Questions and Answers (General)

Usage of terms must (not), should (not), and may according to RFC 2119. See also the Q&A on lectures, labs, seminars, and thesis projects.

How to cite correctly?

Please refer to these guidelines for citing in scientific papers. As reference style, students can use either the format suggested in the guidelines ([<Name><YY><a>], e.g., [John12]) or a simpler format using numbers ([<Number>], e.g., [3]). If there are multiple sources, students can cite them like this: [1-3, 5] for sources 1 to 3 and 5. Students must not use citation keys as subjects or objects in sentences. Use the author names instead: Author et al. [1] for more than two authors, only the author’s last name for one author, and both authors’ last names separated by and for papers with two authors.

How should transitively referenced papers be cited?

Good scientific practice is to always look at the primary sources when citing (see, e.g., the APA Guidelines). When writing a scientific paper or report, students must consult the primary sources if available. Students who want to cite a primary source that is not available may, with the approval of their supervisor, rely on the secondary source (i.e., a paper citing that paper).

How should references be included in presentations?

Students may use the references from the seminar report (e.g., [1]) or thesis on the presentation slides and list all references on a slide at the end of the slide deck. This allows the supervisor to compare the slides and the report or thesis later on. Alternatively, students may use footnotes (in a smaller font size) on the slides that refer to content from papers.

Is there a report/thesis template?

For their report or thesis, students should use the thesis template that we provide. They may use a different layout or customize the template according to their preferences. However, they must consider the formatting requirements for bachelor’s and master’s theses. The general structure of a thesis must roughly correspond to the following outline:

• Cover Page
• Declaration of Originality (“Eigenständigkeitserklärung”)
• German Abstract (“Zusammenfassung”)
• Abstract
• Acknowledgments (optional)
• Contents (table of contents)
• Introduction (including a problem statement)
• Background (can sometimes be integrated into the introduction)
• Related Work
• Research Method (including a data availability statement)
• Tool Architecture (depending on the topic)
• Results
• Discussion (including a critical reflection)
• Conclusion (including an outlook and ideas for future work)
• References (list of all referenced resources)

For seminar reports, the general structure must roughly correspond to the following outline:

• Cover Page
• Declaration of Originality (“Eigenständigkeitserklärung”)
• Abstract
• Contents
• Introduction (including the motivation for the topic, the goal of the report, and a brief description of the main paper)
• Background (including related work)
• Synthesis (a coherent picture of the topic that combines the main paper and the additional papers, structured by themes instead of paper by paper)
• Discussion (including a critical reflection on the main paper and the additional papers)
• Conclusion (including an outlook and ideas for future work)
• References

For seminar reports, students can adjust the thesis template with a script, as described in the README of the template. Students must discuss the outline of their report or thesis with their supervisor.

Is there a slide template?

Students may use the PowerPoint template that we provide here, which requires installing the Noto Sans font family. However, students are not bound to a specific template or presentation tool.

How should architectural decisions be documented?

If a thesis project involves implementing software (e.g., a tool, a prototype, or a data processing pipeline), students should document their architectural decisions as Architecture Decision Records (ADRs). An ADR is a short Markdown file that records one decision. It states the context, the options considered, the option chosen and why, and the resulting consequences. Writing ADRs during the project keeps the reasoning behind the design available later, when students write the Tool Architecture chapter of their report or thesis, and it allows the supervisor to follow and discuss their decisions early on.

Students may use the ADR template that we provide. They should store the ADRs in a directory named doc/adr and number them consecutively (e.g., 001-choice-of-database.md). See these example ADRs from an open-source project.

To what extent can GenAI tools be used for reports/theses?

In general, a Generative AI (GenAI) tool is treated like any co-author. Therefore, using it without proper attribution is considered plagiarism. The same regulations that apply to human assistance (e.g., writing centers) generally apply here as well.

Students who use GenAI tools must acknowledge their use in the Declaration of Originality (“Eigenständigkeitserklärung”) that is part of our thesis template. We refer to the following resources for citing and attributing AI-generated content:

• Heidelberg University: Artificial Intelligence in Teaching
• ACM Policy on Authorship, specifically the sections on “Can I use generative AI software tools to prepare my manuscript?” and “If I use generative AI software tools, under what conditions must I disclose their use in my Work?”.
• KI-Leitlinie Hochschullehre Bayern
• Leitfaden “Aus KI zitieren” Universität Basel, referring to the guidelines of the Modern Language Association of America: “How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?”
• APA recommendations on “How to cite ChatGPT”
• LLM Literacy, in particular the section “Zitieren und Paraphrasieren mit KI”.

To help students avoid typical AI slop in their writing, we provide an AI slop skill that detects and fixes AI-generated writing flaws, with a specific focus on empirical software engineering papers. It works with Claude Code, Codex, and other tools that support Agent Skills.

Students with questions can reach out to their supervisor.