Currently, the following persons supervise student degree theses at the Institute of Sociology and Demography. Additional supervisors, can, of course, be chosen from the staff of other faculties as well as of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.

A final thesis has to be elaborated at the end of the Bachelor, Master or other studies. The following aspects can be considered when preparing for it.

• As a rule, you need two reviewers, the main reviewer also being the supervisor of the thesis.
• The supervisor agrees with you upon the topic and is your direct contact person over the elaboration period.
• The second reviewer is involved into the agreement upon the topic, but will mostly primarily get active on demand in the further process.
• You have the opportunity to write an interdisciplinary final thesis, i.e. to select a second reviewer from another subject area. If you, for instance, intend to write a thesis on a media sociology topic, a second reviewer from the field media and communication sciences might make sense.
• Start the planning early and do not get in contact with the lecturer only shortly before registration deadline. Possibly all available capacities of this desired reviewer might already be exhausted.
• Prepare for the pre-consultations by considering which topics and questions are of interest for you and you would be interested in investigating further. Start to conduct research even in advance.
• It is always recommendable that you carry out own reflections in advance and contact the lecturer with own ideas for a topic. Some chairs provide lists with potential final thesis topics which can be used as a basis. These lists can be found on the relevant study websites of the chairs.
• Keep in mind that the intended topic should be in synchrony with the working and research topics of the desired reviewers you want to contact.
• As a rule, you will have to elaborate an exposé after the first orientating consultation that serves as a basis for assessing the scope and feasibility of the thesis and for further agreements.
• Keep in mind that a final thesis is more than scientifically working on a topic. You also prove interdisciplinary competences like time and project managment with this. To start your final thesis tailored to your field of interest and in a target-oriented way, plan foresighted and long-term!