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24 German Essay Phrases

We need to talk about your German essays.

Essay writing is a skill that you can learn in any language.

All you need is to brush up your vocabulary and follow a few simple strategies, and you’ll be well on your way to writing your first masterpiece.

This post will provide you with a list of useful German words and phrases to include in your next essay, plus the different types of German essays, a few writing strategies and even a sample essay at the end. 

German Essay Phrases

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Let’s start with the words and phrases themselves. As you’ll see, they’re grouped according to how and when you’ll use them. Let’s start off with some that will help you explain your arguments.

1. Weil (Because)

Daniel muss lernen, weil er morgen einen Test hat.

(Daniel has to study because he has a test tomorrow.)

2. Da (Because)

Daniel muss lernen, da er morgen einen Test hat.

3. Denn (Because)

Daniel muss lernen, denn er hat morgen einen Test.

(Daniel has to study because tomorrow he has a test.)

A quick note: Weil, da and denn are generally interchangeable. Keep in mind though that denn requires a different word order.

4. Damit (In order to; So that)

Lisa lernt viel, damit sie den Test besteht.

(Lisa is studying a lot in order to pass the test.)

5. Um (To; In order to)

Lisa lernt viel, um den Test zu bestehen.

(Lisa is studying a lot to pass the test.)

6. Im Grunde (Basically; Fundamentally)

Im Grunde ist Deutsch keine schwierige Sprache.

(Fundamentally, German is not a difficult language.)

7. Eigentlich (Actually)

Eigentlich ist Deutsch nicht so schwierig, wie es scheint.

(Actually, German is not as difficult as it seems.)

8. Ein Beispiel anführen  (To give an example)

Ich möchte ein Beispiel anführen .

(I would like to give an example.)

9. Dieses Beispiel zeigt, dass… (This example shows that…)

Dieses Beispiel zeigt, dass das Lernen einer Fremdsprache beim Reisen viele Vorteile hat.

(This example shows that studying a foreign language has many advantages when traveling.)

10. Erstens… zweitens… (Firstly… secondly…)

Erstens kann man sich auf Reisen besser verständigen und zweitens lernt man viele neue Leute kennen.

(Firstly, you can communicate better while traveling, and secondly, you meet many new people.)

11. Das Wichtigste ist…  (T he most important thing is…)

Das Wichtigste ist , die Angst vor der Sprache zu verlieren.

(The most important thing is to lose your fear of the language.)

12. Außer dem (Furthermore)

Außerdem kann man beim Reisen seine Sprachkenntnisse verbessern.

(Furthermore, you can improve your language knowledge while traveling.)

13. Nicht nur… sondern auch…  (Not only… but also…)

Nicht nur im Unterricht, sondern auch im Alltag kann man viel Deutsch lernen.

(Not only in class, but also in everyday life you can learn a lot of German.)

14. Obwohl (Even though)

Obwohl Anna viel lernt, hat sie Probleme mit der deutschen Grammatik.

(Even though Anna studies a lot, she has problems with German grammar.)

15. Allerdings (However)

Anna lernt gerne Deutsch, allerdings hat sie Probleme mit der Grammatik.

(Anna enjoys studying German; however, she has problems with the grammar.)

16. Trotz   (Despite)

Trotz ihrer Probleme mit der Grammatik lernt Anna gerne Deutsch.

(Despite her problems with German grammar, Anna enjoys studying German.)

17. Im Vergleich zu (In comparison to)

Im Vergleich zu Russisch ist Deutsch eine einfache Sprache.

In comparison to Russian, German is an easy language.

18. Im Gegensatz zu (In contrast to; Unlike)

Im Gegensatz zu Anna lernt Paul gerne neue Vokabeln.

Unlike Anna, Paul enjoys learning new vocabulary.

19. Meiner Meinung nach (In my opinion)

Meiner Meinung nach sollte jeder eine Fremdsprache lernen.

(In my opinion, everybody should study a foreign language.)

20. Ich bin der Ansicht, dass…  (I believe that…)

Ich bin der Ansicht, dass jeder eine Fremdsprache lernen sollte.

(I believe that everybody should study a foreign language.)

21. Ich finde es schade, dass…  (I think it’s a pity that…)

Ich finde es schade, dass die Schulen keine anderen Fremdsprachen unterrichten.

(I think it’s a pity that schools don’t teach other foreign languages.)

22. Alles in Allem (Overall)

Alles in allem ist Deutsch nicht so schwierig, wie es scheint.

(Overall, German isn’t as difficult as it seems.)

23. Im Großen und Ganzen (Overall)

Im Großen und Ganzen ist Deutsch keine schwierige Sprache.

(Overall, German isn’t a difficult language.)

24. Zusammenfassend kann man sagen, dass…  (In summary, it can be said that…)

Zusammenfassend kann man sagen, dass Sprachen beim Reisen sehr hilfreich sein können.

(In summary, it can be said that languages can be very helpful when traveling.)

Ok, let’s get a little deeper into the actual essays themselves. How do they compare to the essays that you’re probably used to writing?

• They have a similar structure to English essays. Remember how English essays have a beginning, middle and end? Good news: German essays contain those same parts. When you’re writing a German essay, you’ll want to include an opening paragraph with your argument, three supporting paragraphs that further your argument and a conclusion. German and English are often surprisingly similar, and essay structure is no exception.
• German essays are more to the point. Although German essays and English essays are structured similarly, German essays—just like German speakers—tend to be more blunt and to the point. You won’t need to dance around your conclusions or obfuscate in German: just say what you mean.
• German punctuation is different. Germans have different rules for punctuation than English speakers. For example, Germans introduce a direct quote with a colon instead of a comma. They use quotes instead of italics for the names of books, movies and newspapers. And they set off relative clauses beginning with dass (that) with a comma, unlike in American English. Understanding these differences between English and German punctuation will ensure you don’t give yourself away as a non-native speaker through punctuation marks alone!

Before you get started on your essay, make sure you know what type of essay you’re going to write. If it’s a school essay, be sure to read and understand the instructions.

Here are a few notes about the most common kinds of essays in German.

• An Erzählung  is a narrative essay that tells a story. Your teacher might give you some keywords or pictures and ask you to create a story around it. An Erlebniserzählung (“experience story”) is about a personal experience and can be written in the first person.
• An Erörterung is an argumentative essay, a writing piece meant to persuade someone to think the way you do. This writing genre requires you to investigate your topic well and provide evidence to prove your point.
• In a Nacherzählung you summarize and recount a book, a film or an article you have read, from an objective perspective. Depending on the essay instructions, you might be asked for your personal opinion in the conclusion.

Are you ready to start writing? Use these four strategies to wow your teachers and write the perfect German essay.

You should look at any new activity as an opportunity to learn and master new vocabulary . Instead of using the same words that you use in your everyday German speech, use this essay as an opportunity to introduce new words into your German lexicon.

Besides, incorporating academic words that help you craft and shape your argument can make your essay sound more professional and polished. So before you start writing, write down a list of the German words you’d like to incorporate in your essay.

As with everything else, you should look at the research portion of the essay-writing process as an opportunity to learn more about Germany—this time, about German culture, history , politics or travel .

Chances are if you’re writing your essay for a language-learning class, you’ll be assigned a topic pertaining to one of these aspects of German life, so use this as a chance to learn more about Deutschland.

For example, Deutsche Welle offers information and resources about German history. Other newspapers such as Berliner Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung offer another perspective on politics and daily life in Germany.

There’s nothing clunkier than an essay that doesn’t flow naturally from one point to the next. Besides, thinking about how your arguments and points interact with each other will help you organize your essay and make sure you get your point across. (Do they support each other? Counter each other? How exactly do they function to further your argument?)

Examples of transition words:

• Vorher (prior)
• zur gleichen Zeit (at the same time)
• dann (then)
• trotzdem (nevertheless)
• noch (still)

Writing an essay in English and then translating it into German often results in stilted, poorly formed sentences and unnatural constructions.

For example, remember that German word order is different from English. If you write “He didn’t read the book,” a one-to-one literal translation would be Er hat gelesen nicht das Buch . But the correct translation is actually  Er hat nicht das Buch gelesen. In this example, translating word for word leads to errors.

There’s another, less tangible reason why it’s not a good idea to write in English and translate to German. Sure, you could just remember that you need to change the word order when translating into German. But isn’t it better to adapt your brain so that German word order seems fluid and natural?

Learning to think and write off-the-cuff in German is an essential step towards fluency, and devising sentences in German, instead of sentences in translation, will help you learn to do that.

One good way to learn to think in a language is to hear it spoken in natural contexts. You can hear German spoken naturally in German language TV shows , movies and YouTube videos .

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

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Listening to German spoken at a natural speed and native accent will help get you thinking in the language in real time. This will help get you to the point where you can come up with your own sentences in German, rather than thinking in English sentences first and then translating them in your head before you speak or write. That will greatly improve your speed and fluency when writing in German.

So, simply start writing the essay in German. Look up any words you’re not sure of and double-check any grammatical constructions that you’re not familiar with. After you finish writing, ask a German-speaking friend to look over the essay to make sure it sounds natural.

Now that we’ve explored strategies and phrases for writing top-notch German essays, let’s take a look at an example.

World War I doesn’t get as much coverage in the States as World War II (where it was more directly involved). But for Europe, World War I was a devastating example of the dangers of modern technological warfare and the horrors of violence.

Let’s take a look at an example opening paragraph and outline of an essay about the effect of World War I on German government and life.

Opening paragraph:

Der Erste Weltkrieg war ein totaler Krieg, der Deutschland völlig veränderte. Dieser Krieg hat 1914 angefangen, und 1918, als der Krieg zu Ende kam, waren die deutsche Gesellschaft, Regierung und Kultur nicht mehr erkennbar. Am Anfang hat der Erste Weltkrieg altväterliche Ideen und Systeme verstärkt. Am Ende hat dieser Krieg dagegen diese altväterlichen Dinge zerstört.

(The First World War was a total war that completely changed Germany. This war began in 1914 and in 1918, when the war came to an end, German society, government and culture were no longer recognizable. At the beginning, the First World War strengthened old-fashioned ideas and systems. However, by the end, this war destroyed these old-fashioned things.)

Notice that this opening paragraph is not very different at all from the first paragraph of an English essay. You can use the same structure you’ve always used to write your German essay, leaving you free to focus on grammar and vocabulary.

Notice also the use of phrases such as Am Anfang (at the beginning) and Dagegen (however). Words like these can help you make a point and counterpoint in your opening paragraph (or anywhere in your essay, for that matter).

I. Am Anfang (at the beginning):

– Dieser Krieg hat Deutschland vereint . (This war united Germany.) – Menschen hatten ein patriotisches Gefühl. (People had a patriotic feeling.) – Menschen dachten, dass der Krieg bald zu Ende kommen würde. (People thought that the war would soon come to an end.)

Notice that these points employ words like dachten (thought). Written German often relies on Präteritum , a form of the past tense that’s rarely used in spoken Deutsch. It’s often called “literary past tense” for this reason. Check out this guide to the Präteritum to include this tense in your essay.

II. Andrerseits (on the other hand):

– Bald gab es kein Essen mehr . (Soon there was no more food.) – Menschen wurden krank und desillusioniert . (People became sick and disillusioned.) – Es gab Proteste und Unruhen. (There was protest and unrest.)

Like in an English essay, your second and third paragraphs can include supporting points or counterpoints that contribute to the overall theme of your piece. The word Andrerseits (on the other hand) is an ideal transition word to show that you’re moving into another section of your essay.

Also notice that this essay will rely on vocabulary words that the average language learner might not have come across in his or her learning. After all, who learns the words for “disillusioned” and “unrest” in their intermediate German class? But don’t be daunted by the fact that your essay might include eclectic vocabulary. Instead, use this as an opportunity for more learning.

III. zum Schluss (in conclusion):

– Der Kaiser hat abgedankt . (The Emperor abdicated.) – Eine Republik wurde geboren. (A Republic was born.) – Die alten Werte waren weg. (The old values were gone.)

Once again, abgedankt (abdicated) is an example of the literary past tense (and an example of a word that you probably haven’t come across in your previous German studies!)

IV. Schließlich (finally)

– Der Erste Weltkrieg hat Deutschland verändert . (The First World War completely changed Germany.)

Again, like in an English essay, you should use this paragraph to summarize your main point.

Feeling a bit more confident about your next German essay now?

Just make a great essay plan, write down some new words and phrases that you want to include and off you go!

By sprinkling these bits of flair into your German essays, you’re sure to make your writing better and more effective.

Enjoy writing!

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50 Useful German Essay Words and Phrases

by  fredo21  

January 9, 2019

2  Comments

Essay-writing is in itself already a difficult endeavor. Now writing an essay in a foreign language like German ---that’s on a different plane of difficulty.  

To make it easier for you, here in this article, we’ve compiled the most useful German essay phrases. Feel free to use these to add a dash of pizzazz into your essays. It will add just the right amount of flourish into your writing---enough to impress whoever comes across your work!

You can also download these phrases in PDF format by clicking the button below.

Now here’s your list!

What other German vocabulary list would you like to see featured here? Please feel free to leave a message in the comment section and we’ll try our best to accommodate your requests soon!

Once again, you can download your copy of the PDF by subscribing using the button below!

For an easier way to learn German vocabulary, check out German short stories for beginners!

A FUN AND EFFECTIVE WAY TO LEARN GERMAN

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Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how can we communicate?

Asking questions are genuinely good thing if you are not understanding anything completely, except this piece of writing provides nice understanding yet.

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Bachelor and master dissertations - frequently asked questions, preliminaries.

The following material provides relevant information related to dissertations at the Chair of Information Systems (CIS). Unless stated otherwise, the information applies to both Bachelor and Master theses. We organize the page as an FAQ. You may wish to navigate directly to the parts that interests you most.

Table of Contents

• Is there a fixed date at which I have to start with my dissertation?

Is there anything I should consider when choosing a starting time for my thesis?

• Is there a maximum  or minimum length for my thesis? How long is a dissertation on average?

I plan to write my thesis in the next semester. What should I do beforehand?

Can i suggest my own topic, i was asked to prepare an extended abstract for a topic of my choice. what does that entail, are there any core research areas from which thesis topics are normally selected, is it possible to collaborate with industry, how do i find a topic, how about formatting requirements for my thesis, do i have to write my thesis in english/german, what is the typical structure of a bachelor thesis, i plan to apply for a master program, when do i have to start with my bachelor thesis, what is the typical structure of a master thesis, i understand that many theses at the cis involve empirical work. how do i acquire the data for such a task, do i have to complete certain modules before being eligible to write my thesis at the cis, in addition to mandatory modules, are there any other skills that i need/should possess, how do i register my thesis, is there a fixed data at which i have to start with my dissertation.

No. At present, we accept theses throughout the whole year. Please note that we may not be able to offer such flexible regime forever. Depending upon demand and resources, it may be necessary to implement a structured approach where all dissertations start at fixed dates (e.g., begin/end of a semester). However, by the time of writing, students can begin their dissertation anytime.

Back to the table of contents

You may want to consider that opportunities for personal meetings are somewhat limited during summer breaks due to conference attendance, research visits, etc. Therefore, if you seek very close collaboration with your supervisor, consider to schedule your thesis such that the majority of the writing time is within lecturing periods.

Is there a maximum or minimum length? How long is a dissertation on average?

On average, Bachelor and Master theses are 30 and 35 pages, respectively. Deviations are possible. See also the explanations on our new moodle page on dissertations .

It is good to plan well ahead. However, as far as we are concerned, there is not much that needs to be done long in advance. In particular, please understand that we allocate our thesis topics on a first come first serve basis. That means that we don’t reserve topics for students who plan to start their dissertation in a few months’ time. However, you may want to consider suggesting your own thesis topic. In such a case, we could fix a thesis topic before the start of the actual thesis.

Yes, you can. If you wish to work on a topic of your choice, please prepare an extended abstract and send it to your supervisor for discussion. We assess the potential of your proposition for a Bachelor/Master thesis and might suggest extensions/revisions. In general, we prefer topics that relate to our research areas . However, exceptions are possible, so feel free to elaborate any topic related to information systems research.

An extended abstract is about two to four pages long and should clarify:

• What research question(s) you plan to analyze
• What is the academic and practical importance of your topic
• How your thesis will contribute to the existing literature 

In addition, an extended abstract includes a selection of relevant literature.

There certainly are. In general, our research focuses on big data analytics (BDA). Approaches associated with the support of managerial decision-making and quantitative, data-driven methods are of particular interest. This scope offers a variety of research questions to be examined in a dissertation. Potential business applications to study include, but are not limited to:

• Marketing and e-commerce
• Consumer finance and risk management
• Speculative financial and betting markets

In terms of methodology, we employ a broad variety of techniques to solve planning problems, explain decision maker behavior, and assess the effectiveness of formal decision aids. Examples of such planning methods include:

• Ensemble selection (e.g. for marketing or credit-scoring problems)
• Kalman filters (e.g. for time series data or real-time targeting of advertising in e-commerce)
• Multi-armed bandit models (e.g. for or real-time targeting of advertising in e-commerce)
• Deep learning (basically applicable everywhere)
• Survival models (e.g. for price optimization in the automotive industry)
• Choice models/hierarchical Bayesian models (e.g. for or real-time targeting of advertising in e-commerce or betting markets)
• (Recurrent) neural networks (e.g. for turnover or financial markets predictions or in interaction with metaheuristics for model training or model selection)
• Metaheuristics (e.g., to build predictive decision support models or develop normative decision aids)

Furthermore, there is a large body of literature on novel learning paradigms, which differ substantially from conventional explanatory (e.g. regression or classification) or descriptive (e.g. clustering) methods. Surveying the state-of-the-art in such fields and/or evaluating such modelling strategies in business settings is an interesting task for a dissertation. Some examples include:

• Active learning
• Causal machine learning
• Learning with privileged information (e.g. financial forecasting)
• Semi-supervised/transductive learning (e.g. for churn prediction)
• Imbalanced learning (e.g. for marketing or credit scoring)
• Multi-task learning (e.g. financial forecasting)
• Reject inference (credit scoring)
• Online learning

Yes, we support collaborative theses written with an industry partner. In general, industry partnerships are more common for master dissertations. However, writing a bachelor thesis with an industry partner is also feasible. In some cases, our list of open topics includes such collaborative theses. Alternatively, you can propose a topic that you’d like to study together with an industry partner. However, please note that we normally do not sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements). If you are in contact with an organization where you’d like to write your thesis, you may want to check whether your industry partner accepts this policy.

That is the key question. In general, you can browse through our list of open topics and see whether some of our propositions fit your interests. Alternatively, you can propose a thesis topic to us, preferably but not necessarily in one of our research areas .

We do not enforce specific formatting requirements. Instead, we recommend that students follow the author guidelines of scholarly outlets such as, e.g., the European Journal of Operational Research.  Note that these guidelines might also mention a minimum/maximum length. Such recommendations do not apply to your thesis and can be ignored. Instead, please adhere to our own recommendations related to thesis length.

MSc. theses are generally prepared in English. For a BSc. thesis, you are free to decide whether to write in English or German.

There are some general guidelines that any academic thesis follows. If you have already participated in one of our seminars (for Bachelor or Master students), you will be familiar with these guidelines. Otherwise, make sure that you have a careful read through our recommendations related to academic writing .

In addition to general guidelines, a typical Bachelor thesis written at the CIS adopts one of three paradigms.

First, the majority of dissertations is organized as a literature survey or, in other words, a state-of-the-art . Consider for example the question of IT business value. To which extent increases the use of information and communication technologies the performance of a firm? Several research projects have been undertaken to shed light on this question. A Bachelor thesis can review this field, identify sub-streams in the literature, and distill some overall conclusions. In addition, it might be possible to identify research gaps in the literature. In a nutshell, such a thesis provides a holistic overview of a clear-defined field.

Second, a bachelor thesis can be organized as a meta-analysis. A good example for such an endeavor is the paper of Jamain and Hand (2008) , who conduct a meta-analysis for the field of consumer credit scoring. In brief, this field is concerned with the question how a money lender can predict whether a credit applicant would pay back her loan, if the loan were granted. You can imagine that many papers have been written about this topic, and you can also imagine that several of these papers present some sort of forecasting method. Often, the proposition of a novel forecasting method is accompanied by an empirical evaluation to showcase that the new method predicts well. Given a large number of empirical studies that adopt this approach (i.e., present and compare forecasting methods), a meta-analysis first gathers empirical data about these comparisons (i.e., papers). This could be, for example, i) how many different forecasting methods have been compared in a paper, ii) how many times did some method A beat some other method B, iii) which measures have been used to assess the accuracy of a forecasting methods, etc. Next, a meta-analysis performs some statistical analysis on this data and, in doing so, distills some overall conclusions; for example, method A is better than B. You see that the outcome is the same as in the previous setup of a Bachelor thesis. Only the way in which one arrives at this outcome differs. Clearly, not every topic facilitates a meta-analysis. If you are generally interested in this format, feel free to contact our team members to find out which possibilities are available.

Third, it is also possible to organize a Bachelor thesis as a ‘little Master thesis’. This means that you conduct your own research study, which, at the CIS, would typically entail some empirical or analytic work. Such a study can span the whole research process – from gathering relevant data over data analysis to interpreting the observed results and drawing conclusions, or focus on specific steps in this process. Consider once again the above example of credit scoring. Given some credit scoring data set, your task could be to compare some novel forecasting method to some established benchmark. Given the similarity to Master theses in terms of format and organization, we do not publish dedicated topics for Bachelor theses that fall into this category. Students who are interested in the “small-scale Master thesis format” can review our topics for Master dissertations and ask the corresponding supervisor whether the topic could be changed such that it fits the smaller scope of a Bachelor thesis.

Every Master program has its own rules. We cannot make any recommendations related to programs offered at other universities. More specifically, the following guidelines apply only to our Master program Information Systems .

If you are considering to apply for the above program, you need to proof that you have collected at least 150 ECTS by the time of application. Say you want to start your Master in IS at the Humboldt-University in the winter semester 2016/2017. Assume for example that the application deadline is 30 th of April 2015. So, by end of April, when submitting your application, your transcript must show at least 150 ECTS. It is not necessary that you have completed your Bachelor studies. In particular, you can still be involved with your Bachelor thesis, or does not even have started with your Bachelor thesis. However, you need at least 150 (see ZSP-HU 1.1.2) .

There are some general guidelines that any academic thesis must follow. If you have already participated in one of our seminars  (for  Bachelor  or  Master  students) , you will be familiar with these guidelines. Otherwise, make sure that you have a careful read through the recommendations related to academic writing .

In addition to these general guidelines, a typical Master thesis written at the CIS addresses a research question(s) in the business fields mentioned above and contributes to the literature through providing some novel insight (e.g., original empirical results, evidence in favor of or against previously derived hypotheses, a new piece of methodology, etc.). Most dissertations contain an empirical part related to some real-world planning problem. For example, evaluating the effectiveness of a novel method from the realms of big data analytics in a real-world setting through empirical experimentation is a common task for a Master thesis. Such endeavor may also include the development of an entirely new methodology or the extension of some known technique to better fulfill the requirements of the application setting in question.

There are several possibilities to acquire the data for dissertation. Examples include:

• The master’s thesis is written in cooperation with an industry  partner who provides data
• The data is collected during (as part of) the thesis (e.g., through accessing a data provider’s API, say Twitter, or web scraping)
• The data comes from an academic data mining/forecasting competition (KDD Cup, Data Mining Cup, NN3 or NN5 Competition, etc.) or a Kaggle competition (www.kaggle.com)
• The data is associated with a current research project of the CIS. At the moment projects/data sets from the following areas are available:
• Direct marketing/churn modeling
• Automotive industry/sales of pre-owned vehicles
• Real-time targeting in e-commerce
• Credit scoring or PD modeling
• Markets for sports betting

The typical setting is such that students first complete some of our modules prior to starting their dissertation at the CIS. In particular, our seminars modules provide relevant background on the scientific method, academic writings, etc. Therefore, it is compulsory to complete the module Bachelorseminar Wirtschaftsinformatik to write a Bsc. thesis at the CIS. For master students, it is compulsory to complete one of our seminars, Masterseminar Information Systems or Applied Predivtive Analytics .

We gurantee that every student who has successfully completed the relevant seminar is given an opportunity to write her/his BSc./MSc. thesis at the CIS. Of course, there will still be a need to agree on the topic.

In general, completing our Bachelor/Master modules equips you with a firm understanding of research in information systems and big data analytics in particular. Moreover, our courses give you an opportunity to develop the skills typically needed to write a dissertation at the CIS.

Having said that, given your research interests and focus on analytic/empirical work, some useful skills include, e.g., scientific computing, databases, programming (preferably in Matlab, R, Python or Julia), econometrics and statistics, machine learning.

First of all, to be eligible to register for the final thesis you have to fulfill certain requirements (e.g. you must have completed certain modules or have earned a certain amount of ECTS – depending on your degree program). To verify that, you can consult the examination office. Afterwards, you have to receive a thesis application form in the student office that you need to fill in and hand in to your supervisor for signing (on the form you will have to indicate the exact datum when you have received the final topic). Afterwards, submit the signed registration form to the examination office: either give it personally during the office hours or send per post. You will also receive a copy of the filled form once the examination office processes the documents. 

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Update on the submission of theses

Please read carefully the respective paragraph of your Study Regulations concerning the bachelor's or master's thesis. You can find there all you need to know.

You can find your study regualtions in the  download area  under your field of study.

Looking for a Supervisor

Procedure for the search for a supervisor

1. first decide on the topic

You should first think about the topic you would like to write about. Ideally, you should then summarize the topic in an exposé.

2. search for the first supervisor

You should look for a supervisor/first reviewer for your thesis one to two semesters before you start writing it. If you are unsure who is suitable for a topic, please contact the Student Counseling Service. Pay particular attention to the information about theses on the professorships' websites. There you will usually also find information on how best to apply for a thesis. If there is no information on this, we recommend that you always visit the office hours of the potential supervisor. If you make a request by email, you should make it very clear in writing exactly what you want to do for your thesis.

Please note that some examiners want to know their candidates, so you should have taken a final module examination with them. Please also refer to the information on the pages of the professorships.

You should look for your first examiner or supervisor yourself. 

If you cannot find anyone, you still have the option of being assigned a supervisor by the examination committee. However, we only recommend this procedure in an emergency. If you want to use this option, write an informal application in which you ask to be assigned a supervisor. The application should include the desired topic and also details of who has already rejected you. The application should be submitted to the Examinations Office by email. The examination committee will then assign someone to you.

3. Search for a second assessor if necessary

You can also look for a second assessor yourself, although the supervisor can recommend someone. If you register your thesis without a second assessor, the examination committee will automatically appoint someone. Please also note the specific requirements regarding your degree program and your study regulations.

4. final determination of the topic in consultation with the supervisor

Together with the supervisor (first reviewer), you then determine the final topic.

5. registration of the thesis

Finally, register your thesis with the Examination Office. The formalities are explained below.

Who may supervise my thesis?

Below you will find information on which groups of people are authorized to supervise theses. Please note that there are differences between the individual degree programs and study regulations. You should therefore pay particular attention to the general explanations listed for your degree program and your study regulations regarding who may supervise a thesis. If you are unsure, you can also ask the Examinations Office. 

Here you will find all the essential information about which groups of people are authorized to supervise a thesis as first or second supervisor:

• BA Political Science (Study Regulations 2014)
• BA Political Science (Study Regulations 2022)
• BA Sociology (Study Regulations 2015)
• BA Sociology (Study Regulations 2022)
• MA International Studies / Peace and Conflict Research (Study Regulations 2014 and 2022)
• MA Political Science (Study Regulations 2014)
• MA Political Science (Study Regulations 2022)
• MA Political Theory (Study Regulations 2014 and 2022)
• MA Sociology (Study Regulations 2015)
• MA Sociology (Study Regulations 2022)
• MA Economic Sociology (Study Regulations 2019)
• MA Comparative Democracy

​Tips for writing theses

You can find useful advice on how to write your thesis in the download area  under your field of study.

Registering your thesis

There is no fixed period for registering a bachelor's or master's thesis. You can register your thesis at the Examination Office at any time using the registration form . You can post the registration form in the letterbox in front of the Examination Office at any time; it is not necessary to come in person during office hours. Please make sure that you have completed it in full.

You can find the form     in the   download area  under your field of study. 

After submitting the registration form, you will receive a confirmation letter from the Examination Office, which will also indicate the submission date for your dissertation.

To register for the dissertation, you must have completed the following modules or earned the following CP.

​Returning the topic, language, group work

The agreed topic can be returned once only and only within the first third of the processing time. The new topic must differ in content from the returned topic.

As a rule, you must write your thesis in German (exception: M.A. Comparative Democracy). In agreement with the examiners or the chairperson of the Examination Committee, you may write your thesis in English.

Theses in the form of group work can also be allowed if the individual student's contribution to be assessed as an examination achievement is clearly distinguishable and assessable through the indication of sections, page numbers and other objective criteria that enable a clear differentiation.

Processing times and scale

You must submit your thesis to the Examination Office of the Faculty of Social Sciences in due time. If the thesis is not submitted on time, it is deemed to have been failed.

Processing time is as follows:

If the first deadline cannot be met for reasons beyond the student's control (e.g. the student or a child cared for by the student is ill), the chairperson of the Examination Committee extends the processing time in accordance with the respective Study Regulations (see above). The student must apply for this informally to the Examination Office before the first submission date.

The thesis can be submitted at the earliest after 50% of the processing time.

Formal Requirements

Bachelor's theses :

• Submission of the thesis in 3 bound copies
• The Declaration on Examination Achievements must be bound in (see download area  under your field of study. ).
• You can discuss further formalities with your supervisor.
• On the cover sheet only the following: degree programme, thesis topic, author's name and submission date.

Master's theses :

• The Declaration on Examination Achievements must be bound in (see download area  under your field of study.).

Reviewers’ reports

The standard time for the reports by both reviewers together is 6 weeks after submission of the thesis. The second reviewer can limit himself/herself to co-signing the first reviewer's report if both award the same grade.

Oral Final Examination

Once you have passed your thesis, you must present it within an oral examination. The subject of the oral examination is the content of the dissertation as well as questions and/or tasks in the context of the topic chosen for it. The examination lasts 30 minutes. The supervisor and an observer are present.

As a rule, the student arranges the date for the oral examination with the supervisor and an observer, whereby there are no fixed time periods for this.

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List of Master´s Theses Topics

Dear students:

At the end of your studies you will have to write a thesis (master's thesis). To help you find a topic, you will find some general suggestions below, which you can modify or specify according to your interests.

• Sprachkontraste zwischen dem Deutschen und einer oder mehrerer anderer Sprachen: Sprachliche Unterschiede auf allen linguistischen Beschreibungsebenen (Phonetik/Phonologie, Wortschatz, Morphologie und Syntax, Text und Stilistik) und in allen sprachlichen Bereichen (gesprochene oder geschriebene Sprache, Standardsprache, Fachsprachen usw.).
• Analysen zu (deutschen und anderen) Fachsprachen: Qualitative und quantitative Analysen zu Fachsprachen aus verschiedenen horizontalen Bereichen, vertikalen Ebenen oder Textsorten (ggf. können solche Arbeiten an die Entwicklung und Auswertung eines fachsprachlichen Korpus an der Technischen Universität Berlin angeschlossen werden).
• Beurteilung und Entwicklung von Lehr‐/Lernmaterialien und ‐konzeptionen: Berücksichtigung von linguistischen, didaktischen, methodischen, politischen oder historischen Gesichtspunkten, darunter auch Fragen der Fachsprachenlinguistik und ‐didaktik, von Gender oder Landeskunde bzw. Inter‐/Transkulturalität.
• Reflexion von Sprache und Kultur in Kunst und Literatur: Thematisierung von Sprache sowie inter‐ bzw. transkultureller Erfahrungen in Filmen, Dramen, Romanen, Erzählungen, Gedichten, Liedern – Analyse und Interpretation unter systematischen oder historischen Gesichtspunkten (weiterer Teilbereich: Stereotypenforschung).
• Bedarfs‐ und Motivationsanalysen für Deutschen als (fachliche) Fremdsprache: Qualitative und quantitative Analysen von Materialien und Ordnungen, Fragebogenaktionen bei verschiedenen (sprachlichen oder fachlichen) Gruppen oder Sprachkompetenztests.
• Geschichte des Deutschen als fremder Sprache: Historische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung und Entwicklung, letztlich auch zur Zukunft von Deutsch als Fremd‐ oder Zweitsprache, ggf. als Tertiärsprache und als fachlicher Fremdsprache – auch im Vergleich zu anderen Fremdsprachen.
• Erforschung konzeptioneller und methodischer Grundlagen: Diskussion von Grundbegriffen neuer Modellierungen zentraler Konzepte (wie unter anderem Konzepte wie Fremdsprache, Landeskunde, Transkulturalität, Fachkommunikation, Optimierung usw.).
• Fragen der Landeskunde: Lehr‐ und Lerninhalte, Verhältnis zum Sprachunterricht, Wissen vs. Kompetenz, Inter‐ und Transkulturalität usw. AKTUELL: Sprachliche, berufliche und kulturelle Integration von Flüchtlingen und Asylsuchenden, Unterstützung der heimischen Bevölkerung.
• Individuelle Lernerfaktoren: Qualitative und quantitative Untersuchungen zum Einfluss und Zusammenspiel verschiedener Lernervariablen wie Motivation, Sprachlerneignung, Alter, Geschlecht, Lernstile und Persönlichkeitsfaktoren auf den Sprachlernerfolg (unter Berücksichtigung verschiedener Konstrukte und Operationalisierungen von ‚Lernerfolg‘).
• Testen          und        Evaluieren:        Zweckorientiertes           Erstellen              und        Bewerten            von        Test‐         und Aufgabenformaten zur Messung fremd‐ und fachsprachlicher Kompetenzen und Fertigkeiten (unter Bezug auf den Gemeinsamen europäischen Referenzrahmen), Varianten (kumulativer) Evaluation von Unterricht, etc.

Feel free to add more ideas to this small list of topics. So please do not hesitate to contact us with more ideas: Please contact the examiners in good time and remember that you have six months to write the master´s thesis after submitting the topic and that it must not exceed 80 pages. Please note that final theses can be handed in at the earliest after half of the processing time. This period begins with the deadline set by the Examinations Office. Early submission dates that deviate from this require a written request from the student stating the reasons and a statement from the first examiner. Early deadlines that differ from this require a written request from the student stating the reasons and an explanation from the primary examiner.

Master’s Theses at Our Chair (a selection)

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▾ Dictionary English-German

Thesis noun —, dissertation f, doktorarbeit f, diplomarbeit f, abschlussarbeit f, master thesis n —, bachelor thesis n —, phd thesis n —, master's thesis n —, thesis supervisor n —, thesis topic n —, thesis paper n —, thesis committee n —, write a thesis v —, my thesis n —, thesis submitted n —, further thesis n —, doctoral thesis n —, empirical thesis n —, postdoctoral thesis n —, practical diploma thesis n —, his thesis n —, best thesis n —, doctor's thesis n —, present thesis n —, unpublished thesis n —, experimental doctoral thesis n —, written thesis n —, daring thesis n —, thesis statement n —, practice-oriented thesis n —, ▸ external sources (german), ▾ external sources (english).

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Theses and Dissertations

The following resources are general indexes to theses and dissertations on all topics, including those on Germanic Studies. Dissertations are important as they often express the most innovative work on a topic; include comprehensive citations and bibliographies of primary and secondary sources; and provide detailed literature reviews and theoretical discussions.

• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This index includes dissertations and masters theses from most North American graduate schools as well as many European universities. Full text is provided for most indexed dissertations from 1997 to the present, while most dissertations from 1980 on include abstracts written by the author. Orders for complete dissertations before 1997 may be placed online, but check UW's Library Catalog first to see if they are owned on campus. Free interlibrary loan may also be a possibility
• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) Covers from 1920 to present. Includes doctoral dissertations about English language, literature, and culture published anywhere in the world
• DART-Europe DART-Europe is a project by research libraries and library consortia to improve global access to European research theses
• Dissonline.de - Digitale Dissertationen im Internet Open access dissertations online, a service of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, integrated into their larger catalog (after entering search, limit to Hochschulschriften and even further to Online Ressourcen ). Instructions, in German, here
• Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) OS offers free access to the full text of nearly 100,000 electronically stored UK theses; of the remaining 200,000 records dating back to at least 1800, many are available to be ordered for scanning through the EThOS digitisation-on-demand facility. A rich resource!
• Foreign Dissertations at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) CRL holds more than 800,000 foreign dissertations and Habilitationsschriften from universities outside of the US and Canada. If you know the exact title of a dissertation and do not find it in the CRL Catalog, CRL has a program to purchase foreign doctoral dissertations for scholars' individual research needs; such requests should be initiated via Interlibrary Loan
• Helveticat The catalog of the Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek; search for dissertations by combining diss with a keyword
• Index to Theses in Great Britain and Ireland A comprehensive listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland since 1716. As of 2013, there were 589,028 theses in the collection, with 355,862 having abstracts
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). NDLTD supports electronic publishing and open access to scholarship in order to enhance the sharing of knowledge worldwide. Try the new Global ETD Search
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) Index of more than 1.5 million electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), with preference given to records of graduate-level theses freely available online
• Österreichische Dissertationsdatenbank This database references over 99,000 dissertations and theses held at Austrian Universities; about two-thirds are abstracted in both German and English
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How To Write A Bachelor/Master Thesis [2024]

It's that time of year again when students are wrapping up their final semester and beginning to write their dissertation. In Germany, students must adhere to some particular formatting standards while writing their Bachelor's or Master's thesis. 

The dissertation is a crucial component of all German higher education programs. Students may use it to demonstrate their understanding and abilities in a given field of study. The thesis also plays a crucial role in helping students develop critical thinking and research skills. They are a valuable preparation for future career opportunities.

In this article, we'll go through everything you must do to write a successful thesis. We will also provide tips and tricks to stay organized and on track throughout the process!

Thesis writing process

Bachelor’s thesis vs. Master’s thesis

A Bachelor's and a Master's thesis are two types of academic papers. A Bachelor's thesis is usually shorter and is meant to show that the student has learned the basics of the subject. In contrast, a Master's thesis is more extended and more in-depth. It should serve as evidence that the student has mastered their chosen subject.

How to format your Bachelor's or Master's thesis in Germany

The following are some of the most critical format requirements in any thesis:

Note:  Depending on the university and the "style" of the student's thesis, the formatting requirements might vary (e.g., Harvard or APA). Be sure to check with your supervisor or department for specific guidelines.

• Margins:  Your thesis must have 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Spacing:  The text must be double-spaced.
• Fonts:  Subtitles must be in a 14-point typeface. The text's main body should be in 12-point font, subheadings in a 14-point typeface, and title headings in a 16-point typeface.
• Length:  A Bachelor's thesis should be around 60 pages, while a Master's thesis should be about 80 pages.
• Language:  Your thesis must be written in German or English, depending on your program.

Let's take a look at each thesis component, starting with the Title page. The following are the required sections for both Bachelor's and Master's thesis.

Title page 

The title page of your thesis must include the following information:

• The title of your thesis
• The name of your supervisor
• The name of your program

The abstract is a summary of your thesis. It should be a maximum of one page long and include the following information:

• Your research questions

Table of contents

The table of contents must list all of the sections and subsections of your thesis.

• List of figures:   The figures must include all the figures used in your thesis.
• List of tables:   The list of tables must consist of all of the tables used in your thesis.

Introduction

The introduction should explain the context of your research and the problem you are trying to solve. A Bachelor's thesis should be around three pages, while a Master's thesis should be about five pages .

Literature review

The literature review critically analyzes the existing research on your topic. The literature review is an essential part of any research paper.

It helps you situate your research within the context of existing scholarship and allows you to critically evaluate the existing research on your topic. It is essential to be as critical as possible when reviewing the literature.  It would be best if you addressed questions such as:

• What are the limitations of the existing research?
• What gaps does the current research leave open?
• How can my research contribute to the current body of scholarship?

Methodology

The methodology section explains the research methods you used to collect data for your thesis. This information is crucial because it allows the reader to understand how you gathered your data and what conclusions you drew from it. It is also essential to be transparent when describing your research methods so the reader can evaluate them critically.

Results & Discussion

Result and discussion : The results section presents the data you collected during your research. The discussion section is where you interpret the data and discuss the implications of your findings.

The conclusion summarizes your findings and their implications for practice or future research. A Bachelor's thesis should be around three pages, while a Master's thesis should be about five pages.

Bibliography/References

The references section lists the sources you used in your thesis. It is essential to list all of the sources you used, even if you did not cite them directly in the text.

The appendices include any additional material relevant to your thesis but do not fit within the main body of the text. This part might consist of data sets, survey instruments, or detailed descriptions of research methods.

Tips and tricks for writing a successful Bachelor's or Master's thesis

Choose a topic you are passionate about : This factor will make writing your thesis much easier, as you already have some knowledge about the subject. Passion will also help you stay motivated throughout the writing process!

Do your research : Make sure to do a thorough literature review to be familiar with the existing research on your topic. This step will also help you develop new and original ideas for your thesis.

Create an outline : Once you have done your research, create an outline of your thesis to know what topics you will cover and in what order. It will help you stay organized and on track.

Start early and give yourself enough time : This will allow you to avoid unnecessary stress.

Create a schedule and stick to it:  This step will help you stay on track and make steady progress.

Take breaks and reward yourself : Breaks are essential to avoid burnout. Make sure to schedule some breaks and reward yourself for completing tasks! It will help you stay motivated.

Get feedback from your supervisor:  It is vital to get regular feedback throughout the process. It will ensure that you are on the right track.

Ask for help when you need it:  Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. There are many resources available to help you with the writing process.

These are the general guidelines for writing a Bachelor's or Master's thesis. However, checking with your supervisor and program for specific requirements is essential. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to writing a Bachelor's or Master's thesis. However, these tips and tricks will help you write a successful dissertation!

Happy writing!

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Points to take into account while writing your master's thesis

The topics you can choose for a master's thesis should be highly relevant for practice and policy and the thesis should to be empirically grounded.

Process of a master's thesis

• Discuss a possible topic with Prof. Liudvika Leišytė.
• Write a 2-page proposal (incl. title, table of contents and timeline of the thesis).
• Get approval for this by Prof. Leišytė.
• Prof. Leišytė will write a letter to the Central Examinations Office to declare that she will be your supervisor.
• Write the thesis: in the process, make sure to send the questionnaire for surveys or interview schedules to Prof. Leišytė to get approval before you start your empirical work.
• Submit your thesis to the Section Central Examinations Office, Dez. 4.3.

Type and time frame of the master’s thesis

• Generally, all theses at the Professorship are empirical (i.e. the self-organized collection and analysis of data is part of every thesis). This type of thesis has a time frame of 26 weeks (for details see the Prüfungsordnung ).
• In exceptional cases, theoretical theses are accepted. The specific topic must then be discussed and agreed on with Prof. Liudvika Leišytė. The time frame for this type of thesis is only 17 weeks.

The time frame (count of weeks) starts with the registration of your topic (letter from Prof. Leišytė to the Central Examinations Office).

Topic of the thesis

The topic you choose should relate to the main research fields of the Professorship of Higher Education. Possible Topics:

• Innovation through organizational learning
• Stakeholder representation and characteristics in the boards of universities
• Promotion of collaboration at German universities: policies and practices
• Changing governance of universities and implications of this for their performance
• The implementation of gender policies in German universities
• Characteristics and challenges of an inclusive professional organization

Academic entrepreneurship

• Policies of German universities to promote spin off creation in Germany
• The characteristics of founders of new high tech ventures in Germany
• Motivations of academic entrepreneurs to patent
• Gender and entrepreneurship: evidence from patenting activities

Academic profession and managerialism

• The role of new public management on publication behaviour of academics
• The role of performance based systems on grant acquisition of academics
• Gender in academia: what are the gender differences in academic productivity?
• Challenges of integration of foreign knowledge workers in Germany

Preconditions

Master's theses at the Professorship of Higher Education are accepted according to certain preconditions and according to capacities of scientific staff:

• Bachelor's degree
• Successful completion of two seminars of the Professorship of Higher Education
• Parallel to master’s thesis: Participation in the Research Colloquium of the Professorship

For theses in the Master WiWi as well as the exam regulations (Prüfungsordnung) see: WiWi: Master of Science

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Making Your Thesis a Success

For most students, their final research paper is the first major work written during their degree program. It is much more comprehensive and demanding than term or seminar papers they have written during the course of their studies and, therefore, requires more planning.

Formalities: What regulations apply to the thesis?

Here, you will find information on the regulations governing the writing and submission of your thesis.  Formalities Please take note: These specifications apply for bachelor’s and master’s theses. You can find the regulations applying to the diploma thesis in the §§ of the ADPO (General Academic and Examination Regulations) and the FPSO (Departmental Study and Examination Regulations) of your degree program.

Tips and Tricks

Here, you will find some tips, literature and links we have compiled to help you succeed in writing your thesis. Tips and Tricks

Please note: The recently issued prohibition on the use of special characters in connection with gender-sensitive language in Bavarian schools, universities and authorities relates exclusively to the official tasks of the institutions themselves ; the prohibition does not extend to personal speech, documents, texts, and communication in study and teaching . 

Students are free to decide whether and in what form they want to use gender-sensitive language. The use or non-use of gender-sensitive language has no influence on the assessment of examinations, seminar papers, or theses .

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Having trouble choosing a topic for your bachelor’s or master’s thesis? Our Themenbörse posts current thesis topics from across the spectrum of TUM’s academic departments.

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Thesis in Germany – Tips to write your thesis at a company

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In order to graduate from your bachelor or master studies in Germany, you will probably need to write a thesis in your last semester. Having a thesis semester was not something that I was familiar with. I did my bachelor degree in Hong Kong, where we did not have a thesis semester. When I did my master degree in Germany , I had many questions relating to the thesis semester. In this post, I will explain to you what a thesis semester is and provide some tips about writing your thesis at a company.

Moving to Germany or new in Germany? Check out our Resources Page for all the help you need!

What is thesis semester?

Thesis semester is very typical in German universities. It is normally the last semester before your graduation. By the end of your last semester, you need to submit an academic thesis called Abschlussarbeit in German. You need to find a topic that is approved by your professor, write a thesis and present it in the end. The length of your thesis depends on your department’s requirement. To give you an idea, my master thesis was around 60 pages long. A thesis is a formal document. You need to write with formal wording, and quote your sources for whatever you state in the content.

There are three ways to do your thesis. The first way is to write a thesis by yourself. An advantage is that you are quite flexible with your location. You can write it at home, or even in another country, as long as you can submit your thesis in the end. The second way is to write at the university with a topic from a professor. If you are in a technical field, your professor may have some topics on hand that you are free to choose from. In that case, you need to work with your professor to understand his expectations and requirements for the specific thesis topics.

The third way to do your thesis is to write it with a company. Some companies are looking for thesis students to help them to investigate certain topics that are of their business interest. In this case, you need to write your thesis at the company. It is like you work for this company. You get a contract for a fixed period of time and you write your thesis in the office. In the end, you have to hand in your thesis to both the company and your professor.

Why do companies hire students to write theses?

There are different reasons for that:

To research on a topic

Sometimes, companies want to get more knowledge on a certain topic. A hypothetical example: the government is planning to change the law relating to foreign investment in 2 years. The company wants to know how this law will affect their investment strategy.

Since the regular employees may not have time to do this research, the company may want to hire a student who is fully dedicated to this task. The student needs to collect all information on this new law, and investigates how this law would affect the company and what the company can do about it. It is like a consultation that the company can use for their decision making in the future.

To develop a tool

Companies want to achieve some process improvement. An example: the employees have a tedious task that they need to do daily. They need to pull all the data from system A and put into system B and do some daily analysis with this data. It is a manual process that requires a lot of copy and paste. The company wants to automate this process so that it can save time for the employees.

In this case, the company may want to hire a student to look at how this process can be improved. A tool can be developed by the students which automates this process. This can be a creation of a Macro tool or using one of the existing systems tools in the company. The student needs to develop the tool, explains in the thesis what the tool does and how it helps the company. The company can benefit from the thesis as they get a tool now which helps to improve their process.

To find potential employees

Similar to hiring interns, hiring thesis students is a way to find potential good employees. It is kind of like a probation period. The thesis students work for a few months in the company. This gives a chance for the company to see how the students perform and if they are suitable to work permanently in the company. See also this post about tips to boost your chances of getting hired.

Why should you write your thesis with a company?

For me personally, I prefer to write a thesis with a company. There are some advantages relating to it:

You may get some money for it

As a student, I was living on a very tight budget. If you write your thesis for a company, you may be able to get some compensation (though not all companies will pay). For example, I got about 2000 EUR for writing my thesis. I spent around 6 months to write it. So, it was really not a lot of money. But it helped already and it was better than nothing. Check out this post as well for other ways to earn money in Germany as a student.

Writing for a company is more practical

When you write your thesis with a company, it is like you are working in this company. You work on your thesis in the office, you need to work with different people in the company, and your thesis has a business context. In my opinion, it is more practical as it relates to real life business, rather than just a student work with theory.

Interaction with other people

Writing thesis with a company is like having a full-time job in the company. You have a supervisor in the company who guides you on the topic and you need to work with other employees to collect the necessary information. In my opinion, this is more interesting than if I have to write my thesis at home on my own.

Exposure to the company’s management

After finishing your thesis, it is likely that you need to present the result to the company’s management. This is a good chance for you to practice your presentation skills in a real business setting. And it is your show time on all the hard work you put in for this thesis semester.

Future job opportunities

As mentioned before, some companies hire thesis students in order to find potential good employees. If you write a good thesis, you will have a chance to get hired after your graduation. You have an advantage since you already work in the company for a while and make some connections there. See this post about how I got my job offer after my thesis.

Besides, your thesis experience in a company will also make your CV looks good . You can request the company to give you a reference letter for future job search.

Read also: How To Write Your Cover Letter in Germany (+ English Example!)

How to find thesis opportunities with companies?

Basically, it is the same process as when you are looking for a permanent job. Here are some of the ways:

Apply online

You can find thesis offers in different job portals or directly on the career page of the companies’ websites. If you are curious about the compensation that you may get, check out my post about salary in Germany . Below are some of the portals that I used:

– Gehalt.de 

– Jobs.de

– Monster.de 

– LinkedIn 

– Xing  

It is quite common that some companies participate in job fairs to advertise their companies and find potential employees. These job fairs sometimes take place in universities. Each company has its own booth and it is a great chance for students to ask any questions relating to the companies and job positions. You can also ask around in the job fairs for any thesis opportunities.

Through an internship

I had an internship semester right before my thesis semester. During my internship, I made connection with different people in the company and asked about any thesis opportunities. I had an advantage since I knew the people and had some understanding of the business already through my internship. And this was how I got my thesis contract afterward.

How to generate a thesis topic by yourself in a company?

Let’s say you are doing an internship in a company now and you would like to write a thesis for this company afterward. How easy it is to get a thesis topic in the company depends a lot on your field. For example, if you study in a technical field like engineering, the company may have some thesis topics available already that you can just pick from.

However, if you are in a general business field like me, there may not be as many topics available in the company. What if you really want to write a thesis in the company, but they tell you that they have no thesis topic available?

Instead of waiting for the company to give you a topic, it is better to be proactive and suggest a topic by yourself. Think of a topic and suggest this to the company to see if they are interested. At least this was what I did. Below are some tips on how you can generate a topic for the company:

Research online or ask your classmates

Let’s say you study supply chain management. To get some ideas, you can research online to see what kind of thesis topics are out there. Besides, if your classmates are writing theses for other companies, you can also ask them what topics they are writing about and see if this topic applies to your company as well. The point here is not to pick a topic you find online or from your classmates. But it is more to give you an idea of what a potential thesis topic in your field is. This can help you to generate ideas for yourself which are also potentially interesting for your company.

Networking in your company

During your internship, you should try to network as much as possible. Networking should not be limited to the team you are working for, but also to other teams in the company. Tell the people that you are searching for a thesis opportunity and ask if they need help on any topic. The more connection you have, the better your chance is to get a thesis contract.

Think about what is your company’s interest

Companies like proactive students. You should be there to help the employees to solve problems, rather than to create more work for the employees. So, instead of begging people for a topic, you should be proactive and tell the people why you think writing on a certain topic is beneficial for the company. During your internship, you should already have some understanding of the business. Do you see a gap somewhere? Should any processes be improved?

For example, let’s say you are working in a local real estate company that is growing rapidly. Do you know if the company has a plan to expand internationally as well? If yes, which countries make sense for them to expand? What about expanding in Austria? How is the real estate market in Austria? What factors should the company consider for this expansion?

Another example: your company has recently acquired another company. Can you write a thesis regarding the acquisition? How does it affect the work and the employees? What should the company consider to have a smooth transition? What has the company done and how effective is the process?

These are just some hypothetical examples. You should think from your company’s perspective on what kind of topics can be interesting for them. If you don’t have an idea, start with networking and talk to as many people as possible in your company. Ask them what they do in their daily jobs and what kind of improvement they would like to see in their tasks/company. It may help you to think of a topic which is helpful for the people.

Improve your technical knowledge

Companies like practical and useful tools. The best is that you can create a tool that can improve their daily process. If you study in general business like me, you will probably think that “developing a tool” is too complicated and it is something for the technicians.

This is not completely true. For example, a tool can be as simple as an excel macro. I did not know anything about macro before. During my internship, I bought a book to learn about it because I know this can be beneficial for my thesis or future jobs. It never hurts to learn one more technical skill.

Some companies use enterprise resource planning systems for their operation. During your internship, you should try to learn the system as good as you can. This knowledge will be very helpful in case you want to do data analysis or develop a tool for your thesis.

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4 Replies to “Thesis in Germany – Tips to write your thesis at a company”

Its informative blog, thanks.

Glad that you like it. Hope it helps you!

Many thanks for practical tips! Now I have much more clear picture of how I can organize my thesis at a company.

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Translation of thesis – English–German dictionary

(Translation of thesis from the PASSWORD English–German Dictionary © 2014 K Dictionaries Ltd)

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enterprising

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good at thinking of and doing new and difficult things, especially things that will make money

Fakes and forgeries (Things that are not what they seem to be)

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German word for "thesis reviewer" and "thesis examiner"

Maybe this is something specific to the French doctorate, but a thesis committee is made of different types of members:

• An advisor (directeur) is a person that supervised the doctoral work. They obviously attend the defence.
• A reviewer (rapporteur) is a person that was selected by the advisor to receive the thesis manuscript two months before the defence, read it in details, write a critical review about it and advise whether the doctoral candidate should be allowed to defend. They also attend the defence and give their opinion after it.
• An examiner (examinateur) is a person that was selected to be on the committee but only gives their opinion after the defence.

Do specific words exist in German that correspond with the roles of "reviewer" and "examiner"?

I thought "Reporter" would make sense for "reviewer", but have been advised that it only has sense for journalists. I was suggested "Gutachter", but I am unsure whether this makes a clear distinction between the roles of reviewer and examiner.

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This is not a French specific committee for a PhD exam. The German structure is the same.

The advisor (directuer) is called “Promotions-Prüfungsvorsitzender”. This is your “doctor father”, or supervisor for the past years while your PhD work. This is also someone that reads and evaluate the dissertation. In the German language this evaluation is called “Gutachten” and that is the reason why the advisor is also called “Gutachter”. To be more precise “Erstgutachter”, I explain later why.

The reviewer (rapporteur) write, like you said, the critical review, or in German called “Gutachten” and is also a “Gutachter”. Because he (or she) is the second selected by the advisor he (or she) is also called a little more precised in the German language “Zweitgutachter” (or “Zweitgutachterin”).

Both words “Erstgutachter” and “Zweitgutachter” are used more in a formal way and mostly used on the paper. Normally they are both referred as “Gutachter” in a more direct way of speaking.

The last group, the examiner (examinateur) are called “Beisitzer” (or in general "Prüfer"). I don’t know how this is exactly in the French PhD exam, but in the German one this “Beisitzer” listen to the defense part and are also allowed to ask question that are not part of your dissertation but belong to the field where you studied. For example if you do a PhD in say physic and your topic was something with quantum mechanics they are also allowed to ask more basic questions about thermo dynamics etc. And like you said they give more an opinion about you.

• Man könnte hier noch Rigorosum oder Disputation anführen. –  Takkat Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 12:42
• 3 Just to throw in some additional terms: At my university (Uni Stuttgart) the advisor is not the same person as the head of the defence (they call this person Vorsitzender des Prüfungsausschusses ). The advisor is called Hauptberichter and an examiner is called Mitberichter . Here's the examination regulation for reference: www.uni-stuttgart.de/zv/bekanntmachungen/bekanntm_55_2011.pdf –  Deve Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 12:51
• 2 This shows once more how academia always varies more than you think it does : At my university, the advisor (Doktorvater) must not be the head of the commision (but still is the Erstgutachter ). Also there are faculties where the candidate can chose not to have a Rigorosum (in which he is asked about the field in general) but is only asked about topics directly relating to the thesis. –  Wrzlprmft ♦ Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 21:29

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Watch CBS News

105-year-old dons cap and gown, receives overdue degree from Stanford University

Updated on: June 17, 2024 / 2:26 PM PDT / CBS San Francisco

STANFORD -- At age 105, Virginia Hislop has lived a full life with two children, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. She has devoted much of her life to education and has served on school and college boards in central Washington, where she lives.

Despite her success, she says something was missing.

"From time to time, I wished I had finished and gotten my master's (degree)," Hislop said. "Part of it was the fact that I've been a college director for a good number of years and I didn't have the advanced degree that some of the other ones did."

Hislop had taken the required classes at Stanford University but had not yet submitted a master's thesis when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941.

"The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor," Hislop explained.

She quickly married her college sweetheart before his Army deployment. She assisted in the war effort then focused on her family but never finished her thesis.

"Fast-forward 83 years -- we don't have a thesis requirement anymore so she's actually satisfied the requirements for Master of Arts in the Graduate School of Education," said Daniel Schwartz, dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Education. "So, 83 years later, we're honoring this woman who has done so much."

Sunday afternoon at the education department's commencement ceremony, fellow graduates and Hislop's family, many of whom live in the Bay Area, gave her a standing ovation as she walked onto the stage with a little support from her cane.

"So much gratitude. She's believed in all of us and cheered us on all the way through and we get to cheer her on now. It's pretty cool," said Elizabeth Jensen, Hislop's granddaughter. "I feel like this is the crowning glory of her amazing career. This is her lifetime achievement award."

Hislop received her master's academic hoop and her diploma.

"Very satisfied, very pleased," Hislop beamed.

She was quick to remind people it's never too late to get a college degree. And this one added one more highlight to her many accomplishments.

When asked what she'd do with the diploma, she smiled.

"Add it to the others I have in the basement," she said.

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