• specific and focused
• argumentative: it must have a main idea that is not obviously or trivial
• controversial: it expresses a point of view
• analytical, not evaluative
• result of research and thought
• challenging or surprizing
• a contribution to the existing field
• clear and comprehensive: make the topic clear to a reader who has not spent most of the time thinking about it
• concise and to the point
• logical
• well-structurated
• a pleasure to read
• elegant

• identify your thesis topic
• do a review of what has been done (literature and web search)
• identify possible caad-assistants which can support your work (ckeck their holidays and presence time)
• make up a thesis outline: outlining your argument as fully as possible before starting the first draft will give you a sense of the shape of your argument and will make writing the draft much easier
• think about the plan of chapters and decide what is best to report your work
• make a list, in point form, of what will go in each chapter - try to make this rather detailed, so that you end up with a list of points that corresponds to subsections or even to the paragraphs of your thesis
• make a draft of your thesis
• revise and improve your report
• final thesis

Thesis - Suggested Structure:
A publication consists normally of three major divisions: the front matter (preliminary pages), the tmain body, and the back matter:

Front matter:

• Title page
• Copyright notice
• Abstract
• Table of contents
• Acknowledgments, Dedications
• Foreword, Preface
• Introduction

Main body

Back matter

• Appendix(es)
• Notes (if they form a separate section)
• Glossary
• Bibliography (or references)
• List of Illustraions
• Index(es)

Cover / Title Page

The cover needs to be attractive and informative. The title page or the cover includes the following elements:

• title of the thesis
• name of the author
• type of report (individual or group thesis)
• name of the company, organisation or university (ETH Zürich)
• name of the Faculty (Faculty of Architecture)
• name of the Institute (Institute of Building Technology)
• name of the Chair (CAAD - Computer Aided Architectural Design)
• type of study/year (Postgraduate Studies 2003-04)
• date (month and year of submission)

Of all your thesis, this part will be the most widely published and most read. It should be a distillation of the thesis: a concise description of the problem(s) addressed. It highlights the background to the work, the aims of the thesis and details of the methods and results. The thesis should have an abstract page directly after the title page. This is written normally after the other sections, although it appears at the beginning of the thesis.

Acknowledgments:

Most thesis authors put in a page of thanks to those who have helped them in matters scientific, and also indirectly by providing such essentials as food, education, genes, money, help, advice, friendship etc. If any of your work is collaborative, you should make it quite clear who did which sections.

Table of Contents:

Make sure that the table of contents accurately reflects the organization of the publication. Place it as close as possible to the beginning of the publication so the reader won’t have to search for it.

Introduction:

Your introduction should tell where the thesis is going. Set the scene and problem statement. What is the topic of your work and why is it interesting. Do not overestimate the reader's familiarity with your topic. State the problem(s) as simply as you can. This section might go through several drafts to make it read well and logically, while keeping it short.

Main Body:

The body is the longest section of your report and contains the information you discover in your research. This section tends to be more technical than the others. Tables, graphics such as charts, graphs and illustrations should be used to clarify text. If one of the sections of the discussion seems to require excessive detail, consider putting the details in an appendix and referring to the appendix within the body of the paper. 

Conclusion:

It should be a distillation of the thesis and a describtion of the outcoming results. It is often the case with scientific investigations that more questions than answers are produced. Does your work suggest any interesting further avenues? Are there ways in which your work could be improved by future workers? What are the practical implications of your work? This chapter should usually be reasonably short. As with the introduction, it is a good idea to ask someone who is not a specialist to read this section and to comment.

Appendices:

If there is material that should be in the thesis but which would break up the flow or bore the reader unbearably, include it as an appendix. Appendices can be: data files, pictures, diagrams,... which are not important enough to keep in the main text.

Bibliography - Print Sources:

In the natural sciences, a bibliography is often titled References. There is no single correct format for a bibliography. Most english written reports use the MLA format (Modern Language Association). In the following you see how to cite various print and Web documents in each of these formats:

Books, example:

• Kerrigan, William, and Gordon Braden. The Idea of the Renaissance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1989

Magazine articles, examples:

• Bazell, Robert. “Science and Society: Growth Industry.” New Republic 15 Mar. 1993: 13-14.
• Marano, Hara Estroff. “Domestic Violence.” Psychology Today Nov.-Dec. 1993: 48+

Daily newspaper articles, example:

• Feder, Barnaby J. “For Job Seekers, a Toll-Free Gift of Expert Advice.” New York Times 30 Dec. 1993, Natl. ed.: C1+.

Bibliography - Web Sources:

To cite files available for viewing/downloading via the World Wide Web, please provide the following information:

•  the author's name (if known)
• the full title of the document in quotation marks
• the title of the complete work if applicable in italics
• the date of publication or last revision (if available)
• the full http address (URL) enclosed within angle brackets
• the date of visit in parentheses

Examples:

• Burka, Lauren P. "A Hypertext History of Multi-User Dimensions." MUD History. 1993. http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/1pb/mud-history.html (5 Dec. 1994)
• Harnack, Andrew and Gene Kleppinger. Beyond the MLA Handbook: Documenting Electronic Sources on the Internet. 25 November 1996. http://falcon.eku.edu/honors/beyond-mla/ (17 Dec. 1997)

Thesis - Style:
Your thesis can be written on german or english. The text must be clear. Good grammar and thoughtful writing will make the thesis easier to read. Short, simple phrases and words are often better than long ones. Sometimes it is easier to present information and arguments as a series of numbered points. But be carful: Your thesis should be a connected, convincing argument, not just a list of facts and observations.

Thesis - Deadline:
A thesis is a large work. It cannot be made perfect in a finite time. There will inevitably be things in it that you could have done better. The submission date for the individual and group thesis will be around end of september. For the exact date please check frequently our nds-calendar.

Thesis - Submission:

Individual Thesis:

• Layout: define a standarded and uniform layout including conventions about typeface and point size, margins and pagination, title page and chapter headings
• Format: A5 vertical?
• Printing: A laser quality printer should be used for the final copies.
• Hardcopies: 3 copies of the thesis are to be submitted to the Chair of CAAD (Philipp Schaerer). The second copy will be distributed to the library and the third to Mr. Dobler (Coordination of Postgraduate Studies)
• PDF file: convert your thesis to a single PDF file

Group Thesis:

• Format: A5 vertical?
• Printing: A laser quality printer should be used for the final copies.
• Hardcopies: minimum 3 copies of the thesis are to be submitted to the Chair of CAAD (Philipp Schaerer). The second copy will be distributed to the library and the third to Mr. Dobler (Coordination of Postgraduate Studies)
• PDF file: convert your thesis to a single PDF file