Questions about the topic and requirements of a term paper

Situation

You are writing your first term paper and do not know how to proceed. At least three different scenarios are conceivable here:

  • You don't have a topic yet and don't know how to start and would like to ask the lecturer for help now.

  • You have a rough idea but do not know how to formulate a concrete question from this idea. You now want to ask the lecturer for advice.

  • You already have a topic and would like to clarify the concretization of this topic with the lecturer in the consultation hour and find out about formalities and procedures.

Hintergrundinformation

In all these scenarios, you should bear in mind that at German universities, a certain degree of autonomy and self-organization is required of you. This includes finding a topic for a term paper. While it may be the case that topics are given in some subjects, most of the time students are expected to develop their own topic suggestions, which they then discuss with the lecturer. The topic of the term paper must be related to the overall topic of the seminar. The final topic formulation is done in consultation with the lecturer.

Tip

Even if you are not yet able to name a specific topic, think about at least one subject area that interests you and that you would like to cover in your paper. Although the teacher will help you with the final formulation of the topic, you must in any case show her/him that you are able to determine a thematic area on your own. It is usually helpful to go through the seminar materials and visualize the central themes of the course. In this way it is possible to find a sub-topic that particularly appeals to you and/or lends itself to more in-depth work. In addition, an exchange of ideas with fellow students as well as a literature search in the library and/or on the internet is helpful in finding a topic. Information on the layout of a paper (font type, font size, line spacing, margins, citation style and bibliography, etc.) can usually be found on the homepage of an institute or degree program and should not yet be discussed in office hours, unless there is some doubt.