The Making of a Mater

Thesis
Finance Subjects
Professor Mingshen Chen
Department of Finance
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.
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.
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.
 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.
The structure of a finance
thesis
 The motivation of the research
 Literature reviews
 Hypotheses
 Methodology and data
 Empirical results
 Concluding Remarks
The motivation of the
research
Choosing a research
topic
Characteristics of a Good
Thesis Topic
 Need for research
 Amenable to research methods
 Achievable in a reasonable time
 Match with student’s capabilities and
interests
 Area for professional development
 Contribution of knowledge
"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
"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
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
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.
 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
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
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
The methodology and
data
 Cross-sectional research:

 Time-series research:
 Panel data research:
Finance & Economics
DATABASE
 Financial & Economic Transactions
 Company Financials & Ownership
 Business & Corporate Finance Event
 Others
 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
 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
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 台灣經濟新報資料庫 )
 Free Access Data Sets
The Format of a Thesis –
Asked by the Ministry of
Education
 （ 1 ） Preliminaries
 （ 2 ） Text
 （ 3 ） Reference Materials
Preliminaries
 Cover
 Title Page
 Signature or Approval Page
 Dedication Page
 Acknowledgements
 Table of Contents
 Chinese Abstract
 English Abstract
 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.
Reference Materials
 Appendix
 Glossary
 Works Cited
 Biographical Sketch (optional)
 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 You’re 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.
 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.: Barron’s
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.