Guideline to Writing a Term Paper - Lehrstuhl Prof. Axel Ockenfels ...

Guideline to Writing a Term Paper
This guideline was prepared to help students with the writing of a Term Paper in Economics. This
guideline only applies to the formal arrangements of a term paper and should be used as a
supplement to existing literature on scientific writing. Details about the content of the term paper
should be discussed with the respective supervisor.
Allocation of Topic
In the course description, which you find on the homepage of our chair, we provide a list of topics for
your term paper. Usually we ask you to provide a list of three preferred topics, based on which topics
are assigned. Results of the allocation process are announced at the first course meeting.
Working Time
The working time for a term paper normally is eight weeks starting the day you receive your topic.
The exact deadline for turning in the paper is defined in the course description.
Information on the content and layout:
The quality of a scientific work depends not only on the content but also on the structure, language,
and formulation.
Language
Usually, the term paper can be written in English or in German. We provide detailed information
concerning this matter in the course description.
Extent
Please consult the course description for regularities on the maximum number of words. All words
including introduction, summary, footnotes and appendix are counted. Excluded from this method
are formulas, the title page, and the bibliography of the used literature.
Formatting rules
The following formatting rules apply for term papers written at the Chair Prof. A. Ockenfels:
Paper format: DIN A4
Page margins: left: 5cm
right: 2cm
top: 2cm
bottom: 2cm
Line spacing: 1,5 spaced
Font: proportional fonts, i.e. Times New Roman
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Font size: 12 for standard-text blocks
Paragraphs: can be displayed left aligned or justified. If you choose justified, please
activate the syllabication function.
Only one side of the paper is printed on. The titles are highlighted in different font sizes
corresponding to their importance.
The term paper does not have to be submitted as a hardback copy. It is sufficient to hand in one copy
of the paper in a folder. Additionally, we require an electronic version of the paper and the literature
used. Please hand in these documents preferably saved as PDF-files or Word-documents on CD/DVD
with your paper.
Arrangement of the pages:
1. Title page
2. Table of Content
3. List of Figures and List of Tables (if necessary)
4. List of Abbreviations (if necessary)
5. Main text
6. Bibliography of the used literature (in alphabetical order of the authors)
7. Appendix (if necessary)
8. Declaration (see below).
Title page
There are no specific requirements for the title page of the term paper. It would be appropriate, if it
could correspond to the sample of the Examination office existing for Diploma, Master’s and
Bachelor theses.
Lists of Figures and List of Tables
Figures and tables must be labelled according to the content of the image or chart (time, locale,
dimension, etc.). Geographical images, charts, curves, marks, etc. have to be labelled. The charts and
images should be numbered in ascending order throughout the entire text. If a large number of
figures or tables have been used, one is advised to put them all in the appendix. When referring to
one of the figures or tables, the number of the respective figure or table has to be mentioned in the
text. The source of the figure or table should possibly be placed below. When creating a new figure
or table based on figures and tables provided by other authors, all used documents have to be listed.
A list of figures and tables has to be included before the text.
List of Abbreviations
The list of abbreviations should not contain common abbreviations such as “e.g.”.
Structure
One can choose between a numerical order and an alphanumerical order. Each number should be
followed by a period. Subsections are allowed if there is more than one subsection. For example, if
there is a subsection called 1.1, a subsection called 1.2 should exist.
Headings should not stand alone without text to avoid subsequent headlines stringing together. In
this case, one may, for example, describe briefly the structure of the following subchapters.
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It is recommended to present an introducing section before the main text to inform the reader about
the content of the thesis, the central problems and the methodical procedure.
The final section of the thesis should summarize the main findings and conclude.
The following points have to be noted regarding the table of content:
Although the table of content is simply an aid for the readers and evaluators, it also shows the
writer’s understanding of the problem and her ability to cope with a task in a structured and accurate
manner.
The table of content allows the reader to follow the author’s thought process and recognize the
weighting of each topic. The Table of content has to be structured logically and from general to
specific. A large number of subtopics often indicate that the choice of main topics is not perfect.
The table of content should not be too detailed. The length of each part should be approximately
equal and each text should not be further subdivided.
Main Text
The writer should avoid an inappropriate diction, imprecise terms and undifferentiated judgments
like “should”, “must” or “fulfill”. Own judgments must be differentiated to statements of facts.
Quotations
Quotations standardize the main formalities and should be structured in line with the appropriate
literature. It is recommended to use the Harvard citation style, thus marking quotations within the
text by stating the author’s name, the year of publication, and the relevant pages in parentheses
instead of using footnotes - for instance (Müller 2004, p. 37).
Direct quotes must be marked as such by quotation marks followed by the author’s name, the year
of publication, and the relevant pages in parentheses as shown here: „Direct quote“ (Waringer and
Schulz 2003, p. 10).
Small letters should be used to differentiate between works by the same author published in the
same year: (Müller 2002a, p. 37) or (Müller 2002b, p. 68).
Multiple authors should be separated by a comma: (Meyer, Schulz, and Mosblech 2003, p. 10)
Multiple sources should be separated by a semicolon: (Waringer and Schulz 2003, p. 23; Theisen
2003, p. 137)
If you use the authors’ name within the sentence, just use the year of publication in parentheses.
Example: “Research by Waringer and Schulz (2003) supports ...”
Quotations in foreign languages should be avoided in the main text. Instead the writer of the thesis
should present an appropriate translation of the relevant part of the quotation. Please note that
quotations in English pose an exception to this rule.
Translations conducted by the author of the thesis should be labelled as such at the end of the
relevant section.
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If you write your thesis in English, passages from German publications can be cited literally using
quotation marks and vice versa. Indirect citations should be marked as such.
In case of quoting symbols from different sources (e.g. in formulas), these should either be explicitly
defined or exchanged with those previously used in one’s thesis.
For quotations from sources published only online, please note the following: One should state the
name of the author, the year of publication and the date of the download. The URL should be listed
in the bibliography.
A printed version of the online source should be presented on request.
References and Bibliography
The Bibliography gives a list of the literature used by the author and gives credit for the use of
concepts from other authors. It is also possible, that readers are introduced to unknown literature.
The bibliographic information has to be complete and accurate to ensure accessibility of the source
for verification.
It is not recommended to use many references with a large amount of literature just to make a good
impression. Bear in mind that each piece of literature raises the standard against which your term
paper is measured.
The bibliography should only contain literature that has been referred to in the footnotes. The
literature should be sorted by authors in an alphabetical order. If an article is part of a book, which
includes a collection of articles, one should give the author of the article and its title first and then
provide details about the book’s authors, title, and publication details.
Each item in the bibliography list should include the following information:
The name and surname of the author(s) (in case of an anonymous author use “N.N”), the tile of the
article (if the article is a chapter in a book with a collection of articles, provide the name(s) of the
author(s) of the book with an “ed(s).” in parenthesis after their names),
the volume, the edition (where applicable),
the location of publication (in case of multiple mentioning the first is sufficient),
the number and the year of the magazine the article was published in (where applicable),
the year of publication, and the range of pages in the magazine or the respective chapter in the book,
Internet: name, date, URL, and the time of the download or the time of the page visit.
Dealing with two or more authors the following scheme should be applied putting names and first
names in order: LastName(A), FirstName(A), FirstName(B) LastName(B) and FirstName(C)
LastName(C).
However, all other details should be listed as mentioned previously.
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Examples:
Bolton, Gary E. and Axel Ockenfels (2000): ERC – A Theory of Equity, Reciprocity and Competition,
in: American Economic Review, 90(1), p. 166-93.
International Energy Agency (ed.) (2005): Energy Prices and Taxes, Third Quarter 2004, Paris 2005.
De Vries, Casper, Alireza Namazi, Axel Ockenfels and Andreas Schadschneider (2007): The
Economic and Statistical Laws of Bid Timing and Bid Amounts in Online-Auctions, Working Paper,
University of Cologne.
Doe, John (2010): www.johndoe.co.uk/publications/test.pdf, 19.03.2010.
Declaration
The following signed declaration of originality has to be submitted in German together with the date
of term paper.
„Hiermit erkläre ich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig und ohne Benutzung anderer als der
angegebenen Hilfsmittel angefertigt habe. Alle Stellen, die wörtlich oder sinngemäß aus
veröffentlichten und nicht veröffentlichten Schriften entnommen wurden, sind als solche kenntlich
gemacht.“
Translation:
„I hereby declare that I have single-handedly written this term paper and used only allowed
resources. All passages containing published or unpublished work by other authors are marked as
such. “
General comments
The first principle during the compilation of a term paper is:
Every statement has to be comprehensible. This is fundamental for every scientific paper. The writer
has to specify if a text passage contains own research findings, own views or the views of other
authors. The formulation of the view of other authors can be made literal (through quotation) or
through using the conjunctive.
If the term paper refers to sources that are not generally available, the writer has to make these
sources available in case they are needed during the evaluation of the paper.
Each term paper has to contain a summary in the final section. Partial results are listed in each
subsection as a summary, if possible.
Valuation principles
Every term paper covers a different topic and thus has its individual structure and approach. This
makes comparison of different theses impossible. Hence, no standard evaluation criteria exist.
Nonetheless, the following aspects of the paper are usually taken into account in the process of
evaluation:
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1. Topic of the thesis:
The objective difficulty of the topic
Amount of work required
The importance and the formulation of the topic
Level of independent contribution
2. Content of the thesis
Systematic problem-solving methods
Weighting of each topic
The result of the auditors’ personal contribution
Approached and concepts applied
3. Formal arrangements
Structure and subdivision
Scientific language
Accuracy of figures and tables
Quotations and spelling
Further readings
The following books provide useful tips about writing term papers in a scientific context:
Cole, Arthur H. and Karl W. Bigelow, (2006): A Manual of Thesis-Writing: For Graduates and
Undergraduates, 1 st edition, Cosmo Study Guide.
Clark, Irene L. (2006): Writing the Successful Thesis and Dissertation: Entering the Conversation, 1 st
edition, Pretince Hall International.
Zerubavel, Eviatar (1999): The Clockwork Muse: A Practical Guide to Writing Theses, Dissertations,
and Books, Harvard University Press.
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