BA Thesis Document Structure and Criteria 2024

(1) General

Die Thesis erhebt den Anspruch einer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit und geht als historisch, konzeptionelle oder ethnographische Auseinandersetzung über den Rahmen einer Projektdokumentation oder eines Werkstattberichtes hinaus, indem sie eigenständige und relevante Thesen für Design, Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Kultur entwickelt. Sie beruht auf einer fundierten Recherche und einer vertiefenden, innovativen Auseinandersetzung mit dem gewählten Thema. Der Umfang der Arbeit soll einer Länge von 12'000 bis 16'000 Wörtern entsprechen. Bei Gruppenarbeiten erhöht sich der Umfang auf das Doppelte. Die Arbeit soll im geeigneten Format gestaltet sein sowie in gedruckter und digitaler Form abgegeben werden.

(2) Structure

These are structural guidelines for your final BA written work.

Front Page

Imprint

Title: Title
Author: First Name Last Name, …
Matrikel-Nr.: 0000
Date: June 2024
© 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 (500 words)

----- Your research field (4000 words)
Current state of the context, historical background, societal, political, economical, etc perspectives
Literature Review - how has the topic been explored, discussed, advanced so far in essays, academic papers, pop culture, different fields of knowledge (medical, scientific, computer science, engineering, etc), different cultures..
Art & Design Review - how has the topic been explored, discussed, prototype, exhibited, showcased in art & design projects and led to innovations, inspirations, issues, etc
Community outreach - discussions with experts, with stakeholders, participants, etc
Identifying assumptions, 1-2 Research Questions + Hypothesis 
Detailing methods to verify hypothesis
Motivation, Intended Outcome and Contribution
Chapter Overview (narrative or organisation of your content)

----- Your concept (3000 words)
Concept and Angle
Related Projects pertaining to your concept
Field Research in-depth: interviews, expert discussions, user studies, observations, technology inquiry, etc
Workshops (Co-design, participatory, knowledge exchange...)
Involvement of your stakeholders
Findings and Next Steps

----- Project Development (3000 words)
Experiments 
Prototypes & participants/user tests
Role of Exhibition and storytelling
Evaluation of results by participants/users/self...
Findings & Outcomes

----- Conclusion (1500 words)

Critique of process and achievements
Contributions: original and unique perspective advancing your field
Future Steps

----- Bibliography (no word count)

Bibliography

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 or refer to the document ba_thesis_viad_2017.pdf for details for each type of reference. The important part is when you choose your style to be consistent and homogeneous throughout.

Usually, you can follow this guideline: Last name, First name. Date. Title. Publisher. 

For book chapter, journal and conference papers, study, etc. It's usually Last name, First name. Date. "Title of article". In book title or publication. etc.

For web URLs, you need to feature the link, the author(s) of the article/reference featured in the link, the date it was created, AND the date you retrieved the information.

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.

(3) Citation and Images

Text and Numbers

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. 

Ex. (Deleuze 1974: 53) 

For two authors, the two names are mentioned e.g. (Deleuze & Guattari 1973)

For more than two authors: (Deleuze et al 1974)

The name and year then refer to the bibliography at the end.

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). 

(4) Authorship and Plagiarism awareness

In case of two students authoring the document, please mark clearly each student's contribution.

A word about plagiarism (excerpt from ba_thesis_viad_2017.pdf): 

Gemäss Allgemeiner Studienordnung (ASO) § 16 haben Studierende ihre Leistungen eigen- ständig zu erbringen. Die Verwertung nicht deklarierter fremder Arbeitsergebnisse (z.B. Plagiate) gilt als unredlich. Unredliche Leistungen werden als nicht bestanden bewertet. Ein Ausschluss des fehlbaren Studenten, der fehlbaren Studentin von der ZHdK ist gemäss ASO § 24 Abs. 2 möglich. (Beschluss der Hochschulleitung 11.05.2011) 

Um Plagiate zu vermeiden, muss für jede Textstelle, für jeden Gedanken und jede Idee eines fremden Autors die entsprechende Quelle angegeben werden. Auch indirekt zitierte Text- passagen und Gedanken müssen eine Quellenangabe erhalten. Nur eigene Gedanken und Ideen, sowie allgemein bekannte Tatsachen («Ein Tag hat 24 Stunden») benötigen keine Quellenangabe.

(5) Grading and Criteria

Die Bewertung der Thesis erfolgt durch drei Dozierenden des Studiengangs. Es findet eine Bewertung der schriftlichen Arbeit statt sowie eine mündliche Prüfung. (Vgl. BSO § 15 Abs. 2a) Dabei kommen folgende Kriterien für die Beurteilung zur geltung:

Content