Theses

If you are interested in writing a Bachelor or Master's thesis with the Enterprise Information Management Research Group (FGEIM) please read and follow the instructions and application process outlined below.

Please note, our thesis topics assume that the students has a strong background in the topic area, therefore priority is given to students who have completed two or more of the following courses: CSCW, BAS, EIM, ITS, ID, RM.

Subject Areas

We offer Bachelor and Master's theses in the following general subject areas:

Hybrid Workgroups
Design of the Digital Workplace
Enterprise Collaboration
Enterprise Content Management Systems and Content Services Platforms
Work Practices and Routines
Information Design & Information Visualisation
Foresight studies, Sustainability and IT

_{Current Thesis Topics}

The FGEIM is open to suggestions for theses that fit into our areas of research interest (see below).

_{Examples of past supervised topics}

Type of Thesis	Title	Year
Bachelor	Content Services Platforms – A Comparative Analysis of Definitions and Commercial Solutions	2023
Master	Visual collaboration tools supporting creativity- intensive activities in online workshops	2022
Master	Timelines and Narrative Visualisations according to Segel and Heer (2010)	2019
Master	Improving document-based business processes through digitalisation	2017
Bachelor	Classification of Coordination and Awareness Mechanisms in Collaboration Systems	2017

_{General Procedure for Theses}

The following steps provide an orientation for the successful process of applying for a Bachelor or Master's Thesis with the Research Group Enterprise Information Management.

Step 1: Contacting/identifying a supervisor

Approx. 10-12 months before the planned submission:

Do I have a desired topic area? Check: Have I attended the corresponding elective course (EIM, CSCW) in which my desired topic is located?
Identify possible supervisors (research assistants) for desired topic areas using the information on university websites. Recommended sources: Exercise supervision, research projects, publications, dissertation topics.
If applicable, can I find a topic in the list of advertised topics?
Contact the possible supervisor, for example, after an event or by e-mail (include a current transcript of records). If you plan to send an e-mail, please see the additional information below.

Step 2: Preparation of an exposé and confirmation of supervision

Approx. 7-10 months before submission:

Before the commitment for supervision is officially given, the student prepares an exposé in coordination with his/her supervisor.
The content and steps to a successful exposé can be found in the material in our Oberseminar Community on UniConnect. There you will find templates for the structure of teh exposé as well as examples from previous students.
Important: The exposé will be discussed and accepted (or initially rejected with feedback) in a joint session with the professor.
Sign copyright declaration. Only when the copyright declaration and the acceptance of the exposé have been received, the confirmation of supervision is given.
At the latest after receiving the acceptance, the student independently creates and maintains a community on UniConnect, to which the supervising person(s) are added as "owner(s)". All relevant (interim) results (e.g. the exposé) and meeting minutes are stored in the community by the student. Furthermore, between meetings, the supervisors are informed about the current status of the work in regular blog posts.

Step 3: Registration of the thesis at the examination office

6 months before submission

Registration of the thesis with the examination office according to the rules of the examination regulations applicable to this thesis.

Step 4: Writing phase (writing of the thesis and participation in the Oberseminar)

0-6 months before submission:

Supervision: At least 2 days before a meeting, provide the documents to be discussed (with references) and send the agenda as a calendar invitation.
After each meeting, the student writes a brief summary/list of resolutions and to-dos.
Attendance at the Oberseminar is compulsory until the colloquium is completed.
Each candidate gives two presentations: Starter presentation: first presentation in the Oberseminar on the planned procedure/topic. Colloquium: Second presentation on the results of the work followed by a discussion (according to the examination rules).
In case of illness: Inform the supervisor about the reasons for absence (by e-mail).

Step 5: Submission of the thesis to the examination office

Before the deadline:

The candidate must ensure that the submission deadline is met.
The submission is carried out according to the rules of the examination rules applicable to this work.

Step 6: Colloquium

Shortly before or after submission of the thesis to the examination office:

The successful completion of the theses includes the presentation of the results in the colloquium. This usually takes place within the Oberseminar (must be arranged and scheduled accordingly). The colloquium can take place shortly before or after the submission of the thesis to the examination office (e.g. in the first course of the Oberseminar in the following semester).
The submission of the final reports to the examination office takes place no later than 4 weeks after the last examination performance (submission/colloquium)

_{Additional Information on Expression of Interest for a Thesis via E-Mail}

If you plan to contact one of the research assistants via e-mail, please use you University of Koblenz email address and include the following information:

Subject:

The e-mail should have the subject "Expression of Interest Master Thesis/Bachelor Thesis"

Topic:

Which topic or topic area are you interested in investigating (see list of topics above)

Motivation:

What makes this topic interesting to you and why is it a suitable topic for academic research?

You as the researcher:

Why do you consider yourself suitable to study the selected topic? For example, have you completed a course, Proseminar, Projektpraktikum (PP), or Forschungspraktikum (PP) in the topic area? Are you working in a company that is involved in the topic area?

Type of research:

What are your research strengths? What type of research methods do you prefer? e.g. practical research (programming, designing, problem-solving), working with a company, analytical research, literature analysis etc.

Academic history:

Attach the KLIPS transcript of your course history.

Start Time

When do you plan to start your thesis?

_{General Requirements}

To write a Bachelor's or Master's thesis at the FGEIM you need to meet the following FGEIM specific requirements.

Please note: we are open to all students however, we give preference to students who have successfully completed one or more of our Bachelor and/or Master’s courses. For example, Proseminar, Enterprise Information Management (EIM), Information Design (ID), Information, Technology and Society (ITS), and Research Methods (RM) or have successfully completed our Projektpraktikum (PP) or Forschungspraktikum (FP).

Exploitation right (Verwertungsrecht)	You must fill in and sign the agreement on the exploitation rights of an examination paper and submit it to the secretariat (office A 122). If the title of the thesis has not yet been finalised, please provide a provisional working title and state the addition “working title”.
Oberseminar	All our thesis students must participate in the Oberseminar course during the semester they begin work on the thesis. Therefore, thesis work can usually only commence at the beginning of the semester. If you are interested in writing a thesis at the FGEIM, please apply in the semester before you want to complete your studies.
Research Proposal	A condition of the supervision is the acceptance of a research proposal written by you at the beginning of the semester. Your supervisors will provide some support to help you write an acceptable proposal.
Communication	We prefer to stay in contact with you throughout your research work. For this purpose, we prefer to meet regularly with you. Once you are accepted for writing a thesis in our group, you will be invited to the Oberseminar community in UniConnect. All information regarding the Oberseminar is stored here and it is where you will upload your research proposal. In addition, you will be given your own thesis sub-community, in which you can use the different social software and collaboration components (e.g., forum, blog, files) to capture your current work process and upload your current thesis documents. This community must be used to communicate with us and to receive our feedback on your work.
Carefully planned meetings	Good time planning is essential. Before the supervision meeting, think about the content you want to present before you meet with us. Send your agenda and the documents to be discussed with the supervisors at least 2 days in advance. Take care of correct spelling, proper slides and numbering. After each meeting write minutes covering what was discussed, which decisions were made, what action needs to be taken. The meeting minutes should be uploaded to your thesis sub-community and supervisors notified at the latest two days after the meeting. By doing so, it can be ensured that both sides are fully informed and content is not lost.
Documentation	Keep track of what you have done and when. Especially with projects with industry partners you should take your documentation obligations seriously. This allows you to provide information about when and why you have done something at a certain time during your work. All documentation must be prepared in such a way that an expert can obtain a qualified insight into it without much effort.

_{Scientific work and plagiarism}

You must adhere to the universally valid principles of scientific writing, especially regarding plagiarism.

In scientific work such as a Bachelor or Master's thesis, you must indicate all sources used by means of a recognised citation style (e.g., APA or Harvard). Any violations against the exam regulations regarding plagiarism will be strictly handled.

The employees and supervisors of the thesis generally check every submitted work for compliance with the principles of scientific work. This includes, in particular, the correct and complete use of sources. Please consider the respective regulations in the exam regulations.