How to write a Degree Project
The UAB libraries suggest a series of steps to follow when preparing your Final Degree Project:
- Academic information by Faculty and School:
School of Engineering
Faculty of Biosciences
Faculty of Sciences
Faculty of Communication Sciences
Faculty of Education Sciences
Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Economics and Business
Faculty of Philosophy & Arts
Faculty of Medicine
Faculty of Psychology
Faculty of Translation and Interpreting
Faculty of Veterinary
What topic to choose?
If you have the option to choose your work’s topic, select one that:
- Interests and motivates you.
- Aligns with your field of study.
- Has enough available literature to allow you to conduct in-depth research.
Once you've chosen a topic, narrow it down by considering the aspects you want to explore, such as perspective, time period, geographic location, language, and document type.
To help define your topic, we recommend consulting:
- The reading lists recommended by your professors.
- The collections available at the UAB.
- Reference works (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, Wikipedia, etc.).
Examples of Bachelor’s degree final project (TFG)
Examples of Master's degree final project (TFM)
- Where to search for information
To prepare an academic work, it is essential to know how to search for relevant information on your topic. Identify key search terms, combine them, and explore various sources such as databases, books, journals, etc. where you can find the information needed for your project. You can find information for your work at:
- Search Tool of the UAB Libraries
- Other search tools: CCUC, REBIUN, Google Scholar
- How to evaluate information
You must evaluate and be critical of the sources consulted. It will help you decide if the information resources used are appropriate and the results obtained relevant to your work, or even if the search needs to be reformulated.
Below, we present several resources that may be useful to you in evaluating the sources of information consulted:
- Avaluació de la informació (CAT) (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Bibliotècnia).
- Tria la informació fiable: els recursos acadèmics (CAT) (Universitat de Vic. Biblioteca).
- Cómo evaluar fuentes de información (Universidad de Málaga. Biblioteca Universitaria) (ESP).
- Critical Evaluation of Resources (University of California, Berkeley. Library) (ENG).
In this phase, you will organise and write the main body of your work. Before beginning the writing process, take time for pre-reflection by reviewing and analysing all the information you have gathered.
Key principles for writing:
- Express yourself with clarity, precision, and accuracy.
- If writing your thesis in English, consult the Interuniversity Style Guide for Writing Institutional Texts in English. Additionally, language counselling services are available at UAB Idiomes.
Writing Tips:
- Use academic or scientific language appropriate to your discipline, maintaining a formal style.
- Avoid a literary tone. The text should be clear, direct, and easy to read.
- Minimise the use of passive voice and negative forms.
- Adopt a neutral and impersonal tone, consistently using the same grammatical person throughout the text.
- Ensure your vocabulary is both precise and varied.
- Write concisely, using the minimum number of words needed to convey your ideas effectively.
- Present one idea per paragraph, avoiding overly long paragraphs or those consisting of a single sentence.
- Use terminology appropriate to your field of study.
- Follow conventions for capitalisation, italics, acronyms, symbols, and abbreviations, ensuring they are applied correctly and consistently.
- Avoid sexist language (e.g., use "teaching staff" instead of "teachers").
Resources to Assist with Drafting Your Paper:
Cover page
The cover should specify:
- Title and subtitle (if any), with a colon separating them.
- Author: Full name.
- Tutor (if applicable): Name of the tutor.
- Degree.
- Centre/Institute.
- Submission date.
For multi-volume works, clearly indicate the volume number. If annexes are included, label and number them appropriately.
Summary and Keywords
Both should be in the document's language and, if applicable, include translations (e.g., in English).
- Summary/Abstract: A concise explanation of the work’s content (200-500 words).
- Keywords: A minimum of 3 and a maximum of 10 keywords
Acknowledgments
A section to thank the tutor, collaborators, entities, etc. Personal acknowledgments can also be included.
Summary or Table of Contents
A list of the contents of all sections and chapters, in order of appearance, with pagination.
- For multi-volume works, include the list and summary for each volume.
- For works with illustrations or numbered tables, a separate summary may be created.
Introduction
A brief presentation of the motivation, objectives, methodology, and hypothesis of the work.
Body of the Work
- The main part of the work, presenting the research conducted.
- Organise it into chapters, sections, and subsections.
- Conclude with a chapter of conclusions.
Bibliography
- An ordered list of documents consulted, whether cited or not. Different citation styles exist; refer to the How to cite and prepare a bibliography. page for guidance.
- Using a reference management tool can simplify the process.
When preparing an academic paper, you must take into account graphic and presentation criteria.
Here are some tips:
- Format
The most common is vertical DIN-A4 (21 x 29.7 cm).
- Amount of text
- The pages must contain the same amount of text, between 30-32 lines, depending on the font size and line spacing.
- Pages can have headers or footers, with the title of the work, for example.
- Margins
It is better if the page layout is narrow and with wide margins. They can vary between 2.5 and 3 cm.
- Numbering
- The pages are numbered at the bottom, in the center or on the right margin.
- All pages count in pagination, including appendices, even if covers, dedications, slogans or blank separations between chapters do not bear the printed number.
- Justification and indentation
The text must be justified and the paragraphs, without indents, must be separated by a blank line.
- Font type
It is advisable to always use the same font. The most used types are Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman or Garamond. The main text must be in round letters.
Titles: 14 points
General text: 11-12, general text (reading body)
Notes and footnotes: 8-9
- Chapters, sections and subsections
They must appear hierarchically by typography and with Arabic numerals subdivided by dots. For example:
2. Chapter title
2.1. Section title
2.1.1. Title of Subsection
- Printing
Vertical, on one or two sides as indicated by your tutor.
- More information
Tesis i treballs: aspectes formals / Antònia Rigo, Gabriel Genescà (CAT)
El Treball de recerca: procés d'elaboració, memòria escrita, exposició oral i recursos / Eusebi Coromina, Xavier Casacuberta, Dolors Quintana (CAT)
From the How to cite and prepare bibliography page you can access guides on different citation styles and also reference managers.
Here is a selection of resources offering valuable tips for crafting and delivering successful oral presentations:
- Presentations: oral (University of Leeds Libraries Guide). This comprehensive guide outlines several phases, including presentation planning, design, rehearsal, delivery, and poster presentations. (In English)
- How to give good presentations [pdf]. Written by Ann Marie Carlton and Daniel Jacob, this guide provides practical advice for effective presentations.
- Support for Oral Presentations. Resources from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, to help enhance your presentation skills.
- Giving Oral Presentations. Part of Scitable by Nature Education, this is a collaborative learning resource for science students.
- Edit & Present. A customised paid service from UAB Idiomes offering assistance in preparing English-language presentations.
- Oralitat. An educational web portal (in Catalan) created by the University of Barcelona (UB) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). This platform provides tools to develop public speaking skills confidently and effectively. Supported by the Department of Education, ACUP, and RecerCaixa, it includes contributions from 19 experts who explain speaking techniques through informative and transmedia formats.
- Oratoria actual. Audiovisual teaching material consisting of 25 videos and the Guía de uso del compendio ORATORIA ACTUAL (SPA, CAT) on how to speak in public. Prepared by the professor of the Department of Spanish Philology at the UAB Carme de-la-Mota Gorriz, the aim of these materials is to improve "oral communicative competence and, specifically, the ability to explain and defend in public clear, reasoned, coherent, appropriate and attractive a topic, also taking into account the use of voice and the management of emotions". Videos in Spanish.
- UAB search tool. Use this tool to locate documents related to Oratòria i Comunicació oral.
- Presentations and posters. Guidance from the Institute for Academic Development (University of Edinburgh) on creating effective oral and visual presentations.
- Poster and presentation resources. A curated list of resources from the University of North Carolina (UNC) to help you design impactful posters and presentations.
- Com comunicar. An inter-university website featuring resources to assess and improve communication skills in academic contexts. It includes downloadable PDFs, some of which are available in English.
Explore the following resources to help you comply with intellectual property requirements and avoid plagiarism:
Each Faculty sets the criteria for publishing your work in the UAB Digital Document Repository. Please refer to the Selection and Delimitation of the Topic section for a link to the academic information specific to your Faculty or School.
To publish your work in the DDD, you must complete the Authorisation for the Dissemination of a Document/Collection in the UAB and CSUC Digital Repositories.
We recommend you:
- Virtual self-training course on Tools and resources offered by the UAB libraries to carry out your academic work.
- Personal advice: ask the UAB libraries or contact your reference library.
- 6 passos perquè el teu TFG/TFM sigui un èxit (CAT) (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Library).
- Com elaborar un treball acadèmic (CAT) (Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Biblioteca i Informàtica).
- Cómo elaborar, tutorizar y evaluar un Trabajo de Fin de Máster. (SPA) Guia de la Agencia para la Calidad del Sistema Universitario de Catalunya (AQU).
- Manual para la elaboración de trabajos académicos fin de título (TFG, TFM y Tesis doctoral): modalidad presencial y online. Manual prepared by Manuel Baelo Álvarez, International University of La Rioja. (Access restricted to UAB users).
In addition, in the UAB search engine you can find numerous documents on the process of preparing an academic work in general with the following subjects:
Additional information
