Requirements

Information on formal requirements for a bachelor’s thesis in the bachelor’s program in Business, Economics and Social Sciences (Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, WiSo)‘ is available here.

Students of the Business Administration (Betriebswirtschaftslehre, BW) and International Business Administration (Internationale Betriebswirtschaftslehre, IBWL) majors are required to have passed the module Sustainable Economics and Business II (Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften II, ZuWi II) in order to have their thesis supervised by one of the institute’s faculty members.

Students enrolled in the bachelor’s degree program Business Law (Wirtschaftsrecht, WiRe) need to have successfully completed the course ‘Sustainable Economics and Business for Legal Professionals’ (Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften für JuristInnen) to have their thesis supervised by one of the institute’s faculty members.

Students of the bachelor’s degree program in Business and Economics (BBE) are also welcome to have their thesis supervised by one of the institute’s faculty members, especially if they have completed the specialization courses in ‘Interactions of Economy and Society’. Students are encouraged to base their thesis on the topics and questions discussed in the courses. Interested students are invited to contact the lecturers of the courses or the coordinators of the specialization Univ.Prof. Dr. Sabine Frerichs and Univ.Prof. Dr. Markus Lampe directly regarding their thesis.

In the event of capacity constraints, students who have attended courses offered by our institute will be given preferential treatment.

Selection of the topic

When writing a bachelor’s thesis, students have to demonstrate their ability to handle their thesis topic independently. The selected topic needs to be in line with the institute’s profile, i.e. relate to sociological, socioeconomic, or socially relevant topics. References to academic literature are indispensable. The use of empirical methods (both quantitative and qualitative) is welcome but optional. Before starting your bachelor’s thesis, the topic needs to be confirmed by your supervisor.

Do you already have an idea for your bachelor thesis?
Usually, the student chooses a topic on his / her own and proposes the topic to a potential supervisor within the institute. An overview of the institute’s research areas can be found here.

You are still looking for a topic?
If you fulfil all formal requirements (see above), but do not yet have a specific idea for a topic, feel free to look at our list of possible research topics here, which is updated in line with our current occupancy rate. To apply for a bachelor’s thesis in one of these fields, please specify and propose a potential research question you would like to address.

Next steps

As soon as you have chosen a topic and - ideally -  already formulated a research question, please fill out the application and submit it to soziologie@wu.ac.at (Subject: Application bachelor's thesis).

If there is match between your research interests and the topics currently offered by our institute, we will forward your proposal to a potential supervisor. At an initial, non-binding meeting, you and your potential supervisor will discuss your research question and design, next steps, formal requirements (such as language, font style, etc.), and further aspects of thesis supervision.

Please note that a binding confirmation of thesis supervision is usually granted after the submission of an exposé, which includes a more detailed description of your research project, a preliminary table of content and list of references, as well as an approximate time schedule. For BBE students, the submission of a formal bachelor thesis agreement is mandatory. After agreeing on a topic with the prospective supervisor, the first step is to develop an outline of the thesis proposal of 3 to 5 pages, on which this thesis agreement will be based.

Supervision is usually limited to a maximum of six months. In case you need to extend this deadline, please get in touch with your supervisor.

Writing your thesis

Formal requirements

According to the curriculum of the bachelor's programs WiSo and WiRe, a bachelor’s thesis is worth 8 ECTS. This is equivalent to around 200 working hours or 25 full days of employment. The scope of a thesis should be about 30 pages (excluding references) or approximately 10,000 words.

The bachelor’s thesis of the bachelor's program BBE is worth 10 ECTS, which is equivalent to 250 working hours or around 30 full days of employment. The scope of a thesis should be about 30 pages (excluding references) or approximately 10,000 words and students are required to hand in a formal bachelor thesis agreement.

Please make sure to follow correct academic citation rules. When uploading your thesis to Learn@WU, all bachelor’s theses are subject to automatic plagiarism testing. If serious plagiarism is detected, the thesis will be given a failing grade and the student expelled from the bachelor’s program. For further information on correct citation and plagiarism, please read more here, here or here.

Grading

Bachelor’s theses are graded within four weeks of submission on Learn@WU. For a fair and transparent evaluation, both substantive and formal criteria are taken into account. Learn more about assessment criteria here.