Bachelor’s and Master’s Theses

This page provides an overview and resources for writing a thesis in the area of digital work. The thesis is one of the key accomplishments when studying at a University. To support you throughout the process, we provide a clear overview of the steps, transparent evaluation criteria, as well as a developmental approach. An overview of the process is available here.

• A changelog is available for this document.

Table of contents

• Bachelor’s and Master’s Theses
  • 1. Initial meetings to discuss the general topic
  • 2. Formal admission
  • 3. Thesis writing and feedback sessions
  • 4. Submission of the thesis
  • 5. Thesis presentation
  • 6. Grading
  • 7. Feedback session
  • Applicable regulations

1. Initial meetings to discuss the general topic

Students can select open topics or suggest topics related to our research areas. To start the process, reach out via e-mail and schedule a meeting to discuss topic and next steps:

Schedule a meeting

To prepare the next step, it is recommended to start developing an exposé.

2. Formal admission

Students send the application for admission to the thesis to the examination office via their Stud e-mail address. You can use this e-mail template.

The examination office verifies the admission requirements.

• If admission requirements are met, the topic confirmation is created with text fields so that the topic of the thesis and the date of topic issue can be entered.
• If the admission requirements are not met, the student is notified that the application has been rejected.

The examination office may ask the student to request an approval by the examination committee (Prüfungsausschuss) to write a thesis in the area of Digital Work. This is the case when older regulations (Studien- und Fachprüfungsordnung) apply (i.e., when master studies were started before 2018), or for students of Informatics and Applied Informatics (e.g., International Software Systems Science).

Students receive the topic confirmation as a (protected) Word document (.docx) by e-mail together with processing/submission instructions as well as inspection statement. The next step is to make an appointment with the thesis advisor to determine the topic and sign the topic confirmation.

Student and thesis advisor schedule a meeting to determine the topic and sign the topic confirmation. If the appointment is online, you can print and sign the confirmation, and send it to our postal address. It is important that we receive two paper versions with original signatures:

• 1 original with signature of the professor and the student for the student.
• 1 original with signature of the professor and the student for archiving at the chair .

3. Thesis writing and feedback sessions

Bachelor’s theses are usually due in 4 months, Master’s theses in 6 months. The official requirements can be found in the regulations linked below. It is not necessary to submit the thesis in the semester in which it was started (unless you would take longer than the maximum duration of study). For students of Applied Informatics, Software Systems Science, and Computing in the Humanities a practical part is required for Bachelor’s and Master’s theses.

We encourage students to complete an exposé before writing the thesis. A thesis must be written in English. The following resources may be helpful:

• The evaluation criteria
• The schedule
• The thesis template for markdown (create repository from template) or word
• The literature review section
• The analysis templates section
• The writing section (in particular correct citation practices)
• The guideline for the use of digital tools
• The ethics pages (Note: ethics statements cannot be issued for theses)

We offer regular feedback sessions (every one to two weeks) to discuss open questions and the next steps:

• Feedback sessions can be in person or online
• They can be scheduled via calendly

• To receive feedback on the written document, please

  • share it 1-2 days before the meeting
  • indicate which sections should be read
  • use a file-format suitable for adding comments (pdf or doc/x)
  • use a suitable filename (e.g., 2023-12-01-Thesis-Name.pdf)

Before submitting the thesis, we encourage students to consult the pre-submission checklist.

4. Submission of the thesis

Two copies in hard bound form and one digital version each are to be submitted to the examination office.

• During opening hours Mon-Fri 10.00 - 12.00: Hand in the thesis at the examination office (Kapuzinerstr. 25)
• Outside of opening hours: Drop the thesis in the mailbox of the University Administration (Kapuzinerstr. 16)
• Dispatch by mail (the date of the postmark counts) Otto-Friedrich-University, Examination Office - 96045 Bamberg

The digital thesis can be a CD-ROM or USB stick. It contains the thesis as a PDF document, and possibly a digital appendix.

5. Thesis presentation

• The student must present at her/his master thesis …
• The thesis advisor selects a second examienr and sets a date for the presentation

6. Grading

The thesis advisor (professor) grades the thesis based on the predefined criteria. Grades are entered by the examination office. Students can check the grade via FlexNow.

7. Feedback session

We provide feedback on the thesis and explain the grading. A short summary is stored on our feedback page if students agree.

Schedule feedback session

Applicable regulations

• Prüfungs- und Studienordnungen, insbes. Modulhandbücher