Study and teaching

• Polarisation and Democracy
• Political language in the state parliament
• Election research in the super election year 2024

• Introduction to Quantitative Social Research: European Societies in Transition (compulsory elective)

• Introduction to Quantitative Social Research: European Societies in Transition (compulsory elective)

• Gender and politics in digital spaces

 

I can't attend a seminar session, what should I do?

Inquire independently with your fellow students about what you have missed. If you have to miss three or more sessions in the semester, please contact the lecturer. In small seminars (<7 participants), please inform the lecturer in advance by e-mail.

We write response papers in the seminar - how are response papers graded?

Response papers are not summaries. This means that you are not graded for how well you summarise a text, but for your own argument that you build on the text. To do this, you can, for example, criticise the text (theoretically, methodologically, …), expand the text and apply it to new objects) or point out references between the text and other texts (often: texts read in the seminar).

Four aspects are equally important in the assessment: Formal requirements (e.g. length, style, language), the clarity and coherence of the text (e.g. logical structure), the quality of your own argument and the discussion of the text (grasping the key points of the text and the quality of the discussion)

Is there a particular citation style preferred by the chair?

No. It is important that you cite correctly, completely and consistently. If possible, use a citation style with citations in the text (no footnotes or endnotes), e.g. APA style.

I am supposed to or want to work empirically in a course. What do you recommend for this?

The best way to do this is to use the R programming language and the RStudio programming environment (installation instructions: https://swirlstats.com/students.html). Good introductions are, for example, the (online free) book ‚R for Data Science‘ (https://r4ds.had.co.nz/), the ‚Boot Camp‘ videos from the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (https://sicss.io/boot_camp/) or the swirl package (https://swirlstats.com/).

I would like to write my bachelor's or masters thesis with Prof Dr Theresa Gessler, how should I proceed?

If you can, try to fill out the draft form for final theses and send it by e-mail. I will get back to you. If you have any questions in advance, you can make an appointment online during consultation hours (https://calendly.com/theresagessler/officehours)

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What types of final theses are supervised at the chair?

Final theses should be connected to the chair's research in the broadest sense. This includes, in particular, work on democracy, immigration, party competition, digitalisation and gender relations.

Theses with an empirical approach (qualitative or quantitative) are preferred. In preparation, the chair regularly offers seminars to introduce students to quantitative social research.