Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Berlin School of Library and Information Science

Scientific Literature Studies

Guidelines and Assessment Criteria

Theses Guidelines


Refer to the following approach
:
  • Read and cite about twenty to twentyfive publications (mainly papers), inluding non-German articles, e.g. English or French ones
  • All of the publications should be related to one topic and considered relevant for it.  
  • In your introduction, present your topic and justify your selection of publications. 
  • In your thesis you should explain why you consider those publications important.  
  • Write a review of half a page to one page about each of the publications.
  • In your reviews you should reflect the main arguments of the articles and evaluate the given arguments and facts like data, citations etc. 
    • Would you consider those as convincing?
  • In your conclusion, evaluate the current state of the literature concerning your topic. 
    • Are there any issues not being discussed satisfactorily? If yes : Which ones?
    • Could you identify major trends for future research? If yes : Which ones? 
  • Your thesis should consist of at least thirty pages and should in no case exceed the number of forty pages. 

For the assessment of your thesis a high value is set on the following criteria:
  • A substantive justification for the selection of publications. 
  • The quality of the reviews written. 
  • To what extend were you able to describe the state of the topic persuasively. 

 

Topics

Contact person: Prof. Michael Seadle, PhD

  • Long Term Archving
    (Long Term Archiving as subject of discussion in Germany; Long Term Archiving worldwide; Challenges of digital preservation...)
  • The Semantc Web


Contact Person: Prof. Michael Seadle, PhD or Elke Greifeneder

  • Man-Machine-Interaction
  • Open-Source-OPACs or "Next-Generation-Catalogues"
  • Information literacy 
  • Current User-Studies
    Please note: This is not about "How to create a survey", but about "What do we know about our users?"