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at the Chair of Industrial Sales and Service Engineering

to achieve the degree Select the intended degree.

in the study program Sales Engineering and Product Management

at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

of the Ruhr University Bochum

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Table of Contents

List of Figures	II

List of Tables	III

List of Abbreviations	IV

1	Guidelines on Formatting Styles	1

1.1	Captions	1

1.1.1	Figures	1

1.1.2	Tables	3

1.2	Headers	3

1.3	Source References	4

2	Chapter 2	5

3	Chapter 3	6

4	Additional Main Chapter	7

References	8

Appendix	9

List of Figures

Figure 1: Example Caption for Figures	2

List of Tables

Table 1: Example Caption for Tables	3

Table 2: Field Functions in Headers	4

Table 3: Source References	4

List of Abbreviations

FS	Formatting Style
ISSE	Chair of Industrial Sales and Service Engineering
RUB	Ruhr University Bochum
SEPM	Sales Engineering and Product Management

Guidelines on Formatting Styles

All passages in the text must be formatted using one of the predefined formatting styles (FS). The main body of the thesis should be formatted using the FS Standard. For specific formatting purposes, one of the derived formatting styles may be used:

Bullet points are formatted using the FS Listenabsatz.

Numbered lists are formatted using the FS Nummerierte Liste.

For emphasis, the FS Fett or the FS Kursiv may be used.

The FS Kapitälchen is used to highlight elements such as author names in the main text.

Captions

All types of captions must be numbered consecutively and assigned clear, descriptive titles. Generally, all inserted figures, tables, and equations must be referenced in the main text. Any explanatory text relating to a figure, table, or equation must precede it. All figures, tables, equations, and symbols used must be included in the corresponding list, along with their captions and the respective page numbers.

Figures

All figures – including photographs, graphics, drawings, sketches, and other predominantly illustrative visual elements – must be formatted using the FS Bild and provided with captions. The captions are to be inserted left-aligned below the respective figure (cf. Figure 1).

Figure 1: Example Caption for Figures

Source: Kaplan and Norton (cf. 1997, p. 9)

The FS Beschriftung must be retained, although you are free to separate the caption text from the numbering either with an en dash (–) or a colon (:). However, make sure to apply your chosen option consistently throughout the document.

When adhering to the page margins set in this template file, it is important to ensure that all figures do not exceed a maximum width of 16 cm to stay within the page layout. A width of 12 cm (cf. Figure 1) is, based on experience, fully sufficient for most figures. When inserting multiple figures, a key formal requirement is the consistency of font sizes used: two figures created using the same or similar style of notation should also use the same font size. Additionally, the requirement that all text within figures must remain legible makes it difficult to resize figures correctly using Word’s scaling function. Therefore, wherever possible, figures should be inserted at 100 % scaling. This means that the intended final size of the figure should already be considered when creating it in external programs.

Particular attention should be paid to ensuring sufficient quality, especially for figures taken from external sources. In many cases, it is advisable to recreate copied or digitized figures independently to meet this requirement. If there are any uncertainties regarding the legibility of certain elements or the overall quality of the inserted figure(s), printing the corresponding page usually helps to resolve the issue.

Tables

The use of tables follows the same principles, with the only difference being that all tables must be given a title placed above the table, and the spacing after the source reference is set to 0 (cf. Table 1).

Table 1: Example Caption for Tables

Source: Own Representation

Heading Text Column 1	Heading Text Column 2

Tables can either be imported from a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel or created directly in Word. The latter option is particularly recommended for tables that do not contain calculations, as it allows for more flexible formatting of table cell contents. When creating tables, the FS Tabelleninhalt must be applied to all cells; for example, column headings should be additionally highlighted in bold. The default font size for tables is 10 pt and serves as a recommendation; depending on the complexity of the table, the size may be adjusted to the standard 12 pt or reduced to 8 pt. As with figures, a high degree of visual consistency should be maintained when using multiple tables.

If a paragraph follows a table (cf. Table 1), a blank line must be inserted below the table and formatted using the FS Kein Leerraum. The paragraph following the table must then (again) be formatted using the FS Standard.

Headers

In the header of each main chapter, as implemented in this template, the chapter number, the heading text, and the page number must be included and underlined. This requires that all top-level chapters (Heading 1) are separated by a section break (Next Page), and that the option Link to Previous (accessible by double-clicking the header) is deactivated in each of these defined sections. Using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + F9, fields for the chapter number, heading text, and page number can then be manually inserted into the header at the desired position (cf. Table 2).

Table 2: Field Functions in Headers

Source: Own Representation

Chapter Number	Heading Text	Page Number
{ styleref "Überschrift 1" \n }	{ styleref "Überschrift 1" }	{ PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT }

Source References

Generally, all figures, tables, and equations must include a source reference placed below the respective caption in a separate line, formatted using the FS Quelle (cf. Figure 1 and Table 2). Table 3 provides an explanatory overview of the permitted types of source references.

Table 3: Source References

Source: Own Representation

Examples of Source References	Comment
Becker and Schütte (2004, p. 399)	The content has been adopted without any changes. It is identical to the original (including any potential spelling errors in the source text).
Becker and Schütte (cf. 2004, p. 399)	Changes or additions have been made to the content. These may include substantive corrections or additions as well as formal adjustments (e.g., language, spelling errors, etc.).
Own Representation	The content is an original representation. It does not draw in any way on graphical, textual, or other forms of presentation by other authors.

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Additional Main Chapter

References

Becker, J. and Schütte, R. 2004. Handelsinformationssysteme, 2nd ed., Frankfurt am Main: Redline Wirtschaft.

Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. 1997. Balanced Scorecard: Strategien erfolgreich umsetzen, Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag.

Appendix

Declaration of Authorship

I hereby confirm that I have completed this Select the thesis’ type. independently and solely with the resources permitted by the guidelines and those approved by the chair. I further confirm that I have not submitted this work, in whole or in part, in the same or a similar form to any other examination authority. Additionally, I affirm that all passages, drawings, sketches, images, and similar content taken literally or in essence from published or unpublished sources have been clearly identified and properly referenced. I also agree that the digital version of my work may be used in accordance with the regulations on plagiarism checking as well as the guideline on plagiarism prevention and detection of the Ruhr University Bochum in its current version.

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Declaration on the Use of AI Tools

I hereby declare (please check the applicable box):
☐	that I have not used any tools with generative functions or other tools with comparable automated, data-based generative functions (so-called AI tools), and have therefore removed the corresponding table from the document. I have also ensured that the tools I used do not contain any automated, data-based generative functions. I am aware that the use of such tools constitutes a violation of this declaration as well as of the Declaration of Authorship, should it be proven that I made use of them.
☐	that I have used tools with generative functions or other tools with comparable automated, data-based generative functions (so-called AI tools) and that I am informed about their capabilities and limitations. I further declare that I have reviewed the results generated by these tools for accuracy and have corrected any errors independently. I acknowledge that full responsibility for the generated content lies with me and not with the tools used, other resources, or any other individuals. Additionally, I declare that I have fully and accurately documented the names of the tools I used, the type and extent of their use, as well as the specific sections of the text in which they were applied, in the table below.

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Type of Use	Extent of Use	AI Tool Used	relevant Sections (chapters, paragraphs…)
Ideation and Conceptualization	e.g., development of ideas, objectives, and research questions; identification and definition of relevant concepts	e.g., ChatGPT	e.g., chapter 1, p. 2, paragraph 2
Literature Research and Analysis	e.g., searching for relevant literature; reviewing potentially relevant sources; summarizing relevant literature	e.g., perplexity.ai, SciSummary, Research Rabbit
Methodological Approach	e.g., identifying a suitable methodological approach; developing and adapting the approach to the research question(s)
Data Collection and Analysis	e.g., qualitative data analysis including transcription and coding; quantitative data analysis including statistical analysis	e.g., sonix.ai, MAXQDA
Presentation and Discussion of Results	e.g., preparation and presentation of the results; interpretation and discussion of the results in relation to the current state of research; derivation of implications for research and practice
Text Processing, e.g., (i) Structuring, (ii) Generation, (iii) Translation, (iv) Review and Correction of Texts	ad (i) e.g., structuring the overall written work and/or individual chapters or sections; ad (ii) e.g., generating text on various topics across different chapters, including the title and abstract; ad (iii) e.g., translating one's own text or texts written by other authors; ad (iv) e.g., reviewing and revising the content, organization, or grammar of the written work; rephrasing or paraphrasing text; shortening or expanding text.	e.g., Paperpal, ChatGPT, DeepL, grammarly
Reference Management	e.g., creating the reference list; managing and documenting sources	e.g., zotero	e.g., entire written work