1. Finding Topic and Application
Students who would like to write a thesis at the Group for Information Technology in Production and Logistics should first inform themselves about the research focus of the group (e.g. through the publications of the group).
For information about specific topics, a personal appointment with the scientific staff of the group is generally recommended. Students also have the opportunity to propose their own topics for theses. Each topic requires the confirmation of the head of the group. For this purpose, the preparation of an exposé is required.
A summary of current grades should be submitted on a voluntary basis when contacting the group. This will help us to tailor the topic assignment and thesis supervision to your individual needs.
2. Exposé
After consultation with the potential supervisor of the thesis, an exposé must be prepared within two weeks. The exposé on the chosen thesis topic is the result of the familiarization with the problem and serves to secure a working plan for delivering the final thesis. It should contain the following points:
- Research problem and motivation ("Why is the thesis being written?")
- Research objective ("What is the goal of the research?)
- Methodical approach ("How to achive the goal?")
- Outline
- Essential references
3. Application und Working on the Topic
In case of positive evaluation of the exposé, the thesis topic can be registered in the examination office. After confirmation of the admission requirements for the thesis by the examination office, the application form must be submitted to the supervisor for confirmation by the head of the department. Once the form has been signed by the chair of the examination board, the thesis topic is officially assigned and the processing period specified in the examination regulations for your degree program begins.
After consultation with the supervisor, the student has to present the processing status, problems and results in the monthly Bachelor's/Master's seminars of the group.
Regular participation in these seminars is required during the working period. As a rule, two presentations have to be given in the Bachelor's/Master's seminar by each student.
4. Thesis
Information on the design of the thesis can be found in the guidelines for the preparation of scientific papers of the ITPL Group; a format template is also available.
5. Submission
Instructions for the submission of the final thesis can be found in the guidelines for the preparation of scientific papers of the ITPL Group.
6. Summary and abstract
Upon submission of the final thesis at the examination office, an abstract in german and englisch language must be prepared and agreed upon with the supervisor. The summary and the abstract should each have approx. 150 words and together should not exceed one DIN A4 page.
7. Evaluation
The final thesis will be evaluated by the first examiner (supervisor) and the second examiner. There is no defense of the final paper in the narrower sense, but a final presentation in the Bachelor/Master seminar is to be given. Software implementations are to be presented separately. According to experience, it can take up to 4 weeks after submission of the thesis until the grade is announced as the result of the two reviews.
We very often receive inquiries as to whether we supervise external theses. While we certainly understand your desire for practice-oriented topics, most of the topics proposed by companies are in no way suitable for creating a thesis that meets the basic requirements of scientific work.
The regulation and procedures of the TU Ilmenau constitute that a „Thesis […] is an examination paper [...], that should demonstrate that the student is able to solve a problem within a defined time frame using scientifically approved methods"
Before submitting your inquiry, please make sure that you are able to provide detailed information about the following topics:
- motivation and research problem
- research objective and goals
- scientific approach
This basic information is the basis for an exposé that you will have to prepare an which will be taken into account when considering whether or not your thesis will be supervised. Please note that usually the proposals for theses topics from companies do not contain this, rather they are a loosely compiled lists of activities and requirements regarding the employment.
Furthermore, our extensive empirical experience shows that very few students who write a thesis in a company are kept employed further on by that company (this is the case for less than 10% of students!). So if this is your main motivation for an external thesis, you should reconsider.
Finally, please note that we only supervise external theses if these are reasonable from a scientific standpoint and touch on a research goal that is closely related to our research interests. Therefore, please inform yourself about our research interests and our publications on our website before making an inquiry.
Please find attached our guidelines for writting scientific papers
Leitfaden für wissenschaftliche Arbeiten (Stand Feb 2020)
Formatvorlage (Microsoft Word, Stand Aug 2019)
Zitieren mit Citavi 4 - Anleitung und Stylesheets (Stand 09.07.2014)
- Each student writing a thesis has to give at least two talks in our Bachelor's/Master's seminars
- Attendance is required for all students that currently write theses at our group - this is essential for the exchange of ideas and networking between students!
- Students that are in the applicaton process for writing a thesis are also welcome.
- Requirement for the first presentation is an officially registered Bachelor's/Master's thesis topic.
- The contents and date of the presentations should be arranged and agreed upon with your supervisor
You can find scheduled dates and more in the respective Moodle Course Forschungskolloquium FG Informationstechnik in Produktion und Logistik.
In z. T. sehr lang laufenden Data Farming Studien (ggf. mehrere Wochen Rechenzeit) ist immer wieder zu beobachten, dass auf Basis erster Stichproben erkannt wird, dass die Annahmen, auf dem der Experimentplan besteht, ggf. fehlerhaft oder ungünstig waren. Beispielsweise könnten obere und untere Grenzen von Wertebereichen oder Schrittweiten falsch gesetzt worden sein. In der Arbeit soll untersucht werden, wie man bestehende, bereits teil-ausgeführte Experimentpläne adaptieren kann unter Wahrung der Qualität dieser. Hierbei sind mit verschieden Designmethoden erstellte Experimentpläne, z. B. Latin Hypercubes, NOHL und nk, zu untersuchen.