WRITING - BUT HOW?
Good planning is the best basis: when is the deadline for registration?, when must I hand in my paper?, what does my professor expect from my work?, what formal criteria must I meet? (for the latter, have a look at our guideline “Leitfaden”). Also plan your working process: when do you have time to work on your paper? When do you need breaks?
You can structure your writing process with the help of the following steps:
- Getting started: About what do you want to write today? Gather all you need on your desk and eliminate all distractions (yes, also and especially your smartphone – turn it off).
- Brainstorming: wildly note down all ideas that come to your mind about what you want to write today.
- Structure your work: Not only does your scientific paper on the whole need a structure, every chapter, even every text passage needs to be structured. This will help you express yourself clearly.
- Diamond in the rough: Don’t worry about the perfect text at this stage. Instead, just start writing down the ideas and words as they come to mind. In the end, you’ll have your raw text.
- Final polish: After a little time, revise your text. Read and improve it over and over again from time to time, until you are happy with the final version of your scientific text.
Quellenangaben
Scheuermann, U. (2011). Die Schreibfitness- Mappe. Wien: Linde Verlag.
Theisen, M.R. (2013). Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten. München: Verlag Franz Vahlen GmbH
The aim of every scientific work is to answer a research question. Strictly stick to the theme, do not diverge. Structure your paper according to the theme. The structure must be coherent and helpful for the reader to follow your thoughts and arguments.
Be precise!
It is extremely important to be very precise and accurate in scientific writing. Be precise in choosing the topic and the title of your paper, precisely express your thoughts, arguments and sentences, be very accurate and precise in quoting from your sources. Avoid unclear formulations and lack of clarity. Your readers must always be able to understand your train of thought entirely. The same holds true for your sources. Reliable scientific sources are always precise and accurate. If you have a source that does not state its reference or author or which is in some way ambiguous, do not use it! It is not a reliable scientific source.
Not only do you find scientific sources on the internet, but also in a library. Use the OPAC catalogue and find reliable sources in the data base of our university’s library.
Quellenangaben
Kruse, O. (2005). Keine Angst vor dem leeren Blatt. Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag.
Theisen, M.R. (2013). Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten. München: Verlag Franz Vahlen GmbH
DEVELOPING A WORKPLAN
At the beginning, the workload of writing a paper may seem daunting – where to start, which priorities to set?
Start with an overview of your theme. Search for literature on the internet and in the library, you can also ask your tutor/lecturer/professor for hints. The more you dive into your theme, the clearer it will become.
Once you have found information, you can start drafting an outline of your paper. If you are insecure, ask your tutor/lecturer/professor.
Quellenangaben
Bensberg, G. & Messer, J. (2010). Survivalguide Bachelor - Leistungsdruck, Prüfungsangst, Stress und Co.? Erfolgreich mit Lerntechniken, Prüfungstipps. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Rückert, H-.W. (2011). Schluss mit dem ewigen Aufschieben. Wie Sie umsetzen, was Sie sich vornehmen. Frankfurt/News York: campus Verlag.
After half of the time allowed for your paper, you should have finished the raw text version and you should start finetuning your text. Keep in mind that this will take longer than just a few days before the deadline. Plan enough time for a thorough and precise revision of your final text version. Make sure there are no typos, no language mistakes, no gaps, nothing redundant, complicated, ambiguous. Make sure your structure is clear and your train of thought logical. Here you will find a checklist for your revision, go to the download-section on the right hand side: Homepage "Schreiblabor".
Quellenangaben
Haas, S. (2017). Engagement Framework. London: Präsentation EATAW 2017.
Kruse, O. (2005). Keine Angst vor dem leeren Blatt. Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag.
Scheuermann, U. (2011). Die Schreibfitness- Mappe. Wien: Linde Verlag.
RELAXATION
If you have severe problems at writing your paper, there are several methods to help. However, if the problems are too severe, you might need to ask for counselling, e.g. at our university: Counselling possibilities.
You might feel frustrated about your writing style or you might be daunted by the complexity of the task. Keep in mind that most authors do not just start writing the perfect text. Producing a text needs a lot of research, notes, raw version, several revisions etc. So basically what you need is a lot of diligence and endurance. The interactive „Troubleshooter Training“ can help you to alleviate your burden.
Quellenangaben
Bensberg, G. & Messer, J. (2010). Survivalguide Bachelor - Leistungsdruck, Prüfungsangst, Stress und Co.? Erfolgreich mit Lerntechniken, Prüfungstipps. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Rückert, H-.W. (2011). Schluss mit dem ewigen Aufschieben. Wie Sie umsetzen, was Sie sich vornehmen. Frankfurt/News York: campus Verlag.
Overcome your wish for being perfect by a simple exercise: Write one page about your theme without any inhibitions. Just write, don’t worry about style, correct language or anything else. Be spontaneous! Write down what you think and how you think it. You will see that this will actually help to overcome your writer’s block. Moreover, it is a first step to sort your ideas for your paper.
Quellenangaben
Bensberg, G. & Messer, J. (2010). Survivalguide Bachelor - Leistungsdruck, Prüfungsangst, Stress und Co.? Erfolgreich mit Lerntechniken, Prüfungstipps. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Rückert, H-.W. (2011). Schluss mit dem ewigen Aufschieben. Wie Sie umsetzen, was Sie sich vornehmen. Frankfurt/News York: campus Verlag.
Maybe it is too early to start writing – you have just started reading about your topic, but you don’t yet know enough to write about it. If this is the case, take your time to collect your thoughts on your topic, maybe drawing a mindmap might help. Intensively structure your topic. If you don’t succeed, continue reading about your topic, you might still need more information.
Quellenangaben
Bensberg, G. & Messer, J. (2010). Survivalguide Bachelor - Leistungsdruck, Prüfungsangst, Stress und Co.? Erfolgreich mit Lerntechniken, Prüfungstipps. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Rückert, H-.W. (2011). Schluss mit dem ewigen Aufschieben. Wie Sie umsetzen, was Sie sich vornehmen. Frankfurt/News York: campus Verlag.
Distraction is a powerful enemy. There are so many possibilities to do anything BUT work on your paper. However, there is hope: some simple tricks may help against diversion. Have a look at these ideas: how to avoid distraction
Sometimes, however, diversion can actually be helpful, because leisure time and relaxation are important aspects of work. Here are some ideas for a feel-good working day.
Are you generally the procrastination-type? Then you should have a look at this page and find out what helps against procrastination .
Quellenangaben
Bensberg, G. & Messer, J. (2010). Survivalguide Bachelor - Leistungsdruck, Prüfungsangst, Stress und Co.? Erfolgreich mit Lerntechniken, Prüfungstipps. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Rückert, H-.W. (2011). Schluss mit dem ewigen Aufschieben. Wie Sie umsetzen, was Sie sich vornehmen. Frankfurt/News York: campus Verlag.
