Final Thesis

 

Topics for Bachelor's Theses should be related to our current research (see research fields). The overview of completed theses gives a good impression of typical topics. The amount of theses supervised depends on our current capacity. The application process is described below.

Requirements

We prefer students who successfully took courses in the area of operations & supply chain management (OSCM). In addition, you need to hand-in the following documents:

• CV
• Transcript of Records
• Application Form (Word, PDF)
• High School Diploma

We highly recommend to you take workshops on academic research and writing offered by the university library. The courses "Zitieren statt Plagiieren" and "Informationskompetenz 1 – Online-Medien suchen und finden" take place on a regular basis (also as Webinar and in English). In addition, there are several courses regarding the use of citation management software (Citavi/EndNote). Please be aware that we will prefer students who have successfully taken one of the courses in advance.

If you are interested in writing your thesis at our chair, please refrain from contacting us in advance and hand in a complete application instead. We are only able to decide about your application based on all of the listed documents.

Application Process

Every three months (February, May, August, November) students are able to register and start the work on their bachelor thesis at our chair. The application deadline is the 15th of the previous month (e.g. January 15th for a start in February). You may hand in your application earlier, but there will be no decision before the 21st of the previous month.

If you are considered for a certain period, there will be a mandatory meeting on the first Tuesday of the respective month. At this meeting we present topic proposals to the applicants. Afterwards you can prioritize the topics according to your preferences (pick at least five). A topic will be assigned to you by Friday night.

Most topics at our chair are quantitative and optimization-related. While we try to offer a diverse set of topics, knowledge of the techniques taught in course “Modeling, Optimization and Simulation in Operations Management” and/or proficiency in a programming language is highly recommended. We might not be able to offer enough topics for students without prior knowledge in these areas.

Please e-mail your application including all required documents as one PDF file named "Lastname_Firstname" to Christine Steinberger (subject: "Application Bachelor's Thesis").

Own Topic Proposals in Cooperation with a Company

If you would like to write your thesis in cooperation with a company, you need to prepare your own topic proposal. However, please check first which chair of the operations & supply chain management department fits your idea best.

Please prepare a one-page exposé after consulting with your partner company. The exposé should specify (1) your research question, (2) how this research question is relevant for ongoing research, and (3) how you plan to answer your research question.

Please e-mail the exposé in addition to the documents listed under the requirements section to Linda Bentzen. Be aware that you need to hand in your application at least four weeks prior to your desired start date.

Thesis Guidelines

Please review your "Fachprüfungs- und Studienordnung" (FPSO) for general guidelines.

You need to give an interim and final presentation of your (preliminary) results. Make sure to follow the guidelines of our chair:

Guidelines for how to write a thesis (Bachelor, Master) are available here. You are required to use the following LaTeX- or Word template.

Please make sure to check all formal requirements of the TUM School of Management with regard to writing, formatting and submitting your final theses. An information sheet can be found in the Downloads section of the School of Management.

Information sheet for submitting the final thesis can be found here.

Your thesis will be graded according to the following criteria:

• Description and classification of your research question by means of current literature.
• Selection and application of scientific methods.
• Structure and description of your results
• Compliance with our formal requirements