Title page

Make sure that all essential information is included on your title page:

• Topic of the thesis
• Thesis / Master Thesis / Project Report for the degree Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) or Master of Science (M.Sc.)
• By Jane Doe
• Supervisor: Prof. Prof. Dr. Firstname Lastname
• Nuremberg, DD.MM.YYYY (Summer Semester YYYY)

Examination declaration

The statutory declaration must not be missing from any thesis:

I, Jane Doe, Matriculation No. 123456789, certify that I have written this thesis independently, have not submitted it elsewhere for examination purposes, have indicated all sources and tools used, and have marked literal and analogous quotes as such.

Plagiarism Declaration in Accordance with Examination Rules: I herewith declare that I have worked on this thesis independently. Furthermore, it was not submitted to any other examining committee. All sources and tools used in this thesis, including literal and analogous quotes, have been identified.

Do not forget the date and your signature.

Publication declaration

This page must include the declaration according to § 19 para. 8 APO and the publication declaration of the thesis.

Here is the form.

Acknowledgements

The acknowledgements should not exceed one page. They may also be omitted entirely.

Summary

This section contains a brief summary of the most important results of your work.

Remember that this section is the “business card” of your work.

Structure and features:

• Total 250 to 300 words
• Purpose / Objective (5–10 sentences)
• Method (1–2 sentences)
• Results (2–3 sentences)
• Value / Benefit (2–3 sentences)

The summary is also called “abstract”.

For the Master Project Report, the summary should be written in English only.

Used symbols and abbreviations

This section lists all symbols and abbreviations used as a reference.

Always make sure to follow DIN EN ISO 80000.

Latin symbols:

Greek symbols:

Contents – example

Introduction

The introduction presents the background of your thesis.

It informs readers about the important scientific, economic, or ecological contexts of your task.

It should clarify which current problems exist and why you aim to solve certain tasks in your work.

The introduction typically spans 1–2 pages.

Your introduction should answer the following questions:

• Why is your work important?
• What contribution does your work make?
• What is the objective of your work? (research question, hypothesis, research goal)
• How was the research conducted?
• If applicable: How is the work structured?

Theory or state of the art

The “theory” or “state of the art” section provides information on the most important theoretical and practical foundations of your thesis.

Ideally, use descriptive titles instead of just “Theory” or “State of the Art.”

If applicable, multiple chapters may be useful: Optionally work with subchapters.

Here you present the results of your literature research.

This also includes a critical assessment and discussion of the literature. After this, the readers understand the current state of knowledge or state of the art in the task area.

This section allows your audience to understand the type of work conducted, the analyses, and the subsequent evaluation or discussion of the results.

Focus on the essential aspects of your thesis, not on generally known fundamentals.

Information that is not necessary for understanding your work or not applied should not be described here.

Chapters 1 and 2 should together comprise approximately one-third of your thesis: guideline is 15–20 pages.

Objectives and problem solving

Clarify with your supervisor whether a separate chapter for objectives and problem solving is needed or whether these aspects can be included in the introduction.

If you use a separate chapter “Objectives and problem solving”, make sure not to repeat the introduction.

If you decide to include this chapter for a better understanding of your thesis, ensure that it fully covers the objectives or task description.

If your thesis involves multiple tasks contributing to the overall solution, it is helpful for readers to understand which tasks need to be completed and how you intend to solve them.

Explain your strategy for solving the overall research question so that it is clear why you perform certain experiments or measurements.

Materials and methods

In this section, you document your experiments or measurements.

Separate the description of the equipment used from the explanation of the procedure.

The following questions should be answered:

• Which devices (manufacturer), chemicals etc. were used?
• Which techniques were applied?
• How exactly did you perform the work?
• Why was this specific setup chosen?
• How were the obtained results analyzed?
• Are there factors that could influence the research?

Equipment:

Indicate which chemicals (incl. manufacturer and purity used) / devices were employed and how the experimental setup looked.

Methods:

Describe how you conducted your experiments or measurements.

The description must be such that your procedure is understandable and reproducible for the readers.

This section documents the experimental procedure so that other professionals can reproduce the experiments.

Record all parameters relevant for later analysis (e.g. device parameters, eluents, preparation of standard and sample solutions etc.).

The traceability of your results is a strict requirement of quality assurance systems based on ISO 9000 ff.

Measurement results and interpretations do not belong in this chapter.

If you develop a method, indicate the starting and final method and if applicable relevant intermediate steps.

Results and discussion

Present your obtained measurement results – display them in tables!

Everything presented in tables, figures, or schematics must also be introduced and commented on in the text.

If you have many spectra, chromatograms, or similar data, show only selected examples.

Avoid overly detailed displays in huge tables or too many measurement charts. If necessary, these are better placed in the appendix.

Your experimental results should be analyzed with respect to the fundamentals described in section 2 and, if possible, supported by statistical data, e.g. coefficient of variation, confidence interval, statistical significance of differences, number of replicates etc.

Remember: a picture is worth a thousand words.

In the discussion, evaluate the results. Discuss how well the results fit theoretical frameworks or models, and how well they correspond with known literature results.

Also discuss the consequences of the results with respect to the research question.

It is often useful to combine results and discussion in one chapter and use a thematic structure.

This ensures that the obtained results are immediately interpreted and the derived conclusions are applied to further development.

Results: Neutral (!) presentation; no interpretation or personal opinion; concise and precise numbers, data, and facts; illustration of results using tables or charts (must be introduced in the text and have self-explanatory captions).

Discussion: Discussion based on derived diagrams, tables etc.; interpretation of results; What do the results mean? Why are they interesting? What can we learn from the results? Discussion must answer the research question! Discussion is more than personal opinion; What does the literature say? How can the results be explained or reconciled with the literature? Where are differences compared to the literature? Why do they exist?

Contents of a discussion: Point out similarities and differences; describe causes and effects; compare with literature, derive, confirm or refute hypotheses; support your discussion with derived data (diagrams), calculations, or models.

Conclusion

Provide – in a maximum of two pages – information about the results you have achieved regarding the fulfillment of your research question and the consequences you derive from these results.

The conclusion should consist of three parts:

• Summary
• Limitations
• Outlook / Further Work

Summary:

• Summary of the most important findings from the work
• Should not contain new aspects
• The “promises” from the introduction must be kept

Show once again how great your work is (but do not exaggerate and always stay neutral).

– Prof. Dr. Dirk Sachsenheimer

Limitations:

• Specify limitations of your research (methodological, temporal, data collection)
• 3 to 5 aspects

Outlook:

• What would / could you research next based on your findings?
• 3 to 5 aspects

Literature

All sources used (textbooks, publications etc.) must be cited.

At the end of your work, include a complete literature list that details all sources.

More information on citing in chemistry and the literature list can be found in this article: Citing in Chemistry.

Used tools

All tools used (programs, AI-tools etc.) must be indicated.

This also includes Word, Excel, calculator etc. with version and exact name indicated.

Coordinate with your supervisors regarding whether and to what extent you may use generative AI-tools in your final thesis.

If you have questions or uncertainties, you can always contact your supervisors.

Appendix or attachment

All information necessary for understanding the work, which due to its volume or lower relevance does not fit into the main sections, is placed in the appendix.

Frequently asked questions

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Citation suggestions for figures

For each variant, it is important that you cite the image source consistently, transparently and as precisely as possible. In some academic disciplines and cultures, it is not customary to mark your own illustrations, but only altered and fully reproduced ones.

For deeper insight and subject-specific use of figures and tables (available via VPN connection):

• Ebster, Claus; Stalzer, Lieselotte (2017): Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftler. Stuttgart, Vienna: UTB GmbH; Facultas (UTB, 2471). See Chapter 7.
• Hirsch-Weber, Andreas et al. (2016): Wissenschaftliches Schreiben und Abschlussarbeit in Natur- und Ingenieurwissenschaften. Stuttgart: Verlag Eugen Ulmer. See Chapter 5.

Use as image quote

If you use the figure as evidence, explain it and integrate it into your work, then you do not need to ask for permission.

In the following box the decisive sentence is quoted, taken from the article: Copyright and academic research: what are the key issues that affect you as an author?

“[…] quotations are only permissible if they are intended to support an argument. Use of quotations without any commentary, e.g. for illustrative or decorative purposes, is not permitted under the right of quotation and therefore may only be carried out with the consent of the author or copyright owner and payment of remuneration.”

– Source: publisso.de

The function of figures

In academic work, unnecessary illustrations and graphic decoration are out of place.

Use figures – your own and others with source reference – as substantive additions, and refer to your figure in the running text.

The use of figures is also formulated in the so-called Copyright Act. You can find more information in the Act on Copyright and Related Rights (Copyright Act) § 51 Quotations.

Create or reconstruct figures yourself

Lucidchart and Visio are examples of tools you can use to create figures yourself. We compared both and created an evaluation table so that you can choose the right tool for you.

These two articles form the basis of our preliminary evaluation:

Comparison 1: Visio vs Lucidchart Flowchart

Comparison 2: Lucidchart vs Visio: Key Differences

Frequently asked questions

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With the statutory declaration in accordance with the APO/RaPO you confirm that you wrote the thesis independently and that you have not previously submitted it elsewhere for examination purposes. In addition, you guarantee that you used no sources or aids other than those stated, and that you marked verbatim and paraphrased quotations as such.

You must mark the statutory declaration in accordance with the APO/RaPO with the current date and sign it.

It is legally required under examination regulations for all theses and is even requested by some instructors for term papers.

The statutory declaration in accordance with the APO/RaPO is a mandatory part of The Structure of a Thesis in Engineering and Natural Sciences.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Using scientific articles

Scientific articles are published in academic journals. Therefore, they have a minimum level of verified quality, e.g. through double peer-review procedures. So-called review articles offer a good introduction and overview of a thesis topic, and original articles present specific research findings on a topic. Scientific articles are particularly suitable for finding and deepening a thesis topic and can among others be researched via the Electronic Journals Database (DBIS). It is worthwhile to ask your supervisors which journals are relevant. Problems in research can be clarified via the thesis consultation of the library.

Structure of the articles

Despite certain conventions in the individual scientific disciplines and detailed requirements from publishers and editors, a basic structure for scientific articles has developed. It includes the following parts:

1. Title
2. Authors, address(es)
3. Paper abstract
4. Keywords
5. Introduction
6. State of research (literature review)
7. Methodological approach (field research)
8. Results and discussion
9. Conclusions/research perspective
10. Acknowledgments
11. References

Examples of academic journals can be found in the Padlet.

Frequently asked questions

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General notes

Informal interviews and conversations have low scientific value compared to traditional publication forms (empirical studies, edited volumes), because they are not verifiable. They are therefore not citable as valid evidence and can only serve as an indication.

Always search for the best possible source. Transcribed, analyzed interviews, whether conducted by others or by yourself, are considered of higher scientific value because they are verifiable.

Practical application

When citing conversations, you may assign pseudonyms to the participants to protect their anonymity.

Informal conversations are usually not recorded but are either written down afterwards from memory (memory protocol) or noted in keywords during the conversation (conversation transcript).

Concise statements should preferably be quoted verbatim: Ms. Meier describes the atmosphere as “very tense.”

Citation of conversations

In general, the content should be reproduced as close as possible to the original. Depending on the situation, participants should be informed that the conversation will be cited in an academic work.

In the reference list, conversations can be listed under the separate category Personal Communication.

In the text as a short reference: (Meier 2023, personal communication).

Transcripts can be included in the appendix. For more details and methodological discussion, see: Vogel and Funck 2018

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General regulations

Basically, when you quote indirectly, the extent of the quote must be clearly indicated – that is, it must be clear where the quote begins and ends. It is usually not sufficient to simply list the source at the end of a paragraph or chapter.

If you do not cite a source, it is assumed that it is either undisputed basic knowledge in this field or your own thoughts.

If you quote longer passages from a source, it would be correct but not necessarily elegant or common to repeat the source after every sentence. Therefore, the following shows some additional options.

With explicit reference

In the text, in the short reference, or in the footnote, you indicate that your quote refers to a longer passage:

At the end of the paraphrased passages, you include the short reference again, e.g.: (Müller et al. 2012, p. 11ff.). This clearly marks the extent.

Through formulation

You can also make it clear through your wording that the short reference refers to a longer passage.

In this example, it is clear through wording and source citation that the first three sentences reproduce Lamnek’s description, and in the fourth sentence the author’s own position begins (“… I applied this in this bachelor thesis …”).

By naming the authors

You can repeatedly mention the authors so that it is clear in the text that these are not your own thoughts.

Literature: Pohl, Thorsten (2007): Studies on the ontogenesis of scientific writing. Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 493.

Frequently asked questions

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General guidelines

Basically, when you paraphrase, the extent of the citation must be clear, meaning it must be obvious where the quotation begins and ends. It is usually not enough to just mention the source at the end of a paragraph or chapter.

If you do not mention a source, it is assumed that it either represents undisputed basic knowledge in this field or your own thoughts.

When citing longer passages from a source, it would be correct, but not necessarily elegant, to repeat the source after every sentence. Below we show some alternative ways.

With explicit indication

You make it clear in the text, in the short reference, or in a footnote that your citation refers to a longer passage:

At the end of the passage, you then include the short reference again, e.g., (Müller et al. 2012, p. 11ff.). This clearly marks the extent of the citation.

By positioning the source reference

You can indicate that the short reference refers to a longer passage by placing it at the end of the paragraph after the final punctuation mark.

Contrary to the initial explanation, some lecturers are fine with adding a source only at the end of a paragraph after the final punctuation, which then applies to the whole paragraph.

If the source refers only to one sentence, it should be placed before the period. If it refers to an entire paragraph, the footnote comes after the period. To mark the beginning of a paraphrase, explicit indications and formulations in the text are useful (see above).

Frequently asked questions

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General regulations

The bibliography contains the complete bibliographic details of the sources cited in the text. The types of sources are not separated; instead, all sources are listed alphabetically in a single list. If you are unsure about the completeness of your source information, check the German National Bibliography database, which records all publications released in Germany.

Sources are arranged alphabetically according to the decisive ordering word, usually by the last name of the first author. Titles and subtitles of sources are separated by a period if the source itself does not provide another symbol, such as e.g. a dash or a colon.

Academic titles, honorary titles, or professional designations (such as e.g. Prof. Dr.) are not included in the bibliography or short references.

If authors have written multiple works, arrange them by publication year, starting with the oldest. If multiple texts by the same author were published in the same year, distinguish them with lowercase letters and arrange them alphabetically by title.

Examples:

Butterwegge, Christoph (2010): Neoliberalism …
Butterwegge, Christoph (2014a): Poverty …
Butterwegge, Christoph (2014b): Critique …

We recommend using single line spacing and larger spacing between entries with a hanging indent. The title of the work is always italicized – depending on the type of source, the title may vary. For journal or anthology contributions, always italicize the journal title or the anthology title, not the article itself.

Below you can see how different types of texts are listed in the bibliography.

Recording monographs

A monograph is a book by one person or by several authors, as long as no individual contributions are identifiable.

Last Name, First Name (Year): Title. Place: Publisher.

Examples:

Butterwegge, Carolin (2010): Poverty of Children with a Migration Background. Extent, Forms, and Causes. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Maturana, Humberto R. & Varela, Francisco (1987): The Tree of Knowledge. The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Bern: Scherz.

Arnold, Rolf; Krämer-Stürzl, Antje & Siebert, Horst (1999): Instructor’s Guide. Planning and Lesson Preparation in Training and Adult Education. Berlin: Cornelsen.

From the 2nd edition onward, indicate the edition number. Additions such as “expanded edition” or “revised and updated edition” should be abbreviated.

Example:

Schilling, Johannes & Zeller, Susanne (2012): Social Work. History – Theory – Profession (5th, rev. ed.). Munich: Reinhardt.

For “classics,” you can indicate the first edition after stating the edition used in parentheses so that readers can track the age of the source.

Example:

Durkheim, Émile (1983): Suicide (13th ed.). Berlin: Suhrkamp (first published 1893).

If multiple places of publication or publishers are listed, only the first is used with the addition “et al.”.

Contributions from anthologies, encyclopedias, or handbooks

An anthology is a book in which texts by different authors are published. This is usually also the case in encyclopedias and often in handbooks. You should cite the source in the bibliography as follows:

Last Name, First Name (Year): Title of Contribution. In: First Name Last Name (ed.): Title of Anthology (if applicable: Edition, starting page–ending page). Place: Publisher.

Example:

Flemming, Helga von (2017): Altruism. In: Dieter Kreft & Ingrid Mielenz (eds.): Dictionary of Social Work. Tasks, Practice Fields, Concepts, and Methods of Social Work and Social Pedagogy (8th, fully rev. & updated ed., pp. 89–99). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.

Can I cite newspaper articles?

You should only use newspaper articles as citations if they are truly the best source. A newspaper article that reports scientific findings is not the best source to substantiate those findings.

Last Name, First Name (DD.MM.YYYY): Title. Newspaper (if applicable issue number), page.

Example:

Charisius, Hanno (13.02.2016): The Neanderthal in Us. Süddeutsche Zeitung, p. 35.

If no authors are indicated, the responsible organization takes their place, in this case the newspaper.

Example:

Süddeutsche Zeitung (10.05.2010): Criticism of the survey on tuition fees. www.sueddeutsche.de/karriere/hochschule-kritik-an-umfragezu-studiengebuehren-1.569045 (accessed on 17.05.2016).

Recording journal articles

Unlike essays in collected volumes, for an article published in a journal, the place of publication is not given; only the title of the journal and its respective volume are provided, similar to newspapers.

Last Name, First Name (Year): Title of the article. Journal Name, Volume (Issue number), first page–last page of the article.

Example:

Horkheimer, Max (1937): Traditional and Critical Theory. Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung, 6 (2), pp. 245–294.

Internet documents in the bibliography

The days when internet sources were considered dubious in academic contexts are over. Internet documents can represent full, credible sources that you may cite.

However, internet sources have particularities that you should consider. They are unstable: they can be deleted, changed, or moved.

Therefore, it is important to provide the available information and the date of access.

Last Name, First Name (DD.MM.YYYY): Title. URL (accessed on DD.MM.YYYY).

Sometimes important details are missing – provide what information is available and make transparent what is missing. For more information see the article Citing online documents. Since theoretically anything can be published on the internet, it is especially important to rely on reliable, authoritative sources. See also the article Citing credible sources.

Unusual online sources, such as videos, podcasts, blogs, or forum posts, should be clearly indicated as such.

Examples:

Knigge, Almut (17.11.2014): Resocialization. What matters after release from prison. www.deutschlandfunk.de/resozialisierung-worauf-es-nach-der-entlassung-aus-dem.724.de.html?dram:article_id=303487 (accessed on 02.07.2018).

Keady, Jim (15.07.2016): My personal experience with black lives not mattering [Blog]. www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-keady/my-personal-experience-wi_b_10955370.html?utm_hp_ref=politics (accessed on 14.07.2018).

explainity (11.08.2011): Social insurance explained simply (explainity explanatory video) [Video]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfACZuLfUMA (accessed on 24.09.2018).

Beware of automatic hyphenation! This can distort links!

Recording lectures

Both published and unpublished lectures are recorded as follows:

Last name, First name (Date of lecture): Title. [Lecture]. Name of conference or lecture series or organizer, Place.

Examples:

Maly, Ulrich (10.12.2015): What holds the urban immigration society together? [Lecture]. Lecture series „Immigration society Germany – Questions and discourses“ of the Faculty of Social Sciences. Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm.

Coelen, Thomas (09.04.2014): Want, may, should, must children and adolescents participate? [Lecture]. Specialist conference „Networks of Cooperation“ of the Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Cologne.

Films and audio documents

Similar to online sources, you indicate the exact type of source as follows:

Last name, First name (Responsibility) (Year): Title. [Source type]. URL (retrieved on DD.MM.YYYY). Place: Production company.

Examples:

Lau, Frederick & Gansel, Dennis (Director) (2008): The Wave. [Film]. Munich: Constantin Film.

Fettes Brot (2005): Built on Water. [Vinyl LP]. Barmstedt: Fettes Brot Records.

Recording contributions in series of publications

Your source may have appeared in a series of publications. Series of publications allow publishers or editors to establish a thematic connection between different books. For example, the board of the German Society for Social Work (DGSA) publishes the series „Theory, Research and Practice of Social Work“. You do not need to list the series in the bibliography unless it significantly contributes to the professional classification of the publication. In that case, indicate it as follows:

Last name, First name (Year): Title (Series title, Vol. Volume number). Place: Publisher.

Examples:

Stövesand, Sabine; Stoik, Christoph & Troxler, Ueli (Eds.): Handbook Community Work. Traditions and positions, concepts and methods. Germany – Switzerland – Austria (Theory, Research and Practice of Social Work, Vol. 4). Opladen et al.: Barbara Budrich.

Knop, Karin; Hefner, Dorothée; Schmitt, Stefanie & Vorderer, Peter (2015): Mobile mediatization. Mobile phone and mobile Internet use by children and adolescents – Summary (Media Research Series of the Landesanstalt für Medien Nordrhein-Westfalen, Vol. 77). Leipzig: VISTAS.

What is grey literature?

You can also cite so-called grey literature. These are works that are not distributed via bookstores, such as e.g. informational brochures from social institutions and ministries. Depending on the type of text the sources belong to, you cite them e.g. as an Internet source, a monograph, or if applicable as a chapter in a collected volume.

If you want to cite e.g. the industry report of the Industrial Union of Mining, Energy and Chemicals: This can be obtained as a print version or an online version. You cite the source in the format in which it is available.

Examples:

Industrial Union of Mining, Energy, Chemicals [IG BCE] (2015). Industry 4.0 on the Rise. IG BCE: Hannover.

Industrial Union of Mining, Energy, Chemicals [IG BCE] (2015). Industry 4.0 on the Rise. www.igbce.de/vanity/renderDownloadLink/8204/113914 (accessed on 19.02.2018).

Further information

How to list other text types in your bibliography can be found in the manuscript guidelines of the German Psychological Society.

You can find the Zotero style “Faculty SW” on the library website under literature search by faculties.

This citation style is intended to make it easier to create standard-compliant references. A check of all in-text citations and the bibliography is still essential, even if using Zotero or other reference management software.

Typical mistakes

• The paper mentions sources that are not listed in the bibliography.
• The bibliography contains sources that are not cited in the paper.
• The information is incomplete.
• The formatting is inconsistent.
• The bibliography separates sources by type, e.g., “Books” and “Websites.”

How it’s done

• For chapters in collected volumes, always give the title of the chapter with authors as well as the title of the whole work with editors. Include the complete page numbers of the chapter. Only then can readers identify exactly which article or chapter you are citing.
• Entries in the bibliography end with a period.
• Publisher names are listed without the legal form (e.g., GmbH, OHG) or the word “Verlag”, meaning “Publisher”, unless “Verlag” is part of the publisher’s name (e.g., VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften).
• Maintain the order of authors as given in the source. This order is deliberate.

The bibliography is a mandatory part of the structure of a scientific paper.

Frequently asked questions

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Definition

Plagiarism refers to the use of texts, ideas, or research results without proper citation. It is considered plagiarism if you incorporate a thought or idea (content plagiarism) or even exact wording (verbatim plagiarism) in an academic text without citing the authors (Commission “Selbstkontrolle in der Wissenschaft” of the University of Bayreuth, 2011, p. 14).

Consequences of plagiarism

Plagiarism can result in a fail. It does not matter whether the plagiarism was intentional or accidental.

“Always ensure, when using ideas and formulations, that you properly document the source of quotations and distinguish between verbatim and paraphrased content.”

– Ingo Palsherm

Most plagiarism happens unintentionally and unconsciously.

But: “Ignorance is no excuse!” So, work carefully from the very beginning!

See also the article Avoiding Plagiarism When Using AI Writing Tools.

Frequently asked questions

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Citable sources

For sources to be considered citable in academic work, they must meet the following criteria:

• They were written by authors who themselves work scientifically.
• They are up to date – this does not mean “new”, but “relevant today”.
• They are relevant to the topic.

In relevant and discipline-specific reference works, the state of research is usually well summarized, and the most important literature is listed. You can use these for further research, e.g., in library catalogs.

Reference works do not include common dictionaries or Stangl’s worksheets, but they do include, e.g., the Handbook of Social Work or the Dictionary of Adult Education.

Follow the library’s tips in the article Effective research: Tips and tools for getting started.

Research on the internet

Sometimes online searches provide the first access to a topic. However, a simple Google search does not replace systematic research for suitable academic literature.

You must research suitable academic literature independently, as the literature you use is, among others, a criterion for evaluating your work.

Wikipedia is not considered a citable source in the Faculty of SW or in other faculties, because the authors’ identity is not transparent and the content is not systematically reviewed.

Newspaper reports are also generally not citable, unless they are the only available source. If you want to, e.g., address public discourse about the “No-Pegida” demonstrations in Nuremberg, or quote from a Spiegel interview with Angela Merkel, use the respective magazine or newspaper as the source.

Other academic papers

Academic papers as well as bachelor’s and master’s theses are usually not citable, because you normally cannot verify whether the authors follow academic standards.

Student papers are rarely the best source – unless they contain original data and results that are not available elsewhere.

If you want to use such a paper in an exceptional case, check whether it is an excellent academic work that is publicly accessible. Of course, some information from student papers can serve as a basis for your further research, such as e.g., references.

Frequently asked questions

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