Writing a Thesis at Informatik 1

This page describes some general points that should be considered if you wish to write a thesis at Informatik 1.

Workflow

  1. Look at theses page for an overview of topics offered by Informatik 1
    • If a thesis topic sounds interesting, directly contact the advisor mentioned there.
    • If you cannot decide, contact Felix Freiling for some orientation.
  2. Decide on a concrete thesis topic and an advisor
  3. Write an abstract of what the thesis is about (“Expose”)
    • After discussing the topic with your advisor, write down on 1-2 pages how you understand the topic
    • The abstract should basically contain these sections: 1. Motivation, 2. Problem Statement, 3. Concrete Goals 4. Bibliography
    • The section “Problem Statement” should contain research question (or multiple questions) that you are going to answer with your work.
    • Bibliography should contain first literature (3-6 sources) that you are going to use, and all the mentioned literature should be cited at some point in the text of your expose.
    • In the “Concrete Goals” section, try to be as concrete as possible about what you should do. It is possible to mark certain goals as optional to get some flexibility in time.
  4. Get an OK for the abstract from your advisor and your examiner (usually Felix Freiling)
  5. Register the thesis and start work
  6. for Diploma and Master’s theses: At halftime (usually about 3 months) you are expected to give an intermediate presentation (“Zwischenvortrag”) to get some feedback on the work. This presentation does not count towards the final grade of the thesis.
  7. After submitting your thesis, you will have to give a final presentation in which you defend your thesis. This presentation will be part of the grade of your thesis.
  8. During your thesis, you are required to visit a couple (3-6) of intermediate and final presentations of your fellow students in order to comply with the requirement of a “Begleitseminar” for your thesis. Please synchronize visits with your advisor.

Thesis Layout

There are generally no real layout restrictions for the thesis. We nevertheless strongly recommend using LaTeX for writing the thesis. We can provide limited support for LaTeX and related tools, but unfortunately not for office suites.

If you decide to write your thesis using LaTeX, you can use a file set that contains a basic LaTeX frame and looks good:

Thanks to Johannes Götzfried for these files.

If you are feeling adventurous and your advisor is okay with it, you can also try the (currently in beta) modernized layout for writing an exposé, thesis or project report:

Please print your thesis in duplex mode and use a binding that is narrow (e.g., “Leimbindung” or similar). Try to avoid hardcover for the submitted version. (You can produce a hardcover version for yourself, though.)

Use of Generative AI

We neither encourage nor discourage the use of generative AI technologies in scientific writing. However the core competence in scientific writing is the ability to express a line of thought precisely in one’s own words, i.e., putting aside any tools and sources and writing sentences from scratch on a blank line. This is the only path towards scientific innovation and the easiest way to avoid the dangers of plagiarism. We give clear orientation and instructions along these lines when teaching academic reading and writing in the IT Security Seminar.

There is nothing wrong with using supporting tools in text generation and revision. However, be aware that the use of these tools cannot replace the hardships of intellectual work, so using them in supporting text understanding or text production can counteract the learning objectives of a course. We generally observe that the scientific quality of text taken unmodified from queries to advanced language models is poor. So overall, please discuss possible uses of such tools with your examiner/advisor to see whether they are appropriate.

In general we require that any use of generative AI tools that have the potential to counteract the learning objectives of the course must be clearly documented. Disclosure statements should include the name of the tool as well as the purpose of its use.

Here are examples for items of a suitable Generative AI disclosure statement:

During the preparation of this work the author used OpenAI’s ChatGPT4 to harmonize text and check for spelling. After using this tool, the author reviewed and edited all content as needed and takes full responsibility for the content.

During the preparation of this work the author used the translation tool DeepL to improve readability and check for spelling. After using this tool, the author reviewed and edited all content as needed and takes full responsibility for the content.

Consult with your advisor if you have any questions.