Effectively Researching: Tips and Tools for Getting Started

What does research actually mean? Research aims to gather existing knowledge on a specific topic and integrate it into your own research process. A thorough search allows you to close your own knowledge gaps, identify research gaps, and place your work within the context of existing studies. To navigate the landscape of information with confidence, …

How to Structure Your Ideas With a Mind Map

How do I create a mind map? Procedure: The core of the mind map is the central topic or question: Write this in the center and circle the term. Working from the core, add the most important and relevant main ideas as main branches and connect them to the central topic. Branching off these main …

The Perfect Writing Week

Why plan a writing week? This method has several advantages: You can discover what good writing means for you. You can improve your planning and time management, which in turn can motivate you to write. You can begin to see writing as an enjoyable activity. You can find your individual writing rhythm. How to do …

Using Freewriting

Freewriting is a simple writing technique that can be used in academic writing as well as in professional, journalistic, or creative writing. All you need is a pen and paper. Alternatively, you can do it on your computer – it’s best to turn off spell check so you won’t get distracted by it. Or close …

The Writing Phases in Academic Papers

The stages in the writing process The individual phases are interconnected and overlap. Writing is a recursive and reiterative process. You may frequently have to revisit and revise previous drafts, or restructure certain sections. You should be familiar with the individual stages and plan enough time by creating time and work schedules. Please refer to …

Desk Workout: Painless Writing

Consciously shaping your working time and workspace Creating a pleasant writing environment and planning your writing time can help you stay mentally and physically healthy while writing – and keep going. Here are a few tips: Set up your workspace ergonomically. Sit upright with your feet flat on the floor. Rest your forearms comfortably on …

Finding Support During the Writing Process

Fellow students An important resource during your writing process is your fellow students. Students from higher semesters may be willing to share their own helpful experiences, while students from the same semester might have special insights or knowledge that complement your own. Talking about your topic can help you solve problems, clarify your ideas, and …

Managing Literature with Zotero

Zotero is a free, open-source reference management program that allows you to collect, organize, and cite academic publications. Zotero offers numerous advantages for managing literature and knowledge: Efficient collection and organization: Zotero allows easy collection of literature sources from various databases, catalogs, and websites. With the Zotero Connector, bibliographic details can be directly imported from …

Creating a Cluster

Why cluster? The association technique of clustering can be useful in several ways: It provides a visible representation of intrinsic connections and links between ideas. An initial order or structure becomes visible in the apparent chaos of the flow of ideas. New perspectives emerge. Your ideas start to take shape and you are inspired to …

The Pomodoro Technique – Working With Time

Sometimes, the difficulty in writing simply lies in staying seated, continuing to work, and not constantly getting distracted by seemingly more important things. To boost concentration, you can try the Pomodoro Technique: Divide upcoming tasks into 25-minute segments, called pomodori. During a pomodoro, you must do nothing but focus on this task – no getting …

Giving Text Feedback on Academic Papers

When you’re writing, you eventually become text-blind. It gets difficult to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your own writing. This is where feedback becomes essential – it’s one of the most important tools in the writing process. With regular feedback, your writing improves because you get better at seeing it from the reader’s perspective. …

Improving Your Literature Search

OPAC With the help of the OPAC, the university’s digital library catalog, the entire print and digital collection of the TH Nuremberg library can be searched. Searches can be conducted both by formal criteria (such as authors or titles) and by content-related aspects (including keywords or subject terms). Via the tab “Union Catalog/Interlibrary Loan”, you …

Writing a Good Academic Paper in Engineering

The objectives of your paper After several months of research, discussions, and initial drafts, it’s time to complete your written paper. This paper should clearly and engagingly communicate to readers, your supervisors, and other interested individuals: what problem you tackled, how you solved it, what the outcome was, and how you interpret these results in …