Should Bachelor's theses be in a public register?

When History student Puck received a 9.5 for her thesis on Dutch political and military policy during the deployment in Afghanistan, she knew she wanted to do something with it. "I enjoyed writing it and hoped I could inspire others," she says. On the advice of her thesis supervisor, she submitted her thesis to the student journal De Aanzet. That was the start of a long process: "My thesis had 12,000 words, which is far too long. I worked with the editors to decide which chapter to focus on and then wrote an article about it. Then I got feedback on that article. It took more than six months before the piece was published."

She believes Bachelor's theses should be valued more. "A thesis concludes an important time of your life. It's a shame there is no presentation or defence, only two assessors who read it."

On the other hand, she understands that they have limited value. "They are often based on existing literature and research." Therefore, she proposes to include Bachelor's theses that have received a grade higher than 7.5 in Utrecht University's Student Theses Repository. Currently, most pieces in this archive are Master's theses.

"Some Bachelor's theses have incredibly unique and beautiful ideas. If they were included in the Repository, future generations of students could draw inspiration from them."

She would have enjoyed being able to look through other Bachelor's theses herself. "Since almost all theses online are Master's theses, students often dread the prospect of that huge mountain of work. Seeing other Bachelor's theses could be a relief for them."

Photo: courtesy of Puck

Yes for Osiris, no for the Repository
Most Bachelor's theses at Utrecht University are not archived. Students must upload their thesis to Osiris, where it is stored for seven years as the faculties are legally obliged to keep them for this long. According to administrators, they are not in the Student Theses Repository by default because they generally do not have enough academic value. They are seen as a means for students to learn to do research.

Sometimes, a Bachelor's thesis ends up in the Repository because a student or programme submits a request for this. However, that rarely happens. The Faculty of Humanities has not received a request to do so since 2021 when the Repository switched to a new system. An exception is made for Bachelor's theses in Mathematics, which are included in the Repository by default.

Bachelor's theses in Mathematics can be a valuable resource
Barbara van den Berg, director of the Bachelor's in Mathematics, is surprised that Mathematics is special in this respect. She says their theses were publicly available even before the new Repository system. "When we switched to a new system, my colleagues in Mathematics and I wished to keep it that way. Honestly, we barely discussed the matter." 

As far as she is concerned, Bachelor's theses are also valuable. "They often describe a difficult piece of theory in a clear and accessible way, or elaborate on interesting examples, which is a valuable resource for other students or interested parties," she says. "It is also inspiring for students currently writing a thesis to look through the archive and see what their predecessors wrote. Occasionally, a Bachelor's student will come to results that have not been published elsewhere."

Mathematics student Jan-Bas (25) wrote his thesis last year on the history of the first definition of the integral. His thesis can be viewed online, but he doubts whether that means anything. "I don't think my thesis adds much. Bachelor's students lack the depth to produce something of academic value, especially in Mathematics. You are writing a long academic paper for the first time, so it doesn't come as a surprise that it is not yet something of a high standard. PhD students publish one paper per year, so it would be exceptional for a Bachelor's student to write something of academic value in three months."

Great academic value?
Jan Andries Post, thesis coordinator for the Bachelor's programme in Biomedical Sciences, sees added value in publishing Bachelor's theses, although his programme does not do it. "Students and supervisors often gain new knowledge thanks to the theses. I sometimes hear that students turn their thesis into a magazine article, or submit their thesis for a prize, or that a laboratory builds on the insights of a study."

He cannot think of any argument for not publishing Bachelor's theses. "If a thesis is graded as a pass, it is of good quality. Not publishing it could suggest something else. There may be situations where publication is not possible or desirable, however. When it is part of a research project, for example."

At the same time, he acknowledges it can be difficult for a Bachelor's student to produce a work of great academic value. "A thesis can be perfect, but not offer any innovative results. That is often too ambitious for a Bachelor's student, but I can imagine that it varies greatly by programme."

Programmes evaluate Bachelor's theses differently, ranging from 7.5 credits to 22.5 ECTS. The more credits can be earned, the more time the programme allows for writing a thesis. As to be expected, more time investment usually results in a higher quality. 

Google scholar
History student Loek (22) is currently finalising his thesis on fascist parties in the pre-war Netherlands. "For me, a thesis is more of a box to be ticked, although it is nice if you can do something with it." He does see added value in making Bachelor's theses public. "That way, students have examples of other theses and can draw inspiration from them."

Janna (22), who is studying for a Bachelor's degree in Communication and Information Sciences (C&IS), also sees the thesis as something to tick off her list. She is currently waiting for feedback on her draft thesis about online news reports on meat substitutes and fully understands why Bachelor's theses are not included in the Repository. "In our programme, a thesis only has to be four to six thousand words long. It could just as easily have been an assignment for a course. My thesis does not offer many insights other students would benefit from. Besides, I always get annoyed when I come across a thesis on Google Scholar - because you are never allowed to use it as a source."

Bachelor's students who see their theses as more than a box to tick can turn to academic journals for Bachelor theses. Those exist for almost every discipline. In addition to De Aanzet, there is LingUU Journal, a peer-reviewed student journal for linguistics at Utrecht University, and the Utrecht Student Journal, aimed at Medicine and Biomedicine students at Utrecht University. One can also submit an article to a "real" scientific journal, often with the help of the thesis supervisor. That's what happened to Biology student Charissa (23).

Publishing in a journal
Charissa wrote her thesis based on research she conducted during her internship at a zoo. Her Bachelor's thesis was so innovative that her supervisor asked her to continue working with him on the research, as it could lead to a publication in a journal.

Charissa. Photo: Annemijn Groeneveld

"I wrote my thesis as part of a new study on the sounds of vultures for the Behavioural Biology department," says Charissa. "I was one of the first to collect data for it, which allowed me to write a nice report about it." She spent days at the vulture sanctuary recording sounds. It was worth the effort: "Afterwards, my supervisor was so excited that I was allowed to continue collecting data and even contribute to a paper."

When the article is done, Charissa will be one of the authors - a remarkable achievement for a Bachelor's student. "With a publication to my name, I already have a certain level of expertise. Before I wrote my thesis, I didn't know I would find this so interesting. Now I would like to keep doing it." Next year, she will start her Master's degree and continue to work on this research. "My thesis supervisor said that I am definitely welcome."

Master's theses are publicly available by default in the Student Theses Repository unless a student does not allow it. The Student Theses Repository is an online environment where students can view theses, most of them at the Master's level. These theses also appear in search engines such as Google Scholar and Worldcat.