Bachelor's thesis

For further information and guidelines for the Bachelor's thesis in health sciences, please contact your thesis supervisor.

Significance of bachelor’s thesis

A bachelor’s thesis is a personal and public thesis that is part of a bachelor’s degree in engineering. The work is by nature a study or planning task that demonstrates mastery of one's own field, readiness for scientific thinking and qualifications for applying the acquired knowledge during studies in working life. Bachelor’s thesis work also orientates the student for structuring, processing and documentation of information.

Composition of bachelor’s thesis

There are two ways of completing bachelor’s thesis in Computer Science and Engineering degree programme:

• Group work (max 3 students)
• Independend thesis study (Topics can be inquired from supervisors, research groups or companies: ictrekry, Aarresaari, see also website: Job opportunities)

In the case of group work the individual contribution of each author must be clearly mentioned in the thesis. An independent thesis study is done as an individual work in the same way as a diploma thesis, and group work is not allowed in this option.

The scope of all methods is 8 cr. The bachelor's thesis is always graded on a pass / fail scale, regardless of the method of completion. In a course-type bachelor's thesis, the evaluation is performed by the person in charge of the course and in an independent dissertation by the supervisor. The supervisor of the bachelor's thesis may be a person who has completed a Master's degree in engineering.

The ACP and ESP projects can also be completed as a normal course without a bachelor’s thesis. In this case, a grading scale of 1-5 is used. Do note that ACP is a compulsory course in the applied computing module, which is why it must be completed either as a bachelor's thesis or as a normal course if you choose that field of study.

In addition to the actual thesis, the bachelor's thesis also includes a 2 ECTS course in Technical Communication (900060A). In order to graduate, the student must also pass a written maturity test (521008A Computer Science and Engineering, The Maturity Test for Bachelor's Degree).

Bachelor’s thesis process

Bachelor's thesis can be started at the end of bachelor's studies. Typical start time is the third year of studies.

Below are the steps related to thesis work explained in more detail:

1. Choose completition method (Independend study or group work). Register for Bachelor´s Thesis Course 523991A. The course is organised in periods 3 and 4. All students doing bachelor´s thesis have to participate the lectures, exercises and seminars of this course. Note: Applied Computing Project I (521041A) course (ACP) and Embedded Software Project (521275A) course (ESP) no longer exist.

2. If independent study was chosen, the student must then find a topic and supervisor for the work. In addition, another person working in the IT research unit who has a master's degree in engineering may also be a supervisor.

3. Agree with the supervisor the topic, schedule and guidance of the work. Bachelor's thesis completed as project courses are scheduled, planned and implemented in accordance with the schedules and instructions of the course.

4. Start the thesis process at Laturi. Instructions can be found in the Laturi Guide. It is also worth checking out the thesis guide of the Library of the University of Oulu.

5. Write a short research plan in Laturi. The plan is max. one A4 in length. The plan should include: 1. The purpose of the work 2. Methods/material/devices/software to be used 3. Expected results.

6. When the work is almost completed, a maturity test is taken as an electronic exam at the Examinarium. The time of the maturity test is agreed with the supervisor.

7. The finished work should be in Laturi at least one week before the last Degree Program Committee meeting before planned graduation. See the schedule below.

8. The finished thesis have to be delivered also to study.itee@oulu.fi no later than one week before the committee meeting under the title “Bachelor's Thesis in Computer Science and Engineering”. If the work has been done in a group, only one of the group members needs to submit the thesis.

9. The diploma application will be done via graduation system in student´s desktop in Peppi when all the credit points included in the degree are displayed in Peppi. An up-to-date PSP approved by a tutor teacher (or education designer) is also needed before you can fill the diploma application. The education planner can be reached at study.itee@oulu.fi.

Note: the application for a diploma will be processed after the deadline of submitting the application. This means that as long as you have submitted your application on time, that is enough, and your application will be processed after that. You will receive an automatic email when your application is processed.

10. The electronic diploma can be downloaded on graduation ceremony (publiikki) day (not the graduation date). You will get an email about this. See the timetable below. You can participate the Diploma Conferment Ceremony if you want. Bachelors attend to the next months ceremony, starting with those graduating in August 2024. A paper copy of the electronic degree certificate will be given in the ceremony.

Timetable for graduation Autumn 2024 & Spring 2025

Instructions for writing a bachelor’s thesis

The bachelor's thesis is documented in the same way as the master's thesis, but it is usually a shorter, 20-40 page long entity.

The bachelor's thesis can be done as a group working in courses 521041A and 521275A. In this case, there can be at most three persons in the group. The group size should be also taken into account in the scope. . For example, in groups of three, the scope of work must correspond to all students doing work corresponding to 8 ECTS. As a result, the written part is made longer, closer to the diploma thesis. The work of three people should aim at 40-50 pages. This means demonstrating greater familiarity with the topic of the work, for example, a broader literature review, implementation, or evaluation of the results of the work. Each member of the group must participate in the implementation and writing of the thesis equally. Therefore, the bachelor's thesis prepared as a group work must clearly indicate the share of each student's own work, either in written or tabulated format.

It is recommended to use the writing guide for master's thesis also for writing a bachelor's thesis:

• CSE masters thesis guide

Document templates for thesis can be found here:

• CSE Bachelors Thesis template

For Latex template see Overleaf.
All thesis works must be compiled using above mentioned templates. Works created in other way will not be accepted.

Instructions also in Laturi-guide of Oulu University.

Other important issues

• Studies are compiled into PSP compliant entities. If there have been no changes to the studies to be included in the degree since the last PSP approval, there is no need to get PSP approved separately. A diploma cannot be compiled if a student does not have an approved PSP. Update your PSP with your tutor teacher every year to ensure graduation process will be fluent and on time. If you have any questions, please contact the education designer at study.itee@oulu.fi.
• Theses are public. The degree of publicity is determined during the upload phase. You can choose whether the thesis can only be read from the library terminals or whether the work is public online.
• Copyrighted material may not be published in the thesis without proper permission. For example, images copied from articles can only be published with a permission from the original author.
• The supervisor evaluates and grades the work in Laturi. Make sure the instructor has the time needed for the assessment within the graduation schedule.
• Registration to graduation ceremony is done at the same time as applying for a degree in Peppi´s graduation service. No separate invitation will be sent to those who have registered. You can get more information about the ceremony from the study administration service point. You can find dressing instructions for the ceremony in ceremony guide.

Instructions for bachelor’s thesis supervisors

• The supervisor creates a maturity test in the Exam system as a so-called personal exam. The student must visit the system once before a personal exam / maturity test can be created. Instructions for taking the electronic exam can be found here: instructions for the student, instructions for the teacher.
• The maturity test code is: 521008A Tietotekniikka, Kypsyysnäyte / Kandidaatin tutkinto / Computer Science and Engineering, The Maturity Test for Bachelor’s Degree.
• When the bachelor's thesis is completed, the supervisor accepts it in Laturi. The thesis must be accepted at least 3 business days before the Committee meeting. Laturi then sends automatically message to Academic Affairs Service Team about the acceptance so that the credit points can be registered.
• Information to be included when accepting the thesis in Laturi: supervisors´ names and research units, student's name, thesis title in Finnish and English, thesis language and that it is a bachelor's thesis. In addition, the message must state whether the work has been done as an independent work / group work. Information about pass/fail.

The studies include a Bachelor’s thesis of 7 credits for students aiming for a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s thesis of 30 credits for students aiming for a Master’s degree.

Bachelor’s thesis, 7 credits (811383A)

The Bachelor’s thesis that is part of the Bachelor of Science degree demonstrates that the student is intimately familiar with the subject matter of their thesis and has the ability to conduct academic communications. The thesis may contain an empirical section and a written research section, or just an essay based on literature. The Bachelor’s thesis is assessed as passed or failed.

Thesis Supervisors and Topics

Template for Theses

The instructions of Bachelor's thesis and how to apply for a Bachelor's seminar be found in the Moodle workspace.

In the field of biomedical engineering there isn´t any bachelor´s programme, only master´s programme in which the student must complete master´s thesis.

The degree programme of Medical and Wellness Technology follows General instructions on publication of the theses prepared in the degree programmes at the Faculty of Medicine.

Basically the instructions and steps to be taken are the same as in master´s phase of the Medical and Wellness Technology.

However, kindly contact Anna Maijala(at)oulu.fi for more information and possible additional instructions.

Bachelor´s thesis

The aim of the course is to learn to search and compile biochemical knowledge as well as report research using different methods and for different audiences. The course is comprised of three parts: i) Practical exercises conducted as online self-study, including literature search exercises as well as exercises presenting given subject in different forms, which may be a talk, a short article, a poster, a press release or a research proposal; ii) Writing a literature report (the BSc thesis); iii) Producing a popularized presentation of the thesis. In addition the course is linked to the module Ruotsin kieli (Swedish language) and to a voluntary 1 ECTS information search course (030005P).

Students should be able to execute a project to produce a thesis type output, be well aware of current research trends in biochemistry, be able to critically select knowledge from the literature, be able to discuss and debate scientific results, and be able to choose and evaluate proper form of presentation for each purpose.

During the course Bachelor's Thesis in International Business Management (BO00AL54, 10 cr), the student writes a scientific report (bachelor’s thesis), presents it orally, and gives peer feedback. Completing the course also includes a mandatory Information Retrieval Course provided by the library, the workload of which corresponds to one credit. The purpose is to familiarize oneself with the basics of scientific information retrieval, databases, and the evaluation of search results and sources. Registration for the Information Retrieval Course is done separately in Peppi. In addition, the completion of the bachelor’s thesis seminar in business studies includes a mandatory component, Research Communication in Business Sciences (YK00AL61, 2 credits), provided by Lingua, the languages and communication studies unit. Students will register separately for this course. This course focuses on the practices and specific features of scientific communication and presentation.

The main form of guidance for bachelor’s theses is group guidance, which includes seminar work and some individual guidance. The guided work in groups primarily takes place during the spring semester; an introductory lecture is held in December, and registration for the course occurs according to the instructions provided at the time. Joint introductory lectures are held in January, and each student is assigned a supervisor, whose group they will work with after the common section.

The preparation of the bachelor’s thesis consists of three main sections:

1. Independent study of introductory lectures and background materials (Moodle), the Information Retrieval Course, and Research Communication in Business Sciences,
2. Preparing a topic paper/research plan,
3. Preparing the bachelor’s thesis (including midterm report discussions), presenting it, acting as an opponent (including preparing a written report), and self-assessment (report).

Additionally, the student must write a maturity test on the bachelor’s thesis, which demonstrates familiarity with the thesis' field and proficiency in Finnish or Swedish. If the student’s school language was not Finnish or Swedish, the language of the maturity test will be English. If you have any uncertainty as to which requirement applies to you, please contact study.languages (at) oulu.fi.

The bachelor’s thesis is submitted to the Laturi system, and only electronic versions of the thesis will be accepted for grading. Evaluation is based on the learning objectives set for the bachelor’s thesis/seminar work and the course, in accordance with the assessment rubric.

Exceptionally, the bachelor’s thesis can in some cases also be done independently during the autumn semester. This is applicable if graduation would otherwise be delayed. (Note! Since a bachelor's degree is not a prerequisite for starting master’s studies, the thesis can usually be done in the spring without delaying studies.) If this is your case, please contact study.business (at) oulu.fi and your Tutor Teacher to assess your situation. For the independent option, the following should be noted:

• If the student does not participate in the guidance process normally during the spring semester, they forfeit the right to guidance according to the normal seminar process.
• The right to work independently is granted by demonstrating in a personal study plan that completing the bachelor’s thesis during the spring seminar would delay graduation.
• If the right to independent work is granted, the topic must be approved by the designated supervisor, after which thesis work can begin.
• The student completes the introductory lectures in the Moodle online environment as instructed and independently studies the materials in the workspace. This ensures the same foundational knowledge as for those participating in the spring seminar.
• It is also possible to complete Research Communication in Business Studies in the online version, if the online course is arranged in the Autumn of that particular academic year.
• The student should note that guidance will not be available to the same extent as during the spring seminar. Questions may be asked of the supervisor during office hours, but there will be no actual reading or commenting on the work during the independent process, only at the final report stage.
• The completed manuscript is presented in the research seminar designated by the supervisor, who will then provide comments on the manuscript. After this, the student revises the version to be uploaded to Laturi for grading.

Thesis Guidelines

Guidelines for thesis work can be found in the Guide to Writing the Master’s Thesis. The guide is applied when preparing the bachelor’s thesis in English, following the supervisor's instructions and those provided in the Moodle workspace. In the English-language bachelor’s program, the thesis can be written according to the guidelines of either the Finnish or English language version of the guide. Attending introductory lectures and discussing with the supervisor are the best ways to begin the work.

Please choose to view this webpage in Finnish to find the instructions for the Finnish-language Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration Programme.