This page provides useful information for doing a project at the Department of Service Computing. The instructions and guidelines are relevant for Bachelor's and Master's theses, research projects, and study projects.
The page is organised into five sections: Registration Process, Work Process and Resources, Deliverables, Code and Thesis/Report Management on GitLab, and Submission Process. Please consult each section at the appropriate phase of your project.
If you are interested in doing a project with us, please check the list of available project topics.
We are looking for a student interested in technology transfer for which funds are available. Please contact Prof. Aiello if you are interested in exploring this opportunity.
A project proposal, whether for a bachelor's or master's thesis or a student research project, is a structured document that outlines your research plan. It helps to clarify your research goals and methodology before you begin your project. Once your potential supervisor provides you with an initial topic, you will start preparing the project proposal in two phases.
Phase 1: Topic Refinement
In this phase, you will refine your initial topic using a dedicated canvas. This step helps clarify and focus your research direction. Once your supervisor approves the completed canvas, you may proceed to Phase 2.
Important: Phase 1 also serves as a qualifying step. If your canvas is not satisfactory, even after a few rounds of feedback, your supervisor may determine that the project is not a good fit for you.
Phase 2: Full Proposal Development
After canvas approval, you will develop a 3-page project proposal based on your refined topic. Use the provided template, which includes the required structure and detailed instructions. Your supervisor must review and approve the final project proposal before the project can be registered.
Special case: Industry-based projects
If your project will be conducted in collaboration with a company and we are acting solely as your academic supervisor or examiner, you may skip Phase 1. While our template, in terms of letterhead use, is not required in such cases, your proposal must still follow the structure and content guidelines specified in our template. It is essential that the work done at the company satisfies our requirements for research (state of the art, problem statement and research question, and scientific methodologies) and it is not just an implementation task.
Bachelor and Master Thesis Projects
Please follow these instructions:
- You have a project proposal accepted by your supervisor (see Project Proposal Preparation above).
- Fill in and sign the registration form (download it from your Campus profile). Do not forget to fill in the intended start date of your thesis, too.
- Fill in and sign a contract form.* You will have six months to work on the thesis. The start date in the contract has to be the same as the one on the registration form. The start date must be a working day (no weekends and public holidays). The end date must be precisely after six months. If the end date falls on a public holiday or a weekend, it has to be the next working day.
- Fill in and sign a license agreement form.* Please fill in your private email address in the corresponding field.
- Fill in and sign a supplementary agreement on the thesis language.* This form should be filled out and signed only if your PO (Prufungsordnung) requires it.
- Send these documents to the supervisor or examiner for a signature.
- You get back the signed registration form from the supervisor or examiner. Register the thesis yourself by handing the signed registration form to the Examination office. The Examination office should confirm the registration.
- The supervisor or examiner sends the rest of the documents to Ms Ibach.
- Send the confirmed thesis registration, project description, and your PO (for Bachelor students) to Ms Ibach (include your supervisor in cc). Ms Ibach then sends you a copy of the following documents: the signed contract, the signed licence agreement, and the signed supplementary agreement on the thesis language (if applicable).
Note: If the student does not want their thesis published, or the student does the thesis in a company and has a non-disclosure agreement, the license agreement has still to be submitted (as it is part of the contract) but crossed out. If there is a non-disclosure agreement, a copy must be submitted, too. Finally, we do not sign any non-disclosure agreements with companies for student projects.
Other Student Projects
Please follow these instructions:
- You have a project proposal accepted by your supervisor (see Project Proposal Preparation above).
- Fill in and sign a contract form.* You will have six months to work on the thesis. The start date must be a working day (no weekends and public holidays). The end date must be precisely after six months. If the end date falls on a public holiday or a weekend, it has to be the next working day.
- Send the contract to the supervisor or examiner for a signature.
- The supervisor or examiner sends the contract to Ms Ibach.
- Register the project yourself with the Examination office. Get proof of registration (e.g., a screenshot of C@mpus).
- Send the following to Ms Ibach (include your supervisor in cc): proof of registration and the project description. Ms Ibach will then send you a copy of the signed contract.
* You can get the form from your supervisor.
We expect students to adopt an independent working style throughout their project. This includes taking responsibility for planning, organisation, conducting research, and executing tasks. You are encouraged to set your own goals, create a realistic schedule with deadlines, and regularly track your behaviour and progress.
Supervisors do not impose any meeting requirements. It is the student's responsibility to determine how often to meet with their supervisor. Please reach out to your supervisor well in advance to arrange meetings.
When working on your project, please use the following resources as much as possible.
Conducting Research
Conducting research is a fundamental part of your project and involves more than just gathering information. We emphasise five key principles that should guide your research process:
- Don't reinvent the wheel
- Keep your goals and ambitions realistic
- Plagiarism is cheating
- Only claim what you can prove and validate
- Be objective
These principles are explained in more detail here. We strongly encourage you to review it early in your project.
One aspect of the first principle (Don’t reinvent the wheel) deserves special attention: Critical analysis of related work (state of the art) is essential. This means that simply summarising related literature is not enough. A strong analysis should:
- Describe what each relevant work does and how it contributes to the field.
- Identify research gaps, limitations, or unresolved questions.
- Clearly explain how your project builds upon or differs from existing work and how it contributes to advancing the field.
Writing down this analysis early on is highly recommended. It not only improves your understanding but can later serve as a valuable starting point for the “Related Work” or “State of the Art” chapter in your thesis or project report.
Scientific Writing
Clear, precise, and well-structured writing is essential for communicating your ideas and findings. Follow academic conventions, use appropriate referencing, and be mindful of visuals (figures, tables, etc.). Good writing is not just about style, it also reflects the quality of your thinking. See here for our specific guidelines on scientific writing.
Presentation
Presenting your work after the end of the project is important. Practice explaining your goals, methodology, and results to relevant audiences. Strong presentations are focused, well-structured, and visually supported. See here for our specific guidelines on presentation style.
Use of Generative AI
Students should rely on their own understanding, reasoning, and wording for their thesis work. Relying on generative AI for idea generation and content shaping is problematic from the standpoint of scientific integrity, as the work submitted should reflect the student’s own ideas and abilities. The use of generative AI to generate text for inclusion in the thesis or project report is only allowed if the generated text is presented as a part of the report’s experimental analysis. The use of generative AI to assist with the editing/polishing of student-authored text is allowed. The thesis has to report the use of generative AI tools explicitly. Students assume full responsibility for the content of submitted work, including checking for plagiarism and authenticity of all text.
Be also careful when relying on generative AI for email communication with your supervisors. Relying on generative AI to produce emails may come across as verbose, vague, and impersonal, and it can also be perceived as unprofessional.
License
Concepts and software produced in any project must be published under or compatible with the MIT license.
Code
If the project requires running software, its code should be submitted. This can be done by committing the code to our GitLab (see below). There should also be brief documentation about the installation steps of the software.
Thesis/Report
Your project should be described in a thesis/report. Both a PDF file and source files of your thesis/report should be committed to our GitLab.
Template: https://github.com/latextemplates/scientific-thesis-template
Presentation
If the project requires presenting the work, the student should give a talk in front of an audience. The presentation should be 25 minutes at most with additional 5 minutes for questions.
Template: IAAS Presentation Template
Students can get one or more repositories in our GitLab to manage their projects. We provide two repositories by default, one for code and one for thesis/report. If you need more repositories, please ask your supervisor. When working with our GitLab, please use these instructions.
Bachelor and Master Thesis Projects
as specified in the official guidelines: https://www.f05.uni-stuttgart.de/en/cs/students/thesis/
- The amount of printed and bound copies should be according to Article 5) in the contract. If possible, only one printed copy should be handed in.
- The work must not be bound with a ring binding. Any type of adhesive or glue binding is permitted - preferably with a black linen booklet spine.
- Collect the required number of thesis covers from the secretary's office approximately 14 days before the submission.
- Submit one separately printed title page of the thesis.
- Submit an electronic version of the final thesis as a PDF file as well as an abstract in .txt format. If the student is enrolled in a German program and the thesis is written in English, a German abstract has to be added. If the student is enrolled in an English program and writes the thesis in German, an English abstract has to be added. These two electronic files can be sent by e-mail, on a stick or on a CD. If a CD is handed in, it must be labelled with the name of the student, the type of thesis (BSc/MSc), and the year of submission.
- Please note that the electronic version of the final thesis must not have the declaration signed.
- Submit the printed copy, the electronic version and the abstract to Ms Ibach or supervisor no later than the end date of the contract. After the examination by Ms Ibach or supervisor, the student will receive the separate title page back countersigned as proof of submission.
- Commit the thesis and/or implementation code to our GitLab.
Other Student Projects
Student(s) commit the report and/or implementation code to our GitLab.
Kontakt
Marco Aiello
Prof. Dr.Abteilungsleiter
Ilche Georgievski
Dr.Akademischer Rat und Leitung Arbeitsbereich Planning, Learning, and Intelligent Systems
[Bild: Ilche Georgievski]
Elisabeth Ibach
Sekretariat