Final theses

Writing your exposé

For academic theses, preparing a detailed written overall concept, also known as an exposé, in advance is standard practice. This exposé serves to arouse the interest of potential examiners and convince them of the issue's relevance to be investigated. At the same time, it enables the author to ensure a research gap in the chosen field of research, identify potential risks for achieving the research objective, and realistically estimate the workload in terms of time and content. The following nine points can help you to write your exposé:

1. Problem definition: Which (scientific-theoretical) problem is the subject of the work? What is the thematic orientation of the work?
    
2. State of research:To what extent are scientific findings available, where are research gaps in the form of problems still to be solved? Are there contradictory or competing explanatory approaches that require clarification? What are the key publications regarding the problem to be addressed?
    
3. Research question:Which central research question is to be answered in the thesis, and which sub-questions can be derived from this?
    
4. Research interest: What is the scientific, social or ethical significance of answering the research question? Significance of answering the research question? What benefit can the study provide?
    
5. Goal or hypothesis: What does the work aim to achieve, prove or disprove? Through the formulationof the hypothesis and the working hypotheses derived from it, the problem can be further specified.
    
6. Reference to theory: Which explanatory approaches, theories or models are used as a basis, and why is this done? What is the theoretical background of the study?
    
7. Method:Which methods or procedures are used to find a solution to the problem under consideration problem or answer the central research question, and why are these chosen? Are these chosen? In the case of empirical work, it must be explained and justified how the experimental design to collect the required statistical material.
    
8. Material: Which literature sources and which secondary statistical materials are available, which primary statistical material to be collected? What preliminary work has already been done?
    
9. Preliminary structure: In what order, in what contexts and to what extent should the individual aspects of the individual aspects of the problem be addressed?

Recommendation

We recommend a robust methodological approach for final theses, especially when dealing with empirical research. Design-based research and design case studies are invaluable methodologies that can enhance the quality and depth of your thesis. We recommend incorporating these approaches into your empirical final theses for a more comprehensive and insightful study.

Recommended Resources

• Design-based research: Methodological Choice and Design: Design-based Resarch by Peter Reimann
• Design case studies: Engaging with practices: design case studies as a research framework in CSCW by Volker Wulf et al.

TU Clausthal – University of the Circular Economy

Clausthal University of Technology is a strong research university with an outstanding national and international network. With 3,500 students and more than 1,100 employees, the university is the most important economic factor in the Harz and the largest employer in the region. The scientists work closely with industry partners in many transfer projects, thus bridging the gap between basic research and application.

With the resource-efficient Circular Economy, the university has chosen a profile-forming guiding theme in its overall university concept for the future. The Circular Economy encompasses not only the classic circular economy of materials, but also renewable energies and the digital control of the overall system. As a university of the Circular Economy, TU Clausthal is involved in the energy transition and the development of a sustainable society in the digital age.