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Professur für BWL, insb. Energie- und Umweltmanagement
Professur für BWL,
insb. Energie- und Umweltmanagement

Foto: UHH/Baumann

LEHRE

Style-and-citation-guide (english)

Please find the full guide below or download it here.

Style and citation guide for your thesis

Introductory Remarks
1. The table of content is the basis of each thesis. It shall therefore be carefully thought through (before you start writing). Do not use more than three levels (with Arabic numerals).

2. Do not base your work on a few references only, which you cite over and over again. Seek to avoid too many direct quotes because that might give the impression that you avoid writing your own text.

3. Tables and figures shall be integrated in the text only if they are essential for your content and if they are discussed in the text in detail. They shall have a heading; the related references shall be placed directly below the table or figure.

4. Footnotes serve as a further description / elaboration of issues that are not essential for the main argument discussed in the text. Additional references can also be noted in a footnote.

5. Try to avoid the following mistakes in your thesis:

  • Too long and exhausting introduction to the topic.
  • Not a sufficient literature foundation, lax handling of the citation rules, or too strong dependence on only one author/reference.
  • Weak phrasing: Strive to use scientific vocabulary precisely, in particular, avoid too long and complicated formulations and sentences.

General
Please note and follow the requirements of the examination office (Studienbüro)!

Number of copies and submission
The data (e.g., Excel-data) and empirical analyses (e.g., interview transcripts) should be handed in in electronic form with the thesis (e.g., on a CD).

Layout
The thesis shall be written on DIN A4-pages. Master theses usually are about 60 ±10 % text pages. Too many pages or too less pages will affect the grading. For page margins the following dimensions apply:

• Left margin: 3 cm
• Right margin: 2 cm

The font shall be well readable, e.g. Arial with font size 11pt or Times New Roman with font size 12 pt. As for character spacing the standard setting shall be used. The line spacing in the text is 1.5. The whole text shall be formatted in justified text. With regard to the footnotes, use line spacing of 1 and a font size that is 2pt smaller than in the main text. Footnotes are numbered chronologically (including the appendix). Avoid endnotes at the end of the text.

Structure of thesis
A thesis usually consists of the following parts (if applicable) in the following order:

  • Title page
  • List of contents
  • List of annexes
  • List of tables
  • List of figures
  • List of abbreviations
  • List of symbols
  • Main text
  • List of references
  • Appendix
  • List of interviews
  • Declaration that this is your own work (if required by the examination office)

The title page contains the following information:

  • Name of the university, faculty and chair
  • Name of the supervisor
  • Title of the topic
  • Your name, address, matriculation number and e-mail address
  • Submission date

Basic principle: every thought that has been adopted from others, has to be cited, i.e. the source has to be documented. If you do not cite someone else’s thought, you are guilty of plagiarism.

How to cite
In your thesis you can chose between:

  • the short citation format in footnotes in which the referred source to is cited in a footnote and
  • the so called American citation format, in which the source is cited in the text and not in a footnote.

A page number will only to be required for citations if you refer to certain passages (direct quote). This applies to both citation formats.

If, on the other hand, the overall message (the line of thought) is cited, the page number is omitted. If the reference cited (direct quote) covers two pages, there is an “f.” after the page number. In case of more than two pages there follows a “ff.”.

For the short citation format in footnotes please make use of “cf.” – for confer – when using indirect quotes.
Example:

(1) short citation format in footnotes:

Fama und French zeigen die Bewertungsrelevanz von Faktoren wie Marktkapitalisierung und Buch-Marktwert-Verhältnis.(1) Die „ökonomische Erklärung der Faktoren SMB und HML ist allerdings umstritten.“(2)

1 cf. Fama & French (1992).
2 Cochrane (1999), p. 10.

(2) American citation format:

Fama und French (1992) zeigen die Bewertungsrelevanz von Faktoren wie Marktkapitalisierung und Buch-Marktwert-Verhältnis. Die „ökonomische Erklärung der Faktoren SMB und HML ist allerdings umstritten“ (Cochrane, 1999, p. 10).

In the case there are more sources from one and the same author published in the same year, please put a small Latin letter behind the year. Example: Sharpe (1964a) and Sharpe (1964b)

In the reference list (back of the paper) the full title of the book or paper is listed – in alphabetical order. Sources of one and the same author are sorted chronologically. If you cite a statement from a source that is based on a different (original) source it is strongly recommended that you consider the original source as well and cite it accordingly.

The following examples illustrate how to deal with sources with more than one author or webpages:

Examples for the short citation format in a footnote:
• One author: cf. Brooks (2008).
• Two authors: Solnik & McLeavey (2009), p. 22.
• From three authors onwards: cf. Campbell et al. (1997).
• Website: cf. CDP.

Examples for the American citation format (in the text):
• One author: (Brooks, 2008)
• Two authors: (Solnik & McLeavey, 2009, p. 22)
• From three authors onwards: (Campbell et al., 1997)
• Website: (CDP)

If you would like to make direct reference to the authors in the text, please write “Solnik & McLeavey (2009, p. 22) propose that …” instead of using it at the end of the sentence “….(Solnik and McLeavey, 2009, p. 22).”

Examples for references in the list of references (please provide just one list of references; do not order /separate the references according to the classifications below):

Monographs

  • Brooks, C. (2008): Introductory econometrics for finance, 2. Aufl., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Solnik, B. & McLeavey, D. (2009): Global investments, Pearson Education, Boston.
  • Campbell, J.Y., Lo, A.W., & MacKinlay, A.C. (1997): The econometrics of financial markets, Princeton
    University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Book contributions

  • Koch, H. (1989): Techniken zur Handhabung von Unsicherheit, in: Szyperski, N. (Hrsg.): Handwörterbuch der Planung, Poeschel-Verlag, Stuttgart, S. 2060-2073.
  • Rudolph, B. (1994): Ökonomische Theorie und Insiderrecht, in: Ballwieser, W. et al. (Hrsg.): Bilanzrecht undKapitalmarkt, Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Adolf Moxter, IDW-Verlag, Düsseldorf, S. 1335-1349.

Journal articles

  • Sharpe, W.F. (1964): Capital asset prices: A theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk, Journal ofFinance, 19(3), S. 425-442.
  • Modigliani, F. & Miller, M. (1958): The cost of capital, corporation finance and the theory of investment, American Economic Review, 48(3), S. 261-297.
  • Hansen, L.P., Heaton, J., & Luttmer, E. (1995): Econometric evaluation of asset pricing models, Review of Financial Studies, 8(2), S. 237-274.

Working Papers

  • Kern, M. & Rudolph, B. (2001): Comparative analysis of alternative credit risk models – An application onGerman middle market loan portfolios, CFS Working Paper, Nr. 2001/03.

Webpages

  • CDP, Carbon Disclosure Project: http://www.cdproject.net (last accessed on 2.5.2013).

Good luck with your thesis!!!