Citation in text
In scientific writing you are allowed and should use texts of others. However
you have to make clear at any passage in your text, which source you used.
Therefore a short mark is enough, for example cf. Müller (2012), P. 130. At the
end of the text –list of literature –you have to describe in a detailed list, which
sources you used.
The footnote itself should be written in Arial 10.
The year is to be supplemented with continuous small letters if an author is
cited from different sources in the same year
Example: Meier, A. (2016a) p.10 , Meier A. (2016b) p.29.
The complete source is listed in the List of References in an alphabetical order.
1. Style of quote
Professor Mike (2012) recommends to use footnotes to keep the text flow. All
footnotes are collected and listed at the bottom of the page.
Example: Family Name (Year), Page.
Every quote has to be inside of quotation marks; the quote
notation is standing behind the closing quotation mark.
2. Direct and indirect quotes
Basically, there are two types of quotes: The direct (literally) and the indirect
(analogous) quote. Independent of the type of quote, you have to prove the
source of your quote.
On direct quotes you take the foreign text unchanged in your own text. You
make this clear with quotation marks and proof of source.
Example: In the direct quote, you use the remarks of another author
literally in your own text.
-> Attention: Don’t use direct quotes too often. Only quote direct, if
the formulation of the author is very original or inventive.
At indirect quotes you adopt thoughts, results, statements etc. from other
texts, but express them in your own words. Also indirect quotes were marked
with a short mark, but not put in quote marks. The short reference in the
footnote begins with “cf.“.
Example: An indirect quote is characterized by that you use a foreign
statement –analogously –in your own text.
Secondary quotes – the quote of a quote –you should avoid. Only in
exceptional cases, for example if it’s not possible to find the original source,
you are allowed to use it. Both sources you have to declare at the list of
literature.
If you have to use secondary quotes, the following information needs to be at
the bottom of the page:
Family Name, First Name (Year), Page quoted from Family Name,
First Name (Year), Page.
3. Important Notes
-> If more than two authors are named, there needs to be placed a “et
al.“ (Latin for “and others”) behind the first‐named author.
Example: Sterzenbach et al. (2009), P. 296.
-> If there are multiple sources of an author of a year, according to
the annual statement, a letter (alphabetically descending) is
appended.
Example: Aberle (2009a), P. 77.
Aberle (2009b), P. 124.
-> If The author or location is not clear, write “n. a.” (no author) or “w.
p.”(without place). It is better, however –if the author is absent ‐ to
put the responsible organization (association, company,
institution, etc.) in the place of the author.
Example: BMBF (2012), P. 34.
-> Note: If the year/the date or year/date is not clear, write “n. y.” (no
year) or “n. d.” (no date).
Example: Maier (n.y.), P. 99.
Formal requirements
1. A Master Thesis should contain 50 –60 pages.
2. A4 paper size (210 mm by 297 mm).
3. line spacing: 1.5 (intended quotations and footnotes: single spacing).
4. top, bottom and right-hand margin: 25 mm, left-hand margin: 40 mm.
5. Numbering of the pages, page numbers at the bottom of the page.
6. Font: Arial.
7. Font sizes: written text 11, central headlines 14 and bold, footnotes 10.
8. It is recommended to work with grouped style.
9. Attachments should be continuously page numbered (will not be displayed at
10. the content).
Style and linguistic design
• Introduction and consistent use of terms.
• Clear, concise, independent language without platitudes, corporate jargon,
• colloquialisms, and the like.
• Freedom from spelling, grammar-, punctuation-, expression-, punctuation errors.
figures and tables
• Clarity, legibility, uniformity.
• Completeness of captions and source citations.
• Integration into the argumentation (text supplementation, not text
• substitution).
Scientific apparatus
• Clear separation of own and foreign ideas, completeness of evidence in the
• text.
• Formal correctness and uniformity of citations.
• Formal correctness, uniformity, and completeness of the bibliography.
• Correctness and appropriate design of the indexes and appendices.
Table of Contents and Page Numerations
Example:
Table of Contents Page
Table of Figures …………………………………………………………. III
List of Abbreviations ……………………………………………………. IV
1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 1
1.1 Background and Research Context ……………………. 2
1.2 Research Objective ………………………………………….. 3
1.2.1 xxx ………………………………………………………….. 4
1.2.2 xxx ………………………………………………………….. 5
2 Definitions ……………………………………………………………….. 6
Bibliography ………………………………………………………………….V
List of References ……………………………………………………….. X
Starting from the first page, the numeration of the pages is to be done in
Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV…).
The title page counts as first page but does not display the page number.
Further numeration starts from the first page of the “Text” part and is to be
displayed in Arabic numerals (1,2,3 …).
The Appendix and the List of References are to be marked with Roman
numerals, continuing the numeration of the introductory part.
The structure should normally reflect the style of a research report and should
contain:
• a title page
• a statement about the confidentiality of the work (if required)
• Plagiarism declaration
• (Acknowledgements)
• a glossary (list of abbreviations and technical terms used and their
• definitions)
• a contents page
• lists of tables and figures
• a list of appendices
• an introduction
• a review of relevant literature
• a discussion of research methodology leading to your research design
• data collection, analysis and synthesis
• a considered discussion of the data and self critical reflections on the
• research methods
• a summary of your conclusions and recommendations
• references and bibliography
• Appendices
Plagiarism
• “You should never plagiarize -that is repeat others’ words without giving them credit”.
• If you use other thoughts: give exactly the source!
• If you do not indicate the sources, your work will be consequently marked with a “not passed” !
• It is not only unfair if you just copy other works, but the risk to be detected is very high. There will be no discussion about the mark!
• The School applies originality checking machines and other plagiarism crawlers to every thesis without exception.
• The same applies for the use of AI in writing your thesis. Any use of AI, e.g. Chat GPT will be detected by our originality checking software and treated as plagiarism, meaning that your thesis will be graded “not passed” .