uni bonn term paper guidelines

Universität Bonn

University of Bonn thesis

This template can be used directly for PhD, master and bachelor theses in physics and astronomy. With small adjustments, it is also possible to write a habilitation thesis using this style. 

The template is intended for the typesetting program LaTeX and can be downloaded as a tar archive or from the University of Bonn Bitbucket. It contains a README, thesis guide, style file and templates for various cover sheets. If you want to create a cover sheet without the rest, you need the corresponding file from the cover directory in addition to ubonn-thesis.sty.

Click on Bitbucket to browse the repositiory.

You can clone the template using the command:

As mentioned in the thesis guide I have written a Python wrapper for the LaTeX package TikZ-FeynHand. This is available from CERN GitLab or the University of Bonn Bitbucket:

The repository also contains a lot of example graphs.

Documentation can be found in the thesis guide .

Files to download

On the right you can find the thesis guide related files. The list contains the latest thesis guide tar file, README and thesis guide pdf as well.

PI members (and only these) can have their master's or doctoral thesis printed as an official publication of the institute. There is no obligation to do so. The whole thing has nothing at all to do with the one copy of the doctoral thesis that is to be handed in to the institute library as part of the doctoral procedure.

To do this, the following "Laufzettel" must be filled out.

laufzettel.pdf

                                                                Contact

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+49 228 73 3616

Linguistics

The interdisciplinary master's degree program Linguistics incorporates input from the fields of German studies, English studies and Romance studies as well as intercultural communications and multilingualism research. It is intended for students who have completed a bachelor's degree program in linguistics or philology. The degree program is research-oriented and covers the full spectrum of synchronic and diachronic linguistics.

At the program’s core is the cultivation of students’ ability to combine linguistic theory development with empirical methods and apply them across different fields in an interdisciplinary manner. The study program specifically advances students’ ability to independently develop and carry out research projects. The modules are generally offered by all participating philologies. This gives students the possibility to study linguistics regardless of which languages they know or which specializations they pursue.

The objective of the degree program is to give students access to linguistic research at an international level. Aside from linguistics, the master's degree program opens up prospects in diverse occupational fields such as language instruction and media communications.

Possible lines of work:

Education (adult education, languages courses, educational/vocational institutes (Bildungswerke), etc.), cultural management (theater, opera, museums, etc.), journalism/media industry, communications industry (marketing, public relations, translation), book industry (libraries, booksellers, publishers), international cultural relations, tourism, international organizations/ public authorities/ governmental or non-governmental organizations, teaching/research at universities, research institutions, university administration, etc.)

Examination regulations (legally binding information to follow)

University degree (German or non-German) in a relevant discipline

German language proficiency (DSH level 2, CEFR level C1, as per DSH exam. regulations)

Minimum grade of 3.0 or local equivalent

A minimum of 36 ECTS credits for modules in subjects with a linguistic focus

Specific modules: Theories, models and methods from at least two central linguistic description levels (morphology, syntax, semantics, text linguistics, pragmatics (12 ECTS credits) | Language history and variationist linguistics/dialectology (12 ECTS credits)

Institut für Germanistik, Vergleichende Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften (German) 1

Subject-specific Study Advisory Service 2

Central Study Advisory and Counseling Service 3

Advice and support from fellow students 4

Self-assessments to help you choose a subject

Preliminary 6  courses 7 7 8

Examination regulations 8 1

Module guides

Universität Bonn

Formalities

Here you can find everything you need to know about compulsory attendance , writing term papers , semesters on leave , Transcripts of Records and information about field trip regulations .

Compulsory attendance

The rules on attendance are set out in §12 (6) of the examination regulations for the Geography B.Sc. and Geography M.Sc. dated September 7, 2020:

For courses in which achieving the qualification target requires active participation by students, the module structure may stipulate mandatory regular participation (compulsory attendance) as prerequisite to being admitted to the examination. Depending on the type of course, the following absences are permissible:

• Field trips: 0 %
• Field-based internships:  0 %
• Method-based internships: 0 %
• Field stays for project seminars: 0 %
• Seminars, project seminars: max. 30 %
• Seminar work experience: max. 30 % (Decision of the Examination Board of 18.01.2023)

In individual cases, upon valid request by the lecturer, the examination board may set different maximum limits for absences and shall announce them pursuant to § 8, para. 7.

What does “regular participation” mean?

• Participation will still be deemed to be regular if no more than 30 percent of teaching time is missed. For example, this equates to four sessions of a course with two course units per week. The same applies to block courses. For example, students may miss a total of one day if their block seminar is taught in two course units per week (i.e. five days of seminars).
• Needless to say, work that is missed should be caught up on.

Full compulsory attendance applies to field trips, field-based practicals and field stays forming part of seminars, i.e. students are not allowed to miss anything at all.

Formalities regarding study achievements and examinations passed:

Affirmation in lieu of an oath:

For written work of any kind, students must provide a written affirmation proving that they have done the work themselves and have not used any sources or aids other than the ones indicated.

• Form in German  (193 KB)
• Form in English (191 KB)

Note that this form is not intended to serve as an appendix to your Bachelor's or Master's thesis.

Plagiarism is the unlawful adoption of texts, thoughts or findings from third parties and their reproduction as supposedly one's own scientific achievement. In our handout for students on the subject of attempts at deception and plagiarism you can find out what forms of plagiarism there are, what the consequences of plagiarism are and how plagiarism can be avoided.

More information:

• Good scientific practice at the University of Bonn .
• Guidelines for ensuring good scientific practice at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn from September 1, 2014 .

Use of sound recording equipment:

As a basic principle, the use of sound recording equipment to record speakers on courses such as lectures or on field trips is only permitted with their consent. Otherwise, you will be violating § 53 para. 7 of the Copyright Act (UrhG):

“The recording of public lectures, productions or performances of a work on video or audio recording mediums [...] are only ever permitted with the rightholder’s consent.”

Department of Geography’s rules on citation (246 KB)

All examination regulations issued in 2020 provide clear instructions on the length of written work, including character counts (including spaces and notes). You can find the precise details in § 18 and § 20 of the respective examination regulations (B.Sc., M.Sc. and GeoRisk).

As the information on page counts in the 2015 bachelor’s examination regulations and 2014 master’s examination regulations leave significant scope for interpretation in terms of actual character counts, we have set out below how to convert pages to characters for your written work. This serves merely as a guide for you; the abovementioned examination regulations continue to apply:

• One page corresponds roughly to 2,700 characters (including spaces and notes)
• Term papers/project reports/other reports 15,000 to 40,000 characters including spaces (5 to 15 pages)
• Internship report: 15,000 to 20,000 characters including spaces (5 to 8 pages)
• Bachelor’s thesis (12 CPs, 3 months to write): 70,000 to 100,000 characters including spaces (25 to 40 pages)
• Master’s thesis (30 CPs, 6 months to write): 100,000 to 200,000 characters including spaces (40 to 80 pages)

ToR in German:

You can create and print off your transcript yourself from your Transcript of Records (ToR) by logging into BASIS with your Uni-ID and password. Proceed as follows:

• Funktion ("Function")
• Notenspiegel ("Transcript")
• PDF-Übersicht: Leistung (“PDF overview: achievements”)

 If you need a signed and stamped copy, please bring an up-to-date printout to the Examination Office during its office hours.

ToR in English:

Course titles in English have been added to the course catalog since the 2015/16 winter semester. You can produce your ToR in English yourself by following the steps above and then clicking on the flag symbol in the top right-hand corner.

If your ToR is not displayed fully in English, you can complete this form instead and hand it into the Examination Office (please only list those modules you have completed in full).

Rules for field trips/field-based internships

100% attendance and a piece of writing (usually a report) will be required in order to get field trips and field-based internships recognized as study achievements. Examination registration is only required for the M.Ed. field trip module.

The note “nicht erschienen” (“absent”; see below) will only be recorded in the ToR but will not have any further impact on how field trips are allocated in the future.

Please note that, since accommodation, travel, etc. for field trips and field stays are usually booked not long after allocation is complete, specific withdrawal rules apply in respect of the costs incurred. When you register for a field trip or field stay, you automatically declare that you accept these rules.

Bachelor’s degree programs

Allocation takes place in October following the orientation week; you can only deregister without facing any consequences a week following allocation by contacting the relevant lecturer. After that, “nicht erschienen” (“absent”) will appear on your ToR. Registration is required to participate in B2 and B4.

Allocation takes place in July; you can only deregister without facing any consequences a week following allocation by contacting the relevant lecturer. After that, “nicht erschienen” (“absent”) will appear on your ToR, and you will need to cover any costs incurred.

Allocation takes place in January; you can only deregister without facing any consequences a week following allocation by contacting the relevant lecturer. After that, “nicht erschienen” (“absent”) will appear on your ToR, and you will need to cover any costs incurred.

Allocation takes place in March/April; you can only deregister without facing any consequences a week following allocation by contacting the relevant lecturer. After that, “nicht erschienen” (“absent”) will appear on your ToR, and you will need to cover any costs incurred.

  Master’s degree programs

Allocation takes place in November; you can only deregister without facing any consequences a week following allocation by contacting the relevant lecturer. After that, “nicht erschienen” (“absent”) will appear on your ToR, and you will need to cover any costs incurred.

If you are ill

If you can provide a medical certificate covering the period of the field trip, “nicht erschienen” (“absent”) will not be entered in BASIS. However, you will still need to cover any costs incurred. It is therefore a good idea to take out travel cancellation insurance that will cover the costs if you are ill.

Safety in the field

The flyer "Sicherheit im Gelände" (safety in the field; in German only) was created in cooperation with GeStein e.V. and GeoDACH e.V. and provides information about the correct behavior in the field - during excursions, field internships or project seminars. It gives many helpful tips for preparation and equipment.

Carbon offsetting

As some field trips abroad involve flights, the departmental student body would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to think about the CO2 emissions that this will generate and offset them. There are various ways to do this.

Semesters on leave

You are entitled—but not obligated—to take a leave of absence for a semester. All the information you need about leaves of absence at the University of Bonn is available here.

Refunds for your student transit pass

If you spend one or two semesters abroad without taking a leave of absence, you will be able to get back from the General Students’ Committee what you paid for your student transit pass (as you will be spending time outside the area it covers for reasons related to your studies). Incidentally, this also applies to longer internships outside North Rhine-Westphalia.

...on an internship

You can take a leave of absence if you will be completing the compulsory internship or a longer voluntary internship in Germany or abroad. However, you will not be able to do any other work or examinations at the University of Bonn during the semester in question.

...during a semester abroad

If you have taken a leave of absence to spend a semester abroad, you will be able to do work and take examinations in your chosen foreign country but not at the University of Bonn. The number of semesters you have completed will be increased in the following situations despite you taking a leave of absence:

• 1 semester abroad and 1 semester on leave of absence: number of completed semesters increased by 1 if more than 20 credit points are recognized.
• 2 semesters abroad and 2 semesters on leave of absence: number of completed semesters increased by 1 if between 21 and 40 credit points are recognized and by 2 if more than 40 credit points are recognized.
• 2 semesters abroad and 1 semester on leave of absence: to be discussed with the International Coordinator.

The compulsory internship on the Geography B.Sc. and M.Sc. lasts at least six weeks (full-time) and is not registered in BASIS. You can find all the necessary information as well as a lot of tips and FAQs under “Internships and careers.” An internship marketplace is also organized every May where you can get some fascinating insights into various career paths in geography.

(The following pages are only available in german)

Universität Bonn

Guideline for the Master's thesis 

Important information about egistering, writing and submitting your Master’s thesis

Ti me of registration

Registration for the Master’s thesis is possible as soon as 60 credit points have been achieved. This should usually be the case during the third semester.

Registration and topic

Before registering for the Master’s thesis, please agree on a topic with your supervisor, who usually also acts as the first supervisor. The topic is formally assigned by the Examination Office after registration.

The topic is agreed either in a personal meeting between the candidate and the supervisor as part of a course/meeting or by exchanging emails with the first and second supervisor. The topic specified in the email from the first supervisor is binding and must be transferred to the registration form.

Please submit the completed “Registration for Master’s Thesis” form, signed and dated by you and your supervisor ("Supervisor; First Reviewer; Examiner") and the second supervisor, immediately by mail (or as a scan via the contact form) to the Examination Office. The binding notification of the topic, including the setting of a submission deadline, is then sent in writing by the Examinations Office. The submission deadline is calculated from the date the topic is issued, based on the date of the first supervisor’s signature. You should therefore also endeavour to obtain the signature of the second supervisor at the same time and submit the registration form to the Examination Office immediately after finalising the topic. 

If the topic was agreed by exchanging emails with the first and second supervisor, please forward the email from the first supervisor together with the email from the second supervisor and the scanned registration form (completed and signed by all parties) to the Examination Office via the contact form.

The binding notification of the topic, including the setting of a submission deadline, is then made in writing by the Examinations Office of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The topic is therefore formally set by the Examination Office ( Examination Office, Maximilianstr 22, 53111 Bonn) following registration.

The submission deadline is calculated from the date the topic is issued based on the date of the first supervisor's signature. You should therefore also endeavour to obtain the signature of the second supervisor at the same time and submit the application to the Examinations Office immediately after agreeing on the topic.

Important note : Please note that the examination regulations only recognise the term “topic”, not “title”. The topic of the thesis is therefore synonymous with the title of the thesis. The specific topic that you have indicated on the registration form and agreed with the supervisors is placed on the cover sheet and in the declaration of independence. Please refer to the separate point below under the heading ‘Changing the topic’ for the possibility of changing the topic at a later date.

You can download the registration form here: Registration form

Supervisors

In principle, all lecturers in your subject may act as supervisors for a Master’s thesis. Please note that at least one of the two supervisors must be a member of the University of Bonn and at least one of the two supervisors must have a doctorate. Furthermore, at least one of the supervisors must be employed at least 50% at the University of Bonn. Please also note that there is no legal entitlement to a specific supervisor.

Writing period

A maximum period of six months from the issueing of the topic (date of signature of the first supervisor) is allowed for the writing of the provided topic & thesis. Upon justified request, the Examination Office may, in agreement with the supervisor, grant an extension of the submission deadline for the Master's thesis. An extension beyond six weeks is not possible, even in cases of illness  (in these cases it is only possible to withdraw from the registered examination, see the section "Withdrawal").

Changing the topic

It is possible to slightly change the focus of the original topic upon written request to the Examination Office, provided that your supervisor supports the request and documents this with his/her signature. Please note that a complete change or reorientation of the topic requires a withdrawal in accordance with the regulations.

There is a one-off opportunity to return the topic no later than two months after notification of it by the Examination Office and to document this formally with a written request to withdraw from the Master’s thesis registration. In this case, the topic is deemed not to have been issued; there is therefore no failed attempt. Please note that it is no longer possible to withdraw after the two-month deadline. As an exception, this is only permitted after the deadline if there are valid reasons (in particular inability to take the examination due to illness). In both cases, the thesis must be re-registered at a later date; the newly issued topic must differ significantly in content from the originally issued topic.

Scope and requirements

The text part of the Master's thesis must contain at least 120,000 characters including spaces and notes (or 60 A4 pages) and may not exceed 200,000 characters including spaces and notes (or 100 A4 pages), unless otherwise specified in the programme-specific regulations. The content and form of the thesis must meet the standards of academic work at “Master of Arts” or “Master of Science” level. You should therefore enquire about the specific requirements with your academic advisor. Please also note that the regulation of registration after reaching the 60 credit points generally allows you to write the Master's thesis during your studies and to prepare it thoroughly with the necessary research and readings before registering in the course of the third semester.

Cover sheet

To ensure that all necessary information appears on the cover sheet of the Master’s thesis, please follow this template: Sample cover sheet (DOCX). 

Until further notice, Master’s theses must still be submitted digitally AND by mail (three bound copies, see below). The content of the digital version and the written copies must be identical! CD-ROMs and USB sticks no longer need to be enclosed. As usual, the Examination Office will take care of forwarding the thesis to the first supervisor and the second supervisor. Once submitted, a Master's thesis cannot be withdrawn!

The thesis must be accompanied by a written declaration (“declaration of independence”) in which you affirm that you have written the thesis independently, have not used any sources and aids other than those specified, have marked quotations and have submitted identical electronic and written copies. Please note that the use of AI (applications such as ChatGPT) in the preparation of written work is prohibited! It is an unauthorised aid unless its use has been expressly permitted by the supervisors. In cases of doubt, the Examination Office  may request a sworn declaration.

Please attach a declaration with the following wording, dated and with your original signature (not digital), as the last page of your thesis (download document here):

“I hereby confirm that the Master’s thesis entitled "..." was written by myself and without any unauthorised assistance, that it has not been submitted to any other university for examination, that it has not been published in whole or in part and that the content of the text file of the digital version is identical to the written versions submitted. I have indicated in each individual case those parts of the thesis - including charts, maps, illustrations, etc. - which are taken from other works in terms of wording or meaning.”

This declaration must be submitted together with the other parts of the thesis, such as the cover sheet, the bibliographies and any appendices, firmly attached to the rest of the thesis (no loose sheets!).

 1. digital submission:

Please send the digital version as a text file (Word document or PDF) from your University of Bonn e-mail address to the Examination Office of the Faculty of Humanities or use the contact form. The handwritten and signed declaration of independence must be inserted as a scanned document into the thesis as the last page. This file of your thesis will be forwarded by the Examinations Office to the respective two supervisors; the submission deadline is met upon receipt of the electronically sent form at the Examinations Office. As we have already received the document from you in electronic form via email/contact form, you no longer need to send us a CD-ROM or USB stick with the thesis until further notice.

2. submission by mail:

Your thesis must be submitted to us in triplicate by mailt. Please submit each of these copies in bound form (adhesive, spiral or hardcover binding is the norm). Please also note that the indexes and appendices as well as the cover sheet and the self-signed declaration of independence are part of the thesis and must therefore be firmly bound.

The paper version must be submitted by post no later than one week after the submission of the digital version.

Please send the three copies to the following address:

University of Bonn Faculty of Philosophy Bachelor/Master Examination Board Am Hof 1 53113 Bonn

Exceeding the submission deadline

If you exceed the deadline for submission, the Master’s thesis must be assessed as "insufficient" (5.0). If necessary, please apply for an extension in good time before the deadline (at least three weeks before the deadline).

A failed Master’s thesis can be repeated once. Failed attempts in the same subject at other universities are recognised. In such cases, the topic may be chosen from another subject area. If the second Master's thesis is also assessed as "insufficient", the Master's examination has been failed conclusively.

De-registration

In general, you must remain enrolled even after submitting your Master’s thesis or another final exam in your degree programme in accordance with § 63 Para. 1, 2nd half-sentence HG; the examination procedure is only completed when it has been determined whether it was successful or unsuccessful. Students who have not re-registered, e.g. in order to save the associated fees, although they are not expected to know their examination result at the end of the previous semester are therefore taking a risk, especially as their uni-ID will be switched off and they will no longer have access to BASIS and their transcripts.

If you have not passed your last examin(s) and have therefore unfortunately not achieved your degree after all, you must re-enrol in order to re-sit your exams. If you have already missed the set re-registration deadline at this point, late re-registration at the Registrar's Office in accordance with Section 16 of the Enrolment Regulations can only take place later if the missed deadline is excused in writing for an important reason and proof of this is provided. You cannot register for the last outstanding exam before you are re-enrolled. It may also be the case that you can no longer be enrolled in your old examination regulations, but must continue your studies in accordance with the new examination regulations then in use, which may be followed by a time-consuming credit transfer procedure and possibly the loss of credits already earned.

However, if you have properly re-registered, you are entitled to a partial refund of the fees as soon as you have passed the final exam. You can find more information here: https://www.uni-bonn.de/de/studium/beratung-und-service/studierendensekretariat/exmatrikulation

Underlying provisions

The regulations for the Master's thesis can be found in the following provisions, depending on which examination regulations you are studying under:

• §§ 18 und 19 der Prüfungsordnung für die konsekutiven Masterstudiengänge vom 5. August 2013 in ihrer aktuellen Fassung (MPO 2013)
• §§ 23 und 24 der Prüfungsordnung für die Bachelorstudiengänge und die konsekutiven Masterstudiengänge vom 17. August 2018 in ihrer aktuellen Fassung (BMPO 2018)
• §§ 22 und 23 der Prüfungsordnung für den Bachelorstudiengang „Psychologie“ und den konsekutiven Masterstudiengang „Psychologie“ vom 17. August 2018 in ihrer aktuellen Fassung (Psychologie-BMPO 2018)
• §§ 22 und 23 der Prüfungsordnung für den Bachelorstudiengang „Psychologie“ und den konsekutiven Masterstudiengang „Psychologie“ vom 28. August 2020 in ihrer aktuellen Fassung (Psychologie-BMPO 2020)
• §§ 20 und 21 der Prüfungsordnung für die konsekutiven Masterstudiengänge „Dependency and Slavery Studies“ und „Slavery Studies” der Philosophischen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

UnYou can find our telephone numbers and office hours on the " Contact & Advice ". You would like to contact us via this website? Please use the contact form!

Universität Bonn

University and State Library

• First semester students

Research, Teaching and Publishing

Publishing doctoral theses

If you are a doctoral student at the University of Bonn needing to get your doctoral thesis published, these web pages will tell you all you need to know.

The bonndoc publication server

Members of the University of Bonn can use bonndoc to publish academic publications for free.

Digital Humanities

We can help you with questions about tools, methods and standards relating to Digital Humanities, the USL Bonn’s range of consulting and other services for researchers.

Open Access Service Center

Everything you need to know about open access, from current funding options through to tips on choosing the right usage license.

Research data management

The Research Data Service Center can assist you with all aspects of research data management, from planning and proposing research projects to publishing and archiving your research data.

Specialist advice

The team of subject librarians can give you wide-ranging specialist advice on things like literature searches, reference management and requesting the purchase of new items.

Staying up to date

In science and academia, it’s important to keep abreast of the latest developments in your research field at all times. We give you several ways you can do this.

Many databases, including SciFindern and Web of Science, let you find the original references for an article as well as articles that cite a specific work. This enables you to research both retrospectively and prospectively for citations in a paper that you have found.

Many databases allow you to set up automatic notifications, although you will usually need to register beforehand.

These notifications will then tell you when selected authors have published something new, when there are new hits for your saved search queries or when selected publications are cited, for example.

Some databases, such as PubMed, also let you set up RSS feeds, which check specific online resources for changes and let you know straight away. In the case of PubMed, for example, these might be new hits for a specific search query.

You can use RSS feeds via dynamic bookmarks or feed readers, one of which is included in the Zotero reference management software, for instance.