General
The thesis raises the claim of a scientific work and as a historical, conceptual or ethnographic examination goes beyond the framework of a project documentation or a workshop report by developing independent and relevant theses for design, economy, society
and culture. It is based on profound research and an in-depth, innovative examination of the chosen topic. The length of the work should be between 13,000 and 15,000 words for an individual project.
In case of a tandem project, the volume is doubled and lies between 26,000 and 30,000 words. The work should be designed in a suitable format and submitted in printed and digital form. Don't exceed the amount of words!
Structure
These are structural standards for your final BA written work.
- Front Page
- Imprint
Title: Title
Author: First Name Last Name, …
Matrikel-Nr.: 0000
Date: June 2021
© Zurich University of the Arts, Department Design, Interaction Design
Mentors: First Name Last
Name, …
Typeface: Name
- Abstract (50-100 words)
General insight into the topic, project and findings
- Acknowledgments
- Table of Contents
- Main Content
Format of the organisation is flexible but it needs to feature:
- General Introduction
- Research Field (3000 words)
- Background and Context (Review of the Field)
- Research Questions - Hypothesis
- Methodology chosen for your investigation
- Motivation
and Intended Contribution
- Chapter Overview (narrative or organisation of your content)
- Concept (4000-5000 words)
- Concept and Angle
- Related Projects
- Field Research (interviews, user studies, observations. // technology inquiry // etc)
- Findings and
Next Steps
- Project Development (4000-5000 words)
- Experiments
- Prototypes (incl. user tests if applicable)
- Results (incl. user tests if applicable)
- Conclusion (2000 words)
- Contribution
- Future Steps
- References (no word count)
References & In-Text Citation
References
Organised alphabetically by order of source genre: book, book chapter, journal article, conference article, academic thesis, newspaper article, web article, etc.
Accepted styles: APA, CMS, or other. Important is that you are consistent and homogeneous
throughout after choosing your style.
In-Text Citation
Provide the source for all references you're making throughout the document, images, data statistics, quotes, arguments supported by theories and case studies.
Citation are made throughout the text by putting in brackets the name of author, year and
page if it's a quote or a precise argument. The name and year then refer to the bibliography at the end.
One Author
(Deleuze 1974: 53)
Two Authors
(Deleuze & Guattari 1973)
More than Two Authors
(Deleuze et al 1974)
Image Caption
All images have to be captioned either directly below the image or in a table of illustrations that list all images used with the page where they're used or the numbers that they have. Images should be captioned with title, year, author of project, author
of image (this can be two different authors), where it's been retrieved from and when (website link) or other source. In the case of an art piece, mention the format, the material ("net art", "oil on canvas", etc) and if appropriate where it is hosted
(museum, gallery, etc).
Helpful Sources
Additional Elements
You should feature at the beginning acknowledgments, especially if you worked with users and participants, if you benefited from all sorts of support, including your mentors 
etc..
At the end, if needed, add an annex with additional documents.
Number
your pages.
It's good practice to add a header throughout with the title of your document and the current chapter.
Footnotes should be used sparingly and only if they have a strong added value.
Authorship
In case of two students authoring the document, please mark clearly each student's contribution with different colors. An effective way in the past was to work in a shared document, e.g. Google Docs. This
way the mentors can see clearly who has written what.
General Literature
- Merkblatt für die Abfassung von schriftlichen Arbeiten im DDE
- Organisation of References
- Jürg Niederhausen, Duden: die schriftliche Arbeit, 4. ed. (Mannheim: Duden-Verlag, 2006). Wolfgang Weimer, Logisches Argumentieren (Stuttgart: Reclam, 2005).
- Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 7th Edition (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2007).
- Otto Kruse, Keine Angst vor dem leeren Blatt: Ohne Schreibblockaden durchs Studium (Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag, 2004).
- Michael Harvey, "Nuts & Bolts of College Writing (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 2003).
- Christian Boulanger and Raimund Krämer, Wissenscha!liches Schreiben (Potsdam: Universitätsverlag, 2005).
- Nigel Warburton, Basics of Essay Writing (London: Routledge, 2006.
General Literature