Master ISS literature search: Thesis

On this page:

What to take into account when writing your thesis

What to take into account when publishing your thesis (Open Access)

User license for your thesis

Using visual material from others

Writing support

Other pages:

Introduction

Phrasing the search question

Search engines

Search strategy and techniques

Getting hold of the full text

Selecting and evaluating sources

Referring in APA Style

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Summary and feedback

You can go from one page to the other by clicking on the tabs in the black top bar (for example, go to the tab Search engines) or use the next/previous buttons at the bottom of the page.

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• In your thesis you always use material from others, for example by citing or paraphrasing texts. Please make sure what you can and cannot do with material made by others. Always refer correctly and fully to all sources you have used in your thesis, do not violate copyright and prevent plagiarism.  To learn more, read the Libguide Citing Sources and information for students on the Copyright Information Office website
  • Tip: use a reference manager, such as Zotero or Mendeley. It helps you create a reading list in any citation style (such as APA style) based on the references you collected. If you install the Word-extension (or if available and preferable the Google Docs-extension, you can simply insert references in the text (again in the correct style).
    Read more in the Libguide Reference Management.
• You can't always use images or other visual material which is not yours. Always correctly cite your sources, also in the case of visual material .
  Read more about what you can and cannot do with images in the box Using visual material by others
• If you reuse (raw) research data it is important to know the legal status of the material. Sometimes you need permission of the maker.
• Be careful with privacy-sensitive information or data in your thesis. This is information which may possibly be traceable to an individual. Does your thesis contain this kind of information? If so, open sharing (in case of a Master's thesis) is very likely not possible. Always consult your thesis supervisor. 
• Keep to the rules regarding the use of AI, see the information on the students' website.

Visual material (pictures, figures) can be used in two ways in your thesis:

1. As relevant material to support your argument. In that case you may use citation right. Even copyrighted visual material and for which is given no explicit permission for reuse may be included, for instance a subject-related discussion of a figure or art work.

2. As illustration, for instance on the title page. In that case you are only allowed to include visual material with an open license, material from the public domain or material for which you have been given permission by the copyright holder. Do not forget to mention the permission or the open license.

Visual material from the public domain

Preferably use visual material that has been published in the public domain, that means material of which the authors have waived their copyright or material of which the copyright has expired after a period of time. Material in the public domain can be used by anyone, anytime and you do not run the risk of violating copyrights. In principle you do not have to refer to the source in such cases, but it is strongly recommended to add a link to the place where you have found the material.

You can recognise material from the open domain by the following logos:

(or the mention of CC0) the maker has waived their copyright

this work is (no longer) copyright-protected

Visual material with an open license

You can also use visual material that is protected by an open license (often a Creative Commons license to be recognised by a series of letters starting with CC-by) and for which reuse is permitted. However, some rules apply such as mentioning the name (BY), non-commercial use (NC) and/or not being allowed to edit the material (ND). Please be careful with material that is published under a Share Alike (SA) license (CC-BY-SA of CC-BY-NC-SA). You cannot reuse it in your Master's thesis if you are going to share it openly (as Master's student), because this material must be published as the original material and not under a more restrictive license with a  CC-BY-NC-ND publication, such as your Master's thesis.

Webpage about visual material and copyright

On the webpage Reusing images of the Copyright Information Office you will find an overview of collections that offer open licensed or public domain material. You will also find information about how to check visual material for copyright. If you can't find any information, it is best not to use the material. It could be an illegal copy of a copyrighted illustration.

NB the sections about sharing openly, only concerns the master's thesis and does not concern the bachelor's or research master's thesis

You will find all information relating to these focal points in this LibGuide or on the university library website (see the page about open sharing of theses).

Read also the Privacy statement Publication of student theses about how the UU deals with your personal data.

Each Master's thesis that is made public gets a CC-BY-NC-ND license.

What does that mean?

CC stands for Creative Commons. This is a non-profit organisation that offers authors, artists, scientists, lecturers and all other creative makers the freedom to deal with their copyright in a flexible way.  See for more explanation the Creative Commons website.

Creative Commons licenses tell a reader/user what they can do with the work.

Please note: it concerns open access material that may be shared and reused in principle, but under certain conditions.

The CC-BY-NC-ND license at your thesis means:

BY = attribution or name reference: a user must mention your name, insert a link to your thesis and link to the license (in this case cc-by-nc-nd).

NC = non-commercial: a user is not allowed to use your thesis for commercial purposes

ND = non-derivative: others are not allowed to edit your thesis or use it as a basis for new material, for instance by translating your work. Your 'work' (that is to say your thesis) must remain in the original state.

Read more about the Creative Commons licensed on the library website.

Tip: the user license is mentioned in the metadata of your thesis. It is not always easy to find and depends on the place where your thesis is found. So it may be sensible to mention the license on the title page of your thesis. You can do this by putting the logo at the bottom of the title page or to put: This Master's thesis is published under a CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Writing a thesis can be very demanding.  Are you having trouble getting started or do you need help writing?

Then take a look at the Skills Lab website for their special thesis support offerings.
On this page you will also find links to other forms of support and writing tips.

Or go to the website for students and within the Guidance and Development page (the filter in the overview is on writing for activities for thesis students)