Turnitin - an aid for skilful writing and prevention of plagiarism
Turnitin - an aid for skilful writing and prevention of plagiarism
Errors in approved theses are corrected on an errata page
Instructions on the use of errata page
Student Guide
Bachelor’s Programme in International Business, Mikkeli
Programme main page
Thesis
The Bachelor’s Thesis is a formal document that requires from a student both a formal proposal and a defense in the thesis seminar. The thesis process takes place once each academic year.
The Bachelor’s Thesis must be written in English. Detailed instructions on the thesis are provided in special info sessions attended by all thesis students. All thesis materials are available on the MyCourses workspace of the thesis group.
It should be noted that the grade given for Bachelor's Thesis cannot be improved later.
Maturity test
Once the Bachelor’s Thesis is completed, all candidates for the BSc degree must complete and pass the Maturity Test (0 cr). The purpose of the test is to demonstrate
- conversance with the subject area of your thesis, and
- your proficiency, if necessary, in the language of your primary and secondary education.
Write your maturity test in Finnish or Swedish, if one of these languages was your language of education in your secondary level education. If you have not studied the secondary level education in Finnish or Swedish, it is possible to apply for an exemption in order to write the maturity test in English. You have to have the exemption granted before taking the maturity test.
For your maturity test at the bachelor’s level, you will write an executive summary or a press release based on the Bachelor’s Thesis (submission on MyCourses). The maturity test is accepted given that both the content and the linguistic form are accepted.
Submit the maturity essay file on MyCourses at the same time as you submit your bachelor’s thesis for approval. Your thesis supervisor will examine the content of your thesis for your conversance with the topic, and a proofreader will check the language of your thesis.
Write a one-page specialist text based on your thesis. In an analytic and reflective manner, discuss the results or findings of your research as well as their significance. Pay close attention to your choice of genre (see instructions below), your headings and your text’s readability and linguistic clarity. Note as well that your maturity essay must function as an independent piece of writing without references to your thesis.
Use a Calibri or Calibri-equivalent font for writing your maturity essay. Use font size 11, 1.15 line-spacing and set all margins at 2 cm.
Instructions for executive summary
The goal of the summary is to support executive decision-making. In contrast to your thesis abstract, your objective here is to persuade readers to ‘buy’ your research results, convincing them that your research has benefits and practical applications for economic life and/or for business.
Give a clear structure to your text and use headings that describe the contents: present your results or findings and their benefits, substantiate the benefits and target them at the right target audience, then propose a solution for the problem you noted.
Instructions for press release
The aim of a press release (or a media advisory) is to present the key findings and significance of your research in such a way that the document may serve as a news item and be published in a newspaper, magazine or on social media. Your task is to raise interest in your thesis topic and show the newsworthiness of your findings.
Write the advisory in the ‘inverted pyramid’ news style, providing the target group with the most important information at the top of the text and then proceeding to the less important. The advisory should have an attention-grabbing headline, its opening should encapsulate the essential matter, and it should have a few subheadings outlining the discussion paragraphs.
The Bachelor’s thesis process
The Bachelor’s Thesis process begins in October. Your work on the thesis begins immediately with exploratory and developmental stages of the thesis. You will have some information sessions and workshops, and three required personal consultations with your supervisor during the process. Note that the Literature Review workshop is mandatory for all thesis students. The supervisors will inform you how the consultations are arranged. Supervisors will provide additional information to their respective group during these consultations. We strongly encourage you to work intensively with the thesis from the beginning in order to proceed according to the planned schedule.
You can find here below the list of Selected Bachelor's Thesis topics to give examples what the topics could be. You can choose your topic from this list or have a topic of your own. You will inform your topic to the study office with the Indication of Interest Area form.
The Thesis Instructions document available on MyCourses includes the schedule, deadlines and information on all steps and requirements for the thesis process.
You can also find the BSc Thesis Template and Guidelines for thesis writing and using the thesis template for Mikkeli students from MyCourses.
Indication of interest area for Bachelor's Thesis (Word document)
- Published:
- Updated: