Aalborg University
Engineering, problem-based learning programmes
How a thesis is typically structured
A thesis committee at public research universities is usually reading for a specific shape, even before they get to your actual argument. The roughly twelve parts below are the shape most reviewers expect, each doing one clear job:
- •Title Page — identifies the work, author and program
- •Abstract — summarizes the question, method and findings in miniature
- •Acknowledgements — credits supervisors, funders and support
- •Table of Contents — maps the document for the reader
- •Introduction — frames the problem and states the research question
- •Literature Review — shows what's already known and where the gap is
- •Methodology — explains how the research was actually carried out
- •Results — reports what was found, without interpreting it yet
- •Discussion — explains what the results mean and why it matters
- •Conclusion — answers the original question and notes limitations
- •References — lists every source cited in the text
- •Appendices — holds supporting material that would clutter the main text
Citation and referencing norms
Reference managers like Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote are widely used to keep citation formatting consistent across a long document, especially once a thesis runs to several dozen sources across multiple chapters written weeks apart. They reduce repetitive formatting work, but they don't replace understanding the target style — auto-generated citations still need a final manual check, particularly for edge cases like sources with no listed author, multiple editions, or online-only material.
APA referencing is common across many Nordic university programs, especially in social sciences and business.
General thesis-writing tips
A few patterns account for a disproportionate amount of lost thesis time: rereading sources because citation details weren't captured the first time, rewriting an introduction repeatedly before the research it introduces is actually finished, and trying to fix grammar and structure in the same editing pass.
The fix for each is roughly the same idea — capture details once, in the right order: log full citations as you read; draft the introduction properly only after the analysis and discussion are largely settled, since it needs to describe the thesis you actually wrote; and revise structure and evidence before you touch sentence-level wording, since a paragraph that gets cut doesn't need its grammar fixed first.
How we support students at this institution
Because Aalborg University sets its own requirements — and only Aalborg University can tell you what those are — our role is to work carefully within whatever you provide. In practice, that means asking for your program handbook, formatting guide or citation requirements up front, and building your draft around those documents plus any direction your supervisor has already given, which is a workable approach across public research universities generally, not something specific to any one school.
What affects thesis complexity at this level
Two theses of the same page count can involve very different amounts of work depending on the program behind them. A quantitative, data-heavy study usually needs more time in the methodology and results chapters — cleaning data, justifying an analytical method, checking assumptions. A more applied or case-study-based project instead needs depth in framing and interpretation: choosing the right case, gathering qualitative evidence, and building a defensible argument from it rather than a dataset.
Given the kinds of programs typically studied here — Engineering, problem-based learning programmes — it's worth identifying early which end of that spectrum your own thesis is closer to, since it changes where your time is best spent.
Formatting and submission norms
Formatting requirements — margins, line spacing, font, pagination, and whether a thesis is submitted electronically, in print, or both — vary considerably between institutions, and often between programs at the same institution. There is no single universal standard, even though many programs converge on broadly similar defaults (1-inch margins, double or 1.5 line spacing, a numbered contents page).
This page describes general academic norms, not a specific formatting requirement — your own university's thesis handbook or formatting guide is the authoritative source, and it should always take precedence over anything general written here.
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Frequently asked questions
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Last reviewed: 2026-09-01