Skip to Main Content

Formatting Guide 2025

Thesis (Bachelor's and Master's)

In this page you will find instructions on how to construct thesis. Formatting can be used for any Hanken written assignemnt, but it is especially important to use it for your student thesis.

Depending on what level you are as in intermediate (Bachelor) or the final thesis (Master's) the above tabs tells you what should be included in the Bachelor's and Master's thesis. This also include the abstract that needs to be included in any thesis that summaries the work you are doing. Dowload the abstract in the tab above ↗.

A Bachelor in Business is an intermediate work and therefore is shorter than a Master's thesis. A Bachelor's thesis demonstrates you are capable of writing an academic text before the actual work of a Master's Thesis.

Hanken’s bachelor's thesis will use all the formatting from this guide. The only exception is if your thesis for some reason does not use appendices, tables or figures, then you do not need that particular formatting. Every other formatting must be followed so that your thesis can be approved.

The Bachelor’s thesis has the following structure:
  1. First section (Roman numerals except on the cover page)
    • Cover Page (No page numbers, one page)
    • Abstract (see the tab above ↗)
    • Table of Contents
    • Table of Appendices, Tables and Figures [When necessary]
  2. Second section which includes the academic text + references (regular page numbering)
    • Body text (Your thesis)
    • Headlines
    • References (reference guide)

Remember the abstract!

Different Departments have different requirements on the bachelor's thesis and if they do not have specific requirements on the appearance of the thesis, and/or extra sections, then it is the formatting guide’s instructions that you should follow.

A Hanken Master’s thesis will use all the formatting from this guide. The only exception is if your thesis for some reason does not use appendices, tables or figures, then you can ignore those instructions. Every other formatting must be used so that your thesis can be approved.

The Master’s thesis has the following structure:
  1. First section (Roman numerals except on the cover page)
    • Cover Page (No page numbers, one page)
    • Abstract (see the tab above ↗)
    • Table of Contents
    • Table of Appendices, Tables and Figures
  2. Second section which includes the academic text + references (regular page numbering)
    • Body text (Your thesis)
    • Headlines
    • References (reference guide)
    • Appendices (always after the reference list)

Remember the abstract! If you are a Swedish speaking students but you are writing your Master’s thesis in English then you should have the abstract in both Swedish and English.

Different Departments have different requirements on the Master´s thesis and if they do not have specific requirements on the appearance of the thesis, or requirements for extra sections, then it is the formatting guide’s instructions that you should follow.

Submit your thesis

Once you are ready to submit your thesis follow these instructions. The Master’s thesis should be in the correct PDF format. The instructions on how you create this format is available in the accessibility instruction of this guide.

Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis should have a single page summary of the academic text. In the abstract there should be information on the title, a summation of the text, date and the name of the author. The summary should also include at minimum three keywords (can be more) describing the content of the thesis. It should look like this:

You do not need to make the abstract page yourself. Instead you can download a template which you can use directly in the document or copy and paste into your own thesis. All settings are preconfigured so that you do not need to do anything beyond that. Add a page break after the summary.

Picture of how the page break is under the abstract.

The abstract page is part of the section with the Table of Contents and Table of Figures which uses roman numerals. The abstract follows directly after the cover page but before the Tables. The abstract page should only be on a single page.

Bachelor’s thesis

Write in the relevant information in appropriate fields for your thesis. Mention that it is a Bachelor's Thesis in the Type for Work. The English Bachelor program will be active in fall 2024.

Master’s thesis

The abstract can be used as is. Write in the relevant information in appropriate fields for your thesis.

If you are studying in Swedish but you want to write the thesis in English you need to use both abstracts. Include the Swedish abstract in your thesis found here or by changing the language of this page.

Doctoral dissertation

The doctoral dissertation has its own rules on how it looks and does not use this abstract.