Bachelor-/Master-Theses

If the topic falls into our research areas, we might. However, please check your topic according to the following points:

• Is there a research question?
• Does you topic involve something else than constructing (e.g. implementing) something? 
• Does your topic motivate you enough to work on it for roughly 6 month?
• Do you have a written topic proposal (roughly one page DIN A4)?

If you can answer all of these questions with a strong yes, then please send us your topic for consideration. 

That's a clear no for a Master thesis. 

For a Bachelor thesis: 

• Check that the proposed topic fulfills the criteria above
• If it is a company we already work with, then it is generally possible
• If it is a company we do not work with, then the answer is: it's complicated

What does "it's complicated" mean? We have to clarify expectations with the company. Your thesis project is an academic project within your course of study and, therefore, cannot be something like a work package for that company. This is furthermore complicated by intellectual property laws, as the usual clause of §69b UrhG does not apply here. 

Yes, that is possible and actually preferred. The company advisor needs to fill out the form "Betreuung von Abschlussarbeiten" from the faculty website:
https://www.cs.tu-dortmund.de/nps/de/Studium/Ausschuesse_pp/PA_MZA/Formulare_PA/index.html

Please prepare this form and send it to us. 

Glad you ask... Yes, we do. And it's actually a GitHub template:

https://github.com/sse-labs/thesis-template

If you prefer Overleaf, we also have you covered:

https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/tu-dortmund-secure-software-engineering-group-thesis-template/cbcjrkytzdpk

There is no official binding restriction on that. So you are free to use whatever you feel best. Please do explain in the beginning of your thesis what you will use.

Given the history and current state in computer science, however, it might be a good idea to use it. 
There is an official recommendation from the university here (but in German): (PDF) Empfehlungen der TU Dortmund zur geschlechtergerechten Sprache
For English there is a good recommendation from the UN: Guidelines for gender-inclusive language in English

And finally there is a very nice informative rant on YouTube from Tom Scott.

In general you are responsible for your own time management for the thesis project. Hence, we will not check if you are still in a time plan and will not create one. However, we will -- of course -- supervise and help with your progress. This means that we will arrange for a 30 minute meeting every 2 weeks. If there is the need for more or longer discussions that of course is always possible, but we found that this is a sustainable pace for most students. The meeting is not meant as a status meeting, but rather to clarify questions or to discuss research results.