The Bachelor's thesis should demonstrate that the examinee is able to independently work on a problem from the field of psychology according to scientific methods within a given period of time
Registration
According to the examination regulations with the last amendment of 21.07.2011 there is no time limit regarding the registration, that means you can register the bachelor thesis (BA) when you want. Requirements to be able to start with the bachelor thesis are
- passed orientation exam
- successfully passed courses amounting to 80 LP - no ÃœK!
Relevant forms can be found here:
Topic offers - independently find a topic
Internal
Many work units supervise bachelor theses on a wide variety of topics.
- AE General and Theoretical Psychology
- AE Industrial and Organizational Psychology
- AE Differential Psychology (Personality Research and Psychological Diagnostics)
- AE Differential Psychology (Gender Research and Health Psychology)
- AE Developmental and Biological Psychology
- AE Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
- AE Educational Psychology
- AE Psychological Aging Research
- AE Psychological Methodology
- AE Social Psychology
External
It is possible to work on topics from external providers, such as other institutions or companies. But again, the supervisor/second reviewer must be from within (PI).
In addition, it is worthwhile to browse homepages of other institutions (external) and, if interested, simply contact the corresponding project staff.
Application for allocation of a topic / registration of a topic
1. collect signatures
First get the request for assignment of a topic in the IB and collect signatures from supervisor and second reviewer.
- In the minimum case 2 signatures are needed: Supervisor & Second Supervisor:
- In the maximum case 4 signatures are needed: Supervisor and second reviewer are delegated scientific staff members. (each scientific employee needs an own delegation, i.e. in case of two scientific employees as supervisor and second reviewer, the signatures of two different university professors are also needed)
These signatures are considered a mutual obligation to prepare and supervise & review the Bachelor's thesis.
2. register topic/thesis
Submit the signed application for the assignment of a topic to the chairman of the examination board, i.e. to the examination office (Mr. Brünnich). In addition, the completed form Application for Bachelor Examination must be brought to the registration. Both forms are available in the IB.
Deadlines to note:
- Application will be reviewed and the official assignment (issue) of the topic will be made - this will be on file.
- The time from issue (official assignment) to submission of the bachelor's thesis is 20 weeks. In exceptional cases, the deadline may be extended by up to 5 weeks upon request by the Examination Committee.
The reviewers have a maximum of 6 weeks* to evaluate the thesis (plan for this time, especially if a Master's program is to be started immediately afterwards).
*Practically, this means that students may have already completed their Bachelor's thesis at the time of submitting the request for topic assignment. I.e. they can hand in/submit the bachelor thesis already one day after the official topic assignment at the examination office (see below)*.
Writing the Bachelor Thesis
The topic, task and scope of the bachelor thesis must be limited so that the deadline for completion can be met. The length of a bachelor thesis should be between approx. 30 to 50 pages.
Suggestions for the design and preparation of a bachelor thesis can be found:
On the pages of General Psychology.
On the pages of Developmental Psychology.
Turning in the paper
Submit 2 copies of the Bachelor's thesis to the Examination Committee, i.e. to the Examination Office (Mr. Brünnich) by the deadline - this submission will be made a matter of record. The copies must then be handed over to the supervisor and second examiner.
The completed bachelor thesis should contain an informal written assurance that the examinee has written the thesis himself and has not used any sources and aids other than those indicated. This must be signed by the candidate.