Below you find our standard checklist for the evaluation of seminar papers.

The criteria apply as well to this seminar. We might add further tips on other pages.

• Bibliography
  • Entries correctly formated, e.g. conference papers mention the conference.
  • All entries are referenced.
  • For all references there is an entry.
  • Thumb Rule of the scientific quality of a publication based on the strength of the respective review process:
    Journals > Conferences > Workshops > Technical Reports ~ Books (> Online Presentations > Blogs ~ Newsgroups > Website)
  • Direct citation of Wikipedia should be avoided and the correct further references should be used instead.
  • Online Representations and Blogs/Websites/Newsgroups should only be cited for an opinion of the respective author and need further critical discussion based on academic research.

• Citations
  • Papers referenced for statements that are in the focus of the paper (and not just randomly touched).
  • All quotes are identifiable as quotes (E.g. “within quotation marks” or as separate paragraph) and reference is given.
  • Less then 10% of the text should be quotes.
  • Plagiarism is a serious offense!
  • Books should be referenced with the page numbers.
  • In case you cite an online resource, add the time you accessed it because it might change over time.

• Content
  • Are the main aspects of the topic covered?
  • Is there a Golden Thread? How is the logical structure and “reading flow”?
  • Are the newest publications cited?
  • Are the summaries of publications correct?
  • Are the ideas illustrated with examples
  • Relevance of the content
  • [In case you present own ideas: Originality of the ideas.]

• Argumentation
  • Nothing stated without justification
  • Sound logic
  • Presented in clear flow

• Readability
  • Correct spelling
  • Correct grammar
  • Introductions and summaries (Say, what you are going to explain - Explain it - Say what you explained)
  • Non trivial terms are defined before (!) usage

• Figures
  • Own creations are strongly preferred!
  • If figures are not own creation, references are required!
  • Figures should be referenced by the text.
  • Explaining text (in smaller font) should allow to understand the figure on its own.
  • Keep your figures elegantly simple.
  • Did we say, that own creations are strongly preferred?