Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences - Climate Geography

General information on theses

If you want to write a thesis in climate geography or geomorphology/soil science (with Mohsen Makki), it is important to keep the following steps in mind.
 

Necessary steps on the way to a successful final thesis:
  • Reflect, research and note down which topics you are interested in and what specifically you would like to do. If necessary, you can find inspiration in the list of topics for theses.
  • Contact the desired primary supervisor of your thesis to find and specify the topic.
  • Read up on the topic, possibly on the basis of references provided by your primary supervisor.
  • Find out whether all necessary data, tools, software etc. are available, if necessary by contacting your primary supervisor.
  • Write an exposé of your thesis in which you present a suggested title, the research question, an outline of the state of the art in research by citing relevant literature, working hypotheses, methodology and expected result. This exposé is at least two pages long, but should not exceed ten pages. It serves as a starting point for further elaboration.
  • Look for feedback of your primary supervisor on the basis of this exposé and come to the final decision to realise the thesis as planned.
  • If calculations on the climate geography's high performance computer (Cirrus) are necessary, please discuss this with the administrators. This is also necessary to avoid unexpected delays due to planned, major maintenance work.
  • Make an appointment with the primary supervisor and Christoph Schneider for the presentation of your thesis in the research workshop. Please also inform the second reviewer about this date. For the presentation in the research workshop please consider the following:
    • Bachelor's students present their work either at the concept stage, during the preparation of the thesis or after submission of the thesis. It is recommended that you give a presentation during the time of writing so that you can incorporate the findings from the presentation and discussion into the further elaboration.
    • Master's students must present twise. They present the concept of thesis usually before registration at the Examination Office. Additionally, they report on the results in a second presentation shortly before or after submission of the final thesis. The second presentation is counted as 1/10 of the final grade of the thesis. Please also note the formal rules and the wording of the official examination regulations.
    • All details on the research workshop and the available dates can be found on the research workshop's website.

  • The analyses, evaluations and elaborations on the basis of the available data sets and the writing of the thesis itself must generally take place within the period of three months for Bachelor's theses or six months for Master's theses specified by the examination regulations. The thesis must not be registered late and then submitted to the examination office ad hoc after an obviously too short processing time. Therefore:

  • Do not register your thesis at the Examinations Office until you are sure that you can complete all the necessary empirical work and the concrete writing of the paper in due time. You should also discuss the schedule with your primary supervisor.

  • The title given at registration can only be changed later by a decision of the examination board. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the title of the application is final and confirmed by the supervisor.

  • You will find the registration form on the website of the Examination Office. Together with your primary supervisor you now have to determine the final title of your thesis in German and in English. Make suggestions to your supervisor and then develop them further together with him/her. The registered title can later only be changed by means of an application to the examination board. On the registration form you need the signatures of your primary supervisor and your second reviewer.

  • Formal questions regarding citation methods, scope, structure, appendix, etc. should be clarified with the primary supervisor of the thesis.

  • Submit the final thesis to the examination office in due time! On the website of the Examinations Office for Geography (Mrs. Schwedler) and in the examination regulations you will find the necessary information for this purpose, including how many copies you have to hand in and what other formalities the thesis still has to comply with.

  • In addition, please send a PDF of your completed thesis to both reviewers. This will facilitate and, if necessary, accelerate the correction.

  • After the evaluation, the title of the work may be listed on our website. If your work should or may be mentioned there together with your name, you will have to sign a declaration of consent because of data protection. If Christoph Schneider or your primary supervisor does not come to you with this on his or her own, please ask.


The time of the final thesis is challenging, work-intensive, but also inspiring and exciting and full of new insights.

We wish you joy and success in this part of your studies.