Studienbüro der Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät


Exposé

The exposé serves as an outline of your work for you as a doctoral candidate and for your supervisors, illustrating the planned development and elaboration of your research question and thus providing an initial impression of the subject matter and objective of your investigation. The exposé contains information about the topic, research problem, research objective and methodological approach, a bibliography and a work plan for your dissertation. The exposé should be approximately 10 pages long and should be understandable on its own, without reading the literature cited or listed in the appendix. If your doctoral project is part of a (third-party funded) project, please briefly introduce the overall project and explain the thematic relationship between your project and the project. If your exposé is not yet available at the time of application, you can submit it up to six months after enrolment. A separate workshop will be held during the introductory module to provide support.

contact: Academic Writing
Advisory Service


Thesis Committee support, including meetings and expectation alignment

We place great importance on providing our doctoral candidates with excellent support. To this end, we recommend that you meet with your primary supervisor at the beginning of your doctoral studies. This expectation alignment, which must first be completed independently, can serve as a basis for this meeting.

Thesis Committee

In addition to your primary supervisor, you must name two additional persons (supervisory committee/thesis committee) within three months of beginning your studies or submitting your exposé who will support you throughout your doctoral programme. As a rule, these persons will also evaluate your work and conduct your oral examination.
It is therefore advisable to find people who complement your primary supervisor well in terms of subject knowledge. You will then meet with the supervisory committee at least once a year to discuss your progress and the next steps. You must also document these meetings in your study log.
In addition to your primary supervisor, the supervisory committee must include at least two other individuals with a doctorate, including at least one other person authorised to examine. The members of the supervisory committee authorised to examine should not be in a relationship of dependency with each other. At least one member of the supervisory committee must be a full-time member of the university teaching staff of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
More detailed information can be found in §5 of the examination and study regulations for the doctoral programme.

Studies Programme

contact: Martin Ertelt
The aim of the accompanying doctoral studies programme in social sciences is to qualify you to take on responsible tasks in research and teaching and in non-university professional fields. To this end, in addition to independent scientific research work (doctoral thesis) demonstrating mastery of the skills and methods associated with the subject, you will complete a tailored programme of courses. The doctoral programme comprises a total of 20 credits in the following areas:
  • Introductory modules – Onboarding Workshop
  • Colloquia and conferences
  • Supplementary modules, e.g. research methods, academic teaching

Written thesis (monograph/cumulative)

At the Faculty of Social Sciences, you can complete a cumulative doctorate or write a monograph. If you choose a cumulative doctorate, you will write academic articles, known as papers or journal articles, which can or should be published in academic journals. You will discuss the exact procedure individually with your primary supervisor and the Dean's Office.
The cumulative dissertation consists of three independent academic articles suitable for publication, at least one of which must be written solely by you or with you as the first author. In addition, one of the articles must have been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal following an external scientific review process. The publications must be supplemented by a meaningful introduction to the scientific question underlying the publications, a summary in which your own results are placed in their technical context, and a bibliography.

Support

In addition to subject-specific contact persons, the university offers (you) further points of contact where you can seek support for your doctoral project: