Before you write an essay or thesis
Are you not sure what you want to write your essay about? One way to get inspiration is to look at the essays of previous students.
Previously published student theses and degree projects
Find previously published student essays and theses on Bachelor's and Master's level in archaeology, philosophy, history, history of ideas, religious studies and theology.
Student theses and degree projects in DiVA (from 2015 and onwards)
Starting in 2015, all degree projects and Bachelor's and Master's theses are published in the DiVA database. Some earlier student publications can also be found in that database. In DiVA, you can search for student theses and filter your search based on parameters such as subject, publication year and degree programme.
Search for student theses in DiVA
Older essays and degree projects
We have collected older essays (up to and including 2014) in our own essay index. Please note that these essays are not available in full text online and that you must therefore contact our study administrators to order them. When you order an essay, we charge a fee for administrative costs. The fee for an essay of ten pages is SEK 50 and the fee for each page beyond that is SEK 2 per page. In addition to this fee, postage is added (SEK 20–30).
Contact our study administrators to order older essay registers and essays at studieadmin.idesam@umu.se.
When you start your work
Your written essay and oral presentation will be assessed by an examiner. The assessment criteria are set out in the documents below. You can use them while you are working on your essay to ensure that you have included everything you need to pass.
Assessment of your thesis or degree project
Your thesis will be assessed according to different criteria depending on the subject you are writing it in. Below you will find these criteria and other information that may be useful as support when writing your thesis.
Archaeology and religious studies
Philosophy
Essay assessment criteria for philosophy revised 2022-01-03 (24 kB)
See also the philosophy subject's own pages on philosophical writing (in Swedish)
History
These documents are currently only available in Swedish. Please contact your teacher if you need instructions in English.
Instructions on how to write an essay in history (in Swedish):
PM för uppsatser i historia (1.3 MB) (revised 2025-04-10)
Kriterier for bedomning av B-uppsatser i historia (239 kB) (revised spring 2024)
Assessment criteria for Bachelor's level essay in history (in Swedish):
Kriterier för bedomning av kandidatuppsatser i historia (231 kB) (revised spring 2024)
Assessment criteria for Master's level essays in history (in Swedish):
Kriterier för bedömning av magister och masteruppsatser i Historia (228 kB) (revidsed spring 2024)
History of ideas
These documents are currently only available in Swedish, please contact your teacher if you need instructions in English
Assessment criteria for Bachelor's level essay in history of ideas (in Swedish): Bedömningsmall för kandidatuppsats i idehistoria (80 kB) (revised spring 2024)
Assessment criteria for Master's level essays in history of ideas (in Swedish):
Bedömningsmall for magister- och masteruppsats i idehistoria (83 kB)
(revised spring 2024)
Theology
This document is currently only available in Swedish. Please contact your teacher if you need instructions in English.
Assessment criteria for essays in theology (in Swedish):
Kriterier för bedömning av uppsats i teologi (18 kB) (revised March 2024)
Criteria for assessment of ability for oral presentation and discussion
There are specific criteria that the teacher uses to assess your ability to deliver your oral presentation and how you handle the accompanying discussion. Please review these documents as you prepare for your presentation.
Criteria for assessment of ability for oral presentation - Bachelor's level (14 kB)
While writing your essay or thesis
Here are some tips and things to keep in mind as you work on your essay.
Copyright for images used in essays
Please note that you must have correct rights/copyright for all possible visual material in your essay before it is published online, such as in the DiVA database, for instance.
Read more about what applies on the University Library's website on copyright and images
Recieve support in the writing process at the University Library
At the University Library, you can get tips and help throughout the search and writing process. Visit their drop-in, book a tutoring appointment or immerse yourself on your own in their guides on information search, reference management, academic writing, copyright and study techniques.
Read more about the writing process on the University Library's website
Template for essays and degree projects
The University has a template that you should use when writing an essay or thesis. It contains a Swedish and an English version of the cover with a picture.
Find and download the template for essays and degree projects
Instructions on how to use the essay template:
- Save the template on your computer.
- Choose Swedish or English cover.
- Enter your title and details and save the cover.
- When you are done with the essay itself, it is time to merge the cover and essay into one file before submitting it to your teacher. The easiest way to merge the cover with the essay itself is to first save them as PDFs and then combine your PDFs into a single PDF file. If you have a MAC, you must have a built-in PDF reader where you can do that. But if you do not have one, you can use free software on the web. Here is a good one where you can both convert your Word files to PDF and then merge your two PDFs into one: https://www.cleverpdf.com/
To have your essay registered in DiVA
Once your essay has been approved, it should be published in the DiVA database. Fill in the form below and send it to your teacher, who will ensure that your thesis gets published in DiVA.