Jul 27, 2012 ... HOW TO WRITE A SEMINAR PAPER. General remarks. ▫ Only write about what
you have fully understood. ▫ Use your own words to describe ...
Version 27 July 2012 (translation of “Hinweise für das Verfassen von Seminarabeiten” of 19 June 2012)
Lehrstuhl für AVWL / Finanzwissenschaft Prof. Dr. Silke Übelmesser
HOW TO WRITE A SEMINAR PAPER General remarks
Only write about what you have fully understood.
Use your own words to describe what other authors have written. Do not copy and paste other authors' texts. Also - especially if you write in German - do not simply translate the (English) texts. Citations are there to illustrate arguments, but not to substitute own explanations. Plagiarism will lead to grade 5.0 (not passed).
The paper must be written in a way that the reader can follow without having the read the relevant articles.
The paper is mainly intended for advanced students of economics. The usual technical terms can be considered to be known.
You should demonstrate with your paper that you are well familiar with the methods / instruments used in economics. It is also important that you work out the intuition.
If you use formal models make sure that all steps of the derivation are clear. Lengthy derivations might be better moved to an appendix. Note, however, that math is not there for its own sake but as an instrument to present economic arguments.
It might be useful to have graphs to support your arguments. Note that graphs are not selfexplaining. Explain all elements of the graph in the text.
Also examples can help the readers.
If possible you should complement your formal arguments by empirical facts.
Do not forget to mention the policy implications.
1
How to cite
If you make use of other authors‘ texts, you have to mark this clearly in your paper by citing the exact source. You should use the short version, i.e. mention in the text only the name, year of publication and, where appropriate, the page(s) of the source. Example: Sinn (2009, p. 56) or Federal Ministry of Labour (2009).
Direct quotes should be sparsely used as they most likely do not fit to the general style of your paper. If it is necessary to make use of direct quotes you have to enclose them by quotation marks. Long, direct quotes should be avoided. Short omissions within a cited part must be marked with two dots (one word omitted) or, respectively, three dots (two or more words omitted). If you add or remove an emphasis you have to point this out in the footnote (e.g. my emphasis). (If you directly quote an English text in a German seminar paper you do not need to translate it.)
If you do not quote other authors‘ texts in a direct way, but indirectly refer to the essence of their ideas (indirect quote) you have to mark this, too. The short version in the text is then: (see Sinn 2009) or (see for this Sinn 2009, p. 56).
If you want to refer to several sources, it is better to place them in a footnote.
If you want to stress that beside the cited source there are other, opposing opinions, you can also do this in a footnote. These publications can be mentioned as: “Other opinions…”
If there is a second-hand quotation (which should be the exception), you should mention the original source together with an addition: “Cited in…”
If an author has several publications in one year, which are used in the seminar paper, you should add a small letter to the year when citing an article in the text or in the reference list: for example Auerbach (2009a), Auerbach (2009b).
2
Reference list
Books and articles from books should be cited as: Sinn, Hans-Werner (2010), Casino Capitalism: How the Financial Crisis Came about and What Needs to be Done Now, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010. Frey, Bruno (2007), „The Rankings and Evaluations Mania“, in: P. Baake und R. Borck (Hrsg.), Public Economics and Public Choice. Contributions in Honor of Charles B. Blankart, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg 2007, S. 181-91.
Articles in journals should be mentioned as: Auerbach, Alan (2009), “Implementing the New Fiscal Policy Activism”, American Economic Review 99, p. 543-9.
Unpublished work, for example discussion papers, should be cited as: Hainz, Christa und Hendrik Hakenes (2009), “The Politician and his Banker. How to Efficiently Grant State Aid”, Ifo Working Paper 71, Mai 2009.
All cited authors / texts have to be in the literature list in alphabetical order. Different articles / books of one author are to be ordered chronologically: Auerbach, Alan (2009a), “Implementing the New Fiscal Policy Activism”, American Economic Review 99, p. 543-9. Auerbach, Alan (2009b), “U.S. Experience with Federal Budget Rules”, CESifo DICE Report, Spring 2009, p. 41-8.
If there are more than three authors, only the first should be mentioned: Boadway, Robin et al. (2006), „Social Insurance and Redistribution with Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection“, Scandinavian Journal of Economics 108, S. 279-98.
The reference list must list exactly the literature used for the paper (i.e. all sources cited in the list must be used in the paper).
If sources from the internet are used, the web links and the date of your search have to be included in the reference list. Sinn, Hans-Werner (2010), “Rescuing Europe”, CESifo Forum 11, Special Issue, August 2010, www.ifo.de/portal/page/portal/DocBase_Content/ZS/ZS-CESifo_Forum/zs-for2010/zs-for-2010-s/Forum-Sonderheft-Aug-2010.pdf (accessed on 24 April 2012). EEAG (2009), The EEAG Report on the European Economy, CESifo, Munich 2009, www.ifo.de/portal/page/portal/DocBase_Content/ZS/ZS-EEAG_Report/zs-eeag2009/eeag_report_chap2_2009.pdf (accessed on 15 June 2012).
3
Formal requirements Elements of a seminar paper
The paper consists of the following parts: • Cover page • List of content • Introduction • Main part • Conclusion • (Possibly) Appendices (for examples with derivations, graphs, tables and additional materials) • Reference list • Affidavit
The introduction should fulfil the following functions: • Motivation of the topic (why is the topic interesting, why is it topical, how can it be put in a broader context) • Specification of the questions (which questions will be the focus of your paper, which questions will not be dealt with) • Short overview over the related literature and in particular over the literature which you focus on in particular • Short mentioning of the main results • Explanation of how you will proceed
Your work should be written in clear English (Master students or diploma students) or German (diploma students). Note that the form of your work will also be graded. Pay attention to correct spelling and punctuation.
You should avoid „I“ and „we“, and rather use other (passive) constructions.
Graphs and tables can be placed in the text or in the appendix. Calculations and proofs, which are not necessary for understanding the arguments, may also be placed in the appendix.
Tables, graphs and equations should be numbered. The numbering in the text and in the appendix must correspond to one another.
A list with the used symbols can be useful. A list with the used abbreviations as well as an overview of the tables and graphs is normally not necessary.
Each table and each graph needs an own caption.
The source of tables and graphs has to be cited.
Margin, font size and line spacing: Margin: left 2.3 cm, right 4.6 cm, top 3.3 cm, bottom 6.6 cm Line spacing: 1.0 Font size: 12 pt. Footnote: single-spacing and font size 10 pt. 4
Timeframe and number of pages
Timeframe (in weeks) Pages
Seminar paper BA 6
Diplom /MSc 6
Max. 20 pages
Max. 25 pages
(starting with the introduction and without affidavit)
Submission of paper You submit your paper by sending an electronic version of it to your supervisor on the due date.
The team of the chair wishes you success. Your supervisor is there for you during the six weeks.
5
