How to write a thesis

Every semester the university offers the course "How to write a thesis" in which the university's standards and expectations are presented.

Apart from the dissertation, a thesis is, in general, the most complex form of scientific work during one’s course of study. It possesses a productive focus, without being able to exist without reproductive, or rather referencing parts. Its main goal, however, consists in generating new solutions.

Apart from reproducing the statements and opinions of others and the presentation of one’s own knowledge, it serves mainly the purpose of solving the theoretical and practical problems of one scientific field by applying scientific methods.

Every thesis exists in a particular, scientific context that heavily influences the structure of the thesis. That is why there are no universal rules on how to construct a thesis in general.

The conceptual structure of a presentation serves as a good point of reference for the structure of a thesis, with the thesis clearly exceeding the presentation in terms of the quality of argumentation and extent.

Before starting to write a thesis, it is recommended to read already existing, well-written works of others. After that, it makes sense to meet with your supervisor and lay out a suitable structure for the thesis. The conversation with the supervisor should ideally be well prestructured beforehand. The intervals of the consultations should be planned in advance. The contents that need to be discussed in these consultations should also be determined in advance. Material such as hypotheses, organizational drafts, etc. have to be handed in in advance. Extensive texts should be presented in a summarized form to the supervisor. Consultations should be recorded and their outcome and the resulting steps need to be adequately emphasized. Each protocol has to be made available to the supervisor. Thus, a productive workflow can be created.