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Exams and Theses

Guidelines for Your Final Theses (Diploma/Masters)

If you wish to write your final thesis with the Chair of Comparative Politics, you should contact me as early as possible. We should come to an agreement about the topic and you should write an exposé. Based on this I will decide whether or not I will supervise your thesis.

The exposé has to be submitted before the application. Deadline is 1st April (for summer term) and 15th September (for winter term).

Please send a soft copy of your exposé to sekretariat-vergleichuni-potsdamde or put a hard copy into the post box of the chair (Griebnitzsee, House 1, Room 1.01).

Selection of the Topic

Ideally you will find your question in one of my seminars. This means that you will have read most of the fundamental literature, that the topic suits the portfolio of the chair and that I can advise you fully. You can also select your own research question. You can attend my colloquium and elaborate on your question there. The chances of being supervised by will be of course higher if you pick a topic out of our area. An overview about the topics that we are currently researching is available on request.

The Chair is also looking for students to deal with specific research questions. If you are interested please contact us.

Exposé

The Exposé will be the basis of your thesis. Here, you should show that you are well informed about this topic and that you know the relevant literature. It serves as means to both, facilitate your own orientation and to guarantee good communication with your supervisor.
The exposé should contain:

  • The title of your project.
  • The main problem of your work.
  • An overview of the literature and where you locate your thesis within it.
  • The theoretical (inter)relations and first hypotheses.
  • Considerations about your methodological approach and the data you are going to use.
  • Preliminary structure and schedule.
  • Bibliography.

The more precise your exposé is, the easier your own process will be and your supervisor will be able to support you more adequately. For formal orientation of your exposé please check the guidelines for term papers (in german). Regarding content, you may gear yourself towards this sample exposé.

Literature

We would like to recommend two books for your thesis (both in German).

    • Plümper, Thomas, 2003: Effizient Schreiben. Ein Leitfaden zum Verfassen von Qualifizierungsarbeiten und wissenschaftlichen Texten. München: Oldenbourg.
    • Thomas Gschwend/Frank Schimmelfennig (Hrsg.), 2007: Forschungsdesign in der Politikwissenschaft: Probleme – Strategien – Anwendungen. Frankfurt /New York: Campus.