Support for academic writing
Do you need help getting started on your writing project? Would you like to narrow down your topic, organize your paper effectively, or are you unsure about citing sources or using AI? Then the Writing Center is the perfect place for you! The Writing Center team is here to help you with any questions you have about academic writing through a variety of resources, including one-on-one writing consultations, workshops, and self-study materials. You can find all the information you need on the Writing Center’s website: Writing Center website.
Each semester, the IKW offers one or two courses focused on academic writing that help students compose their own texts. In addition, the courses provide a platform for questions, discussion, and feedback.
1. Academic Writing in the Empirical Domains of Cognitive Science (Annette Hohenberger; every winter semester)
This course covers the fundamentals of empirical scientific writing and the ethical and academic standards associated with it. The focus is on the following topics:
- Good research practice and the prevention of research misconduct
- Academic writing as a scholarly practice
- Processes and strategies of academic writing
- Functions and language of the various sections of a scientific paper: abstract, introduction and literature review, methodology, results, and discussion/conclusion
- Challenges for scholarly writing posed by the introduction of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT
The course is suitable for both Bachelor’s and master’s students and offers 4 ECTS credits.
2. Instruction for Working Scientifically (Uwe Meyer; every semester)
This course focuses on the planning, structure, and execution of academic projects, particularly research papers. It addresses questions such as the following:
- How do I even come up with a topic for my thesis? What should I use as a guide when searching for a topic? Who are potential advisors? How does thesis advising work? When should I register my thesis? What should I keep in mind if I get sick?
- How do I structure a thesis? How do I cite sources correctly? What is the difference between a direct quote and a paraphrase?
- How do I find sources, and how do I use a reference management program?
- What techniques are there for understanding the content of texts and retaining it so that I can easily refer back to it later?
- What causes writer’s block, and how can I overcome it?
- How can I use digital tools effectively (ChatGPT, DeepL, etc.), and what are the exam-related restrictions here?
- And other questions, depending on the participants’ needs.
Important: Although the course is primarily aimed at advanced students who are already planning or writing their bachelor’s thesis, students in their first semesters who wish to improve their academic writing are also welcome to attend. To earn the 6 ECTS credits, students need only present and discuss the topic of their bachelor’s thesis in a session during a later semester.