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Writing Your Final Thesis

What’s required in the final thesis specifically.

For general paper formatting, see Formatting Your Paper; for citations, see Citing Sources by Type.

Length and sources

Bachelor’s thesis Master’s thesis
Length 9,000–11,000 words (introduction to conclusion) 15,000–18,000 words (with appendices)
Academic sources At least 30, of which at least 75% are verified academic sources At least 30, of which at least 20 peer-reviewed
Note: These figures come from the most recently updated Style Guide (English version, updated 1 September 2026). An older PDF copy in circulation gives different numbers — double-check with the Methods Lab if in doubt.

Required structure

Only chapters and sub-chapters are numbered — nothing else in the thesis is numbered.

  • Title page and verso page
  • Acknowledgments (if applicable)
  • Table of contents
  • List of tables (if you have five or more)
  • List of figures
  • List of abbreviations
  • Abstract (Master’s only)
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1: Concepts and Evidence
  • 1.1 Definitions of concepts
  • 1.2 Overview of the previous research on the topic
  • Chapter 2: Context and Methods
  • 2.1 Overview of the research context
  • 2.2 Research method (philosophy, quantitative/qualitative, sample, data collection, data analysis, research ethics, research bias)
  • Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion
  • 3.1 Results
  • 3.2 Discussion
  • Conclusions (background, purpose, concepts, methodology, main findings, trustworthiness, limitations, suggestions for further research, implications, value of the research)
  • Self-assessment Chapter (in case thesis is written by two students)
  • Bibliography / Reference list
  • Appendices (if applicable)
  • English-language Summary (Estonian-language Bachelor’s theses only)

This structure matches the grading rubric. Find the Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis grading rubrics on this intranet.

If your thesis involves interviews or raw data

Qualitative, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews: transcription is compulsory. Archive the audio recordings and transcripts, and be ready to present them to the defense committee if a reviewer asks.

Quantitative research: archive your raw data (e.g., the Excel file behind your questionnaire responses) and be ready to hand it to reviewers immediately on request.

Self-assessment Chapter (in case thesis is written by two students)

In case two (max) students write a joint thesis, they are required to write a separate
chapter (about one page after Conclusion before Reference list) on the division of work done
by both students. This must be a detailed description of who did what and to what extent. The
purpose of this chapter is to show whether differentiated assessment of the thesis should be
applied. The ideal division of work is equal (50:50). In case one student’s input into the thesis
has been substantially (e.g. 60:40) greater/smaller than the co-writer’s, the final grades will be
adjusted accordingly. For example, in case one student’s input is around 60% and the other’s
is 40%, the former will be graded as per the thesis rubric and the latter’s grade will be adjusted
by minus 10%

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