Bachelor/Master Seminar (BMS)

The previous Bachelor-Master-Seminar (BMS) regulations were updated and valid since 23.07.2018. These rules apply for all theses assessed by Prof. Krüger as the first reviewer. If this is not the case, the BMS-regulations should be checked and fulfilled by a respective first reviewer.

The purpose of BMS is to train scientific working methods. It serves as the basis for theses in our department. The grade for BMS consists of:

  • (I) the literature review and the written summary of relevant works on the revised topic and
  • (II) the presentation of the exact planning of the thesis.

Both parts will be graded and make up the BMS grade in equal proportion.

Important: After having done both parts of the BMS, you (!) need to write an email to sek-ak@dfki.de. In this mail, please put your advisor CC and provide the following information (besides writing that you want to have a BMS certificate): your full name, your matriculation number, the date of the BMS talk, the title of the talk that you gave and your study program. Only then the processing of LSF data is started.

Procedure

Part I - Literature review + written summary

  1. As soon as a student discussed a topic with a supervisor, a student should begin Part I of BMS with the literature review and analysis. The whole Part I lasts ten weeks maximum. The advisor can shorten this period if it is considered reasonable to finish this phase earlier.

  2. In the beginning, the advisor should assign the relevant websites for the literature review and specify what the first meaningful search terms could be. A student should use this information to derive further search terms and starts his or her own research. The goal is to identify the most relevant scientific publications for a specific work. If non-scientific publications are relevant for the thesis, they could also be considered for the BMS phase. The advisor regulates further details.

  3. Within the first two weeks of the BMS phase, the list of related works should be sent to the advisor so he or she can make sure about the quality of the identified sources and give further recommendations if necessary. The list should include at least ten related scientific publications (and also the list of related non-scientific publications if appropriate for a thesis topic). These publications should be most relevant to the thesis. Each publication in the list should be presented with the title, the authors, the conference/journal, and a short summary (2-3 sentences). It should also be explained how the publication is relevant for the thesis (2-3 sentences to point out what was learned through reading for a particular thesis, e.g. which methods a person would like to take). The advisor uses this list only to assess the relevancy of the selected work for the student's thesis (i.e., has the student found the most relevant works?). A student receives the feedback from the advisor and the deadline for the first submission is established.

  4. A student should now start to take note of the feedback given by the advisor (and for example search for new sources if necessary) and compile the first version of the summary of publications. This summary should fit the style of the “Related Work” chapter of our thesis (see the examples of final theses provided on the website). The summary should not only reflect what is described in the papers but also put them in relation to the student’s thesis work. Note that usually more works should be read, analyzed, and described in order to compile the "Related Work" chapter of the high-quality Bachelor's or Master's thesis. The summary serves as a good basis for this chapter.

    This template should be used for or the summary: Template (for your final thesis please use the template available at Bachelor/Master Thesis)
    The length of the summary is expected to be 5-12 pages (excluding the title page, the second page, and the table of contents but including bibliography)
  1. The complete summary should be sent to the advisor, who reviews it and sends the feedback with the explanation of necessary improvements. In addition, the date for the final submission of the summary is set (should be within ten weeks). The final submission will be graded and reviewed again. The feedback should be used for the thesis.

Part II – Presentation of the thesis

  1. While preparing the summary, a student should continue working on the conceptual part of the thesis. The presentation should be given as soon as the summary is submitted, and before the main part of the thesis is implemented and/or the study is carried out. The presentation should cover the following aspects:
    • The motivation of the thesis
    • The overview of related publications
    • The implementation plan (if it is part of the work),
    • The main study plan (if it is part of the work)
    • The current working stage (for example, if the initial implementation tests or preliminary studies have already been carried out)

  2. The time limit depends on whether a Bachelor- or Master thesis is written

    Bachelor Seminar
    Time limit: 20 minutes [followed by a question and answer session]
    Language: German or English

    Master Seminar
    Time limit: 30 minutes [followed by a question and answer session]
    Language: English

  3. The time and date for the talk should be arranged your advisor (who will be in contact with the secretary of Prof. Krüger). After this, the student sends a short summary of the thesis to the advisor, who informs the staff about the date of the presentation. Please send the following information (in this format) to your advisor.

    Titel/Title: [Titel der Arbeit ergänzen - Add the title of the thesis]
    Typ des Vortrags/Type of Talk: Bachelor/Master Seminar (BMS)
    Referent/Speaker: [Eigenen Namen einfügen - Add your name]
    Sprache/Language: [Ist der Talk auf Deutsch oder Englisch - Will you give the Talk in German or English]
    Uhrzeit und Datum/Time and date: [Uhrzeit und Datum ergänzen - Add the time and date]
    Raum des Vortrags/Room: [Raum ergänzen - Information wird vom Betreuer nach Absprache des Termins bereitgestellt - add the location where the talk will be given]
    Kurzzusammenfassung/Abstract: [Kurze Zusammenfassung der Arbeit ("Abstract") in der Sprache des Vortrags - provide a short abstract of the talk]

  4. The purpose of the talk is to present the topic and the procedure so that Professor Krüger and the group members can provide feedback on the planned procedure.

The thesis cannot be registered until the BMS is completed, i.e. both Part I and Part II are carried out and graded. In this case, the certificate is issued (you need to trigger the team assistance for this, see top of the page) and only then Prof. Krüger will sign the registration form.

The defense talk should also be held after the BMS and the practical part of the thesis.

Example BMS presentations

Advisors might have different preferences for what is important in the presentation and might have different rules in respect to slide appearances, consistency, etc., so please ensure that you prepare your slide deck early enough to get feedback from your advisor before you actually give the presentation in Part II.