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Finding Support During the Writing Process

Faculties: all

Writing often seems like a lonely and overwhelming task – but it doesn’t have to be! Here, you’ll find an overview of resources that can support you throughout the writing process. By “writing process,” we mean all the steps and tasks involved in creating an academic paper – including researching, reading, developing a research question, revising, and formatting. You’ve already found a great resource: the OWL. Below, we introduce you to more.

Contents

Fellow students

An important resource during your writing process is your fellow students. Students from higher semesters often already have helpful experiences to share. Students from the same semester might have possibly special knowledge that meaningfully complements your own. Talking about your own topic helps to solve problems, sharpen thoughts, and find precise formulations. You can give each other helpful tips. It is especially valuable to mutually provide text feedback.

Good text feedback is:

  • concrete – refers to specific parts of the text
  • justified – explains why something is successful or unsuccessful
  • prioritized – assesses individual criticism in relation to the overall impression
  • formulated appreciatively – and if not, accept it calmly, and do better yourself.

Writing groups

Writing tandems or writing groups can help you work more productively, overcome motivation slumps, and clear mental blocks. Members of writing groups support each other by giving each other text feedback, writing together, solving problems jointly, reporting on writing progress and challenges, setting goals, and gently reminding each other to stick to them.

Productive writing groups are small – a good number is three to five participants. They focus on specific writing projects, like e.g. the bachelor thesis. Agree on rules among yourselves describing how often you want to meet where, and what happens during and between meetings.

The Writing Center regularly supports the formation of writing groups through organizing kick-off meetings and also offers an open writing group.

Lecturers

Lecturers offer different types of support when writing a scientific paper. Find out what this looks like and make use of the offers. Pay attention to the fact sheets, the seminar schedule, and if applicable the Moodle course rooms of the lecturers. Ask about the requirements for the respective scientific paper. Sometimes students hesitate to accept offered feedback – take this chance: attend the review session, read the comments, ask questions.

Library

The library supports you with questions about literature research and literature management. This also includes thesis consultations and introductions to literature management programs like Citavi or Zotero. Especially at the beginning of the semester, the library offers introductory events where you learn the basics of literature search and borrowing. There is also an elective lecture on scientific literature research. Contact the library with questions about databases, journals, or interlibrary loan. Don’t hesitate to ask the library staff for advice and help.

Detailed information, tailored to the faculty, can be found on the library website: Library at TH Nuremberg.

Writing Center

The Writing Center offers workshops that teach basics and enable exchange. In writing consultations, writing tutors advise you individually on your text and writing process. You can also upload your text and receive written feedback on a few pages. And: Attend the Writing Day, where once a semester you can join workshops and write together with others for a whole day.

All Writing Center offerings in detail on the Writing Center website.

Other internet resources

The OWL cannot answer all questions about academic work and writing. On the internet and social media, you will find various resources that deal with academic writing. Don’t be confused by the many different conventions.

Follow the guidelines of your lecturers and the information in the OWL. For questions beyond that, you may make justified decisions on your own.

Instructions, tutorials and courses for software

For academic writing you need various programs, e.g. for word processing, creating graphics, researching academic literature, or collaborating with others. Mastering the software you use saves a lot of time and nerves. It’s best to start early with the software you want to use for your thesis.

Support is available here:

  • The Central IT of the TH Nuremberg provides software in the intranet and offers instructions for installation and use.
  • The library offers training and a consultation hour for the reference management software Zotero.
  • The RRZE (Regional Computing Center Erlangen) of the FAU conducts software trainings, e.g. for LATEX or Word – also for students of the TH Nuremberg.

If German is not your native language

Writing is especially challenging if you don’t write in your native language. Here are some tips for non-native speakers writing in German at university:

  • Use a German-language word processing program.
  • Use the spelling and grammar check of your word processor.
  • Never copy full sentences word-for-word from literature without marking them as quotes. That stands out. Try to paraphrase the literature, even if it’s difficult at first. You must also cite the source if you express the idea in your own words.
  • Have your text proofread by German-speaking fellow students or friends before submission.
  • Don’t get stuck on spelling and phrasing in your draft text, but focus first on content. Before submission, the language must of course be checked and corrected again.
  • Write simply and understandably. Don’t hide content in unnecessarily complicated phrasing. Academic texts are working documents and should be understandable on first reading.
  • If you can express yourself better in English than in German, ask your examiners if you may write the paper in English.

Frequently asked questions

What is part of the writing process?

The writing process distinguishes four central steps: planning, structuring, drafting, revising. But in fact, there are many more tasks involved in writing an academic paper: formulating the research question, discussing with lecturers, reading, researching, correcting etc.. These steps are usually not done sequentially. Instead, you will repeatedly perform certain tasks, such as e.g. reading or gathering feedback.

How can I write better?

Writing can be learned. The more you write, the better you get. Also, it is important to think about the goal and the audience of your text, get feedback, and revise the text often.

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