The Making of a Mater Thesis Finance Subjects

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The Making of a Mater ThesisFinance Subjects

• Professor Mingshen Chen
• Department of Finance

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Objectives of thesis research

• The primary value of a thesis is that instead of
  studying by way of a series of minor and
  highly-specified topics, the student is obligated
  to examine a sizeable topic for a much longer
  period of time and to learn to clearly define
  both the very question and the research findings.
  
• By the time a thesis is completed the student can
  often claim to have mastered some aspect of
  knowledge and is much more aware of the processes
  of research.

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What you will learn from a thesis research

• Formulating a research question.
• Making critical use of published work.
• Selecting and using appropriate research methods.
  
• Organizing and presenting material in a clear,
  logical, convincing way.

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The role of the supervisors

• Your supervisors are there to offer guidance on
  methodological and theoretical issues as well as
  to provide encouragement and support.

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Presenting your research proposal

• The proposal outlines your research objectives
  and methods employed, which serves as basis of
  discussions between you and advisors
• Proposal can help you clearly understand the
  problem, literature, methodology, and possible
  obstacles in your research before it is conducted.

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The structure of a finance thesis

• The motivation of the research
• Literature reviews
• Hypotheses
• Methodology and data
• Empirical results
• Concluding Remarks

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The motivation of the research Choosing a
research topic
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Characteristics of a Good Thesis Topic

• Need for research
• Amenable to research methods
• Achievable in a reasonable time
• Match with students capabilities and interests
• Area for professional development
• Contribution of knowledge

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"It is really important to do the right research
as well as to do the research right. You need to
do 'wow' research, research that is compelling,
not just interesting."

• George Springer,
• chairman of the aeronautics and astronautics
  department at Stanford University

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"The most successful research topics are narrowly
focused and carefully defined, but are important
parts of a broad-ranging, complex problem."

• Cliff Davidson and Susan Ambrose
• Carnegie Mellon University

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Some Popular Topics in Finance

• Corporate Governance
• Behavior Finance
• Merger and Acquisition Activities
• Emerging markets financial liberalization and
  financial development
• Private Equity and Venture Capital
• Credit Risk and Securitization

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Literature Reviews

• A literature review surveys scholarly articles,
  books and other sources (e.g. dissertations,
  conference proceedings) relevant to a particular
  issue, area of research, or theory, providing a
  description, summary, and critical evaluation of
  each work. The purpose is to offer an overview of
  significant literature published on a topic.

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Literature reviews should comprise the following
elements

• An overview of the subject, issue or theory under
  consideration.
• Division of works under review into categories
  (e.g. those in support of a particular position,
  those against, and those offering alternative
  theses entirely)
• Explanation of how each work is similar to and
  how it varies from the others
• Conclusions as to which pieces are best
  considered in their argument, are most convincing
  of their opinions, and make the greatest
  contribution to the understanding and development
  of their area of research

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How may you find relevant financial literature?

• How to Search Journal Papers
• Go to NTU Library website www.lib.ntu.edu.tw
• Click E-Journals
• Type Journal Title Click Keyword Search
• Find Out One of the Useful Links Click the
  Journal Title to Login DATABASE
• Full Text
• Abstract Only
• Only the IP of 140.112.xxx.xxx can be Used

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How may you find relevant financial literature?

• ABI/INFORM Archive Complete ProQuest
• Banking Information Source ProQuest
• Business Source Premier EBSCO Host (Chinese and
  English)
• Springer Online Journal Archives -
  Business/Economics titles SpringerLINK
• Ph.D. Dissertations and Master theses Database

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The methodology and data

• Cross-sectional research
• Time-series research
• Panel data research

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Finance Economics DATABASE

• Financial Economic Transactions
• Company Financials Ownership
• Business Corporate Finance Event
• Others

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Finance Economics DATABASE

• Financial Economic Transaction stock and
  derivatives prices, volatility, and returns
• AREMOS
• DATASTREAM
• Center Research for Security Price (CRSP)
• Option Metrics (Ivy DB)
• Markit Global Credit Default SWAP
• NYSE TAQ
• TEJ Intraday DATA
• TSE Intraday DATA

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Finance Economics DATABASE

• Company Financials Ownership financial
  statement information, ownership, and
  compensation data
• COMPUSTAT North America Global Vantage
• EexcuComp
• Worldscope (Included in DATASTREAM)
• Audit Analytics
• I/B/E/S
• Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC)
• Thomson Financial Ownership

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Finance Economics DATABASE

• Business Corporate Finance Events
• Security Database Company (SDC)
• Mergers Acquisitions
• New Issue
• VentureXpert
• Factiva - Dow Reuters News
• Others
• Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ or ?????????)
• Free Access Data Sets

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The Format of a Thesis Asked by the Ministry of
Education

• (1)Preliminaries
• (2)Text
• (3)Reference Materials

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Preliminaries

• Cover
• Title Page
• Signature or Approval Page
• Dedication Page
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Chinese Abstract
• English Abstract

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Text

• Writing style Publication Manual of the American
  Psychological Association(a.k.a. APA Style
  Manual) please also refer to the Bibliography on
  Thesis Writing after next page.
• Page number for the first page of each chapter
  placed on bottom center the rest pages on top
  right corner. You can use footnotes or endnotes
  for each chapter.
• Times/ Times Roman (12 characters to an inch) or
  Pica (10 characters to an inch). 23-26 lines per
  page. (Double spaced)
• One inch top margin, one inch bottom margin, one
  inch right margin, and one and half inches left
  margin.
• One face printing with Laser printer or Daisy
  Wheel Printer. No Dot-matrix Printer.

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Reference Materials

• Appendix
• Glossary
• Works Cited
• Biographical Sketch (optional)

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Bibliography on Thesis Writing

• Lester, James D., and James D. Lester, Jr.
   Writing Research Papers A Complete Guide.  New
  York Pearson Longman, 2005.
• Becker, Howard S.  Tricks of the Trade How to
  Think about Your Research While Youre Doing It.
   Chicago The University of Chicago Press, 1998.
• Mauch, James E., and Jack W. Birch.  Guide to the
  Successful Thesis and Dissertation Conception to
  Publication A Handbook for Students and Faculty.
   New York Marcel Dekker, Inc, 1983.
• Berry, Richard.  The Research Project How to
  Write it. 3rd ed.  London and New York
  Routledge, 1994.

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Bibliography on Thesis Writing

• Luey, Beth.  Handbook for Academic Authors.  3rd
  ed.  Cambridge and New York Cambridge University
  Press, 1995.
• Davis and Parker.  Writing the Doctoral
  Dissertation A Systematic Approach. Woodbury,
  N.Y. Barrons Educational Series, 1979.
• Turabian, Kate L.  A Manual for Writers of Term
  Paper, Theses, and Dissertation.  Chicago
  University of Chicago Press, 1987.
• Ruth, Audrey, J.  The research paper process,
  form, and content.  Belmont, CA Wadsworth Pub.
  Co., 1999.