INFORMATION ON STUDENT WORK AT THE CGV CHAIR

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How-To: Writing a Thesis

During the writing of a thesis, students often have similar questions for their advisors. Likewise, there are difficulties that arise repeatedly, such as in scheduling or structuring the work. To provide guidance on the topic of thesis writing, the CGV chair offers a brief document full of helpful information and tips. The document is available as an online version version and a PDF version (German only).

Consultation

After the student has chosen a topic, they will be assigned an advisor from the CGV chair. Initially, the student must report to the advisor on a regular basis about their progress. The student is responsible for scheduling the meetings. After the introductory period, meetings with the advisor are to be arranged individually. The modalities are regulated in an adviser's agreement, which can be read here: Advisor's Agreement

Submission

For a successful submission of the Bachelor's/Master's thesis or project/diploma thesis at the CGV chair, the following is required:

• two copies of the bound written work,
• each with a CD/DVD containing the digital content of the work.

Written Work

The written work must be printed and bound in two copies. The bound copies must be submitted to the examination office by the submission deadline.

For easy searching on the shelf, the bound version must have a labeled book spine (type of work: Bachelor's/Master's/Project/Diploma, First Name Last Name, Title, Year). The pages must be printed on both sides! Each work must contain a slot for the CD/DVD, which is part of the submission. To save production costs, illustrations can be collected on color pages.

The templates of the chair (LaTeX/Word) can be used.

These guidelines are not hard limits. The length of the work should be appropriate to its content. The exact length should be discussed with the advisor of the work. Additional lists (other than the usual ones, such as the table of contents) and appendices should only be added if necessary.

CD/DVD with Digital Content

Each copy of the written work must contain a CD/DVD with the following content.

• The name of the CD/DVD must be chosen according to the scheme [Bachelor|Master|Beleg|Diplom]FirstnameLastname. In the root directory, there should be a readme.txt file with the content of the CD/DVD. The directory structure should reflect the following sub-contents. Suggestions for directories are given in square brackets as follows:
  • [thesis] Electronic version of the student work as a PDF document and all source files such as LaTeX documents, images, or office files.
  • [project/{src,bin,doc}] Source code with documentation and a running version of the software developed in the work with a brief user manual.
  • [data] All collected data sets.
  • [abstract] The abstract of the work as a .txt file.
  • [slides]* Electronic version of the final presentation as a PDF document and with all source files and shown videos.

Two sets of CDs/DVDs are to be submitted:

• The first CD/DVD is to be submitted with the bound works and does not need to contain the content marked with *.
• The second CD/DVD with all contents is to be submitted at the defense.

Evaluation

After the successful submission of the bound work, the student receives two written evaluations from the advising university teacher (or a second university teacher or doctoral employee). A scientific employee can also participate in the evaluation in the form of a statement, for example, the work advisor. A working version of the software developed in the work is to be submitted to the advisor for the evaluation of the practical part with the submission of the bound work.

The evaluation of the work by the reviewer is based on various aspects. First and foremost, the fulfillment of the task is examined, i.e. to what extent the previously set goals were achieved, changed or even expanded. Next, the focus is on the working method. The student's abilities regarding goal orientation, systematic approach, prudence, independence, or ability to discuss are evaluated. Furthermore, the reviewer assesses the theoretical background of the work and the separation between important and unimportant aspects. Next, the actual work is checked. Above all, the structure and layout, the introduction to the topic, the literature review, as well as the text and presentation quality play a decisive role. In addition, motivation, comprehensibility, and clarity are also considered. The classification and description of the student's own work are also taken into account. Finally, the reviewer assesses the practical implementation, such as the extent of libraries and frameworks used, as well as the effort, completeness, and design of the implementations. The stability of the developed algorithms as well as the validation of correctness are also examined. The extent to which runtime, memory usage, and approximation quality were investigated and in what manner is also relevant for the assessment of the work.

In general, the evaluation period should not exceed 4 weeks.

The student receives the reviews and opinions before their oral defense, so they can prepare themselves accordingly. It is expected that in the defense, reference is made to the weaknesses and problems of the work that are recorded in the reviews and opinions.

The written and practical parts of the work count three times compared to the defense, i.e. in a ratio of 3:1.

Defense

For your presentation slides, you can use the template provided by the CGV chair (PowerPoint). After the evaluations have been completed, a date for the oral defense of the thesis will be arranged in consultation with the CGV secretary. The examination regulations provide for a total time of 60 minutes (presentation + questions) for defending a thesis (except for a "Großer Beleg", which has 45 minutes). The CGV professorship specifies the following times:

The student must ensure that the presentation adheres to these times precisely.

After the presentation, the student will answer questions about their work. This question-and-answer session will last approximately 15 minutes.

Dress code (What should I wear?)

The intermediate presentation is a presentation during the ordinary colloquium of the CGV chair. Common, good clothing is completely sufficient, such as long pants, a shirt, or a simple T-shirt. An overly casual appearance can cost the presenter some credibility (i.e., "He doesn't take his topic seriously.").

The defense is the final presentation and examination of the Thesis. This presentation also takes place within the CGV colloquium, but has a formal character. Good clothing is appropriate but not excessive, such as long pants and a shirt. A tie, jacket, or suit would be too much!

For guests (friends and family), common clothing is perfectly fine. The CGV staff will also be present in their everyday clothing.