How to write a Degree Project
The UAB libraries propose a series of steps to consider 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, encyclopedias, 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).
- How to write the paper
In this phase, you need to organize and write the body of work. Before you start writing, there is a period of pre-reflection where you read and review all the information you have gathered so far.
You must express yourself with: clarity, precision, correctness
If you write your thesis in English you can refer to the Style Manual for the writing of institutional texts in English. You also have language counseling services at UAB Idiomes
- Writing tips:
- Use academic or scientific language in a formal and discipline-appropriate style.
- Avoid the literary tone. The text must be easy to read, clear and direct.
- Avoid passive and negative forms.
- Maintain a neutral and impersonal speech, always use the same grammatical person throughout the text.
- The vocabulary must be precise and varied.
- The language must also be concise with the use of the minimum number of words to express an idea.
- One idea in each paragraph, avoiding paragraphs that are too long and those with a single sentence.
- The terminology must be appropriate to the language of the specialty.
- Conventions: upper and lower case letters, italics, acronyms, symbols, abbreviations must be used correctly and consistently.
- Avoid the sexist use of language (e.g. teachers vs teaching staff).
- Resources to help you draft your paper
- Academic phrasebank (University of Manchester)
- 20 Recomanacions per redactar bé
- Com comunicar. Consejos prácticos para redactar el trabajo de final de grado (CAS)
- Cómo elaborar, tutorizar y evaluar un trabajo de fin de máster
- UAB Languages
- UB Criteris (CAT)
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.
We recommend some resources with useful tips for preparing your oral presentations:
- Presentations: oral. The University of Leeds Libraries Guide to Oral Presentation. Several phases are specified ranging from presentation planning, design, exhibition practice, the exhibition itself, and poster presentation. In English
- How to give good presentations [pdf] by Ann Marie Carlton, and Daniel Jacob.
- Support for Oral Presentation from the UNSW of Sidney.
- Oral Presentations, a web page elaborated by the Learning Lab of the RMIT University (Australia).
- Giving Oral Presentations, In Scitable by Nature education, a collaborative learning space for science.
- Edit & Present. Customized and paid service from UAB Idiomes that offers help in the preparation of presentations in English.
- Oralitat Educational web portal in Catalan, from the University of Barcelona (UB) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), designed to enhance the learning of skills necessary to speak in public without problems and with conviction. The project has the support of the Department of Education, the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) and the RecerCaixa program, and has the participation of 19 experts who explain how prayer techniques work in an informative format and transmedia
- 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. To locate documents you can search for the subjects Oratòria i Comunicació oral.
- Presentations and posters. Guidance and tips for producing effective oral and visual presentations, by the Institute for Academic Development, of The University of Edimburgh.
- Poster and presentation resources, a list of resources gathered by the University of North Caroline (UNC).
- Com comunicar: inter-university website of resources to assess and improve communication skills at university (pdf documents are also 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 Authorization 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 (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
