Jun.-Prof. Dr. Endre Borbáth Information for Students

Please book office hour appointments in Room 03.033 or online via Calendly, and cancel them there as well.

Here’s how it works:

• Appointments are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
• If you need to cancel an appointment, please do so directly in Calendly (an email is not necessary).
• We can meet in person in Room 03.033 (Bergheimer Str. 58, 69115 Heidelberg) or online (see the Zoom link on the Calendly page).
• If your appointment is scheduled as an in-person meeting on campus but you’d prefer to meet online, please send me an email or indicate this preference via the Calendly interface.

Are you interested in having me supervise your bachelor’s or master’s thesis?

• Please start by learning about my research topics on my website and taking a look at my recent publications.
• As a general rule, I only supervise theses if your topic aligns with my research interests.
• Supervision is available in German and English.

Proposal (max. two pages)

• As the first step in the process of writing your thesis, please prepare a research proposal of no more than two pages.
• Please devote one paragraph to each of the following points:
  • Your research question
  • the central theoretical perspectives (with references)
  • the type of data you plan to use
  • the type of analysis you intend to conduct
  • what results you expect and how they fit into the existing literature
  • one or more “model studies” that exemplify the approach you plan to take
  • a preliminary outline with the main chapter headings (this may be included in addition to the two pages)

Formatting Guidelines (Term Papers / Master's Theses / Bachelor's Theses)

• Cover Page: Title of the paper, course name, semester, your name, student ID number, department/institution, and email address.
• Font & Line Spacing: 12-point serif font (e.g., Times, Palatino) with 1.5-line spacing; footnotes in 10-point font, single-line spacing.
• Margins & Layout: All page margins must be at least 2.5 cm.
• Page numbers: Number all pages (except the title page) consecutively; place the numbers at the bottom center or bottom right.
• Structure: Table of contents with section and subsection titles, as well as page numbers. Use descriptive headings (avoid generic titles such as “Section 1, 2, 3”). Sections and subsections do not need to be numbered.
• Abstract: Every paper must include an abstract of no more than 250 words.
• Sections: The paper should consist of an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. Use subsections as needed, but avoid over-segmenting the text. Heading format:
  • Level 1 – 14-point, bold
  • Level 2 – 12-point, bold
  • Level 3 – 12-point, italic Please do not use more than three levels.
• Figures and Tables: All figures and tables must have a number, a title, and a caption. Each figure or table should be understandable on its own. If you use colors, make sure they remain distinguishable even when printed in black and white.
• Citations & Footnotes: Cite all non-original arguments or borrowed ideas, ideally using the Chicago citation style. I recommend using a reference management program such as Zotero (see below).
• Bibliography / References: List all sources cited in the text in alphabetical order at the end. Do not include any works that are not cited in the text.
• Appendix: Appendices (if necessary) are not included in the main text length; please label them clearly (Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.).
• Declaration of Originality: Include a brief statement (on the cover page or at the end) indicating that you wrote the paper independently and used only the sources cited.