Midterm Assignment: Thesis Analysis for Business School, Semester X

This assignment requires students to analyze a thesis, answering specific questions about its research question, methodology, literature review, and overall quality. The assignment prompts students to assess the author's engagement, the clarity of the research question, and the integration of existing literature. Students are asked to evaluate the thesis's strengths, weaknesses, and originality, considering aspects such as the research methodology, the author's honesty, and the value added to the field. Additionally, students are encouraged to reflect on the writing quality, potential improvements, and alternative approaches to the research question. The assignment aims to enhance students' critical thinking, research analysis skills, and understanding of academic writing in the context of a thesis. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform providing students with access to past papers and solved assignments.

Your midterm assignment is to read and analyze an MBA thesis using the following questions as
a guide. If you prefer to read a different thesis, one that perhaps is closer to your field of study;
you can find CGB theses in the CGB Resource Center or from the USeP Library. You can
submit this during the time of the midterm examination.
Thesis Author:______________________________________________________________
Thesis Title: ______________________________________________________________
Degree(s) for which the thesis qualified: _________________________________________
(1) Did this thesis grow out of a problem or puzzle in practice? Or out of intellectual
curiosity? In other words, in what way is the topic of importance to the author? Do you
get the feeling that the author was interested and engaged in the topic?
(2) What is the central research question that the thesis addressed? Is it clearly stated or at
least strongly implied?
(3) Does the author have an ideological position? Is it stated or implied? Have the author’s
underlying values and assumptions been made explicit? If not, what remains unstated?
(4) What kinds of published sources does the author use? How well does the author integrate
his/her work with what other people have done previously? Does it appear that the author
has done a complete literature search within which to set a context for this project? If not,
in what ways does the literature search seem insufficient?
5) What is the research methodology upon which the analysis is based? Is it well carried out?
(6) Are there particularly noteworthy aspects of this thesis? Are there ways in which the
author has been particularly clever or insightful?

(7) Are the results convincing? Are they interesting? Are they interpreted well?
(8) Has the author been honest and explicit about the limitations of his or her work?
(9) To what extent has the author brought some value added to the material as opposed to simply
reiterating problems and solutions that are already well known in the literature?
(10) If you were asked to write the next thesis following the pathway set out by this thesis, what
thesis would that be?
(11) What is the quality of the writing? What are the ways in which the writing or the
presentation could have been improved?
(12) Can you imagine having written this thesis?
(13) If you were writing a thesis to address the same research question/problem, what might you
have done differently?