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Thesis in a Bachelor´s degree

Doing a thesis is a learning process in which you build your competence on a topic you define yourself and which interests you. A finished thesis demonstrates that you can apply your knowledge and skills in a practical expert task.

Ohita sivuvalikko
Student’s Guide

On this page

Orientation

Planning

Implementation

Thesis publication, assessment and maturity test

Orientation

What is a thesis?

Working on a thesis is a learning process in which you build up your knowledge on a topic of your own choice and interest. A completed thesis is a proof that you can apply your knowledge and skills to a practical, expert task. A thesis at a university of applied sciences is typically a working life development project, for example, to develop a service, an operating model or a new working culture. It can also be part of an externally funded research and development activity of the UAS.

A thesis is a development or research project. In addition to the development report or research report, the thesis may be reported in the form of a diary (PONT) or a portfolio.

The scope of the thesis leading to a Bachelor’s degree is 15 credits. The thesis is one of the other credits and you can do it when you have found a topic that interests you. You can easily complete a thesis in one semester – if you work full-time, the estimated time is less than 3 months.

You can work on your thesis alone, in pairs or, in some cases, in a group.

Prerequisite for starting a thesis

The active work phase of your thesis starts when you return your written topic analysis in Canvas. You must also have completed (or be in the process of completing) the Research and Development Methods course, or you have  equivalent competence that has been recognized as part of the degree through a demonstration of competence or credit transfer before you can start working on your thesis. Do this no later than your third year of study.

How and when to start?

The short answer is: as soon as you want and you’re ready.

When you are ready to start your thesis, ask your tutor for a link to join the Canvas thesis workflow. Your tutor will provide you with a link or invite you to join the thesis space no later than the second year of your studies.

You can start your orientation for your thesis at that time by thinking about a topic that interests you. Perhaps you have done an interesting project in one of your work life projects? Have you heard a lecture about an interesting RDI project? Are you dreaming of becoming an entrepreneur? Is an organisation influencing your dream job, for example through a good traineeship?  You can discuss your ideas with your tutor, for example in a PSP discussion. In particular, the material for a portfolio thesis is collected throughout your studies, so if you want to make a portfolio sample of your thesis, for example for your future employers, check the guidelines for portfolio thesis early on in your studies.  

The topic analysis is a sign and proof from you that you are actively starting to work on the topic you have defined in your topic analysis. The topic analysis is not a “course assignment”, but a real and genuine idea for your thesis.

Your personal supervisor will be assigned to you at the latest after the submission of your topic analysis, according to the timetable defined by your training.You can start the thesis as soon as you want or are ready.

What is expected of me and what support I get – the roles of student and supervisor

Help to get started is available. Check out the guidance for the orientation phase of the Thesis at Laurea workshop in Canvas. If necessary, your tutor, the thesis coordinator or the teacher of the course related to your topic will help you to refine your topic. Discuss your thesis and your search for a topic with your tutor in your PSP early on in your studies. Your tutor does not usually have a topic ready but can help you to see where you might find a topic and a sponsor.

The actual thesis supervisor will be assigned to you at the latest after you have completed a topic analysis according to the Canvas guidelines and it has been approved and discussed.

In addition to guidance from your tutor, teachers and thesis supervisor, there are other channels of guidance available at Laurea. You can also check the timetables and guidelines for your own course in the thesis supervision Canvas workspace.Help to get started is available. Familiarise yourself with the orientation instructions in the Canvas workspace called Thesis at Laurea.

The role of a student and a supervisor

As a student, you are the owner of your own learning process. As a thesis writer, you are expected to take responsibility for both driving the process forward and achieving the outcome. The completed thesis is primarily a demonstration of your competence.

Your designated thesis supervisor(s) will provide you with feedback throughout the thesis process. The supervision will mainly take place in a group, as students often have similar thesis questions.

There is a lot of unresolved information at the beginning, so guidance is particularly important at the start. In practice, this means the planning phase before the thesis plan is drawn up, during the presentation of the plan and possibly afterwards when it is revised.

In the early stages of your thesis, your supervisor will discuss with you the aim, purpose, content, research and development methods, the grade you are aiming for based on the assessment criteria, the different supervision options, communication channels, timetables and other practical issues.

The group meetings will also include peer assessment. The purpose of peer review is to support the thesis by providing constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement from others on the thesis and by receiving feedback and suggestions for improvement from others. In the group, you will hear about the solutions others have come up with and get ideas for your own work from them. At the same time, you will develop your own ability to comment on and evaluate other students’ situations and make use of feedback from others.

In addition, you can seek guidance from the thesis support workshops, which are an important part of the thesis guidance system. Typically, guidance is focused on writing, research and methodological guidance. You can participate in thesis support workshops according to your needs – if you can do it, it is not compulsory, but if you need additional skills, participation is strongly recommended.

A template for the thesis report has been prepared, which you can use to focus on the content itself and the fluency of the text.

The evaluation criteria for the thesis are public. It is up to you to decide what grade you want to achieve for your thesis. Achieving a good or excellent thesis requires strong self-motivation from the outset and a commitment to meeting the assessment criteria.Roles and responsibilities of the supervisor and the student in the thesis process

Topic and topic analysis

Thesis writing starts with the choice of the topic. It is a good idea to start planning the topic well in advance of the actual thesis. The topic can be related to your work-life project, a Laurea RDI project or a development project at your internship or workplace. Your tutor and other Laurea supervisors will help you to think about your topic. Thesis topics can also be found on JobTeaser.  If you are wondering which organisation you would do your thesis for, you should also check out the companies section in JobTeaser, especially the key partners of Laurea.

When choosing a topic, it is also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the criteria for evaluating a thesis. For example, you can do your thesis as part of a work placement or workplace development project, as mentioned in the assessment criteria.

Make a thematic analysis of your chosen topic. In your topic analysis, briefly outline the following points:

  • Preliminary title of the thesis
  • Your initial project proposal, including the field of work and the field of activity or  project
  • Name and e-mail address of the workplace representative
  • Objectives of the thesis
  • Intended knowledge base (preliminary sources)
  • Planned development or research methods/approaches
  • Other (links with other projects, etc.)
  • Indicative timetable

The supervisor will approve the thematic analysis or assist in further elaboration of the thematic analysis.

Type of thesis

The thesis can be

  • a development work or a research report (thesis reporting)
  • a portfolio thesis
  • a diary-form thesis (PONT)

Use of artificial intelligence in the thesis

The use of artificial intelligence must be discussed with the thesis supervisor. The student should have a conversation with the supervisor regarding the use of AI. The student must submit a preliminary version of the text to the supervisor before using AI. The use of AI and the manner in which it is used must always be disclosed. Please check additional guidelines in the thesis Canvas workspace.

Planning

Agreement with the workplace partner

If your thesis is project-based, you must draw up a written agreement with the working life representative at this stage at the latest. The topic analysis can be part of this agreement.

You can use the thesis agreement template below if there is no agreement on the rights to use the material and results. This may be suitable for, for example, diary-style theses (PONT) and development projects that do not collect research data and publish the results. For the social sectors and other sectors, you will find their own contract terms below:

In all cases, you can use the Thesis Agreement template below. Use the thesis agreement template below whenever you need to agree on the management of the material and the rights related to the thesis. It is always recommended for use in research-type theses.

A good working life partnership involves a discussion about how the partnership is progressing and what it involves. Have an open discussion with your work partner about the stages of the thesis and its content. Read more information on Thesis agreement package.

Thesis as part of an RDI project. What agreements are needed?

If you are working in an externally funded project outside Laurea and you are writing your thesis as part of the project, sign Laurea’s standard rights transfer agreement, which is the same agreement all Laurea participants in the project sign.

The agreement explicitly mentions the thesis as an exception: “If the Contract Research includes the preparation of the Provider’s thesis, the rights to the thesis are not transferred to Laurea.” Laurea enters into normal project contracts with external partners if such contracts exist in the project, but no separate agreement is made between Laurea and the partner specifically for an individual thesis.

Thesis plan and its presentation

Turn your thematic analysis into a thesis plan.

The thesis plan should include at least the following:

  • A tentative title for the thesis
  • Choice of topic, background and purpose of the work, objective of the development work or possible research problem (only in the case of a thesis).
  • Form of the thesis (development or research)
  • Description and delimitation of the phenomenon to be developed/studied
  • Knowledge base of the thesis (mainly): key concepts, links to literature, previous research and professional debate
  • How the development/research is carried out, i.e. the methodology (collection and analysis of data) Justification of the chosen methodology according to the purpose and objectives.
  • Evaluation plan for the development work
  • Preliminary reflection on reliability and ethical issues according to the topic
  • Timetable
  • Preliminary table of contents
  • List of references
  • Assessment objective in relation to the evaluation criteria for the thesis

No later than the plan approval stage, discuss with your supervisor the evaluation criteria and your own objectives for the grade.

Present your plan according to the guidelines of your school/campus.

Thesis data management

If the work will generate data, make a data management plan. Creating a data management plan helps to take into account at a sufficiently early stage the implications of data protection legislation and ethical norms related to the thesis and its implementation, as well as issues concerning the publication of the thesis and the opening of the material, which may be agreed separately. Good planning and preparation of the thesis will avoid unpleasant surprises and extra work later on.

Here you can find Laurea’s Data Management Plan template and instructions for creating a data management plan: 

Discuss the sponsor’s and Laurea’s rights to the material, if necessary.

Take care of version control and appropriate storage of the material. Check the appropriate storage locations and distribution methods for your data against the Guide for Processing information materials by Laurea.

What to do with the data after the thesis is completed?

Destroy your thesis data in the following cases:

  • You have not informed your subjects in advance about the further use of the data.
  • The data containing personal information will not be anonymised.
  • You have not agreed otherwise with the university or the commissioner.

Paper material can be effectively destroyed, for example by shredding or incineration.

  • Material on a USB stick can be destroyed by destroying the stick.
  • In the case of electronic material, destruction can be achieved, for example, by overwriting. Simply putting the material in the computer’s bin or emptying the bin does not in itself mean that the material is permanently destroyed.

Possible preservation of the material: discuss the preservation of your thesis material with your thesis supervisor and the working life representative. Please note that if the material contains personally identifiable information or other content that cannot be retained (e.g. trade secrets), you cannot retain it as such. Please note that any further use of the data and any parallel use of the working life representative’s or Laurea’s data, including your own further use, must be communicated to the subjects before the data are collected. Thesis participants must be informed in a comprehensible way about any further use.

Thesis data protection

Make sure you know the concepts of personal data before you start collecting personal data. Personal data collection and processing must comply with data protection legislation.

Processing personal data is justified only when it is necessary for the thesis. Minimise the personal data collected; do not collect information unnecessarily or just in case. Carefully consider the purpose of using personal data, as this determines what personal data you need to carry out the planned thesis.

Also ensure that you have obtained any necessary consents from individuals for the processing of personal data.

Protect the data appropriately and destroy personal data once you no longer need it. Process personal data only in Laurea’s recommended handling locations according to the data classification: Laurea’s recommended data handling locations.

Always describe the processing of personal data and how you inform the data providers.

If necessary, you can use Laurea’s thesis data protection notice template or explain the processing of personal data in another way suitable for the target group.

The most important things you should tell at least are the following:

  • for what purpose personal data is collected
  • if the processing is based on consent, how consent can be withdrawn and how withdrawal affects the processing of personal data (for example, personal data may not be removable afterwards even if the person wishes so)
  • whether the data will be disclosed to anyone outside (or if it will, this must be stated)
  • that data will be processed in a secure environment inaccessible to outsiders (if necessary, you can give more details)
  • when and how the collected data will be destroyed (possible recordings, interview materials, questionnaires, etc. containing personal data)
  • who can be contacted if they have any questions about the processing of their personal data.

Research permit

The student is responsible for ensuring that they have obtained all research permits and other necessary permissions required to complete the thesis and that the process is conducted in accordance with the granted permits. A research permit must always be applied for from the organisation to which the research is directed.

If the research may cause physical, psychological, or legal harm to the research subjects, the thesis author must request a statement from an ethical review board as an attachment to the research permit application. See the section on ethical pre-evaluation below. Before submitting a request for an ethical statement, the student must discuss the matter with the thesis supervisor.

Whenever the research is directed at Laurea as an organisation, Laurea students, Laurea staff, or any subset of them, a research permit from Laurea is required. The research permit application must be submitted to researchpermit@laurea.fi. Please familiarise yourself with the instructions concerning research permits, follow them accordingly, and submit the application once it is ready for processing.

Note: The research permit application must include a research plan as an attachment. If you process students’ or teachers’ email addresses, for example for sending a survey or interview invitation, you must also complete the data protection section on page three of the application. Please also ensure that your supervisor has reviewed the application before it is submitted.

Ethics of research and development

Different ethical questions emerge when research and development activities are carried out. Reflection from an ethical point of view is a central part of the thesis process.  Guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (2023) and  Ethical principles in research with human participants(2019)  as well as the regulations and guidelines regarding professional ethics in each field are observed when completing a thesis. Follow Ethical recommendations for the thesis writing at the universities of applied sciences.

Violations of responsible conduct of research can be divided into two groups. Disregard for responsible conduct of research is manifested as gross ignorance and recklessness particularly when conducting research. Research misconduct, on the other hand, refers to misleading others deliberately. Its manifestations can be illustrated in the following ways:

  • Fabrication refers to presenting observations or results that have been invented.
  • Falsification (misrepresentation) refers to deliberate modification of original observations.
  • Unacknowledged borrowing i.e. plagiarism refers to presenting someone else’s work as one’s own.
  • Misappropriation refers to unlawfully presenting as one’s own an original research idea, plan or findings that were confidentially presented. (RCR guidelines 2023.)

When people take part in a thesis, for example in an interview, observation, survey or workshop, they are informed about the thesis and their contribution to it. They will also be informed if the thesis material will be further used or stored in a data archive. Participants will be asked to give their consent to participate and to the processing of their personal data.

Implementation

In the implementation phase, you will complete your thesis in stages.

Tasks in the implementation phase:

  • In this phase, you will actively work on your thesis. You should make use of the comments you have received on your draft plan.
  • Actively participate in supervision meetings according to the schedule set by your supervisor.
  • Take advantage of the comments and guidance provided by others on their work
  • Return intermediate versions of your work to your supervisor in the implementation feedback box.
  • When you want to present your work to others in a tutorial meeting, upload your work for your fellow students to see in a Teams chat. Be sure to also save the same version in the Implementation Feedback box for your tutor to see and comment on. This means that you may have several intermediate versions in the box.
  • The opponent for each work will be defined in advance according to the instructor’s policy.
  • Guiding is a dialogue between the performer, the director and the other participants. The more people you get comments from, the more ideas you will have to take your work forward.

Writing a thesis

The process of writing a thesis is very much an interaction between the thesis writer and other people. You will receive guidance from your supervisor and other students working on your thesis. You should also have discussions with your thesis supervisor at the beginning of the thesis about the objectives of the work and throughout the thesis in an agreed way at different stages.

Fellow students, especially those working on the thesis itself, can be an invaluable support in helping the writing process to progress according to the planned timetable. Their comments should be sought, and you should also offer to help by commenting on someone else’s work.

You are responsible for the writing process and for presenting the progress of your work.

The Thesis Reporting page provides guidance on reporting different types of thesis.

Workshops on writing, data collection and methodological guidance

Schedules of workshops to support the thesis.

Thesis publication, evaluation and maturity test

Writing an abstract of the thesis

Purpose of the abstract

The thesis abstract is your thesis in miniature. It gives a first impression of what information the reader can get from your thesis. When writing an abstract, think about writing for a reader who is not familiar with your topic. The text of the abstract should give an overall picture of the main content of the thesis. Please note that the abstract will be publicly displayed on Theseus, so it should not contain any personal or company secrets.

Contents of the abstract

Your task is to summarise your text in around 150 words. So use the phrases that best describe the content and cut out the details. You can divide your abstract into two parts. In the first, describe the objectives, background, research problems and target groups of the thesis. In the second paragraph, briefly discuss the methodology, data, results and main conclusions. Also mention how the results of your thesis can be applied in working life. Use the same descriptive style in the operational thesis where it is appropriate to your work. Finally, check whether the text gives an accurate picture of the main content of your thesis.

Abstract style

The abstract is written in the passive voice and no personal pronouns are used. The tense of the abstract is in the imperfect tense wherever possible, especially the part about your own work. When writing, use a polished style and try to describe your work objectively. Do not use direct question sentences. When using abbreviations, remember to write the word open when it is first mentioned in the text.

A checklist for the abstract writer

  • Compare the contents of the abstract with the headings in the table of contents to ensure that the content covers all the main points of the thesis.
  • For your English abstract, you will need the exact English equivalents of terms, which you can usually only find in the relevant literature. So look for articles and other literature on your thesis topic in English too.
  • When describing the objectives of your thesis, you can use terms such as:
    • The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis was to examine…
    • The objective of this study was to investigate…
    • The purpose/intention/goal/target of this thesis was to find out…
  • To describe the methods, you can use phrases such as the following.
    • Qualitative/quantitative method was applied in this thesis.
    • Questionnaires were sent out… X responses were received.
    • The survey was conducted/carried out…
  • To describe the results, you could use phrases such as.
    • The results show/reveal/indicate that…
    • It was found/discovered that…
    • The main/principal conclusion is that…
  • It is also a good idea to have the English abstract read by an outside reader to make sure that the abstract is understandable without the reader having to read the whole thesis.

Presentation of a thesis at the publication stage

In the publication phase, you will polish your work into a final form for publication. This is also the stage where you present your thesis at a seminar. At the same time, you will receive feedback on your thesis from other students and your supervisors.

The aim is that the presentation will be accompanied by an argumentative, professional discussion on the topic. Your thesis does not have to be fully completed at the presentation at the publication stage, so you can complete it with the feedback you receive.

Have an evaluation discussion with your supervisor at or after the publication stage presentation.

Opposing a thesis

Opposition is part of the presentation session of a thesis in the planning and assessment stage. Each student acts as an opponent on their turn. To complete the study unit comprising the thesis (15 credits), the student needs one approved opposition. The student can act as an opponent on their own or with a partner. Acting as an opponent is a learning situation for the student.

Your responsibilities as an opponent:  

  • you act as the chair in the presentation of the thesis you oppose (welcoming words, introducing the thesis, opponent’s contribution, general debate, thesis supervisor’s contribution)
  • you familiarise yourself carefully in advance with the thesis you oppose
  • you present a comprehensive review of the thesis (structure, result/output, report)
  • you pose clarifying questions on matters concerning the thesis and objects of opposition that are deemed important and interesting
  • you give constructive, varied and well-founded feedback to the author/authors
  • you participate in the general debate of the thesis presentation session
  • you compile a short written report on your opposition and return it to the supervisor of the thesis and to the authors of the thesis.

The report consists of: 

  • an assessment of the central objects of opposition
  • suggestions for corrections to the thesis report
  • the matters that were brought up and highlighted in the debate.

Objects of opposition

Thesis as a whole

  • outlining and justifying the thesis topic, its relevance as well as its connection with the working life
  • compatibility of the theory background, implementation of the thesis and the results/output
  • clarity, consistency and credibility of the report, use of sources and references, language and layout

Equivalence of titles and content

  • informativeness of the titling
  • does the name of the thesis correspond with the thesis content
  • do the titles and subtitles correspond with the chapter content

Clarity and coverage of the theoretical background

  • how the concepts central to the thesis have been described
  • how the theoretical background has been structured
  • the use of research data
  • how the theoretical background supports and justifies the implementation of the thesis

The purpose and aims of the thesis

  • how clearly the purpose of the thesis has been described
  • are the aims realistic and meaningful from the point of view of the thesis’ purpose
  • do the thesis problems/questions/tasks support the purpose and aims of the thesis
  • are all the problems/questions addressed in the thesis

The methods and implementation of the thesis

  • how the chosen methods have been justified and described
  • how the chosen method serves the purpose of the thesis
  • thesis based on a theoretical study > how the material collection, material and material analysis have been described, functional thesis > how structured and logical the description of the action is
  • how the participation of the working life partner and the cooperation have been described

The results/output of the thesis

  • how the results/output have been reported
  • how the results/output can be utilised in working life/the field
  • the innovativeness of the result/output

Thesis discussion/assessment

  • how the reliability realisation of the thesis has been described
  • how the ethical questions of the thesis have been solved and described
  • how the results of the thesis have been examined in relation to the research presented in the theoretical background
  • functional thesis > how the achievement of the thesis aims has been assessed and the used assessment methods described

Conclusions/development suggestions

  • are there any conclusions or justified development suggestions made based on the results of the thesis

Maturity test

The thesis includes a maturity test by which you demonstrate your familiarity with the field and your command of the academic language. The supervisor of the thesis guides and checks the maturity test. Agree on the writing of the maturity test with your supervisor.

The use of AI in the maturity test is prohibited. In a Bachelor´s degree the maturity test serves as evidence of subject-related competence and language skills.

You write the maturity test in your academic language, i.e. in most cases either Finnish or Swedish. If your academic language is other than Finnish or Swedish or you received your academic education abroad, you write the maturity test in the language of instruction of the programme.

The academic language and the language of the maturity test are recorded on the diploma supplement, and they indicate the excellent language proficiency required in public administration.

The maturity test can be written, for example, as a bulletin, a draft article, or an essay task. See maturity test implementation methods

Plagiarism check

Plagiarism means the unauthorised borrowing of text, i.e. presenting someone else’s text etc. as your own. Read more about plagiarism here

Submit your thesis to the Canvas workspace section “Publication phase submission and plagiarism check” only after you have received permission and instructions from your thesis supervisor.

Thesis accessibility check

The Accessibility Directive requires that Laurea theses must be accessible. Once your thesis has been approved for publication and is ready for storage in the Theseus database, you will need to carry out the following accessibility check.

There is a function in Word that allows you to check the accessibility of your document:

  • Open the File/Review tab.
  • Open the Check for issues menu.
  • Select Check Accessibility.
  • This opens the Accessibility window on the right side of the Word document. The inspection results show possible errors and warnings.
  • Go through all errors and correct them. Please note that Word also provides additional information about the errors and instructions on how to fix them.

Convert a Word document into an accessible PDF/A as follows:

  • Select the File tab.
  • Select Export.
  • Then select Create PDF or XPS Document.
  • Click on Create PDF/XPS.
  • In the window that opens, determine the folder in which the file is saved. Give a file name that describes the content of the document.
  • Before clicking Publish, open Options.
  • Select both Document structure tags for accessibility and Document properties. By selecting these boxes, the heading identifiers (i.e. tags) and the title given to the file are transferred to the PDF file.
  • You should also select Create bookmarks using Headings. This facilitates moving within the PDF file.
  • Select PDF/A compliant.(ISO 19005-1 compliant PDF/A).

With the latest version of Adobe, you can also check the accessibility of a pdf as follows: tools – Accessibility – Open – Accessibility Check- Start checking.

See the illustrated guide on the use of the thesis template and accessibility.
For more information and practical advice on how to create accessible documents, see also accessibility guidelines on Theseus. If accessibility problems arise during the review of the document, these should be corrected before the thesis is stored in the Theseus database. Once you have ensured that your thesis is accessible, you can proceed with the storage of the thesis.

Thesis publication

Uploading the thesis to Theseus

Laurea theses are published in Open Repository Theseus. Thesis should not be uploaded to Theseus without teacher’s permission. When your teacher has accepted your thesis, the teacher gives you permission to upload the thesis to Theseus. The upload can be done only once and it cannot be modified afterwards.  Pay attention that you upload the newest version accepted by your teacher.

Thesis has to be uploaded to Theseus three days before the graduation day.

The options for storing to Theseus are either:

  1. Open collection i.e. the thesis in the open Internet
  2. Restricted collection i.e. limited use only in IP-addresses specified by your university

The thesis metadata (author, name of the thesis, keywords, abstract) is available on the internet. However, when storing the thesis to the restricted collection, the full-text pdf-file will open only when it is accessed from Laurea network. Read further information on restricted collection and Google visibility here.

Instructions on how to upload your thesis to Theseus

1. Convert your word file into PDF/A-format

2. Go to address submissions.theseus.fi  and to the link Upload your thesis.  You can check a video on thesis upload.

3. Login with your Laurea ID. You end up to an Item submission page. Choose a collection you want to upload to and then click the “Next” button. Laurea recommends to upload to the Open collection. If you are uncertain of which one to choose, check Open or restricted collection -guide.

4. Read the Distribution Licence and grant it by the end of the page.  When you grant the licence you give rights to publish your thesis online on Theseus open repository. After granting click the Next button.

5. On the following page you describe the thesis by giving its metadata. Fields marked with a  star (*) are obligatory. Attention! To the author’s e-mail field write down you own functioning e-mail address after graduation.

6. Choose rights you want to give to the readers of your thesis.  “All rights reserved” means usual rights given by copyright law.  You are also offered the possibility use Creative Commons licensing to share the thesis online.  You can read more about Creative Commons on Theseus pages.

7. Generate an URN identifier by clicking the link Generate URN.

Attention! When writing terms to the subject terms field, notice that Theseus is automatically suggesting you subject terms from General Finnish Ontology YSO. Use only those suggested terms, do not use your own words. Write one term at a time.

8. After filling in all the metadate click Next by the end of the page. Upload your thesis in PDF-format and a one file.

9. You will get a confirmation of the upload to Theseus into your e-mail when the thesis has been accepted. Your thesis will not be available immediately online as Laurea Library staff will check your infomation within one week. After the check your thesis is finally published on the Internet and visible to everyone.

In case of problems please contact your own campus library.

Thesis in the restricted collection

If a student does not wish to openly submit his/her thesis to Theseus, he/she can save the thesis in the restricted collection of Theseus. In practice, the metadata (author, title, subject headings, abstract) of all theses stored in Theseus are visible online. The pdf file of the work stored in the restricted collection is only accessible online at Laurea. For more information about the restricted collection and the Google visibility of the work.

Printing your thesis

If you want to have a printed version of your thesis, you can print the thesis at PunaMusta. First choose Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu, then soft covers (pehmeät kannet) and color 6, white covers with blue tape. 

Publicity of theses

Theses published at Laurea University of Applied Sciences are public documents. 

The thesis is part of a university degree and must be openly assessable. Publicity guarantees an objective and fair evaluation of theses.  Approved theses are public as soon as the thesis has been assessed.

In the case of theses for organisations, the name of the organisation need not be used. If the organisation does not want the output of the thesis to be public, it cannot be evaluated. If the thesis is about public safety (e.g. a prison safety plan for a criminal justice thesis), the publicity of the thesis may be limited.

If the student has commissioned the thesis themself, for example, through their own company, or the topic of the thesis is setting up a business, feedback should be sought from a third party.

Also remember to add partnership information of your thesis to Partner Relationship Manager (PRM) portal. Instructions can be found here.

The assessment of the thesis and feedback from worklife

Ask your work life partner for written feedback on your thesis. Feedback from the organisation will be taken into account in the evaluation. Feedback from the organisation can be asked for example with this template. The evaluation of the thesis will take into account feedback from the organisation, see the dimensions of assessment: innovativeness and creativity, and partnership and authenticity.

The following three factors are taken into account when evaluating the thesis:

  •     The implementation of the thesis process
  • Output of the thesis
  • The report written on the process

The dimensions of the thesis evaluation are: professional development, research and implementation, and innovativeness and creativity (see table below).

The completed thesis report will be assessed by two assessors, of which one can be a person not involved in the guidance process, such as the reviewer of the language and style used in the report. The assessors write a joint statement, which will be signed by both. If the thesis has been completed as a joint effort by two or more students, each student will be assessed separately.

If the student is not satisfied with the assessment of the final thesis report, they have the right to appeal to the Examination Committee. The principles of assessment must primarily be discussed with the assessors in the assessment discussions.

Thesis evaluation criteria and dimensions

See the evaluation criteria and dimensions in student intranet