A graduation thesis 1. Overview of a graduation thesis 1.1. What is a graduation thesis?

A graduation thesis (GT) is a piece of writing you are required to do at the end of your Undergraduate program in order to show your ability to apply what you have acquired from the courses to identify, and analyze a banking and finance-related problem(s) and provide problem-solving solutions to that problem. You are asked to work on a real banking and finance problem that you could find within your financial institution or current key issues in banking and financial system of Vietnam. You are expected to show your ability to apply part or all you have learnt from the courses to identify, analyze a banking and finance-related problem(s), and then provide problem-solving solutions for the problem(s) identified. Generally, a good GT should be:

Practical problem-solving; Preferably related to the courses; An analysis with support evidence. Not a description; Not a copy and paste work. You are required to work individually on your GT. No joint GT is accepted. Your thesis should be between 30-40 pages. The GT will be implemented during the last semester of the Undergraduate program. 1.2. Graduation thesis writing process

A typical process of writing a GT consists of the following steps: GT writing registration The Banking Faculty will provide some sessions on research methods to orient and guide students on the whole process of writing a GT; After these sessions, individual student chooses a tentative topic of his/her GT and register with the Banking Faculty.

Based on the list of tentative topics, the Banking Faculty will identify appropriate supervisor for each student and submit to the Board of Directors for Approval. Writing the GT

Students need to make an appointment with the supervisor on a regular basis; Supervisors are supposed and willing to provide advices during this stage. But it is important that students need to be pro-active in this consultation process; Supervisors will read drafts of the GT and provide comments/advices; Before submission of the project, students need to have permission of their supervisors for submission; One the GT is submitted, the supervisor will provide a written comment on the students project. Evaluating the GT

The project will be sent to two referees (1 responsible for academic content and 1 responsible for English writing) to read and the referees will provide comments in written form. Final mark of the GT is determined based on the marks given by the supervisor, and the two referees. 2. Identifying a research problem

It is the most essential to identify a problem(s) that you will be focusing for your graduation thesis. What is a research problem for a GT? A research problem for a GT is what you consider to be important for either (i) the financial institution that youre working for or (ii) current key issues in banking and financial system of Vietnam. Once a problem is identified you will then:

Use relevant data and argument to explain the nature of that problem? Why that problem is important? What factors, external and internal cause that problem? And most importantly, How the problem could be solved? What you need to consider when selecting a research problem? There is no unique answer to this question, but below are some suggestions:

It is important to choose a problem you are interested in it. Remember that this GT is an important requirement to graduate. Therefore, dont choose the topics that you are not interested in. It is also important that you choose a problem that has plenty of readily available information for you. It will be a disaster if your GT is merely a verbal description of your research problem. You need data, evidence to support that you are arguing. Most of students tend to select problem(s) on their current organizations to explore potential topics for their GT. However, this does not necessarily result in good GT. When brainstorming for a problem, you should also consider other areas that are outside your current organizations. This might be difficult at the starting point. But after some rounds of thinking and data collection, you will see this direction could be very rewarding. Your research problem should be manageable in its scope. Remember that you will have about 4 months to finish it, not 4 years! Just like eating an apple! You cannot shallow the whole apple at once. A organization might face with a number of problems and you cannot provide solutions to all. Therefore, you need to decide the piece of the apple that you would want to eat first! 3. Developing a GT proposal

Why a good proposal is needed? You should never start writing anything without a structure or outline. A good proposal is a promise for a good GT. Many graduate students reveal that they have spent 20% to 30% of their time for the GT to develop a good research proposal. This is because:

A good proposal means you understand what is ahead; By developing the proposal, you get insights on what you are going to do; This will serve as a guidance for you on the writing process; Until you write a proposal, you will not be certain if your selected topic is doable!; Spending sufficient time to think and write the proposal is very rewarding. Structure of a research proposal There is no uniform structure of a proposal. However, the stylized structure of a GT proposal should include:

Statement of the research problem In this section, you should address the following questions:

What is the problem chosen for the focus of your GT? Why that problem is important? Why you choose that research problem? This problem statement will be then included also in your GT as a starter, which is important for a good meal! This helps reader to know instantly why you select the topic and what you are going to do.

Research questions Research questions are those you will seek for answers in your GT. Whether your GT will pass the requirement depends on how well your research questions are answered. Research questions should be asked very carefully. In order to specify relevant research questions, you should consider the followings:

What do you expect to answer? To be concrete and precise on what youre going to do Try to ask some things that could be measurable quantitatively or at least qualitatively (ideally both!) Research questions must be questions! (e.g. not statement or description of something) 2 or 3 research questions are arguably most appropriate for a GT Research methodology Research methodology usually specifies a theoretical framework, analysis approach, and data source that you are going to use for your GT. Theoretical framework. For a GT, you are not required to write a literature review (i.e. to reviews all relevant theories/models in association with relevant empirical evidence on these theories/models found in the existing research). But:

You do need to read and understanding theoretical background for your analysis. You are required to summarize your theoretical background within 3-6 pages. You are encouraged to supplement your summary with chart or figure to illustrate the theoretical background. You need to summarize the theoretical background using your OWN language. Copy and paste for this part could fail your GT at the defence.

Data sources. The question of data availability was considered when selecting topic (as above). At this stage, it is important to ensure that you could have sufficient data to answer your research questions. Data source could be either secondary or primary data

(see explanation below). However, secondary data have been used most of the time for a research on banking and finance. 4. Data collection and analysis

As mentioned earlier, a GT is not a general description of your research problem. It is neither a collection of your own feelings on the problem. You need to formulate evidence-based arguments. Therefore, you will need data to support your analysis. For your GT, you could collect both (or either of) secondary and primary data sources. Secondary data Secondary data is any data that are collected and made ready by others. You will just collect their reports/papers to use the data. There are no stylized facts for collecting secondary data. The first place to look are the reports (in various forms) made by your financial institutions. In addition, internet provides you unlimited source of relevant information. You just need to be selective. When collecting secondary data, it is important to make sure that you know and note the sources of the secondary data used. When using these secondary data in your GT, you will need to cite the full sources of the data used. Primary data Primary data is the data that you will collect yourself (i.e. not available from any reports/papers or anybody). Primary data is most interesting (when appropriate) for your GT as primary data could provide fresh insights, new indigents, and hence more valuable for your findings. When you base your analysis on the primary data collected by yourself, it means that the data and analysis are genuinely yours. This brings you a high face value for what you reported in your GT. Colleting primary data is time-consuming and could be quite costly in cases. Therefore you need to consider very carefully whether you will collect primary data for your GT. If you are intending to collect primary data, you should describe briefly how you will collect that data in the research methodology section. Primary data is usually collected using either a questionnaire survey or semi-structured interview. 5. Writing process

Why does it take so long to get to this stage? Following the above process, this is probably the part that youve been waiting for. At this stage, you may ask the question of why we have bothered going though such a complicated procedure. The answer could be found if you consider writing a GT as similar to building a house. The proposal is the foundation and the structure; data collected are bricks. At this writing process, you spend your efforts and some additional materials to complete the house. Where do I begin ? There are many different ways to start the writing. You will find it is difficult to start. But it is absolutely normal. Anyone, even novelist, could find it difficult to start writing something. So if you experience that, no worries! There is no unique way to overcome this psychological barrier as it is a case-by-case basis. In most of the case, it could be a good starting point to start with what you feel most convenient to start. If you even cannot decide at this stage where you are most convenient to start, you should write whatever possible. What you write first may not be used in your final GT but it will help you to overcome this psychological barrier. Conducting analyses: a difficult part You have now known how you will analyze your problem, and some data collected, this is now you should do analyses. Unfortunately, there are no good advices on how to do necessary analyses. Instead, you must utilize your knowledge, analytical skills, and your feelings to perform analyses of the situation using the data collected on the basis of the theoretical framework chosen. There are no lies in this part as this reflects your own ability. Note that the outcome of this stage is to find out some key points to answer the research questions that are asked earlier! In order to find these key points, the following sequence should be considered:

Doing analyses on each questions using your data collected; If the data already collected is not sufficient, continue to search for data; Be critical when you formulate your key points (e.g. always ask yourself whether there are other ways of data interpretation?); Putting things together

During the writing process, you might have different pieces of writing. The remaining task is to put these separate inputs together. Therefore, most of suggestions at this stage are related to a good writing style. The followings should be considered to develop your writing style:

First, academic writing should be used in writing your graduation thesis. It is intended for academic readers, not necessarily experts in the subject area. Therefore, the text should avoid excessive jargon but should also avoid trivialization of the topic. Academic writing involves using unambiguous, concise and specific words. It involves avoiding three words when two can do, and then two when one can do. As a result, academic writing requires numerous drafts. The supervisor can help with this but it is not fair to provide him or her with a first draft. The student should work on a draft three or four times before submitting it as a draft for the supervisor. Second, if you are presenting information in the form of a table or graph make sure you introduce the table or graph in your text first. And then, following the insertion of the table/graph, make sure you discuss it. If there is nothing to discuss then you may want to question even inserting it; Never insert a table/graph before explaining about it; Always number tables and graphs; keep referring to them when you need to mention the message they convey after the first time; If you have a whole series of very similar tables try to use similar words in describing each. Don't try and be creative and entertaining with your writing. If each introduction and discussion of the similar tables uses very similar wording then the reader can easily spot the differences in each table. Third, the conclusion section is not merely re-statement the research findings. Why the reader need to care only the research findings after they have already read the whole GT? This is a key section of a GT. Unfortunately its importance has usually been neglected. Many conclusions were written in hurry! Sometimes this section is best done after you have had a few days to step away from your research and allow yourself to put your research into another perspective. If you do this you will no doubt be able to draw a variety of insights that help link your research to other areas. Fourth, your GT should be a professional product of your Undergraduate program. In addition to the content, you should also pay great attention to formatting and presentation. After all, your supervisor and referee may not have enough time to understanding all details. Therefore, inconsistent formatting may lead to

misunderstanding. The section below will ensure that your GT is presented in a professional way what is widely accepted in academia. Finally, when the deadline for submission approaches, however, sufficient time should be allowed for several drafts to be prepared and edited by the supervisor. Students who run late are often penalized because they have to submit an early draft when it could be greatly improved by redrafting and editing rounds. Particular attention must be paid to the referencing and bibliography. 6. Assessment Criteria

It is important to note that you must obtain the approval of your supervisor to submit the final GT. Once the GT is submitted, the evaluation of your GT will be subject to the judgment of the supervisor and the referees. Assessment criteria

In terms of content (70% of total mark): If you have a clear vision of the problem How you justify the choice of the topic The purpose, the relevance and the boundaries of your work How you elaborate, analyze and solve the problem How relevant your data and the analysis of your data are How you deal with the problem and how you come to the recommendations In terms of presentations and language (30% of total mark): How your GT is formatted, structured and presented How profficiency in English you are (grammar, spelling,) 7. Guidelines on the Graduation Thesis format

The content here is mere advices, indications and best practices to achieve best results. Title Page Title (including subtitle), author, supervisor, date of delivery Acknowledgement This optional page usually appears at the beginning of a GT. Executive summary

A good executive summary is aimed at people who have no time to read the whole report. It should explain your major findings and results. It is concise, readable, and quantitative.

Length should be maximum 2 pages Be explicit Use numbers where appropriate Answers to these questions should be found: What did you do? Why did you do it? How did you do it? What did you find? (major results). Table of Contents List all headings and subheadings with page numbers. List of Tables and Figures List page numbers of all tables. List of tables and list of figures should be separated List of abbreviations List out all the abbreviations you use in your GT Chapter 1: Introduction You can't write a good introduction until you know what the body of the thesis says. Consider writing the introductory section after you have already completed the rest of the thesis, rather than before. Be sure to include a hook at the beginning of the introduction. This is a statement of something sufficiently interesting to motivate your readers to read the rest of the thesis. You should draw the readers in and make them want to read the rest of your thesis. You should then go on with the description of the case to be solved and the originality of your approach. A good introduction chapter usually consists the answers of the following questions: l Why is this study undertaken? Why are you interested in? l What are your objectives? l What are your research questions? l What theories will you will be from? l Which data sources will you will using? l What are your potential contributions? l How is your GT structured and what is the focus of each component of that structure? Core content

This part of the GT is much more free-form. It may have several chapters, sections and subsections. But it all has only one purpose: to convince the examiners that you addressed the case or solved the problem that you set for yourself in the introduction. The core content usually consists of the following chapters (or sections): l Literature Review/Theoretical Framework: to summarize the theoretical framework you are going to use in your GT. l Research questions/Hypotheses: to explain the nature of your research problem, the research questions and the hypotheses set based on previous literature. l Methodology: to explain the methodology you are going to use to answer to test the hypotheses in order to answer the research questions. l Data collection: to show the process of data collection. l Results/Findings: to discuss the findings of your graduation thesis. There is no unique way to present or format your chapters in the core content. Below are some good practices:

Titling your chapters and sections/subsections clearly Before starting a chapter, briefly mention what youre going to write At the end of the chapter, provide a short summary/remark on what you have described or analyzed in that chapter Never use only one or two sentences to form one paragraph Well-organized paragraphs are the main building blocks of your paper. Each paragraph should be relatively short and focused, with a clear topic sentence that articulates the main point. Editing (and re-editing) your early drafts is the key to make your GT sharper, deeper, and more readable. Recommendations and Conclusions This chapter provides the recommendations drawn from the findings of the previous chapter. It is important to note that the recommendations must be closely linked to the problem you analyzed in the problem-analyzing chapter(s). No suggestions should come from vacuum. The conclusion section should: Answer what the strongest and most important statement that you can make from your work is? If you meet the reader at a meeting six months from now, what do you want them to remember about your paper? Refer back to problem posed, and describe the conclusions that you reached from carrying out this investigation, summarize your observations, interpretations, and new insights that have resulted from the present work. Include the broader implications of your results. Do not repeat word for word the abstract or introduction.

Remember that each page of the thesis should be numbered and each chapter should have a title and chapter number. List of References This is a compulsory section of any GT. You need to list out ALL the materials (e.g. books, articles, notes, reports...) that are used in the GT. The reference style is provided in the Annex. Annex This is an optional section of your GT. It is important when writing a thesis to understand that some elements of analysis are peripheral rather than central to the main argument. Hence, appendices may be used to provide the readers with additional information that is useful but not essential to the understanding of the text. Annexes are usually supplemented in the following cases:

Having data that related to and support your analysis in the main text but you do not consider as relevant to provide in the main text; Further explanation of the theories/models you have used in your GT; Cases that you want to present as a supporting line of argument for your analysis but the cases are not directly related to your focus; If you conduct primary data collection, you are required to provide samples of questionnaire/interview forms and the list of respondents. 8. Annex Detail of Formatting Guidelines How to cite the work you use in your GT?

Articles in periodicals Author(s). Year of publication. Title of article. Title of periodical. Volume number. Issue number (if available). Inclusive page numbers. Books Author(s) or Editor(s). Year of publication. Title of book (edition number). Publisher. City and country of publication. Number of pages (if known). Articles within books Author(s). Year of publication. Title of chapter or article. Editor(s), In title of book*. Publisher, city and country of publication. Report number (if exists) inclusive page numbers. Unpublished papers (presented at workshops, conferences, seminars) Author(s). Year of meeting. Title of paper. Title of meeting, dates of meeting, location of meeting. Sponsoring agency, city and country of location. Number of pages.

Theses or internal reports Author(s). Year. Title. University or agency name and address. Type of thesis or identification number of report. Number of pages. Table and figures Tables and graphics should be able to stand alone from the text. Therefore, any abbreviations should be common ones or be explained in a note. Make sure it is clear how figures are arrived at. Provide cross-references (to earlier sections) where applicable.

A graduation thesis 1. Overview of a graduation thesis 1.1. What is a graduation thesis?

A graduation thesis (GT) is a piece of writing you are required to do at the end of your Undergraduate program in order to show your ability to apply what you have acquired from the courses to identify, and analyze a banking and finance-related problem(s) and provide problem-solving solutions to that problem. You are asked to work on a real banking and finance problem that you could find within your financial institution or current key issues in banking and financial system of Vietnam. You are expected to show your ability to apply part or all you have learnt from the courses toidentify, analyze a banking and finance-related problem(s), and then provide problem-solving solutions for the problem(s) identified. Generally, a good GT should be:

Practical problem-solving; Preferably related to the courses; An analysis with support evidence. Not a description; Not a copy and paste work. You are required to work individually on your GT. No joint GT is accepted. Your thesis should be between 30-40 pages. The GT will be implemented during the last semester of the Undergraduate program.

1.2.

Graduation thesis writing process

A typical process of writing a GT consists of the following steps: GT writing registration The Banking Faculty will provide some sessions on research methods to orient and guide students on the whole process of writing a GT; After these sessions, individual student chooses a tentative topic of his/her GT and register with the Banking Faculty. Based on the list of tentative topics, the Banking Faculty will identify appropriate supervisor for each student and submit to the Board of Directors for Approval. Writing the GT

Students need to make an appointment with the supervisor on a regular basis; Supervisors are supposed and willing to provide advices during this stage. But it is important that students need to be pro-active in this consultation process; Supervisors will read drafts of the GT and provide comments/advices; Before submission of the project, students need to have permission of their supervisors for submission; One the GT is submitted, the supervisor will provide a written comment on the students project. Evaluating the GT

The project will be sent to two referees (1 responsible for academic content and 1 responsible for English writing) to read and the referees will provide comments in written form. Final mark of the GT is determined based on the marks given by the supervisor, and the two referees. 2. Identifying a research problem

It is the most essential to identify a problem(s) that you will be focusing for your graduation thesis. What is a research problem for a GT? A research problem for a GT is what you consider to be important for either (i) the financial institution that youre working for or (ii) current key issues in banking and financial system of Vietnam. Once a problem is identified you will then:

Use relevant data and argument to explain the nature of that problem? Why that problem is important? What factors, external and internal cause that problem? And most importantly, How the problem could be solved? What you need to consider when selecting a research problem? There is no unique answer to this question, but below are some suggestions:

It is important to choose a problem you are interested in it. Remember that this GT is an important requirement to graduate. Therefore, dont choose the topics that you are not interested in. It is also important that you choose a problem that has plenty of readily available information for you. It will be a disaster if your GT is merely a verbal description of your research problem. You need data, evidence to support that you are arguing. Most of students tend to select problem(s) on their current organizations to explore potential topics for their GT. However, this does not necessarily result in good GT. When brainstorming for a problem, you should also consider other areas that are outside your current organizations. This might be difficult at the starting point. But after some rounds of thinking and data collection, you will see this direction could be very rewarding. Your research problem should be manageable in its scope. Remember that you will have about 4 months to finish it, not 4 years! Just like eating an apple! You cannot shallow the whole apple at once. A organization might face with a number of problems and you cannot provide solutions to all. Therefore, you need to decide the piece of the apple that you would want to eat first! 3. Developing a GT proposal

Why a good proposal is needed? You should never start writing anything without a structure or outline. A good proposal is a promise for a good GT. Many graduate students reveal that they have spent 20% to 30% of their time for the GT to develop a good research proposal. This is because:

A good proposal means you understand what is ahead; By developing the proposal, you get insights on what you are going to do; This will serve as a guidance for you on the writing process; Until you write a proposal, you will not be certain if your selected topic is doable!; Spending sufficient time to think and write the proposal is very rewarding.

Structure of a research proposal There is no uniform structure of a proposal. However, the stylized structure of a GT proposal should include:

Statement of the research problem In this section, you should address the following questions: What is the problem chosen for the focus of your GT? Why that problem is important? Why you choose that research problem? This problem statement will be then included also in your GT as a starter, which is important for a good meal! This helps reader to know instantly why you select the topic and what you are going to do.

Research questions Research questions are those you will seek for answers in your GT. Whether your GT will pass the requirement depends on how well your research questions are answered. Research questions should be asked very carefully. In order to specify relevant research questions, you should consider the followings:

What do you expect to answer? To be concrete and precise on what youre going to do Try to ask some things that could be measurable quantitatively or at least qualitatively (ideally both!) Research questions must be questions! (e.g. not statement or description of something) 2 or 3 research questions are arguably most appropriate for a GT Research methodology Research methodology usually specifies a theoretical framework, analysis approach, and data source that you are going to use for your GT. Theoretical framework. For a GT, you are not required to write a literature review (i.e. to reviews all relevant theories/models in association with relevant empirical evidence on these theories/models found in the existing research). But:

You do need to read and understanding theoretical background for your analysis. You are required to summarize your theoretical background within 3-6 pages.

You are encouraged to supplement your summary with chart or figure to illustrate the theoretical background. You need to summarize the theoretical background using your OWN language. Copy and paste for this part could fail your GT at the defence.

Data sources. The question of data availability was considered when selecting topic (as above). At this stage, it is important to ensure that you could have sufficient data to answer your research questions. Data source could be either secondary or primary data (see explanation below). However, secondary data have been used most of the time for a research on banking and finance. 4. Data collection and analysis

As mentioned earlier, a GT is not a general description of your research problem. It is neither a collection of your own feelings on the problem. You need to formulate evidence-based arguments. Therefore, you will need data to support your analysis. For your GT, you could collect both (or either of) secondary and primary data sources. Secondary data Secondary data is any data that are collected and made ready by others. You will just collect their reports/papers to use the data. There are no stylized facts for collecting secondary data. The first place to look are the reports (in various forms) made by your financial institutions. In addition, internet provides you unlimited source of relevant information. You just need to be selective. When collecting secondary data, it is important to make sure that you know and note the sources of the secondary data used. When using these secondary data in your GT, you will need to cite the full sources of the data used. Primary data Primary data is the data that you will collect yourself (i.e. not available from any reports/papers or anybody). Primary data is most interesting (when appropriate) for your GT as primary data could provide fresh insights, new indigents, and hence more valuable for your findings. When you base your analysis on the primary data collected by yourself, it means that the data and analysis are genuinely yours. This brings you a high face value for what you reported in your GT.

Colleting primary data is time-consuming and could be quite costly in cases. Therefore you need to consider very carefully whether you will collect primary data for your GT. If you are intending to collect primary data, you should describe briefly how you will collect that data in the research methodology section. Primary data is usually collected using either a questionnaire survey or semi-structured interview. 5. Writing process

Why does it take so long to get to this stage? Following the above process, this is probably the part that youve been waiting for. At this stage, you may ask the question of why we have bothered going though such a complicated procedure? The answer could be found if you consider writing a GT as similar to building a house. The proposal is the foundation and the structure; data collected are bricks. At this writing process, you spend your efforts and some additional materials to complete the house. Where do I begin ? There are many different ways to start the writing. You will find it is difficult to start. But it is absolutely normal. Anyone, even novelist, could find it difficult to start writing something. So if you experience that, no worries! There is no unique way to overcome this psychological barrier as it is a case-by-case basis. In most of the case, it could be a good starting point to start with what you feel most convenient to start. If you even cannot decide at this stage where you are most convenient to start, you should write whatever possible. What you write first may not be used in your final GT but it will help you to overcome this psychological barrier. Conducting analyses: a difficult part You have now known how you will analyze your problem, and some data collected, this is now you should do analyses. Unfortunately, there are no good advices on how to do necessary analyses. Instead, you must utilize your knowledge, analytical skills, and your feelings to perform analyses of the situation using the data collected on the basis of the theoretical framework chosen. There are no lies in this part as this reflects your own ability.

Note that the outcome of this stage is to find out somssssse key points to answer the research questions that are asked earlier! In order to find these key points, the following sequence should be considered:

Doing analyses on each questions using your data collected; If the data already collected is not sufficient, continue to search for data; Be critical when you formulate your key points (e.g. always ask yourself whether there are other ways of data interpretation?); Putting things together During the writing process, you might have different pieces of writing. The remaining task is to put these separate inputs together. Therefore, most of suggestions at this stage are related to a good writing style. The followings should be considered to develop your writing style:

First, academic writing should be used in writing your graduation thesis. It is intended for academic readers, not necessarily experts in the subject area. Therefore, the text should avoid excessive jargon but should also avoid trivialization of the topic. Academic writing involves using unambiguous, concise and specific words. It involves avoiding three words when two can do, and then two when one can do. As a result, academic writing requires numerous drafts. The supervisor can help with this but it is not fair to provide him or her with a first draft. The student should work on a draft three or four times before submitting it as a draft for the supervisor. Second, if you are presenting information in the form of a table or graph make sure you introduce the table or graph in your text first. And then, following the insertion of the table/graph, make sure you discuss it. If there is nothing to discuss then you may want to question even inserting it; Never insert a table/graph before explaining about it; Always number tables and graphs; keep referring to them when you need to mention the message they convey after the first time; If you have a whole series of very similar tables try to use similar words in describing each. Don't try and be creative and entertaining with your writing. If each introduction and discussion of the similar tables uses very similar wording then the reader can easily spot the differences in each table. Third, the conclusion section is not merely re-statement the research findings. Why the reader need to care only the research findings after they have already read the whole GT?

This is a key section of a GT. Unfortunately its importance has usually been neglected. Many conclusions were written in hurry! Sometimes this section is best done after you have had a few days to step away from your research and allow yourself to put your research into another perspective. If you do this you will no doubt be able to draw a variety of insights that help link your research to other areas. Fourth, your GT should be a professional product of your Undergraduate program. In addition to the content, you should also pay great attention to formatting and presentation. After all, your supervisor and referee may not have enough time to understanding all details. Therefore, inconsistent formatting may lead to misunderstanding. The section below will ensure that your GT is presented in a professional way what is widely accepted in academia. Finally, when the deadline for submission approaches, however, sufficient time should be allowed for several drafts to be prepared and edited by the supervisor. Students who run late are often penalized because they have to submit an early draft when it could be greatly improved by redrafting and editing rounds. Particular attention must be paid to the referencing and bibliography. 6. Assessment Criteria

It is important to note that you must obtain the approval of your supervisor to submit the final GT. Once the GT is submitted, the evaluation of your GT will be subject to the judgment of the supervisor and the referees. Assessment criteria

In terms of content (70% of total mark): If you have a clear vision of the problem How you justify the choice of the topic The purpose, the relevance and the boundaries of your work How you elaborate, analyze and solve the problem How relevant your data and the analysis of your data are How you deal with the problem and how you come to the recommendations In terms of presentations and language (30% of total mark): How your GT is formatted, structured and presented How profficiency in English you are (grammar, spelling,) 7. Guidelines on the Graduation Thesis format

The content here is mere advices, indications and best practices to achieve best results. Title Page Title (including subtitle), author, supervisor, date of delivery Acknowledgement This optional page usually appears at the beginning of a GT. Executive summary A good executive summary is aimed at people who have no time to read the whole report. It should explain your major findings and results. It is concise, readable, and quantitative.

Length should be maximum 2 pages Be explicit Use numbers where appropriate Answers to these questions should be found: What did you do? Why did you do it? How did you do it? What did you find? (major results). Table of Contents List all headings and subheadings with page numbers. List of Tables and Figures List page numbers of all tables. List of tables and list of figures should be separated List of abbreviations List out all the abbreviations you use in your GT Chapter 1: Introduction You can't write a good introduction until you know what the body of the thesis says. Consider writing the introductory section after you have already completed the rest of the thesis, rather than before. Be sure to include a hook at the beginning of the introduction. This is a statement of something sufficiently interesting to motivate your readers to read the rest of the thesis. You should draw the readers in and make them want to read the rest of your thesis. You should then go on with the description of the case to be solved and the originality of your approach.

A good introduction chapter usually consists the answers of the following questions: l Why is this study undertaken? Why are you interested in? l What are your objectives? l What are your research questions? l What theories will you will be from? l Which data sources will you will using? l What are your potential contributions? l How is your GT structured and what is the focus of each component of that structure? Core content This part of the GT is much more free-form. It may have several chapters, sections and subsections. But it all has only one purpose: to convince the examiners that you addressed the case or solved the problem that you set for yourself in the introduction. The core content usually consists of the following chapters (or sections): l Literature Review/Theoretical Framework: to summarize the theoretical framework you are going to use in your GT. l Research questions/Hypotheses: to explain the nature of your research problem, the research questions and the hypotheses set based on previous literature. l Methodology: to explain the methodology you are going to use to answer to test the hypotheses in order to answer the research questions. l Data collection: to show the process of data collection. l Results/Findings: to discuss the findings of your graduation thesis. There is no unique way to present or format your chapters in the core content. Below are some good practices:

Titling your chapters and sections/subsections clearly Before starting a chapter, briefly mention what youre going to write At the end of the chapter, provide a short summary/remark on what you have described or analyzed in that chapter Never use only one or two sentences to form one paragraph Well-organized paragraphs are the main building blocks of your paper. Each paragraph should be relatively short and focused, with a clear topic sentence that articulates the main point. Editing (and re-editing) your early drafts is the key to make your GT sharper, deeper, and more readable. Recommendations and Conclusions This chapter provides the recommendations drawn from the findings of the previous chapter. It is important to note that the recommendations must be closely linked to the

problem you analyzed in the problem-analyzing chapter(s). No suggestions should come from vacuum. The conclusion section should: Answer what the strongest and most important statement that you can make from your work is? If you meet the reader at a meeting six months from now, what do you want them to remember about your paper? Refer back to problem posed, and describe the conclusions that you reached from carrying out this investigation, summarize your observations, interpretations, and new insights that have resulted from the present work. Include the broader implications of your results. Do not repeat word for word the abstract or introduction. Remember that each page of the thesis should be numbered and each chapter should have a title and chapter number. List of References This is a compulsory section of any GT. You need to list out ALL the materials (e.g. books, articles, notes, reports...) that are used in the GT. The reference style is provided in the Annex. Annex This is an optional section of your GT. It is important when writing a thesis to understand that some elements of analysis are peripheral rather than central to the main argument. Hence, appendices may be used to provide the readers with additional information that is useful but not essential to the understanding of the text. Annexes are usually supplemented in the following cases:

Having data that related to and support your analysis in the main text but you do not consider as relevant to provide in the main text; Further explanation of the theories/models you have used in your GT; Cases that you want to present as a supporting line of argument for your analysis but the cases are not directly related to your focus; If you conduct primary data collection, you are required to provide samples of questionnaire/interview forms and the list of respondents. 8. Annex Detail of Formatting Guidelines How to cite the work you use in your GT?

Articles in periodicals

Author(s). Year of publication. Title of article. Title of periodical. Volume number. Issue number (if available). Inclusive page numbers. Books Author(s) or Editor(s). Year of publication. Title of book (edition number). Publisher. City and country of publication. Number of pages (if known). Articles within books Author(s). Year of publication. Title of chapter or article. Editor(s), In title of book*. Publisher, city and country of publication. Report number (if exists) inclusive page numbers. Unpublished papers (presented at workshops, conferences, seminars) Author(s). Year of meeting. Title of paper. Title of meeting, dates of meeting, location of meeting. Sponsoring agency, city and country of location. Number of pages. Theses or internal reports Author(s). Year. Title. University or agency name and address. Type of thesis or identification number of report. Number of pages. Table and figures Tables and graphics should be able to stand alone from the text. Therefore, any abbreviations should be common ones or be explained in a note. Make sure it is clear how figures are arrived at. Provide cross-references (to earlier sections) where applicable.