Information on Thesis

Please notice:

If you are interested in having your thesis supervised by members of the Chair of Political Science, Public Administration and Organization, please fill out this form.

The topic of the thesis is to be developed by the students independently (brief thesis proposal, ca. 1-2 pages) and should be reviewed by the supervisor. The research question should be clearly defined and feasible and is to be embedded in the independently researched literature. The literature used should go far beyond the readings provided in seminars with similar topics. The thesis proposal should therefore contain suggestions on the topic, the research question, and literature.

Bachelor Thesis

New procedure for the registration of Bachelor's theses

For Bachelor's and Master's theses, the departments have agreed on a new registration procedure with the examination board for the social sciences.

The schedule for registration of Bachelor's theses in the social sciences can be found here.

The schedule for Master's theses [National and International Administration and Policy] can be found here.

Students generate the application for topic assignment (TV) for BA and MA theses via PULS and submit the completed form to the first assessing professor after approval by the chair.

A list of all examiners for the supervision of Bachelor theses can be found on the page of the examination office of the faculty.

For Bachelor’s theses written at the Chair for Political Science, Public Administration and Organization, the provisions of the respective Study and Examination Regulations apply. The Study and Examinations Regulations are available here on the pages of the University of Potsdam.

Please also note the guidelines of the General Regulations for Study and Examinations for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees (not for teachers in training) at the University of Potsdam (BAMA-O), which you can access here.

The Study and Examination Regulations that apply to you will also tell you which requirements must be met in order for you to register for the Bachelor's thesis and how many credit points you will receive for your thesis. The question about the required number of pages also depends on your Examination Regulations and you will find the answer there.

We would like to point out that the number of pages specified in the applicable Study and Examination Regulations must not be exceeded. The number of pages refers to the pure text (without title page, table of contents, possibly list of abbreviations, bibliography, figures, tables and appendix). The formatting should use a conventional font (e.g. Arial or Times New Roman) and font size (11, 12pt.), a line spacing of 1.5 as well as margins in accordance with the standard (approx. 2-2.5cm). The paper must otherwise meet the formal criteria of a scientific paper (citations, uniform bibliography, etc.). You will find more detailed information on this in relevant textbooks.

A Bachelor's thesis is a first, independent scientific qualification work which has to meet the scientific standards in terms of content and form. These requirements can be summarized as follows:

Subject classification: Students prove that they know subject-specific contents and that they are able to categorize their research question in theoretical and conceptual terms.
State of the research: Students prepare the state of the research regarding their research topic and critically reflect on the central scientific literature.
Terms: In the Bachelor's thesis, technical terms of the discipline are used correctly and central terms are defined.
Structure: Students prove that they are capable of developing a logical structure and line of argumentation based on political and administrative theories and concepts in order to examine a specific research question.
Methods: Students prove that they know social science methods and how to apply them. The methodological approach is usually described and explained in the introductory part of the Bachelor's thesis.
Analysis: Students prove that they are able to analyze complex issues as well as to elaborate the essential content points precisely and clearly in a limited space using comprehensible criteria.
Formalities: Students apply scientific techniques correctly in terms of formality (citation style, working with sources, bibliography, etc.).

Master Thesis

New procedure for the registration of Master's theses

For Bachelor's and Master's thesis, the departments have agreed on a new registration procedure with the examination board for the social sciences.

The schedule for registration of Master's thesis can be found here.

The schedule for registration of Master's thesis in National and International Administration and Policy can be found here.

The schedule for registration of Master's theses in the MANIA program can be found here.

Students generate the application for topic assignment (TV) for BA and MA theses via PULS and submit the completed form to the first assessing professor after approval by the chair.

A list of all examiners for the supervision of Master theses can be found on the page of the examination office of the faculty.

For Master’s theses written at the Chair for Political Science, Public Administration and Organization, the provisions of the respective Study and Examination Regulations apply. The Study and Examinations Regulations are available here on the pages of the University of Potsdam.

The Study and Examination Regulations that apply to you will also tell you which requirements must be met in order for you to register for the Master's thesis and how many credit points you will receive for your thesis. The question about the required number of pages also depends on your Examination Regulations and you will find the answer there.

For master theses, basically the same criteria apply as for Bachelor's theses. Furthermore, the following aspects should be considered:

Professional relevance of the research question must become apparent. The research question can be either empirically motivated or theoretically derived and must have a direct reference to the research areas of administrative science. The question can also arise from a practical problem or interest or from a critical assessment of the current state of the research.
The applied research method has to meet the current scientific standards of the social sciences.
The own empirical research finding has to be clearly recognizable and intersubjectively comprehensible.