResearchObjective(s)

Methodology

Presentation of result

Discussion + conclusions

Extended abstract

Consistency Check

prelim. topic

Ch. 1

Ch. 3

Ch. 2

Ch. 5

Ch. 4

Ch. 6

Theory


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problem statement, theories and objectives/research questions (see the arrows in the Figure 1). The chapter on methodology describes how the results will be achieved: procedures, methods, and working steps. The presentation and interpretation of results (discussion) need to be clearly separated from each other (distinct chapters). Results provide the answers in view of the objec-tives and research questions formulated at the beginning. The interpretations are based on the analysis of the findings in relation to the research framework, concepts, theories and literature. The conclusions are drawn in view of the problem statement. The thesis can end with an outlook regarding the use of results. As a last step, we recommend to undergo again a consistency check: are all questions addressed? Are relationships in the text presented sufficiently? Do recommen-dations relate to the findings? Have objectives and expected results been achieved? Etc.

The following paragraphs provide more detailed information about possible contents of the various chapters.

⁻ Introduction: The introduction presents the problem and objective of your thesis. The problem describes which question or gap in research you are focusing on and who (=which actors) are affected in what way by this problem or are interested in its solution. You should also explain how and why you chose this topic and the social relevance of the problem. In addition, the topic is placed in the context of current social and/or scientific debates and names the contri-butions to research and practice you would like to make by working on the topic. Hypotheses directly derived from the problem that will be studied can also be included. In the objectives, you should delimit the problem to the concrete questions you want to answer with your thesis and justify this delimitation (e.g. with considerations of feasibility or the effort involved in the studies). In addition, the objectives should briefly and clearly define what the thesis is to achieve (that is, which findings are sought for which purposes and which kind of conclusions will be able to be drawn from them). Finally, the introduction offers an overview of the following chapters.

⁻ Theory/state of research: In this chapter, the importance, function, and use of relevant terms /concepts/theories are discussed. What is already known about the topic and what previous research contributes to answering your own research question(s) are described. Findings are grouped by topic, summarized in your own words, and presented in a logical order, whereby the relevance for your own question should always be clearly stated. Here you can also criti-cize theories and methods of earlier research in order to point out existing gaps or problems that your thesis seeks to close or solve. Based on the cited research results, you can present and justify your own hypotheses. You should always make sure to only pose hypotheses that you can also evaluate in your own thesis. You are free to elaborate your own research frame-work (this could be a blend of various research results with a justification why you consider this appropriate, for example), and you can use it to structure your research.

⁻ Methodology: In this chapter, the procedures and methods for data collection and analysis are described in detail, in a clear manner, and in such a way that they can be replicated by others. In doing so, you should always refer to methodological subject literature. You should explain what method of study (observation, interview, experiment, literature analysis, etc.) and which study design (individual case study, longitudinal or cross-sectional study, field study, etc.) were chosen to achieve the objectives of the thesis, and you should justify why these


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were used - including the selection criteria and possible alternatives. Relevant are also diffi-culties or limitations you encountered in applying the methods and a reflection on your role as a researcher. Any ethical considerations and precautions to protect the study participants should be described in this chapter (see section “Ethical aspects of empirical studies”). The individual steps in carrying out the project (e.g. keywords and databases used for literature analysis; selection of interview partners; documentation of interviews) should be described as well as the applied analysis process (content analysis procedures, statistical analyses, etc.). They should be presented with justification and such that they can be replicated. As a sub-chapter or in another, separate chapter, the study area is presented, if there was one. In addition to an overview of general information (e.g. the geographical and natural posi-tion, geology, soils and climate, history of use), information relevant for the topic should be described in more detail, in particular the social units on which the thesis focuses (sociodem-ographic characteristics, etc.).

⁻ Findings: Here findings that provide answers to the question(s) are shown in a factual, logical order. The questions thus also provide a logical way of structuring this part of the thesis. An-other possibility for structuring the findings can be the use of the research model. Findings that arise from the study methods are only presented here, not discussed (that is, not linked to other literature or analyzed with your own thoughts!). Usually it makes sense to present the findings with the help of tables and figures.15 Tables and figures often are not self-explanatory. Therefore, you need to refer to the respective figures or tables and findings must at least be briefly described; just the statement “The results can be seen in Table/Figure X” is not suffi-cient. On the other hand, there is no need to explain each figure and table in detail. Rather, the reader should be guided to the most important findings. Findings that are of secondary importance should be added as an annex. In order to keep a reasonable number of tables and figures, there is possibility to summarize different findings in one figure or table (e.g. findings from different regions which are presented using the same criteria can be put in separate columns in the same figure/table).

⁻ Discussion and conclusions: The discussion starts with a very brief summary of the most important findings (but does not present any new findings; without exception, these must all be presented in the findings section). This is followed by a critical examination of the findings (content discussion). The originally posed research question(s) thereby offer the basic struc-ture for interpreting the results. Besides your own critical examination, you should make refer-ences to the literature, that is, explain how your findings relate to other studies and theoretical approaches: Are there similarities? To what could possible differences between your findings and those in the literature be attributed? To what extent do your findings add to existing knowledge, to what extent can new lines of research be derived from your findings? As an additional part, a critical reflection of the selected methods is desirable (methodological dis-cussion). Here you should explain how you assess the methodological quality of the work as well as any problems in the research process and the effects on the results – how reliable are the findings, how high is their validity (methodologically justified), generalizability, and signifi-cance? Methodological difficulties and limitations should not necessarily be seen as deficits;

15 Pictures should only be included if they give additional information that cannot otherwise be clearly shown.


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instead, the open, considerate, and differentiated handling of these typical aspects of scientific work are a key criterion for high-quality research. The discussion ends with brief and concise conclusions that arise regarding the research question(s). Some students and supervisors prefer the discussion and conclusions sections as two separate chapters – it is fine to choose this option.

⁻ If applicable, Outlook: In this optional chapter, you can formulate conclusions that go beyond the core research question, for example recommendations for policies or practice. Completely new questions or methodological ideas that arise from the work could also be discussed in this section. You should make sure that you repeat neither the statements you made in the discus-sion nor the abstract here.

⁻ List of references: Listing the cited works with the complete biographical data is done stand-ardly in alphabetical order using the last name (see chapter “Citing correctly”). The references section is listed in the table of contents, but it is not counted as a chapter (that is, it is not numbered).

⁻ If applicable, Annex: In the annex, important information for the thesis should be included, for example discussion guidelines or questionnaires. In addition, an overview of the individual data collected and/or more in-depth or explanatory material can be included, usually in the form of overview tables or graphics. A reference to the annex parts should be included in the main text (e.g. a reference in the methodology or findings chapter).

⁻ Affidavit/official declaration: This is done on a separate page and is only included in the back of the copies of the thesis that are submitted to the Examinations Office. You can find the statement in Annex 3.

3.3 Additional information for Bachelor’s candidates ⁻ Theory/state of research: Whether it makes sense to have a separate chapter on theoretical

backgrounds or the state of research is something you should discuss with your supervisor. Usually, a detailed description is not necessary and can be included in the introduction; if this is not seen as sensible due to the complicated subject matter, then the description should be brief.

⁻ Methods: A Bachelor's thesis can/should choose a less complex methodological approach than a Master's thesis; however, the explanation of these methods (why what was done and how) should be just as systematic, transparent, and replicable. The guidelines described above are therefore also applied to a Bachelor's thesis.

3.4 Additional information for literature theses16 ⁻ Introduction: This section of your work places your research question(s) in the context of the

existing research and points out these studies. To do this, you must explain relevant defini-tions, theories, and models from the literature as well as relevant research results that serve as the bases for the specific question(s) in your thesis; a more in-depth analysis of the literature does not need to be done here, however.

16 Drawn from FERNUNIVERSITÄT IN HAGEN, PSYCHOLOGISCHES INSTITUT, LEHRGEBIET SOZIALPSYCHOLOGIE, no date. (see footnote 14).


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⁻ Theory/state of research: In a thesis on the literature, the chapter “State of Research” is not included, as the insights from the literature and their evaluation make up the results of the thesis. However, important previous research findings in the introduction should be used to derive your own research question(s) and hypothesis (cf. information on the chapter “Introduc-tion”).

⁻ Methods: This chapter includes information about the type of literature that you used: Books, peer-reviewed articles, so-called “gray” literature (documents that were not widely published), media reports, or internet-based materials. The criteria for inclusion and exclusion according to which you drew sources for working on your research question(s) should also be described here.17 In addition, the methods in searching for and selecting literature are described: Data-bases, search engines, and keywords that were used as well as the number of results that were found and selected as well as a justification for why the sources not used did not meet the selection criteria. A table can be helpful here. Besides this, the limitations of the chosen methods are emphasized here (e.g. validity of internet sites, limits of “gray” literature).

⁻ Findings: Here, the studies chosen are described in more detail and set in relation to one another in consideration of the research question(s). Since a literature thesis by nature has no empirical elements, it is expected that the various topics are handled particularly thoroughly and critically and that there is a logical development of arguments.

Table 2 summarizes the structural elements described in this chapter.

Table 2: Structure of a thesis Title page

if applicable, Foreword/Acknowledgements

Table of contents

if applicable, List of abbreviations, tables, and figures

Extended abstract (max. 2 pages): Description of problem; objectives/hypothesis/research ques-tion(s); methods, key findings; interpretation of the findings (discussion); conclusions

1. Introduction (begins on page 1): Description of problem/debate; statement of objectives and re-search question(s); if applicable formulation and justification of hypotheses; overview of following chap-ters

2. State of research (optional for Bachelor's thesis): Theoretical/conceptual background; results of al-ready completed studies that are relevant for the research question; identification of gaps, contradic-tions; explanation of terms

3. Methods: Justification and description of methods; data collection (literature work: e.g. criteria for considering literature, keywords and databases used; empirical work: e.g. development of question-naire, selection of interview partners, carrying out interviews; data analysis: e.g. selected content anal-ysis procedure); if applicable, description of the study area (separate chapter possible, also before methods)

4. Findings: Factual description of the study’s findings in relation to the research question; use of fig-ures and tables that are linked with the text

17 For example, you might have only used sources that were published in a certain timeframe, that focus on certain subjects (or groups), or that fulfill certain criteria, e.g. have certain keywords in the title.


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Table 2 (continued): Structure of a thesis

5. Discussion and conclusions: brief summary of the most important findings (no new findings!); criti-cal discussion of the findings (interpretation in regards to the research question); relation to other re-search (agreement, explanation of differences, limits of comparability with literature researched) (op-tional or only very limited for Bachelor's thesis); conclusions; critique of methods/difficulties in research process (optional for Bachelor's thesis); identification of still open/new questions

6. Outlook (optional): Derivations that do not relate directly to the research question(s) (e.g. implica-tions for policies and practice), additional research ideas

Literature references: complete, standardized, alphabetical; does not count as chapter in the Table of Contents (is listed there, though!)

if applicable, Annex

Affidavit

4. Citing correctly Citing refers to the obligation to clearly show textual references and others’ thoughts in your own text. One differentiates between exact quote (word-for-word quoting) that shows a text passage exactly as in the original, and paraphrasing. The latter refers to a summary in your own words of one or more passages in another text – both require correct citations.

4.1 Citing style In the following, we suggest a citation style18. You are welcome to choose any other common style, but you must use it consistently and uniformly throughout the whole thesis.

Citations in the text A possible style for citations in the text is:

⁻ Authors’ names are formatted in small capitals. ⁻ The author name / year system is used. ⁻ Sources can be given at the end of the sentence or part of the sentence that includes the cited

information: ... (MÜLLER 1985). ⁻ For especially important quotes, the author can be emphasized by including his/her name in

the text: ... SCHREIBER (1981, 1982, 1986) emphasizes that... ⁻ If institutions are cited, it often makes sense to use an abbreviation: ... In Baden-Württemberg,

the emission concentrations... (MELUF 1986). In the literature references it should be written as follows: MELUF (Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten Baden-Württem-berg) 1986 ...

⁻ If several works are cited at the end of a sentence, then the list can be ordered first chrono-logically and, within a year, alphabetically. References to different authors can be separated by a semi-colon: ... (MÜLLER 1967a; SCHREIBER 1982; ZIVKO 1982a; ADAM and EVANS 1986).

⁻ If different authors are cited who have the same last name, then the first letter of the first name must be included: ... (MÜLLER G. 1982; MÜLLER P. 1979).

18 Drawn from SEIFFERT et al. 2013 (see footnote 12).


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⁻ If a work is from two authors, both names are cited and connected by the word “and”: ... (MÜL-LER and KRAUSE 1986).

⁻ If a work has more than two authors, then only the first author is named and the others are referred to with the abbreviation “et al.”: ... (MÜLLER et al. 1984). In the literature references, all authors are then named.

⁻ If the same author published several works in one year, then the individual works are marked with “a,” “b,” etc. directly after the year. The text first cited in the work receives the “a,” the next cited is “b,” etc.: ... (MÜLLER 1967a).

⁻ Word-for-word exact quotes make sense if it is a particularly well-worded statement or if it is particularly original. They must be put in quotation marks and quoted exactly. In this case, the page number should be included after the year: ...”hatte die Schweinehaltung saumäßige Bedeutung” (MÜLLER 1967: 46).

Literature references When listing the sources used in the text in the literature references, we recommend as follows:

⁻ No matter which citation style you use, the literature references must be complete and have a standardized format.

⁻ Source information is written out in the literature references and are put in alphabetical order. ⁻ Works from the same author from different years are listed in chronological order according to

publication year. Those publications are cited first that he/she wrote alone followed by those that were written with a second author. The sources are then ordered alphabetically according to the second author’s name. Finally the publications written with more than one other author are listed, once again in chronological and alphabetical order.

⁻ Authors with the same last name are ordered according to their first name, that is, first MÜL-LER G. with all of his/her works, then MÜLLER P. with all of his/her works. If the “a,” “b,” “c,” system was used with texts, then they are listed here in the corresponding order.

⁻ Authors’ names are written in small capitals. Institutions are abbreviated with capital letters if this makes sense, and in the literature references the full name is also given in parentheses in normal script (not small capitals): MELUF (Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Forsten Baden-Württemberg) 1986.

⁻ In English-language publications, the first letters of major words in names of journals, titles of books and reports are usually written in capital letters (but not those in titles of papers or book sections).

⁻ Journals, book series, etc. can be written as abbreviations, e.g. “Series Institut Agrarökologie Univ. Göttingen“. Here you should follow the practice of existing literature references, e.g. in scientific journals; often the abbreviations are written on the publications themselves. Please only use common and transparent abbreviations.

⁻ If no other source is available, quotations from the internet can also be used. In the literature references, it is important to include the web address, provider, access date, and name of the author of the text cited.

The following sample styles can be used for the individual source categories:


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Journal Articles

GUTZLER, C., HELMING, K., BALLA, D., DANNOWSKI, R., DEUMLICH, D., GLEMNITZ, M., KNIERIM, A., MIRSCHEL, W., NENDEL, C., PAUL, C., SIEBER, S., STACHOW, U., STARICK, A., WIELAND, R., WURBS, A., ZANDER, P. 2015. Agricultural land use Changes - A scenario-based sustainability im-pact assessment for Brandenburg, Germany. Ecological Indicators 48: 505-517

MATTHES, U., BIELING, C., REEG, T., OELKE, M., KONOLD, W. 2014. Wie bewerten Akteure der Forst- und Holzwirtschaft den Klimawandel? Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel von Rheinland-Pfalz. Allgemeine Forst- und Jagdzeitung 105(3/4): 59-70

Books

KNIERIM, A., BAASCH, S., GOTTSCHICK, M. (Eds.) 2013. Partizipation und Klimawandel: Ansprü-che, Konzepte und Umsetzung. Oekom, München

BELLOWS, A.C., VALENTE, F.L.S., LEMKE, S., NÚNEZ BURBANO DE LARA, D. (Eds.) 2015. Gender, Nutrition and the Human Right to Adequate Food: Towards an Inclusive Framework. Routledge, New York

Chapters from books

KNIERIM, A. 2014. Stakeholder involvement for developing adaption innovations in rural areas: Examples from Berlin-Brandenburg. In: PRUTSCH, A., GROTHMANN, T., MCCALLUM, S., SCHAUSER, I., SWART, R. (Eds.): Climate Change Adaptation Manual: Lessons Learned from Eu-ropean and Other Industrialised Countries. Routledge, London/New York: 128-135

HÖCHTL, F., BIELING, C. 2013. Instrumente zur Erhaltung historischer Terrassenweinberge. In: KONOLD, W., PETIT, C. (Eds.); Historische Terrassenweinberge: Baugeschichte, Wahrnehmung, Erhaltung. Bristol Stiftung, Zürich; Haupt, Bern: 301-330

Series, reports, etc.

BIELING, C. 2014. Heimat, Inspiration, Erholung: Wie Landschaften auf immaterielle Weise zur Lebensqualität beitragen. Berichte und Abhandlungen, Series from the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Volume 16. De Gruyter Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 17-25

GERSTER-BENTAYA, M., CROZET, N. 2015. Transdisciplinarity and Action Research to Address the Complex Issues of Urban Agriculture. Series from the Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozial-wissenschaften des Landbaues e.V., Volume 50. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster: 15-26

Unpublished works

DHUNGEL, S. 2014: Impact of Migration and Remittance on the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farm-ers in Nepal: A Study in Anekot Village in Kavrepalanchowk District. Unpublished. Master’s the-sis at the Dept. of Gender and Nutrition at the Univ. Hohenheim

Citations from the internet

FISCHER, L. 2015: Art and Responsible Landscape Development. In: HERCULES PROJECT: Cultural Landscapes Blog. Online at http://www.hercules-landscapes.eu/blog.php (accessed on 29 Sept 2015)


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4.2 Reference management programs It is recommended that you use reference management programs, especially for a Master’s thesis or literature review thesis. Reference management programs offer support in organizing sources and make it possible to automatically generate literature references. When automatically importing source information in the database, you should make sure that the information is complete, error-free, and entered into the right category. You should also always check automatically generated literature references for errors, as mistakes can often be traced back to errors in entering data into the reference database.

The reference management programs Citavi and RefWorks are available for students of the Uni-versity of Hohenheim. More information is available online at https://kim.uni-hohenheim.de/94970. Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/) offers a popular open source alternative for reference manage-ment.

4.3 Plagiarism Students should be aware that submitting plagiarism is fraud and is not tolerated at the University of Hohenheim. In the respective examination regulations for Bachelor’s and Master’s programs, plagiarism is defined as attempted cheating, and the thesis will then be evaluated with “fail.”19

“Plagiarism” means passing off others’ words as your own, that is, without the necessary, correct citation of the original source. Plagiarism is also theft of words and intellectual property. This can be the most obvious form of “copy and paste” plagiarism in which often even spelling mistakes are copied, but also less visible forms of plagiarism such as translation plagiarism, so-called “shake and paste” plagiarism and “phrase patching” in which sections, sentences, or phrases are taken from various sources and put together. Plagiarism also includes copying structures in which the plagiarist holds to other authors’ order and structure of arguments without citing them.

If you want more information on the relevance of plagiarism and how plagiarists and what is stolen can stand in relation to one another, see the tips e.g. online at http://www.plagiarism.org.

5. Formal guidelines The thesis must be submitted in bound form (no spiral binding) with two copies (Bachelor's thesis) or three copies (Master's thesis) and as a CD.

5.1 Structure See chapter 3.

5.2 Formatting As the general form, spelling, and punctuation are included in the evaluation of the thesis, you should pay particular attention to these points when writing. We continue to recommend that you decide on one format at the beginning of your work and use it consistently for the entire thesis, and that you format chapter titles with the heading templates. With this, tables of contents and

19 See footnote 2, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.) 2015, §16(5), §22(2) und 2014, §21 (1), §22(5).

https://kim.uni-hohenheim.de/94970

http://www.zotero.org/

http://www.plagiarism.org/


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lists of tables and figures can be automatically generated and continually updated. This gives an overview of the entire work and saves a lot of time and work in the “end phase.”20

At the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture, a formatting template is available that is used for the book series ‘Kommunikation und Beratung’ (Margraf Verlag) from the Division of Rural Soci-ology.21 However, you are free to create your own consistent formatting template.

Also for final theses, you should make sure you use standardized and correct gender-neutral lan-guage. You can choose one of the following forms: explicitly including both genders (e.g. she/he), finding a gender-neutral form (e.g. second person ‘you’, ‘they’), or including a note at the beginning of your work (e.g. as a footnote) that the sole use of the masculine or feminine form is to be seen as gender-neutral and includes both men and women. In English, you can refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. for suggestions on gender-neutral language or see examples in the Media & Marketing department’s English guidelines (https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/english-guide-lines#jfmulticontent_c222274-4).

5.3 Criteria for evaluation The criteria used by the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture for evaluating the written part of your thesis are listed in Table 3. This table also gives information about the weighting of the indi-vidual criteria.

6. Ethical aspects and vested interests in empirical studies

Ethical aspects Although an empirical thesis has a rather modest scope, it is still important that you and your supervisor consider together any ethical implications that people’s participation in the study could have. Final theses that foresee direct data collection from human participants should include a declaration of the consideration of/holding to ethical principles during the research process (in the methodological part or the annex). In particularly sensitive cases, it is an option to ask for approval by the University’s Ethics Committee.

In general, you should make sure that participants who are interviewed or observed cannot be harmed by the research project. Participants should know and understand the objectives of the project. In addition, they must give their explicit consent for participation, and they have the right to their personal data being handled confidentially. Therefore, free, prior, and informed consent must be discussed and signed by the participants before the interview. You can find the declara-tion of consent in Annex 5, to be compulsorily used for each interviewee in two copies. One copy will stay with the interviewee and the second one will stay with the researcher until the end of the research project.

20 SEIBERT et al. 2013, see footnote 12. 21 Online at https://430a.uni-hohenheim.de/abschlussarbeiten

https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/english-guidelines#jfmulticontent_c222274-4

https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/english-guidelines#jfmulticontent_c222274-4

https://430a.uni-hohenheim.de/abschlussarbeiten


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In particular in research with especially disadvantaged and marginalized persons or groups, a very sensitive treatment in regards to following these guidelines (consent and confidentiality) is im-portant. In this context, it is an ethical imperative not to objectify the participants as the “object” of the research but to “empower” them in the research process whenever possible.

Table 3: Criteria for evaluating final theses Area Evaluation criteria Maximum

number of points

Content criteria

Extended abstract Concise summary of the key aspects 5

Introduction Differentiated and substantive description of the prob-lem

Logical and clear formulation of the objectives and re-search question(s)

10

State of research (optional for Bachelor's thesis)

Extent and relevance of the theoretical/conceptual backgrounds researched as well as the state of the re-search

15

Methodology (Study area)

Justification of the choice of methods Transparency, completeness, and ability to replicate all

steps of the methodology If applicable, quality of the description of the study area

15

Findings Complexity and quality of the findings compiled and their relevance in relation to the research questions

Factual, concise description Use of figures and tables to support the description

20

Discussion (Outlook)

Relation to the research questions Depth and differentiation of the discussion Scope and relevance of literature used Logic and relevance of the conclusions

15

Formal criteria

Structure and format-ting

Consistent, clear layout that supports the reading pro-cess

Correct structure of table of contents and, if applicable, list of abbreviations

Correct structure and inclusion of high-quality figures and tables

5

Language and style Appropriate and informative style Proper spelling and punctuation

5

Literature and citations Correct implementation of the rules of academic cita-tion

Complete and correct literature references

10

If applicable, bonus points

For particularly outstanding sections, successful han-dling of a high degree of difficulty, etc.

(10)

Total 100 (110)


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Ideally, this means that the participants can have a say in the conceptualization and execution of the research project. At the very least the students have a responsibility to accurately and justly report the interests of the participants. You can ensure that this has been done by showing the participants the (interim) results or points on which you have doubts. The independence of the researcher is still paramount, but this has to translate in responsibility for the research carried out and consideration for people who voluntarily take part in the research project. Besides this, it might be necessary to anticipate situations that could mean (e.g. psychological) stress for the partici-pants or the reporting of which – even if it is anonymized – could indirectly or unintentionally hurt the participants by stigmatizing them in the communities to which they belong.

To ensure respect for ethical principles is increasingly gaining importance in research projects, and in many cases it is an obligatory step that an ethical commission approves the project prior to its start. Also, journals more and more demand the clearance by an ethical commission as a con-dition for publishing research results.

Vested interests of the parties involved In cases when a thesis is mandated by a party external to the university (any public or private body, interest group or a single farmer, a development project or another research agency, etc., here called host partner), a written agreement shall be made at the beginning. As in these cases at least three parties (the student, the host partner and the supervisor) have to accommodate their vested interests with regard to the final results, a written document shall make the agreement transparent. In particular, the different interests, the responsibilities of each party and the use of the results shall be defined.


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Annex

Annex 1: Differences between a Bachelor’s thesis and a Master's thesis Table 1: Differences between a Bachelor’s thesis and a Master's thesis

Bachelor’s thesis Master’s thesis

Formal differences

Elements Written part + 20-minute presentation + 10-minute discussion

Written part + 20-minute presentation + 30-minute discussion

Credit points 12 credit points (of a total of 180 credit points; around 7% of the total number of credits)

30 credit points (of a total of 120 credit points; around 25% of the total number of credits)

Time for com-pletion

Max. 3 months; can be extended by max. 6 weeks

Max. 6 months; can be extended by max. 3 months

Scope 35 to 50 DIN A4 pages 60 to 80 DIN A4 pages

(Primary) super-visor

Usually a professor, university or pri-vate lecturer, or research associate in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences with the right to examine External primary supervisors are possi-ble

Professor, university or private lecturer, or research associate of the University of Hohenheim with the right to examine External supervisor only possible as secondary examiner after consulting with the first supervisor and approval by the examination committee22

Content differences

Topic with a relation to science Inclusion of secondary literature (i.e. textbooks and introductory texts, basic literature, dictionaries); beyond this, general overview of current studies (pri-mary literature) is sufficient Simple methods that are explicitly de-scribed and correctly carried out No extensive empirical studies, simple analysis procedures

Makes contribution to scientific pro-gress Individual work is drawn from current state of research (discussion of prob-lem) and related to this (discussion); for this, intensive literature research in in-ternational scientific databases Special methodology possible (but not absolutely necessary), in every case precise justification, description, and application (criteria: systematic, relia-ble, replicable) Substantially independent data collec-tion and differentiated analysis

22 For special cases, e.g. “Double Degree” Master's theses, the provisions of the current examination regulations ap-ply, DER REKTOR DER UNIVERSITÄT HOHENHEIM (Ed.). 2014. Prüfungsordnung der Universität Hohenheim für die Master-Studiengänge der Fakultät Agrarwissenschaften. Nr. 971 / Date: 16.05.2014.


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Annex 2: Template title page

University of Hohenheim

Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture [Societal Transition and Agriculture/Rural Sociology]

[Title of thesis]

[Bachelor's thesis/Master's thesis] in the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences

by

[Your Name] [Your matriculation number]

submitted in [Month Year]

First examiner: [Prof. Dr. Claudia Bieling/Jun.-Prof. Dr. Andrea Knierim] Second examiner: [Name]


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Annex 3: Standard formulation for the affidavit/declaration

“I hereby declare that I, [last name, first name] ________________________________, born on [day, month, year] ________________________ completed the [Bachelor’s thesis/Master’s thesis] attached to this declaration independently and solely using the sources listed in the references and that it has not been submitted anywhere else. All passages of the thesis which were taken word-for-word or par-aphrased from publications or other sources are marked appropriately. Supervisor _____________________________________________________________ Second Supervisor _____________________________________________________________ Topic of Thesis _____________________________________________________________ Semester _____________________________________________________________ I furthermore declare that the supervisor has been given an unencrypted electronic document (in one of the formats *.doc, *.docx, *.odt, *.pdf, *.rtf) of the thesis which exactly and without exception corre-sponds to the contents and wording of the printed copy. I am aware that the electronic version can be checked for plagiarism by software analysis. I also consent to the thesis being placed and available for borrowing in the Institute’s library as well as an abstract of this thesis being presented on the Institute’s website. Place, Date _____________________ Signature ______________________________


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Annex 4: Most important formatting guidelines (recommended, not binding style) Font type and size: Arial 11 pt or Times New Roman 12 pt (one font should be chosen

and used for the entire thesis).

For tables and figures: 10 pt

Headings: can of course have a different size but should be con-sistent

Emphases in the text (bold) should be used sparingly; italics are only for foreign-language terms that are not translated or for Latin species names.

Printing: Both one-sided and two-sided printing is allowed.

Line spacing: 1.2 to 1.5

Paragraph formatting: Justified

Paragraphs should be separated by a spacing of 6 to 10 points. For blocked quotations (that is, quotes that go over several lines) all lines are indented.

Side margins: For one-sided printing: top, bottom, and right 2.5 cm each; left 3.5 cm.

For two-sided printing: top and bottom as well as outer side 2.5 cm; inner side 3.5 cm.

Page numbers: Numbering is done on the outer side. For two-sided printing, the front and back pages will need to be formatted accordingly.

The numeration of the cover page, acknowledgements, table of contents, and other lists as well as the abstract is done in Roman numerals. On the title page, however, no page number is shown. The first page of the introduction is numbered with the (Arabic) page number 1 and then continued without interruption; another format should only be used in the annex (Roman numerals, An-nex/1, etc.).

Headings: Chapter headings with more than 3 numbers should be avoided.

Tables contain brief but informative headings (above table); figures should have corresponding captions (below figure). Tables and fig-ures are numbered continuously but separately from one another.

Abbreviations: Abbreviations should be used sparingly. The first time used, the full term for which they stand is written out with the abbreviation in parentheses following it.


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Annex 5: Standard formulation of free, prior, and informed declaration of consent Bachelor’s/Master’s thesis by [name and contact details]: “[title of thesis]” Under the supervision of: [name and contact details] (University of Hohenheim)

[name and contact details] (University xy) The present document is to inform you about my Bachelor’s/Master’s Thesis project and provide information about your participation in such project. My thesis is about [full description of the topic in lay terms. If necessary, add research questions]. In the context of my Bachelor’s/Master's thesis, I, [your name], would like to ask you about [dis-close the question you will be asking]. I ensure that the following procedure will be used when handling the information you give in the interview:

1. The interview will be recorded digitally and then transcribed by me. Your contact details, the transcript, and the digital recording are not accessible to anyone other than myself and my supervisor and will not be given to third parties at any time during or after my work.

2. Your statements will be anonymized when I work with them so that it is not possible to draw conclusions about who you are. Word-for-word quotations I use in my work will not be possible to be attributed to you.

3. Participation in the interview is voluntary. At any time you can refuse to answer individual questions or stop the interview. You can revoke your consent at any time and ask that the interview to be deleted without any negative consequences for you.

With my signature, I confirm that I will comply with the above mentioned procedure. [Place, Date, Signature of the researcher] With my signature, I confirm that I agree with the above mentioned procedure. [Place, Date, Signature of the interviewee]

Documents

Guidelines for Writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis at ... · Guidelines for Writing a Bachelor’s or Master’s Thesis at the Institute of Social Sciences in Agriculture